MJF Merchandise No Longer Available (Mostly) On Shop AEW

Former AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman hasn't been seen since the Worlds End PPV when his historic title reign ended at the hands of Samoa Joe, and now, you can't even give AEW money to express your support for "Our Scumbag." It's unclear exactly when it happened, but the majority of MJF's merchandise is currently unavailable for purchase on ShopAEW.com.

While Shop AEW purging MJF's name might seem ominous on the surface, the likelihood that AEW is attempting to swerve fans with this move is exceptionally high. For one thing, searching MJF's name on Shop AEW leads not to a simple "your search returned no results" message (with perhaps a list of "did you mean" options and related search terms), which is what happens in searches for wrestlers who don't work for the company. Instead, viewers are treated to a large and somewhat dramatic "Error 404: Page Not Found" message that doesn't look particularly genuine. Furthermore, while this message appears on most individual MJF merchandise pages, two pieces of MJF merch — his "Kangaroo Kick" shirt and an art print of him lying fallen before the Undisputed Kingdom at Worlds End — are still available as of this writing.

MJF has barely even been mentioned by name on AEW programming in the last three months. It was widely reported that he was dealing with injuries that might or might not require surgery, and he was removed from AEW's roster page on January 1. In Friday's edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer wrote that "[MJF] is out of action as his shoulder injury was significant. Aside from that, he is literally being as secretive as possible about his situation."

If MJF's merch removal is indeed meant as a red herring, it could be a sign that he's headed back to the active roster sooner rather than later, but as of now, that remains speculation. Either way, the move will doubtless fuel suspicion that MJF is in the process of carrying out his longstanding on-camera threat to leave AEW in 2024.