Maxwell Jacob Friedman protected his head of hair and recaptured the AEW World Title at Double or Nothing 2026. Interestingly, The Devil witnessed a fan-favorite turn to the dark side in a shocking post-match angle at the end of the pay-per-view.

Last month at Dynamite: Spring BreakThru, Darby Allin squashed MJF in a massive upset to become the new AEW Men’s World Champion. Since then, the self-proclaimed “generational talent” has been obsessed with reclaiming his prized “Triple B”, and repeatedly demanded a rematch for the belt from his long-time rival. The latter, however, refused all of Friedman’s offers for a World Championship bout, stating that he would grant him a rematch only if he agreed to put his hair on the line in return.

Despite his initial reservations, MJF eventually agreed to Darby’s stipulation for AEW Double or Nothing. Their PPV bout started off hot, with Allin immediately attempting to pin Friedman- the latter turned the tables, however, by dodging the World Champion’s dive and then rattling him with an apron powerbomb. MJF tried to maintain his dominance over Darby, but the daredevil fought back valiantly, although he was once again incapacitated by a missed apron Coffin Drop, after which he destroyed his opponent with a package piledriver on the ringside steps.

However, Allin landed a low-blow on Friedman when the referee’s back was turned, and the matchup continued with both stars countering every move the other dished out. At a key point during the bout, The Wolf of Wrestling pulled a cameraman in the way of Darby’s dive, taking out both. He then carried the AEW World Champion and sat him down on a chair on the entrance ramp to try and shave his hair. Allin thwarted Friedman’s efforts, however, choking his challenger out with a guillotine hold.

He then set MJF up on a table and hit him with a Coffin Drop from the top of the entrance stage scaffolding- however, nothing could keep Friedman down for the count. Afterwards, Allin tried submitting Friedman with the Scorpion Death Lock, but once again passed out due to the exhaustion of his recent punishing schedule. His weariness opened the door for Big Hebrew to deliver an avalanche tombstone on Darby and pin him to regain the World Title.

Post-match, Friedman was looking to humiliate Darby by celebrating his victory standing over his foe as the latter was recovering on a stretcher. However, Kevin Knight arrived to chase him off, only to then shockingly hit Allin with a UFO splash on the stretcher, seemingly turning heel.

What this means for the future of the TNT Champion and his relationship with his tag partner Speedball Mike Bailey remains to be seen.

Match results for AEW Double or Nothing

All Elite Wrestling hosted this year’s iteration of Double or Nothing in the Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, New York. The event featured a star-studded card comprising of a number of high-stakes matches, the results of which have been listed out below:

• Christian Cage and Adam Copeland defeated FTR (c) [World Tag Team Title “I Quit” Match]
• Konosuke Takeshita defeated Kazuchika Okada (c) [International Title Match]
• Athena defeated Mina Shirakawa [Women’s Owen Hart Cup Quarterfinal Match]
• Jon Moxley (c) defeated Kyle O’Reilly [Continental Title Match with no time limits]
• Will Ospreay defeated Samoa Joe [Men’s Owen Hart Quarterfinal Match]
• Swerve Strickland defeated Bandido [Men’s Owen Hart Quarterfinal Match]
• Thekla (c) defeated Kris Statlander, Hikaru Shida and Jamie Hayter [AEW Women’s World Title 4-Way Match]
• Chris Jericho, The Hurt Syndicate and The Elite defeated The Demand, The Dogs, Mark Davis and Andrade El Idolo [Stadium Stampede Match]
• MJF defeated Darby Allin (c) [AEW Men’s World Championship Title vs Hair Match]

It remains to be seen what Tony Khan has planned next for fans enroute to Forbidden Door 2026.