MJF on balancing AEW and acting, Adam Sandler friendship
On Dynamite last night, MJF made his return to AEW programming after spending some time away to film a movie role.
MJF went on hiatus in September to film “Violent Night 2,” a Christmas-themed action comedy that will be released in December 2026. He’s stepping right back into the AEW World Championship picture upon his return, with it being announced that MJF will challenge for the title at Worlds End 2025. The December 27 pay-per-view will see Samoa Joe defend the AEW World Championship against Swerve Strickland, Hangman Page, and MJF in a four-way match.
MJF spoke with Fightful before returning and discussed balancing pro wrestling with his burgeoning acting career. He’s happy to pursue these ambitions simultaneously because of how much he loves them both.
“I love wrestling as much as I love acting,” MJF said. “In some ways they go hand in hand, in other ways they don’t at all. But if you’re passionate about what you do and you believe in yourself, no matter how grueling a schedule is, you’ll make it work.”
MJF previously featured in “Happy Gilmore 2” as one of the Gilmore boys. He told Fightful that Adam Sandler is still someone that he keeps in contact with.
“I FaceTimed with him literally a week ago. He’s basically my dad, it’s pretty wild. And he’s the nicest guy you’ll ever meet in the world,” MJF said.
“He’s definitely a wrestling fan, but that’s not how I landed on his radar. What had happened was, I got an audition. And when I got the audition, I got the audition to play one of the evil golfers. And I filmed for the part, and my audition fell on Sandler’s lap. This what he told me after the fact — and he watched it and went, ‘Holy sh*t, this kid’s f*cking hilarious.’ And then somebody on his team smartened him up that I’m me. And he was like, ‘Oh, well let’s try him out to be one of my sons.’ And then I did a secondary audition round, and I got the part. So that’s what happened. He thought I was entertaining, and then later on found out that I’m one of the biggest names in the entire industry.”
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.