MJF And The Dynasty: The Wrestling Faction Who Deserved More
AEW has beautifully set up and foreshadowed a reunion of a short-lived faction, potentially retconning the failure of one of the promotion’s most inspired ideas. However, from a storyline, character, history, and dynamics standpoint, MJF doesn’t need The Pinnacle; he needs The Dynasty.
Full disclosure: I will completely fanboy/shill for the trio of Maxwell Jacob Friedman, Richard Holliday and Alex Hammerstone shortly. The Dynasty made me feel “the feeling” outside of AEW. The laughs and enjoyment I gained from their short-lived skits, layered jokes, and characterisation reminded me of Being the Elite. These centrepieces of Major League Wrestling (MLW) felt then, and in their exploits since, like future legends. So, please have apologies ready if you are unfamiliar with their game-
Opps…
*-Sits up straight and tries to regain professionalism.
Let’s first explore why MJF needs his boys rather than FTR.
Correcting History
MJF and FTR are in peak form as heels. Compared to the first time as a united trio, there’s a stronger alignment of characters and goals.
On paper, their collective old-school wrestling faction, The Pinnacle, seemed to have modern-day Four Horsemen potential. An inspired collection of individuals. You could (and I did) fantasy book an incredible range of options for The Pinnacle.
However, there were issues of timing and apparent personality clashes. Dax Harwood, on his podcast, said that one member thought he was bigger than the group. Even now, that’s always going to be an issue because the whole idea then and now of MJF having a stable is to serve his interests and goals. Thus, it made Tully Blanchard and FTR surplus.
History repeated itself with MJF trying to join The Hurt Syndicate. MJF’s motivations were obvious, just like those of The Pinnacle. MJF, as a performer, is a genius at showing new layers of arrested development and insecurity. However, repeating history with FTR could be short-sighted again.
FTR split from Adam Copeland because they felt Cope was selfish and keeping them away from the AEW World Tag Team Championship. Yes, at Forbidden Door, it might be FTR beat The Hurt Syndicate, with MJF’s help, establishing them as equals. An agreement of I scratch your back, you scratch mine.
The trio and Big Stoke could make it work. However, MJF, as incredible as his character has been in AEW, lacks one thing from his MLW run. Something MJF in AEW carves… true acceptance.
Breathing Rarefied Air
It’s 2019, MLW is building momentum with a roster led by future WWE and AEW stalwarts. Jacob Fatu is MLW’s World Heavyweight Champion, and MJF is the company’s former Middleweight Champion, vacating the belt due to injury.
Returning to reclaim his championship against Teddy Hart, MJF loses. In typical MJF fashion, he does not take the loss well. Post-match, MJF attacks Hart with the help of a relative newcomer, Richard Holiday.
6 foot 3, athletic and photogenic, this Connecticut native carries himself with the assurance of a man who believes he is unstoppable. In wrestling, incredible wrestlers and athletes on TV are the standard. What makes Holliday stand out is how his character is instantly recognisable and real.
Without saying a word, you know Richard Holliday is not just playing an entitled, egotistical, wealthy elite. Richard Holliday is elite. In MLW, Holliday entered the ring with AirPods in his ear to Shirley Bassey’s Diamonds are Forever, crafting the distinct impression that this man is self-involved and all about business. You feel lucky to breathe the Rarefied Air with “the most marketable” wrestler.
It's more than a gimmick. Holliday uses his bachelor’s degree in marketing in every aspect of wrestling. Recently, Holliday turned the common low blow into his signature move. There’s no wasted space or time with Holliday, just efficiency and precision, which I discovered by asking his questions in 2023.
Able to make you laugh or hate him, Holliday has a deadness behind his eyes that reflects his Patrick Bateman/American Psycho inspiration. Something that could make Holliday an excellent foil to MJF’s emotionally driven nature.
