Maxwell Jacob Friedman recently returned to AEW programming, and he soon declared himself to be the promotion’s real world champion.
In fact, MJF became enraged with announcer Justin Roberts on this week’s Dynamite when he wasn’t billed as “The One True Champion.” He went so far as to choke Roberts before a match that saw him beat Speedball Bailey and Nick Wayne to earn the number two spot in the Casino Gauntlet match at All In.
Along with this new angle, MJF’s latest monicker got a lot of talk on social
media, especially after some fans took to using the acronym of “OTC” for the AEW star.
Of course, WWE has its own OTC in the form of “Original Tribal Chief” Roman Reigns, and the internet wrestling community soon began comparing MJF with the Bloodline leader.
MJF wasn’t having it, though, and he quickly demanded that people not refer to him as OTC.
“Never acronym the one true champion,” he wrote in the comments of an X (Twitter) user who referred to Friedman as “THE OTC OF PRO WRESTLING.”
When another fan on X created “OTC” merchandise for MJF with an image that showed similar-looking WWE apparel for Reigns, MJF again sprung into action on his keyboard.
“Literally fake. F*** off,” he wrote in response to the faux merch.
Thus far, Reigns has not responded to the comparisons. However, some fans have also suggested MJF is emulating another current WWE star.
In 2023, CM Punk created a similar angle during his time in AEW for the launch of Collision, which saw Punk calling himself the real world champ while carrying around his old AEW world title.
“Damn MJF is so bored he’s rehashing a gimmick CM Punk did better,” one person wrote on X.
“MJF knows CM Punk did the same thing. That’s what makes it brilliant,” another X post read. “MJF knows how to get heat and he wants the smoke. Cry harder.”
What do you think, Cagesiders? Who is the OTC of wrestling? Let us know in the comments.
