Alex Hammerstone discusses working with MJF.
These days, Hammerstone and MJF are the two top stars in their respective companies; Hammerstone is the reigning MLW World Heavyweight Champion, and Friedman reigns supreme as the AEW World Champion. But in 2019, the two were still making a name for themselves in MLW, and they formed The Dynasty alongside Richard Holliday.
During the trio’s time together, MJF and Holliday won the MLW World Tag Team Championship, and Hammerstone captured the National Openweight Championship. MJF eventually left the company and continued his rise to superstardom in AEW, while Hammerstone went on to become the face of MLW.
In an interview with Scott Fishman of SEScoops, Hammerstone looked back on his days working with MJF in The Dynasty.
“With The Dynasty, we started to realize all three of [us] are breakout stars,” Hammerstone said. “We let our guards down in that sense. We enjoyed working together. I learned so much from both guys.”
The MLW star continued by describing how he thinks MJF is surrounded by people who are trying to get something from him, given his popularity, but he made it clear that The Dynasty wasn’t like that. He also noted that “The Salt of the Earth” was very generous with them.
“How sick of that would you get to be surrounded by people who are trying to get something from you,” Hammerstone said. “For The Dynasty, there was none of that. We weren’t trying to get a rub off Max. We were just working together and enjoying ourselves. He was very generous with us in a lot of ways because he had no fear of being undercut.
Hammerstone went on to state that MJF knew he would succeed as an individual, but he also wanted to help those around him. He noted that while the MJF character isn’t just a persona, there’s more to the real Maxwell Friedman than people realize.
“He knew he was going to be successful, so to sit there and help us,” Hammerstone said. “Max and I had a singles match in MLW. To this day it’s one of my favorite matches. There was no part of him that went into that match trying to make it the MJF show. It was very much an entertaining match that elevated both of us. There is a lot more to Max than most people realize. That being said, the MJF character isn’t just a character. That’s Max for you.”
The full interview is available here:
Hammerstone will defend the MLW World Heavyweight Champnship against Jacob Fatu on the March 21 episode of MLW Underground. WrestleZone will have coverage of the show as it airs on Tuesday.
