Maxwell Jacob Friedman was suspended from the AEW program for a while after his AEW win Everything outand we heard that he would be “gone for a while.” The time off was rumored to be for a film role, and the role he apparently landed definitely seems like something Tony Khan would give his longest-reigning world champion a break for.

Deadline reports that MJF has been cast in the upcoming sequel to Adam Sandler’s popular 1996 comedy Happy Gilmoreabout a floundering hockey player (and man-child, of course) who takes the professional golf world by storm to save his grandmother from eviction.

Have fun with Gilmore 2 comes to us from the same place that all Sandman projects do these days: Netflix. Sandler will of course star in the title role. He also wrote the screenplay with his frequent collaborator Tim Herlihy. Kyle Newacheck, who directed another Sandler/Netflix film not long ago (Murder Mystery 2019 with Jennifer Aniston) is a director. The original’s director, Dennis Dugan, is executive producing the sequel.

Alongside Sandler, Christopher McDonald will return as Happy’s legendary nemesis Shooter McGavin. Julie Bowen also returns as love interest Virginia Venit. At some point, WWE star Bad Bunny recently joined the cast, and Travis Kelce is set to make a cameo appearance (good luck to the late, great Bob Barker). Margaret Qualley also has a “tiny role.”

The Hollywood press is tight-lipped about the plot, but at least one wrestling media outlet – PWInsider – has the scoop on Friedman’s role, which reveals a lot. Insider’s Mike Johnson says MJF will be “Gordie,” one of Happy Gilmore’s sons.

We are told that the Gilmore sons are all “tough, crazy bastards with New England accents who inherited their father’s love of hockey.” They all live alone and work as laborers.” We are told that the script of the Film’s plan is for the sons to appear at different ages throughout the film, and for the film to be shot in New Jersey through November.

MJF was cast as Lance Von Erich last year The Iron Clawbut most of the reel ended up on the cutting room floor. However, Max was credited as executive producer for the A24 flick.

We’ll see how much screen time MJF gets and when Have fun with Gilmore 2 joins in Raw on Netflix in 2025 or 2026.