Swerve Strickland on His First Impression of MJF: ‘All I Remember was His Hunger’

A showdown between Swerve Strickland and MJF is inevitable

AEW world champ Swerve Strickland is focused on his world title bout against Bryan Danielson in two weeks at Wembley Stadium.

Down the line, however, he knows what is coming. And that is an inevitable showdown against Maxwell J. Friedman.

Swerve and MJF have yet to wrestle one another in AEW, but they share a lengthy history. They first met on the indies a decade ago when MJF was only 18, and the early interactions were memorable.

“All I remember about him was his hunger,” said Strickland, who defeated Tomohiro Ishii last night on Collision. “He wasn’t afraid. That’s what set him apart–he didn’t have that fear of going wherever he needed to be to get better.

“Max wanted to be around great competition. Even when he was young, he always put himself around top talent and he wanted to test himself in hard conditions. That’s how he got so good at such a young age.”

Tomohiro Ishii steps up to #AEW World Champion @SwerveConfident’s Open Challenge! | 8/10/24, #AEWCollision

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— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) August 11, 2024

Strickland has a match against Wheeler Yuta this Wednesday on Dynamite. MJF is in the middle of a compelling program with Will Ospreay. Yet it is only a matter of time before the two collide.

“I don’t think Max has anything left to prove,” said Strickland. “That’s how good he is. But he’ll never tell himself that or allow himself to believe that. He’ll always keep working.”