Social media users often debate topics on a variety of subjects, especially in pro wrestling. They pit one viewpoint against another, and one of the most popular topics is which pro wrestling company is better: WWE or AEW? Fans continuously argue about why one is superior to the other, creating an endless debate.
Given how many pro wrestlers are on some form of social media, they have caught onto it, including MJF, who will headline AEW All in on Sunday against Adam Cole for the AEW World Championship.
In a Town Hall interview with Busted Open’s Dave LaGreca, MJF addressed the tribalism between WWE and AEW fans online. He said that while fans may be pitting companies against each other, wrestlers are all rooting for everyone to succeed (h/t Fightful for transcription).
“I call it emotional puppeteering. I definitely feel I’m the best, but I’m not gonna sit here and pretend I’m the only one. There’s this weird thing going on now in professional wrestling where I’ll see fans online, the way they communicate with each other, it’s like all-out war. Just so you guys know, that’s not what’s going on with the wrestlers. We’re all rooting each other on because realistically, the better the two companies are doing, the more money we’re gonna make. So stop arguing. We’re all freaking having a blast. I’m watching LA Knight and Cody Rhodes every week, and I’m having a blast, just like I know everybody else is having a blast, just like I know that there are fans out there watching Better Than You Bay-Bay having a blast every single week. There’s so much great professional wrestling going on, and there’s more than enough room for it, clearly. Because AEW is about to have the biggest crowd, this is not hyperbole, the biggest crowd ever in the history of the sport, and I’m headlining it. When I think about that, it’s so insane to me.”
MJF is calling on fans to celebrate the fact that pro wrestling is arguably hotter than ever, with AEW set to put on a show at Wembley Stadium and WWE touting the number of tickets sold for WrestleMania 40 in 2024. Instead of debating which company is doing better, he wants fans to realize that everyone is having fun.
He isn’t alone in his views, either. As the guest this week on Wrestling Junkie’s Under the Ring podcast with host Phil Strum, Cole noted that he has “a lot of friends at WWE, and I love when WWE does awesome.”
None of this will happen overnight, and the fan debate may never disappear on social media. However, the wrestlers realize the conversation is happening and clearly don’t share the same sentiment.