Maxwell Jacob Friedman says AEW used by some to return to WWE
maxwell jacob friedman said some former AEW talent treated the company like a detour back to WWE, not a destination. The All Elite Wrestling star made the remark on The Ariel Helwani Show as AEW heads into Double or Nothing in New York with the event already sold out days before bell time.
Helwani Show remarks
“I attribute that to there's no longer people in the locker room that look at my company as a stepping stone,” Friedman said. “They look at it as a legitimate company.” He said that shift has changed the atmosphere around him at work, where he no longer has to wonder whether the person across from him wants to be there.
“And we had a lot of guys... I shouldn't say a lot of guys, but we had some guys that came in and they were like, I'm gonna show up and be top guy, and go back to Vince,” he said. That is the sharper edge of the story: AEW is not just dealing with wins and losses on screen, but with roster intent behind the curtain.
AEW locker room shift
Friedman said the current group is “night and day” from how it used to be, and he tied that to the locker room being “the best it's ever been” after weeding out people who did not want to stay. He also said the company is healthier in 2026, with a deeper main event scene than at any point in its run.
He pointed to names at the top, saying, “No one's nearly as good as Hangman or Swerve or Kenny or Ospreay and Samoa Joe.” That kind of depth matters because AEW can now sell a show like Double or Nothing around multiple main-event level acts instead of leaning on one or two.
Double or Nothing sellout
Double or Nothing in New York is headlined by Friedman and Darby Allin for the AEW World Championship, and the pay-per-view was sold out days before the event. For AEW, the sellout and the roster comments land in the same stretch of 2026, when the company is being described as resurging in popularity.
Friedman’s point is blunt: if the locker room no longer includes wrestlers treating AEW as a launchpad back to WWE, the company can book around commitment instead of turnover. That is the cleaner read on his comments, and it fits the way AEW is presenting itself heading into a sold-out championship main event.
