In an unlikely turn of events, it seems AEW has been getting praise from The New York Times. Chris Jericho and MJF’s musical performance during “Le Dinner Debonair” made its way into the list of ”Best Performances Of 2020” of the New York Times.
Here is what the newspaper had to say regarding the segment below:
Some weeks the athleticism at this professional wrestling start-up is more exciting than anything happening in Vince McMahon’s empire. And no one in the WWE has this kid’s combination of diction (Juilliard by way of Long Island), intensity or cheesiness, either. Even when Friedman’s lost his cool (his nom de ring is MJF), he still has astounding control. The character is part heel, part tool (hair gel, loafers, Burberry bling — tacky, tacky, tacky) and part goodfella wannabe; his mouth does more running than he does. For reasons only the producers of this show can explain, a long segment in October between MJF and the veteran Chris Jericho culminated in a version of “Me and My Shadow” complete with dancing women and live singing. It was less than spectacular, though not for anything Friedman did. He wasn’t embarrassed at all. He was smooth in a way that should worry Ric Flair. This kid makes you wanna say, “Woo!”
It was said that MJF was the one who initially came up with the idea of the segment after he watched the movie Rocketman.
This is certainly huge praise that is sure to help AEW gain more mainstream appeal.
