MJF wins AEW World title for third time, pins Allin at Double or Nothing

MJF wins AEW World title for third time, pins Allin at Double or Nothing

Maxwell Jacob Friedman captured the AEW World Championship for the third time on Sunday, May 25, 2026, defeating Darby Allin with an avalanche Tombstone Piledriver at Double or Nothing in Queens, New York. The victory also meant Friedman, 30, kept his hair – the stipulation he had agreed to put on the line in exchange for the title shot.

The match was contested under a hair-versus-title stipulation, with Friedman putting his hair at stake for the opportunity to reclaim the championship he had lost to Allin more than a month earlier. Wrestling legend Mick Foley, appearing with AEW for the first time, confronted Friedman before the event began, adding further tension to the evening. The bout escalated outside the ring, with Allin absorbing an apron powerbomb and a package piledriver on the steel steps before the action spilled onto the entrance ramp. Allin climbed the arena scaffolding and leapt onto Friedman through a table in a sequence ring announcer Justin Roberts had previewed by describing Allin as reckless during his ring introduction. Allin emerged bleeding from the back of his head and was unable to convert a subsequent Coffin Drop or a Scorpion Death Lock submission attempt before Friedman sealed the win.

The three-time championship places Friedman in company with a select group of performers who have held a major world title on three or more occasions before turning 31. Allin was carried out of the arena on a stretcher following the match, only for TNT Champion Kevin Knight to deliver an unprovoked UFO Splash on the incapacitated former champion, an act that appeared to signal a significant shift in Knight’s alignment.

Knight’s actions are expected to be addressed on AEW Dynamite on Wednesday. Friedman, meanwhile, begins his third reign as AEW World Champion with questions surrounding Allin’s condition and the broader consequences of Knight’s turn still unresolved.