Your Boy Hammer
A month after MJF and Holliday formed The Dynasty, a pair of generational athletes born into privilege, the third man and missing piece of the puzzle helped them deliver a beatdown to the Hart Dynasty. Chiselled and hulking specimen, Alexander Hammerstone, like Wardlow, was too good to be a bodyguard. This beefy former bodybuilder resembled a throwback to the 80s. With a body like Lex Luger and a tan like Hulk Hogan, “84 at best”, Hammerstone offers more than a body.
That Hogan '84 quip was Hammerstone’s. A line that, when delivered, made me fall in love with the meathead jock character during a Fyre Fest-themed spoof episode of MLW Fusion. Self-aware, genuine, and able to pivot from comic to serious and menacing with ease.
Becoming MLW’s first Openweight Champion and later MLW World Champion, Hammerstone became the standard-bearer for MLW. MLW knew how to emphasize wrestlers’ strengths. Elsewhere, I’ve discussed the Hammerstone formula. Hammerstone can hit his impressive and often awe-inspiring Nightmare Pendulum on men double his size and weight. On the indies, a brief spell in TNA and one-off match in NXT, Hammerstone never lets fans down.
The multi-talented wrestler and guitarist has range as a dominating heel and against-the-odds face. When paired with Holliday and MJF, despite the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic and MJF’s move to AEW, the trio made magic.
Lifestyles of the Rich and Dynastic
Unlike other variations of factions who leaned into playing privileged elites, hyper-masculine men who become babies when they don’t get their way, and bro-culture meatheads, The Dynasty individually and collectively had depth. Distinct personalities that meshed into something relatable, beyond stereotypes.
Hammerstone, brawn and humour, intense but loyal. MJF, cocky and ruthless with an undercurrent of darkness and vulnerability. Holliday, never out of control in the ring or business, with support from his lawyer/father on call. Except when it came to interacting with Alicia Atout, where Holliday would show ass and obliviousness, and hubris.
Their segments together were concise, clear, and made the most of their limitations. From Holliday consoling MJF on the phone after a botched Botox injection, hamming it up in the Caribbean, and Hammerstone being willing to give away Holliday’s fortune for spam.
There were also other members. Initially, MJF’s valet Aria Blake. A heavy in Grogan (now Mads Krugger) and later Gino Medina. However, the cult appeal of the central trio is best summed up by Holliday:
“This is my diagnosis of The Dynasty. We were like a rock band that released an LP and was never put on a huge platform for a long time. We released one LP, one album, whatever you want to call it, and it was a massive hit and people just want more and more and more. We never released album after album after album like these long-tenured factions that you see. People still listen to the music. They’re still listening and they’re like, ‘we want another album of this.” Richard Holliday, interview with Fightful, Transcript from 411mania.
Reunion?
Watch back MJF’s MLW promos and skits you will see more than material lifted and used in some of his most memorable AEW moments. The insecurity was there, but so was a support system that allowed The Salt of the Earth to hide in plain sight.
Support is something MJF, the character, has been struggling to find and hold on to throughout his run. It was what made the relationship with Adam Cole special. A desire for friendship. Even if with The Dynasty, it was superficial, shallow, and based on similarities and shared goals, it gave MJF something he has lacked since.
There is history. There is chemistry. There’s new ground. Yet at the same time, MJF as the character remains in place. Unlike with FTR, the concept that MJF would create an entourage of “friends” who achieved nothing without him and owe him for their spotlight feeds MJF’s ego.
It could create a different dynamic and a stronger long-term story. Unlike FTR, Hammerstone and Holliday, being new and fresher could play the auxiliary human shields and stepping blocks for opponents, whilst making the most of those minutes. Building credibility and fan connection despite losses and showing ass. Eventually, ending how it always does for MJF, a man who can’t cope with others…
Over the last year, MJF, Hammerstone, and Holliday have teased fans on social media with reunions. Recently, when MJF returned to MLW, a brief backstage interaction between MJF and Hammerstone showed their kayfabe friendship remains.
So, you’re telling me there’s a chance?
Being brutally honest with myself, this idea might be greater than the execution, like the Pinnacle the first time. A guy can fantasty book and still enjoy being wrong. It would be nice if Holliday and Hammerstone could get their flowers on a bigger stage. To see the band back together and record that album.