In a recent op-ed with The Players Tribune, MJF discussed the importance of AEW in the wrestling industry and addressed the criticisms about Tony Khan’s company.
You can check out some highlights from the op-ed below:
On the importance of AEW in the industry “There’s a reason that “workers rights” get brought up so often in conversations around AEW: It’s because we have a lot goddamn more of them now. This sh*t isn’t rocket science. Competition = bad for management, good for labor. There used to be one major American wrestling company, now there’s two. That f*cking matters. It matters for the wrestlers who work here, since we all have jobs that literally didn’t exist five years ago. But it also matters for the wrestlers who don’t work here. For everyone in WWE, AEW means not having to work in monopoly conditions. It means more options, which means more leverage, which means more money. (And I’ll take a wild guess and say better treatment.) And for wrestlers outside those two companies, AEW matters not just because it exists, but because of how it exists. Listen … if you google me, I think it says I’m 5’11” — but we all know that’s horsesh*t. I’m like 5’8″, guys. And this is a place where, simply put, a 5’8″ Jew can be world champ. If you know wrestling history then you know that’s a big deal and why.”
On criticism about AEW: “So while I welcome anyone being critical of AEW (God knows I am)….. if you’re actually actively rooting against us? Against us EXISTING? Guess what, you’re the f*cking worst. You’re rooting against workers. And that’s the truth. Because out of all the incredible things that AEW has done over these last five years, #1 with a bullet is “put MJF on TV.” But #2 is “make the wrestling industry just a little bit better to work in.”
On Tony Khan: “Yeah he’s my boss, yeah he’s a billionaire’s son, no one wants to hear about him, I’ll be brief. 1. Most billionaires’ sons, as I understand it, are rude idiots who watch Netflix all day on mountains of drugs while siphoning money from Mommy and Daddy. Tony isn’t that. So on a baseline level I guess I respect him for being a nice guy who gives a sh*t and loves this sport. 2. Tony honors contracts. If you think that’s a low bar, cool. Welcome to wrestling.”
On Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks: “I always hear how “polarizing” they are and my response is thank f*ck. Literally every performer worth caring about is polarizing. Every athlete who I’d buy a ticket to watch, every artist who doesn’t put me to sleep. I can probably count all the genuinely punk rock moments in recent wrestling history on two hands. And those dudes betting on themselves and winning is one of them.”
On Chris Jericho: “It’s really fun to sh*t on him, I know. (Trust me, I do it all the time.) But people have the weirdest, shortest memories when it comes to who he is and what he represents. Like: I respect Tony and the EVPs a lot. (See above.) But if AEW at the start had just been those guys, plus a ragtag group of indie wrestlers with zero TV exposure (myself included)?? Sorry…… but no. We would have been dead in the water. Chris gave us a legitimacy that people take so f*cking for granted now it’s insane. And he didn’t just make AEW feel legit — he also made AEW’s world title feel legit. Which might seem like the same thing but it’s different. (It’s harder.) And let’s be clear: Chris also gave legitimacy to MJF. I mean, when he decided to deal with me for a YEAR?? I was already doing well, of course, but his buy-in cemented me. To our fans, to my bosses, to myself. It was like, Yeah, go ahead and get invested in this MJF guy. He’s for real. He’s worth a year of CHRIS JERICHO’s time. I assure you I’m forgetting no one when I say: Chris was the biggest star AEW had at its inception, and most likely still is (besides me, duh).”
On Jon Moxley: “The thing you have to understand with Mox is that he chose AEW. Maybe that sounds obvious, but it’s not. It’s hard to explain. It’s like people have these weird emotional scars about wrestling, from so many years of there being only one game in town. Where it’s like..… Ok. You wrestled classics in Ring of Honor? You were a top guy on the indies? You sold out arenas in Mexico? You were (literally) “big in Japan”? Cool…… have you ever said “Welcome to Monday Night Raw,” though?? I just think there’s a segment of fans who would always assume, no matter what, that WWE was Plan A. But Jon took a f*cking sledgehammer to that assumption. He was part of WWE’s Plan A. He headlined there for half a decade. Was their world champ, was in their biggest stable, drew money, drew ratings, moved assloads of merch. And in the absolute prime of his career he said, Thanks for the memories, thanks for the gigantic offer. But I’mma try this other thing over here. That’s the sh*t a lot of guys will TALK about doing. Jon is the one guy who actually went out and did it. Dude has my infinite respect.”
MJF will defend the AEW World Championship against Samoa Joe later tonight at the AEW Worlds End 2023 pay-per-view event.
