MJF’s commitment to his character is well-known, and he has found himself a big fan in EC3.
The Control Your Narrative founder recently spoke with Fightful to discuss his appreciation for the AEW World Champion’s work.
You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
How MJF lives his gimmick: “What I feel bad about is, when I was coming up as EC3, you know, the low-brained ignorance of people, saying you’re just copying [Ted] DiBiase, and then you’re just copying Alberto del Rio. I’m like, there are only so many times you can do a rich guy [gimmick]. We’re all rich. I’m way different than the Million Dollar Man. I’m way different than getting past that criticism. It wasn’t hard, but I could see it affecting people.
“When he [MJF] came up, they would say you’re just a bootleg EC3. He’s not, he never was. He was his own man and he was his own talent, and he’s very, very exceptional at it. What I do enjoy is the commitment to kayfabe per se. He lives like a real dick, he probably is a real dick. If you went to an EC3 seminar, you’re probably a total dick bag. It’s very, very difficult when the fans want to cheer you, and they are cheering you, and you can get them to turn back on you. I saw him do that a couple of times, where I’m like that’s impressive, because it’s very easy to fall into the, ‘well the fans are reacting this way, we should just roll with it.’ I like the commitment to being an antagonist. I commend it a lot. I think he’s doing some great work.”
How MJF was elevated by feuding with CM Punk: “My one fear for him, and it’s not really a fear, I just didn’t know who could elevate him. Because before he became champion, he was kind of always in the same boat. I think he needed somebody to bring something out of him that was different before he could become the top guy and maybe I missed because I don’t watch a ton of him. Maybe it was Punk. You’re absolutely right, I did not know that. Punk is somebody that’s been everywhere and at the top levels of WWE, and like the intricacies and depth of storytelling that people are obsessed with, like MJF, Punk, and myself, are to bring that out of him. Bring him to the next level. I’m glad that happened, because I thought that was the one missing piece. So now this is just one more guy left that can really f** him up.”
