Costco Boys’ AJ Befumo Joins AEW, TikTok Star

Andrew Befumo Jr. and his son Eric, better known as AJ and Big Justice, have taken over the internet after coming out of Costco stores. To Evening show in less than a year thanks to their clever TikTok tricks. The Befumos blew up after posting a video at Costco of them eating chicken casserole and two-piece chocolate chip cookies while wandering around the store.

The video was such a success that they created their own cinematic universe, with constantly changing characters such as Befumo’s wife and daughter, and a third grader named Rizzler. But AJ Befumo has been prepared for this moment his whole life thanks to his background as an independent wrestler in New Jersey.

After graduating from high school, Befumo attended Seton Hall and competed in local Jersey Shore promotions such as Phoenix Championship Wrestling in the early 2000s. He became friends with many prominent professional wrestlers such as Hollywood Nova and Blue Meanie. Befumo even teamed up with Philadelphia’s legendary Blue World Order wrestling stable for a Hollywood Nova retirement match.

“Wrestling has incredible storytelling and an incredible way of engaging an audience and connecting with them one-on-one,” Befumo told The Inquirer. “There is nothing better than walking out the curtain in a professional wrestling match. You just really feel that connection with the audience, and the same thing happens with social media.

“When we make videos and we see in the comments, ‘AJ, Big Justice, we can’t wait for your videos to come out every day because they make us so happy!’ You just really feel that connection and know that it’s up to you to bring happiness every day.”

Befumo always took pieces of his wrestling image with him. He has catchphrases like “Bring the Boom” with their own physical moves, and he uses the same tempo in all of his videos.

“What you see now on TikTok and social media and all of this, his wrestling personality and his personality has probably increased, I would say, about two or three times,” said Befumo’s friend and longtime promoter Donald Bucci. “But his wrestling personality exaggerated him, maybe double or triple his real personality. He is family first. He’s probably the most generous and kind-hearted, truly kind-hearted person I’ve ever met.”

Befumo has made a few in-ring appearances in recent years at one-off retirement shows for friends, but he has never had a real send-off. Now he will get it. On November 23rd in Newark, New Jersey, Befumo will perform as “Big BOOM!” AJ” at All-Elite Wrestling (AEW), by far the most important stage of his wrestling career.

“He always regretted not being able to play any really important matches,” Bucci said. “No one is entitled to anything in this world, but it’s nice to finish a chapter in his own book on his own terms… This is a chance for him to show his son, more than anything else, what Dad did and how much it meant to him.”

Dawn of the American Powerchild Eric Justice

Befumo grew up during Hulk Hogan’s heyday in WWE and was captivated by the spectacle and competitiveness of professional wrestling. So when Iron Mike Sharp opened a pro wrestling school near his hometown of Colts Neck, New Jersey, Befumo immediately knew he wanted to go there and become a pro wrestler.

While in school, Befumo met Donald Bucci, who would later become his promoter, and his brother Mike Bucci, better known as Hollywood Nova, at the Blue World Order wrestling stable in Philadelphia.

“When I was growing up, if my hero lost, I couldn’t sleep. So I told myself: I’m not going to do this to children.

AJ Befumo

“(Befumo) was a very nice guy when he first started,” Donald Bucci told The Inquirer. “His name was actually Tundra, Strong Child of the Arctic. Where he was from the Arctic, he made something frozen, icy, and it was a little weird and weird.”

He went back to the drawing board to develop his new persona, American Eric Justice, inspired by Bruce Springsteen. If that name sounds familiar, it might be because Befumo’s son, known as “Big Justice” on TikTok, was named Eric Justice after the character. Befumo’s wife didn’t want to call him Andrew Befumo Jr., so Befumo jokingly suggested Eric Justice and they did.

As American superkid Eric Justice, Befumo was still a kid.

“Andrew can’t be the bad guy,” Bucci said. “It’s simply impossible. He just has a magnetic personality and charisma. As soon as he comes out from behind the curtain, everyone wants to cheer for him.”

He focused his actions on becoming a hard-working, all-American guy from New Jersey. In the early 2000s, the popularity of hardcore wrestling such as Philly’s Extreme Championship Wrestling, to which the Blue World Order belonged, grew rapidly, but Befumo continued to perform in the family circle.

