For Long Island wrestling fans, AEW show in Louis
Armstrong Stadium is the main event
By Joshua Needelman
joshua.needelman@newsday.com
Updated May 24, 2026 9:07 pm
When Josh and Matt Danishefsky were growing up in
Massapequa, they had to hide their professional wrestling
fandom.
"Our mom tried to ban it from us," Josh Danishefsky, 34,
said in an interview. "It didn't work."
No longer do the brothers have to hide. They were among the
more than 14,000 fans packed into Louis Armstrong Stadium in
Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens on Sunday for All
Elite Wrestling's "Double or Nothing" pay-per-view event.
Many of the Long Islanders in attendance said they were
drawn to AEW, the second-biggest wrestling company in the
world after WWE, in part because of the wrestler MJF, a
Plainview native who proudly champions his roots.
MJF — Maxwell Jacob Friedman — a "heel," or bad guy, often
cheekily refers to Long Island as the "most magical place on
Earth."
"That's the essence of loving Long Island," Pete Cahill, 34,
of Mastic, said in an interview. "You are being a little
sarcastic, but you do love it that much. Because he's from
Long Island, he captures that perfectly. ... Everybody knows
a MJF."
MJF, 30, was scheduled to wrestle AEW men's world champion
Darby Allin in the main event Sunday night.
Cahill and his friend Ryan Jones, 33, of Coram, drove to
Port Washington, where they hopped onto the Long Island Rail
Road to get to the show. They said they paid $35 for their
tickets — a stark difference from WWE ticket prices, which
have become more expensive in recent months, shutting some
fans out from attending shows.
"While WWE is feeling less and less accessible, I feel like
that's the biggest draw of AEW," Jones said. "You can't get
in the building in WWE for less than $100."
Josh Danishefsky said he also had been turned off by WWE's
ticket prices. He said he and his brother had considered
buying tickets for WWE's "Saturday Night's Main Event" at
Madison Square Garden but balked at the entry fee.
"WWE is just out of control," he said. "It makes a big
difference in feeling like you can actually be part of the
[AEW] product."
Mick Foley, a WWE Hall of Famer who grew up in East
Setauket, made his AEW debut Sunday, as a co-host of the
pre-show. Kris Statlander, a 30-year-old performer from West
Islip, was set to challenge for the AEW Women's World
Championship.
But the AEW performer who elicited the most anticipation
from the Long Islanders in attendance was MJF. Nicholas
Maguire, 12, wore a shirt that read "MJF Did Nothing Wrong"
along with a Burberry scarf — an MJF trademark. Nicholas and
his parents drove in from Massapequa for the event Sunday —
his first AEW show.
"He thinks in a way that ensures that he has the most
success for him as possible," Nicholas said of MJF. "He's an
old-fashioned heel."
