In an interview with Ariel Helwani, MJF talked about a number of topics including the success of AEW and those who have, in his view, used the company as a stepping stone before leaving for WWE.
Stating the company’s locker room has an “embarrassment of riches,” the former World Champion hyped up the quality of the talents involved with the company and their performances:
We have, bar none, the best wrestling on television. It’s not even close. Sorry. WWE has incredible wreslters, they’re putting on great matches. TNA has great wrestlers and are putting on great matches. NXT has great wrestlers putting on great matches. I can look at this camera and say, point blank, I feel we put on the best matches. It’s not just a tagline, ‘Where the best wrestle,’ it’s a fact. It’s gotten to the point where, because of the black eyes that were created in the past, it was ‘AEW bad’ for a while just because.
There was a reason to say ‘AEW bad’ because some bulls–t was happening. In 2026, there is nothing to say. We’re putting on great show after great show. We’re up in houses year over year in most territories. PPV buyrates are up. I’m about to be in the main event of the second biggest grossing domestic PPV in the history of our company.
Citing AEW’s ability to take younger talent and mix them with legends of the business, MJF added:
We are showcasing young and hungry talent now, and they feel like top guys now, not projects. That’s kind of what makes us the alternative as well. Don’t get me wrong, we also have incredible guys that have created the fabric of pro wrestling fandom as we know it. We’ve done an incredible job of blending to two. We feel really special and distinct.
When asked why the locker room is in such good shape at the moment, MJF said:
I attribute that to the fact that there are no longer people in the locker room who look at my company as a stepping stone; they look at it as a legitimate company. We had a lot of guys, I shouldn’t say a lot, but we had some guys that came in and they were like, ‘I’m going to show up, be top guy, and go back to Vince.’ Really, motherf–ker, you’re going to leapfrog me? […] Not going to happen on my watch, and it didn’t.
No one is nearly as good as me, Hangman, Swerve, Kenny, Ospreay, Samoa Joe. A lot of guys came in and thought they could “brother brother” themselves to the top and it didn’t happen. We no longer have that in the locker room, and it’s a breath of fresh air. I no longer have to look at anyone in the eye and think to myself, ‘This guy doesn’t want to be here.’ Everyone in my locker room wants to be here. People had to get weeded out.
When asked for names, MJF cited Aleister (Malakai) Black as “the biggest offender,” looking back on the run he had from 2021 to 2025:
I don’t know the guy on a personal level. Do I think he’s a bad guy? No. Do I think he was a mark for ‘Oh, I need my Mania moment.’ Yeah. There were a couple of guys like that, and they got weeded out. They went over there and some found out the grass isn’t greener. Perhaps, for them, the grass was greener.
The majority of guys that were like, ‘I’m going to use AEW to go to WWE or back to WWE,’ you’re going to see a lot of those guys get asked for a 50% pay cut or get released. It’s unfortunate because if you show up to our company and work hard, there is no need to burn bridges. I’m not sh–ting on him, I’m simply telling you what I was told by the majority of the locker room about this specific individual.
MJF will challenge Darby Allin for the AEW World Championship at Double Or Nothing, emanating from Louis Armstrong Stadium in Flushing, New York on Sunday, May 24.
Source: Fightful