Update on MJF's AEW Status Following World Title Loss

What are AEW's plans for former three-time World Champion MJF heading into Redemption?

Last week on the Dynamite: Beach Break special, Kenny Omega defeated MJF to win the AEW World Championship for a second time. This match was originally planned to take place at Redemption, but it's being reported that Friedman pushed to move it up.

MJF suffered a hyper-extension knee injury in his match against RUSH on the June 3 episode of Dynamite. Despite the injury, Friedman continued to appear on AEW programming and worked through the injury. But now that he's no longer the champion, it appears the Salt of the Earth might be getting some time off over the next several weeks.

MJF might be off AEW programming for a period of time

Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select is reporting that when asking sources within AEW about plans for MJF at the Redemption pay-per-view later this month, it was indicated to him that MJF might be off AEW programming for a period of time.

Sapp stressed that while this isn't 100% confirmed, it was certainly noted that MJF would be off TV heading into Redemption. Despite that, these same sources tell Sapp that they expect Friedman to be factored into All In: London next month. However, the specific nature of his involvement is unknown.

It seems the match between MJF and Kenny Omega getting moved up might have been due to Friedman wanting to get off the road to heal up from his knee injury, but that also isn't confirmed.

Kenny Omega MJF AEW — Kenny Omega and MJF | Ricky Havlik - All Elite Wrestling

What will Kenny Omega do at AEW Redemption without MJF?

After dropping the AEW World Championship last week, fans immediately speculated that Omega and MJF might run the match back at Redemption. However, with this new information, that doesn't appear to be the case.

Sean Ross Sapp also reported this week that AEW plans to give current TNT Champion Kevin Knight a bigger push in the coming weeks. Knight has made it clear on TV in recent weeks that he is looking for his shot at the AEW World Championship.

With Omega not currently having an opponent at the pay-per-view, it certainly isn't out of the realm of possibility that Kevin Knight will be stepping up into the main event scene to challenge Omega for the AEW World Championship. Will it happen? We'll find out soon enough.

👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 https://t.co/UCDS8Oc6TJ
— Kevin Knight ケビン・ナイト (@Jet2Flyy) July 9, 2026

AEW Redemption will take place on Sunday, July 26, at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

Add us as a preferred source on Google