"Better Than You" Maxwell Jacob Friedman

Wrestler's Name: Maxwell Jacob Friedman
Nicknames: Salt of the Earth, The Devil
Hometown: Plainview, New York
Height: 5'11''
Weight: 216 lbs.
Alignment: Heel
Character's Color Code:

[b]M[font color="#004390"]AXWELL [/font]J[font color="#004390"]ACOB[/font] F[font color="#004390"]RIEDMAN:[/font][/b]
Wrestling Style: Technical
Manager/Valet: Mandy Rose
Entrance Music: Dig Deep - RW Smith

Favorite Moves:

• Alabama Slam
• Argentine Backbreaker
• Arm Double Stomp (diving double foot stomp to an opponents arm draped over the top rope)
• Arm Lever Suplex
• Arm Wringer
• Armbar DDT
• Avalanche Tombstone Piledriver
• Back Suplex Backbreaker
• Body Slam
• Butterfly Shoulderbreaker
  
• Corner Arm Wringer
• Cradle Brainbuster
  
• Cradle DDT
• DDT
• Dick Kick
  
• Diving Elbow Drop
• Eye Poke
• F-5
• Fosbury Flop
  
• Gourdbuster (onto ropes)
  
• Gutwrench Suplex
  
• Hammerlock Back Suplex
  
• Kitchen Sink
  
• Pedulum Backbreaker
• Poisonrana
  
• Powerbomb Backbreaker
• Pumphandle Helf Nelson Driver
  
• Sitout Powerbomb
• Suicide Dive
• Superplex
  
• Tombstone Piledriver
  
• Topé Cutter
• Vertical Suplex
• Anything dastardly your favorite wrestler won't do

Finisher(s):

• Double Cross (Rolling Cutter) - parodied from Cody
• Heat Seeker (Rope Assisted Piledriver)
• Salt of the Earth (Fujiwara Armbar)
• South Hamptons Plunge (Hammerlock DDT)
• Swanton Bomb

Biography:

Maxwell Jacob Friedman, more popularly known by his initials MJF, is probably the fastest rising star the professional wrestling industry has seen in a long time. Some may say he is brash, arrogant, cocky and, whatever else. But, without a shadow of a doubt – and he would tell you this himself – he is in fact “The Salt of the Earth” as far as professional wrestling goes. According to him, he is better than everyone else and they should know it. At only 27 years of age, and six short years into the business, MJF has done more than most in his short time in the business. It’s fair to say that he has brought back the essence of what it is to be a phenomenal character and an effective one at that in wrestling.

He lives the gimmick most would say. But to him, he’s nothing but his true self. One of the most intriguing and polarizing stars in all of pro wrestling as we speak. This man is born for greatness in this industry. So let’s take a look at his not-so-modest but outright meteoric rise into prominence. Let’s not be “nerds” and dive right in.

MJF recalled that his earliest memory of watching wrestling was seeing “The Big Red Machine” Kane on a random SmackDown episode. He would turn to his uncle who was a fan himself to find out what he was watching. His uncle would just exclaim it was wrestling. From there on out, young Maxwell was hooked. He wanted nothing more but to consume the product as much as he can. As soon as he was done watching that SmackDown episode, he would run to his dad and ask if he could rent out pro wrestling shows from Hollywood Video.

He would proceed to rent out a show that, according to him had a scary man on it, which intrigued him. That scary man was none other than “The Phenom” himself, the legendary Undertaker. The first match he ever saw in full was the Hell In A Cell Match at the 1998 King of the Ring between Mankind and “The Deadman.” It was his introduction to wrestling and for a kid, it was quite the first match.

MJF would go down a Youtube rabbit hole to watch the WWE product of the late ’90s to early 2000s. In that search, he stumbled upon a man wearing a kilt. This man was running his mouth and he remembered that everybody hated him. Friedman himself hated this man but was intrigued as well so he kept on watching. The man turned out to be “Hot Rod” himself, the late great Roddy Piper. MJF was enamored with Piper and he became MJF’s idol and the man who he would emulate everything after as far as wrestling was concerned.

Upon discovering Roddy Piper, young Maxwell would dive even deeper into old-school wrestling and fell in love with it. MJF stated that from the year 1992 downward, he watched older generations of wrestling. He would watch promotions such as World Class Championship Wrestling, Smoky Mountain Wrestling, Mid-South Wrestling, and, Georgia Championship Wrestling to name a few. There he discovered the likes of Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, and “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert which he patterned himself after citing as inspirations and idols on his way to becoming a professional wrestler. MJF loved the old-school style because it produced such memorable larger-than-life icons. He loved the glitz and glamour of it all and gravitated towards a more traditional approach in his path to the wrestling profession.

As his fascination and eagerness grew, he would attend the 2002 edition of Survivor Series in Madison Square Garden. There he witnessed the first-ever Elimination Chamber Match seeing “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels triumphant in capturing the World Heavyweight Championship being adored by the thousands in attendance. This was the exact moment he wanted to do this for life; he wanted to be a professional wrestler.

Maxwell would stray away from the path early on, as he was a dominant football player back in his day. He would be recruited by Ivy League schools offering a full ride to play for their football program. MJF’s heart was set on only one thing: to become the greatest professional wrestler ever to walk Earth. After a week at Hartwick College, he quit and started to execute on the way to his lifelong dream. Starting his training at the age of 19, MJF would attend the Create A Pro Wrestling Academy in Hicksville, New York in the year 2015. It was there he learned the tools of the trade from Curt Hawkins and Pat Buck.

Professional wrestling came easy to him, as he stated. MJF was ahead of everybody else even though he just started. Three months into his training, he would have his first match. This was a tag team match with Bear Bronson against two recruits who, shortly thereafter, quit wrestling training altogether. MJF was riding a high unlikely any other and nothing could ever stop him from reaching the peak of the mountain. Fun fact: MJF even sent in a tryout video for WWE’s Tough Enough competition.

Saying the sky is the limit for Maxwell Jacob Friedman is an understatement.

No one in recent memory has achieved this much in so very little time. The man is a megastar in the making if he isn’t already. The ceiling is so high that it’s unreachable for most. If MJF has anything to say about it, though, he will push the ceiling higher and higher in his quest for excellence. Future WWE Champion? Without a doubt. Hall of Famer and legend? At his age and pace, neither is out of the realm of possibility. If there’s one thing to take away from all this, it’s that MJF is better and will be better than you for many years to come and you know it.

Maxwell has become a thorn in the side for every superstar on the WWE roster, which should come as no surprise to anybody who knows him. He's gone as far as to make Jay White's life as miserable as possible at every opportunity that he can. His quest to do so led him to new allies in the forming of something of a partnership between Matt Cardona, Chelsea Green and himself. All of them hoping to do whatever is best for business in regards to what Triple H and Stephanie McMahon need by eliminating any issues that may arise at a moment's notice.