MJF explained why he’s grateful he got to face Kenny Omega on AEW Collision.
On the October 25th episode of Dynamite, AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman was confronted by Kenny Omega, who declared he wanted a shot at the prestigious prize. Friedman agreed to face Omega on the October 28th episode of Collision, just days before he was set to break Omega’s record as longest-reigning AEW World Champion in history.
The bout between the two men was heavily praised, and in the end, Friedman was able to retain his championship. With his victory over Omega on that night, MJF did indeed cement his name in the history books as longest-reigning champion, and Omega himself even admitted that the AEW Title was in the right hands.
“That Is The Best Match In Collision History” – MJF
Speaking in a recent interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Friedman spoke about how his Collision match with Omega came about because he wanted to prove he’s the best.
“I want to be the best AEW champion. The only other person that came up in my mind was Kenny Omega. Here I was coming up on his reign, so I decided I needed to start needling this f—— guy. I needed to prove I am the most complete world champion in the history of AEW. Kenny is the best bout machine. Jon Moxley is this incredible brawler. Chris Jericho is an incredible linguist. All these guys are superb at a lot of things. But I can do it all. I can make you feel any feeling I want you to feel.”
Continuing, MJF explained why he wanted to face Omega on television instead of building to a match on pay-per-view.
“I wanted a match with Kenny Omega, the best in the world in a pay-per-view main event–but on free television because I’m salt of the earth. That is the best match in Collision history, and it’s one of the best matches in AEW history. It was a really big deal for the company, and it really felt like the handing of the baton of who the top dog, bell-to-bell is in AEW. I couldn’t be more grateful that Kenny gave me that opportunity.”
Elsewhere in the interview, MJF explained why he wasn’t confident about turning babyface in AEW.
The AEW World Champion is set to defend his title against Jay White at Full Gear on November 18th.