MJF got a little local publicity from his home state of New York and Friedman, along with his parents gave some intriguing insight on his upbringing in the city of Plainview.
Newsday‘s Josh Stewart did a background piece on All Elite Wrestling’s “Salt of The Earth,” who came out victorious against his former friend Cody Rhodes at AEW Revolution on Saturday and MJF’s father Steven had an interesting yarn to spin about his son’s attitude all the way back before his teenage days.
“Max would perpetually just come to dinner with no shirt on, just shorts,” his dad, Steven Friedman, said. “And I said, ‘Enough’s enough, kid, you gotta go put some clothes on.’ And he leaves the room, and we’re still here at the table, the four of us, and he’s probably 11 or 12 years old. And he comes back to dinner with nothing [on] but a sock …”
“And that’s Max. He’s a jerk, but he’s funny. He garners attention. And I spit my food out all over the table.”
From playdates as a kid to his time on the high school gridiron, Max’s parents have plenty of stories that Stewart shares in the piece of him always being the MJF smart-ass fans (and media) are used to seeing up close and personal. MJF recalls the frustrating and concerning time when he dropped out of college to pursue pro wrestling.
“My dad just stares at me, and goes, “What the [expletive] are you doing here?” Friedman recalls. “To which my response was, ‘Hey, I knew I wasn’t supposed to be there. I know what I want to be.’ My dad looked at me and said, ‘What do you want to be?’ I said I want to be a pro wrestler.’”
He exhaled, looked down at the ground for a solid three minutes straight, looked up at me and said, ‘Well, if you’re going to do it you’re going to do it right, and you’re not allowed to quit and if you do quit you’re not allowed to live here.’ And he went to bed.”
His parents wound up deciding to give Max the same four years they gave Alex and Carlee for college to try to make it in the wrestling business. They’re glad they did.
You can read the entire piece by going here, which includes stories from his mother, sister, Jim Ross and his football coach as they all cite the conceitedness of Maxwell Jacob Friedman.
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