A.J. Befumo is originally from Colts Neck Township, New Jersey, and spent over a decade as an independent pro wrestler under the name "the American Powerchild Eric Justice" from roughly 1994 to 20058. He named his son Eric after the wrestling persona. The family later moved to Boca Raton, Florida5.

A.J. created a TikTok account in 2023 while working as a regional manager for a mortgage business, posting videos as a character called "Mortgage Muscles"5. The videos didn't take off until his son Eric started appearing in them. Their first video together, filmed in December 2023, showed Eric introducing A.J. eating a hamburger5. A video of them shopping for meatballs at Costco in January 2024 was their first to go viral3.

The defining moment came on March 1, 2024, when they posted a video following the "We're X, Of Course We Y" TikTok trend. Big Justice opened with "We're Costco guys! Of course we go shopping while eating a chicken bake!" and A.J. followed with "We're Costco guys! Of course we had to try the new double chunk chocolate cookie!"4. The video pulled in over 20.3 million plays and 2.1 million likes within two weeks4.

The Costco Guys crossed from TikTok into nearly every corner of mainstream media in 2024. Their Tonight Show appearance, while awkward, brought them to a national television audience and generated its own cycle of memes about Jimmy Fallon's discomfort1. Saturday Night Live's parody confirmed their status as a fixture of the cultural conversation5.

The Rizzler's star power led to a partnership with Nintendo to promote Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, placing him alongside celebrity endorsers like Brie Larson and Sabrina Carpenter10. Athletes picked up the "BOOM" gesture, with college football players and LeBron James both doing the dance publicly3.

In professional wrestling, AEW leveraged the family's popularity for multiple pay-per-view events. A.J.'s Full Gear match drew mainstream attention to the promotion, and the family's ongoing AEW presence including a confirmed contract suggests wrestling sees long-term value in the partnership5.

The duo also signed with Barstool Sports for merchandise featuring their signature slogans2. Their content spawned the "We Bring the Boom" song and multiple remixes, with the original track pulling over 14.4 million views on TikTok7.

Vox's analysis positioned the Costco Guys within a broader discussion about media consumption divides, arguing their popularity represented a "straight-bro-coded mediaverse" that some progressive audiences were unaware of heading into the 2024 election7.

The Costco Guys didn't emerge from nothing. A.J. Befumo had been experimenting with online content for years. He started a family YouTube channel called "All Befumo'd Up!" when Eric was about three years old, featuring everyday family activities like cooking and attending movie screenings7. The channel never broke through. His pivot to TikTok in 2023 as "Mortgage Muscles" was equally forgettable. But once Eric jumped in front of the camera, something clicked. Early videos of the pair attending baseball games and reviewing local restaurants using their "boom meter" started pulling hundreds of thousands of views7.

A chance trip to Costco changed everything. The January 2024 meatball shopping video proved that the specific combination of A.J.'s wrestler energy, Big Justice's deadpan kid confidence, and the familiar backdrop of a Costco warehouse was internet gold3. The March 1 "We're Costco Guys" post was the ignition point, but the family had been building an audience for months before that2.

What made the content stick was the duo's weirdly captivating screen presence. Vox's analysis noted their "wide-eyed, unflinching gaze" and "unnatural and stilted" mannerisms, suggesting that even viewers who found the content off-kilter couldn't look away7. In a platform full of polished influencers filming tropical vacations, A.J. and Big Justice treated a trip to Party City like a special occasion7.

The extended Costco Guys universe expanded rapidly through 2024. The Rizzler (Christian Joseph), a kid influencer whose father had been posting videos of him since 2020, became the breakout co-star7. Other regulars included Cousin Angelo, who may or may not actually be related to the Befumos, and Jersey Joe, a TikTok dancer known for Jersey Club music content7. Ashley and Erika launched their own TikTok page, @ashleyandmamajustice, in October 2024, mostly ranking desserts7.

In July 2024, the family dropped "We Bring the Boom," a hip-hop single with lyrics drawn from their TikTok videos. Stereogum's Tom Breihan described it as sounding "like a version of joke-rap as recorded by someone who hasn't heard any actual rap since like 1987" but admitted it was "pretty fun"5. The song hit 14.4 million views and spawned several remixes, including a Christmas edition and one featuring The Rizzler7.

Their mainstream crossover peaked with a Tonight Show appearance alongside The Rizzler. The segment became its own meme when viewers noticed host Jimmy Fallon seemed uncomfortable with the group's boisterous energy. Online reactions pointed out that Fallon, usually the loudest person in the room, appeared "uncharacteristically reserved"1. Fallon's awkwardness only fueled more interest in the duo1. Saturday Night Live later parodied them in a TikTok-focused sketch, with Marcello Hernández playing A.J. and Chloe Fineman as Big Justice5.

The cultural footprint extended into sports and beyond. College football players started doing the "BOOM" dance in end zones, and LeBron James and his son Bronny were spotted doing the same3. The Rizzler landed a promotional partnership with Nintendo for Donkey Kong Country Returns HD10.

A.J.'s wrestling past came full circle in October 2024, when AEW signed him to face Q.T. Marshall at Full Gear on November 23 at the Prudential Center in Newark8. Big Justice served as his cornerman and The Rizzler as special guest timekeeper5. A.J. won the match but broke his foot during training5. He returned at AEW Revolution in March 2025, teaming with Orange Cassidy and Mark Briscoe in a six-man tag5. At a post-event press conference, A.J. confirmed that he, Big Justice, and The Rizzler had all signed AEW contracts5.

Vox framed the Costco Guys as a cultural barometer, with senior politics reporter Christian Paz arguing their popularity signaled something about the media consumption gap between progressive and conservative audiences in the lead-up to the 2024 election7. Others pushed back, noting the family's content is never explicitly political7. The evidence for any political alignment was largely "superficial": they live in Florida, shop at big-box stores, and use American flag imagery in their merch7.