“When I was growing up, if my hero lost, I couldn’t sleep,” Befumo said. “So I told myself: I’m not going to do this to children. I’m going to be the guy who sends the kids home happy. I always wanted to be something very heroic.”

“His positivity is contagious.”

Befumo has competed in a number of New Jersey independent promotions. After each match, he greeted the children from the audience in the ring.

“I remember at the end of the show so many people were walking around with him being 8-10,” Bucci said. “At wrestling shows, a lot of talent sells photos of themselves. Most of the time he was so nice that if the kids couldn’t afford it, he’d just give them a photo.”

He remained close with his friends from Iron Mike Sharpe’s wrestling school, including Bucci and the Haas Brothers.

One of the most special performances of Befumo’s career was the Russell Haas Memorial Team Tournament, dedicated to Russ Haas, who died of a heart attack at age 27 in 2001. Russ and his brother Charlie were a popular tag team in New Jersey and competed with Phoenix Championship Wrestling, the Bucci brothers’ wrestling promotion, and they visited Seton Hall with Befumo.

Befumo also teamed up with Blue World Order for Mike Bucci’s retirement show, collaborating with Bucci and Brian Heffron from South Philadelphia aka Blue Meanieto set up a six-man match. As a longtime friend of Bucci’s, Befumo was the perfect replacement for Michael Manne, better known as BWO’s Stevie Richards, who was unable to attend.

“His positivity is contagious,” Heffron said. “He listened. He was thoughtful. He perfectly executed everything we had in mind and added a lot to the match. When we stood there at the end of the night with our hands up, it was a really cool moment because the crowd was happy, we were happy, and most importantly, my friend Nova, who was retiring with his last match, had a great last match. Andrew contributed to this with his positivity and willingness to do whatever he needed to do.”

This was one of the first matches that Befumo’s son, Eric, was able to attend, and one of Befumo’s fondest memories was evil dance with Blue Villain and Eric in the ring.

Return to the ring with AEW

In Befumo’s last match as an independent wrestler, he passed the torch to a young wrestler competing in his first professional match as the American Bulldog. That wrestler, Michael Quellari, now better known as QT Marshall, is the current VP of Showcase and Creative Coordination at AEW, who will be in Philadelphia on Saturday for the AEW Collision event at the Liacouras Center.

After this show, Cuellari and Befumo continued to communicate. In his role with AEW, Quellari is always looking for innovative ways to get people talking about wrestling. He wasn’t interested in collaborating with a random influencer, but when Befumo’s TikTok career began to take off, Quellari began thinking about ways to get him back in the ring.

But Befumo wasn’t sure if he was ready to return to the game.

“He went to (AEW) All Out and said, ‘Yeah, I don’t belong in this ring,’” Quellari told The Inquirer. “I know a lot of fans, most of them don’t even know he was a wrestler, right? But he is a wrestler and has great respect for professional wrestling. I decided it was easy. Okay, he’s a wrestler, he’s going to use this little fame he got from TikTok to become a wrestler again, but no. He wanted to stay away from it, but I just couldn’t believe it. Luckily, I’m a good salesman.”

Befumo eventually agreed to sign the contract, in part because Quellari agreed to return to the AEW ring for the first time in over a year to be on the same team as him. But Quellari, AEW’s infamous Nightmare Family villain, knew he couldn’t team up with Befumo, the “ultimate babyface.” So instead, he turned the tables on Befumo and will face him in the ring.

Now Befumo welcomes a new character into the ring – Big BOOM! AJ, inspired by his TikTok character where he and his son Eric rate things on a BOOM-o-meter and rate food with the words “BOOM!” or “DUM!” His signature move, a variation of the powerbomb he called the “Justice Bomb” under the name of American superkid Eric Justice, is now called the “Power BOOM”.

But other than that, little has changed.

“I still think Big BOOM! AJ is someone people can turn to, someone people can believe in, someone who can fight for those who can’t fight for themselves,” Befumo said. “He’s a slightly happier, boisterous character than the more structured and heroic Powerchild Eric Justice.

“But Big BOOM! AJ and American Eric Justice are fighting for the same thing – for happiness and peace in the world.”

In a couple of weeks, Big BOOM! AJ will be able to continue this fight at least one more time.