You don't have to see Maxwell Jacob Friedman wrestle to know he's a star. All you have to do is listen to him tell you why, at just 23, he's one of the biggest stars in All Elite Wrestling.

You don't have to see Maxwell Jacob Friedman wrestle to know he's a star.

All you have to do is listen to him tell you why, at just 23, he's one of the biggest stars in All Elite Wrestling.

With a catchphrase like "I'm better than you, and you know it," it's easy for fans to boo MJF, but he says they're doing it for the wrong reasons, and a lot of it has to do with what he did to Cody Rhodes at the Full Gear pay per view in November.

Rhodes was battling Chris Jericho for the AEW World Championship when MJF, who was in Rhodes' corner, threw in the towel to stop the match while Rhodes was in a submission move. When Rhodes confronted MJF about why, MJF's answer was to give him a kick to the groin.

MJF not only cost Rhodes the match, but he also made sure, thanks to a prior stipulation, that Rhodes would never be AEW champion.

"It upsets me that people boo me, because they're booing for the wrong reasons," MJF said recently by phone. "I want them to boo me for the right reasons. Cody is a sociopathic monster. He's been on a blood rage since AEW started by trying to make himself the face of AEW. I saved them from a Ghengis Khan, and I gave them a face everybody could love."

All of this is leading up to the next AEW pay per view, Revolution on Feb. 29, where the two will have a match, but only if Rhodes can get through a series of stipulations.

So how does one become so good and yet stay so humble at such a young age?

MJF easily explained that he was just born this way.

"This is 110 percent me," he said. "What I like to tell the fans that say 'you're such a good bad guy,' is that no gimmick is necessary. This isn't a gimmick. I've been MJF since the day I popped out of my mom's womb."

A naturally gifted athlete, a young MJF was wowed by wrestling when he was a youngster. He had his dad drive him to a local video store and he got several DVDs that night and began studying.

He watched all the great heels, and molded his own personality from theirs.

"The people wrestling fans didn't like, I loved," he said. "Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, Buddy Landel, and especially Roddy Piper. My biggest inspiration would be the Hot Rod."

Eventually, after eschewing a four-year football scholarship, MJF found his way to Create A Pro Wrestling Academy, where he learned the ropes from current WWE star Curt Hawkins and WWE backstage producer Pat Buck.

MJF spent three months training before he had his first match at 19. Just four years later, he's a household name to wrestling fans across the globe.

"I love Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley ... but my name pops up more than them," he said. "What I'm capable of doing is grabbing you by your face through the TV set and pulling you in. You're not going to be able to stop watching me. That's called having 'it,' and I've got 'IT' in spades."

MJF knows he rubs people the wrong way, and he doesn't care.

He takes pride in being treated like the heels of old. The ones who had to sneak out of the building surrounded by security to prevent them from being assaulted by overzealous fans.

MJF has had his share of run-ins with those kind of fans as well, because he's not afraid to speak his mind, no matter what might happen.

"If there's a line that people make, I hop over it as far as I can," he said. "No one can tell me how to do my job. I've had people jump guardrails, try to stab me, throw (urine) on me, throw batteries. All that means is I'm being myself. The issue isn't me, it's everybody else."

MJF's abrasive style brings to mind what was going on with Bubba Ray Dudley (now Bully Ray in Ring of Honor) when he was in ECW.

When Bubba Ray Dudley hit the ring, he dared fans to jump the rails. He wasn't scared to get in fans' faces to try to provoke them into doing something that would get them kicked out, or even nearly start a riot.

It's no surprise that MJF keeps in touch with Bully Ray, and he feels it's that kind of advice that's going to lead to an even better MJF in 2020.

"Bubba will contact me to give me his thoughts," MJF said. "There are some vets out there, that are like old dogs. They want to be fed treats to feel important. Then there are vets that are out there that can benefit you. I want to use them, and then when they die I will not care, and I'm going to make sure the business is in good hands.

"I came into the company as a relative unknown to being one of the most talked about wrestlers on the planet, that's unheard of. Much sooner rather than later, put all your chips on it, MJF is going to be AEW world champion."

Reach Ray Beasock at ray.beasock@theledger.com or 863-802-7553. Follow Ray on Twitter: @itsBEASOCK ... You can follow MJF on Twitter also: @The_MJF