If the engine behaved like that pulling the maf, it was using it to measure load, which suggests it's fine. If you unplug the maf and nothing happens, the ECU is not using it and basing load measurement from the throttle instead.....which is not ideal, but it works. Try pulling the battery for 30 mins which will force the ECU to recheck and relearn all of the sensor inputs.
Needs to be 30 mins minimum because if it's less than that, sometimes the driver's side door module won't work. Which will need another 30 minute battery pull! Weird I know, but these cars are quirky like that.