In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, MJF shared his experience working with Adam Cole and their contribution to the pro wrestling industry in the lead-up to AEW All In 2023.
MJF and Cole will team up against ROH World Tag Team Champions Aussie Open on the “Zero One” pre-show. Later, Cole will challenge MJF for the AEW World Championship in the main event of All In 2023.
You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On how he’s learned from Cole during their work together: “I could talk all day about Adam Cole. He’s made me a better person and a better wrestler, and makes me think about this sport on a different level. That breeds competition because we both want to be the best. But what I can say that Cole can’t is that AEW is my television exposure. I wasn’t on NXT or Raw or SmackDown. No one knew who the hell I was. I had to get myself over, and that’s exactly what I did.”
On how he views his standing in the wrestling industry: “To quote the greatest of all-time, at least outside of myself, ‘Just so when you people think you have the answers, MJF changes the questions.’ This is my life. It means everything to me. I live it, I breathe it. It’s my soul. That’s why, at the tender age of 27, I’m a millionaire, I’m a top name in the industry, and I’m about to literally become the biggest headliner in the history of this sport. That’s not hyperbole. I’m going to main-event in front of the largest crowd in the history of pro wrestling. If that doesn’t make your spine tingle as a professional wrestler, I don’t know what does. I got here not just because of my God-given talent, but because of my hard work. When you go back in the annals of pro wrestling, if you think about the guys in their 20s, you knew certain guys were going to be great. They weren’t fully ready, and you know who I’m talking about, but we went with it because we saw the potential. There is no one in the history of this sport that, at 27, has been this good. I’m the best in the squared circle and I’m the best on the microphone. Name someone else in this sport, anybody else. I grab your f**king attention more than they do. I’m proud of that, especially because no doors were open for me. They were locked with cement bricks in front of them, and I had to run through them. That’s the difference between me and everybody else in this sport today.”
On the legacy he plans to establish at All In 2023: “A win in Wembley makes me undeniably legendary. A win at Wembley puts me in the same breath and vein as some of the greatest ever in this sport. That’s my ultimate goal, and that’s what I’m going to achieve on August 27.”
