MJF Says Fake Pilot Tried to Abduct Him After AEW Show

MJF says a man pretending to be a pilot tried to abduct him after an AEW show—and the story sounds straight out of a movie.

While speaking on The Adam Friedland Show, the AEW World Champion revealed that a man pretending to be a pilot approached him at an event and tried to convince him he was being flown home—only for things to unravel in a way that quickly turned serious.

MJF explained that the man approached him confidently, presenting himself as a pilot sent to fly him home, which didn’t immediately raise red flags given MJF’s prior experiences traveling privately.

“A pilot walks up to me and he goes, ‘Mr. Friedman, I’m gonna be flying you back home after the show’s proceedings.’”

At the time, MJF believed it could be legitimate, especially because his boss, Tony Khan, was aware of a family emergency involving his father. That context made the story feel believable—at least initially.

“Which, to be fair, I’ve flown on the jet a couple of times with my boss up to that point anyway. So I find my boss after this pilot says this to me—I knock on his door, he opens the door, he goes, ‘Max!’ I say, ‘That’s me.”

He then approached Khan to thank him—only to realize something was very wrong when Khan had no idea what he was talking about. That’s when the situation flipped. Khan immediately denied arranging anything, making it clear the supposed pilot wasn’t legitimate.

“I go, ‘I want you to know how much this means to me—the fact that you’re trying to fly me back home to my dad as soon as possible after he had a heart attack,’ because my boss Tony did know. He goes, ‘What the fuck are you talking about?’ I go, ‘The pilot told—’ He goes, ‘I didn’t f****** book you a jet to go back home tonight.’”

At that point, MJF returned with AEW executive QT Marshall to confront the man directly and get answers about who sent him. The explanation didn’t hold up, and things escalated quickly once security got involved. Before removing the man, they gave him one last chance to prove he was legitimate.

“So now I go back over with one of the EVPs of the company, QT Marshall. And QT goes, ‘And who is he saying hired you again?’ He goes, ‘Tony Khan.’ And QT goes—before the guy leaves—‘Wait a minute, we’ll let you stay if you show us your pilot’s license.’”

That’s where the story completely fell apart. From there, security detained the man, and according to MJF, the situation became even more disturbing once they questioned him.

“And the guy—I s*** you not—does this: ‘Ahhh, I left it at home!’ Oh, get the f*** outta here. So then they f***** throw the guy in the brig.”

He also noted that it’s still unclear how the individual managed to get backstage in the first place, suggesting it may have been an issue with building security rather than AEW’s internal team.

"How did he get access? We still don’t know how he got backstage. To be fair, your security team has changed since then, and it probably was the building security, not even AEW security’s fault."

The Salt of the Earth then revealed the most shocking detail of the entire incident—what the man admitted he was planning to do: “But they asked this guy, ‘What were you planning on doing?’ And he was honest—he said he was going to f***** abduct me. An adult man.”

This incident puts a completely different focus on backstage security. What started as a strange interaction quickly turned into something far more serious—and according to MJF, it’s still a mystery how it was even possible.

Do you think incidents like this show a bigger issue with event security, or was this just a one-off situation that slipped through the cracks? Drop your thoughts below and let us know.

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