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Count MJF among the stars of the wrestling industry who believe there’s too much “us against them” mentality among the fandom at times.
Ahead of AEW Worlds End, where he’ll defend the AEW World Championship against Samoa Joe in what should be the main event, MJF published a piece called “I Have Some Things to Say, Please Read” on The Players’ Tribune. He spent part of it discussing his current uncertainty, both with his health (as he’s been battling injuries) and because in his words, “I know there’s some MJF fatigue.”
A lot more of it, however, is devoted to gratitude: to AEW for giving him a chance to become a star, and also just the fact that the company exists at all.
One thing MJF clearly doesn’t have time for is people rooting against AEW to the point that they wish it would go out of business.
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–king 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.’
MJF isn’t the first person to make this point, and as AEW’s top champion, he’s got some unavoidable bias. That said, it’s hard to argue against it. WWE is and likely always will be the top wrestling company in the world. Having a strong No. 2 like AEW has been for the last five years not only ensures WWE has to stay on top of its game (and there’s no question it has drifted in the past when it has no challengers), it also ensures wrestler salaries stay high since there’s a chance someone else will bid against them for talent — not to mention it simply increases the number of good-paying wrestling jobs overall.
That should be something that everyone gets behind, though it seems some people out there have not received the memo. Kudos to MJF for doing what he can to spread the correct sentiment.
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