[anyclip-media thumbnail=”https://cdn5.anyclip.com/5a1VpowBqIp756j0vfCL/1703597756145_248x140_thumbnail.jpg” playlistId=”undefined” content=”PHNjcmlwdCBzcmM9Imh0dHBzOi8vcGxheWVyLnBvcHRvay5jb20vYW55Y2xpcC13aWRnZXQvbHJlLXdpZGdldC9wcm9kL3YxL3NyYy9scmUuanMiIGRhdGEtYXI9IjE2OjkiIGRhdGEtcGxpZD0iZ3ZxdGN2dHFuNTN1ZTRram9hM3RrbnRrZ2IzZ21xMm0iIHB1Ym5hbWU9IjE5OTgiIHdpZGdldG5hbWU9IjAwMTZNMDAwMDJVMEIxa1FBRl9NODMzMCI+Cjwvc2NyaXB0Pg==”][/anyclip-media]
The most intriguing thing about pro wrestling is that even when you’re pretty sure something is the case, there’s often a small chance it isn’t. Case in point: the contract status of AEW World Champion MJF.
MJF has done plenty to make us uncertain. Throughout his time as one of AEW’s top heels, he bragged about the “bidding war of 2024” while insisting that his deal with the company expired after this year and that he’d happily consider a move to WWE. Once he turned face as champion, that talk died down somewhat, but he revived it recently by suggesting he’d be a free agent on Jan. 1, though he preferred to stay.
The common sense take on the whole situation is that it was all part of the show. MJF has been the centerpiece of most of what AEW has done in 2023, first in his super popular bromance with Adam Cole, then with the long-running (some would say too long) mystery of the Devil after Cole went down to injury.
Surely, Tony Khan would never pin so much of what the promotion was doing on a guy who might not even be around come January.
And yet …
Here we are, just a day away from AEW Worlds End, where MJF is set to defend his championship in his hometown of Long Island against Samoa Joe, and he’s published a lengthy article on The Players’ Tribune that raises the same questions about him even more.
Most of the article is a love letter to AEW, expressing gratitude for establishing a viable alternative to WWE, opening up more jobs for wrestlers and becoming a place where a 5-foot-8 guy without much experience could become a world champion. MJF gives props to Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks and Chris Jericho, among others, for making the company what it is today.
At the same time, it also very much sounds like a man potentially saying farewell. Early on, MJF says this:
I’m wrestling Samoa Joe for the world title on Saturday night, and I have no idea what’s going to happen after that. You’ll probably hear some stories about me over the next few days, about my contract, about the injuries I’ve been dealing with, about the condition my body is in, about who knows what else. I’m sure it’ll all leak. That’s fine.
He circles back to that tone toward the end of the piece as well:
I know our fans are a little tired of this run I’ve been on. And for the first time since this company started, I know there’s some MJF fatigue. Which is fine, by the way — no one stays hot forever.
Right now, though, as I’m writing this? It’s Wednesday morning. It’s three days before Worlds End.
It’s five days from five years of MJF in AEW.
And I don’t know what comes next.
The guess here is that it’s all still cover. MJF is legitimately battling through injuries and may need time off to recover. AEW certainly isn’t as hot as it was a year ago at this time, so there’s every possibility that Khan believes that discussion about MJF’s contract status — like we’re doing right now — is good simply because it keeps people talking about AEW.
Perhaps Khan and MJF have an agreement on a new deal that just hasn’t been signed yet so he can say he’s technically been telling the truth all along.
But because this is wrestling we’re talking about, where things that seem impossible happen on an annual basis (as with CM Punk getting fired by AEW and showing up back in WWE a few months later), we can’t completely count out the craziest scenario, which is that MJF is going to be a free agent soon. On the off chance that happens, The Players’ Tribune piece will be looked back on as his goodbye letter to the company that helped make him a star.
And if it’s not, it’s still a very compelling “’til we meet again” chronicle. Well played, champ.
[lawrence-related id=42045]