During the latest episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet, current AEW World Champion MJF spoke on WWE’s interest in him, Cody Rhodes, how wrestling is now compared to when he grew up and the promo he had with Jeff Jarrett
On the bidding war when his AEW contract was coming to and end and how much interest there was from WWE?
“You know the answer, there was a lot. I had some nice calls with some nice folks who are high up on the chain, and they were interested in me. They’re still very much so interested in me, and I understand why. But for all my faults, one thing I am not is unprofessional. If you put a contract in front of me with the right amount of money, I’m going to do this. I’m going to broadcast how important those three letters are. Those three letters are just as important as these, because you’re paying me to say that. Now, do I believe it’s true? You’ll never know, and that’s the beauty of it. No matter what promotion I’m working for, I’m going to shamelessly shill what’s going on. Now, can I look in the camera and say I really do believe everything I’ve said prior to this? Yes I can, but they’ll never know.”
On how he thinks wrestling in now compared to when he grew up
“Listen, I think you’re always going to look at things with rose colored glasses. For example, I loved CM Punk growing up, and now if he was dying in front of me, I’d do nothing but laugh. So the things that you loved as a child are not going to be things that you love now, I think the style of professional wrestling has changed immensely, but that happens after every decade. At one point in time, they thought Harley Race was like a clown. They were like this guy wrestles like a buffoon. Why is he doing all of these things? This is dumb. If somebody wrestled like Harley Race today, people would be like, this is tame. What’s going on? Why is this plodding and slow? Whereas I love Harley Race matches. Don’t get me wrong. I like CM Punk matches too. I just think he’s a piece of sh*t. So the sport evolves, much like how football, the way they run plays now, and the way a defense has to check audibles and the way a free safety is now utilized as opposed to the way they were in the 80s and the 90s, it’s an entirely different game. Basketball is played differently. It’s a three-point game now. When I was growing up, people were going hard in the paint. You look at a guy like Shaq, for example, that was before my time, but you look at a guy like Shaq, for example, like the Magic dominated. I think if you put that exact team with him and Penny [Hardaway] now I don’t know how they do because it’s a three-point game. The game’s changed. The way the game works has changed. I’m a raging traditionalist. I approach my opponents in a very old school manner to get the W. I’m not looking to be flashy. If something flashy happens, it’s because I see an opening to take my opponent out in a unique way. But outside of that, I’ll pull your hair, I’ll bite your face, I’ll scratch your eyes, I’ll do whatever I have to do to win. And I think that’s been lost a little bit on my generation.”
If he still keeps in touch with Cody Rhodes
“Absolutely. Look, I’m not sitting here without Cody Rhodes. Cody Rhodes booked me for All In, which got me in front of Tony Khan, which got me signed to a contract. Like Punk, I hope whatever he’s doing, he’s happy right now. I mean, you would think he would be.”
Circling back to WWE: Which promotion was he close to signing with – WWE or AEW?
“Are we referencing when I was in MLW and it was time to make a choice? [Yes] I wouldn’t say I was close. So the version of pro wrestling that I love, now it does [exist], but it didn’t exist. The only option I had was WWE, until I got older and I heard about Ring of Honor and I heard about PWG and Evolve and so on and so forth. When I talked to Tony Khan for the first time, we were on the phone together for two hours, two hours with a kid who was 22 turning 23 and all we did was discuss the territories and our love of territory professional wrestling. It was a no-brainer for me. I know I would have been successful if I went over there. I know I’d be successful if I go over there now, that’s why they’re still interested in me. I respect what they’re doing. I respect their product. I know that they respect our product because about a million times they’ve tried to counterprogram us, slash us any way they can, hurt us any way they can, which, by the way, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, that’s smart business. Try to kill me. Try to kill me before I kill you. It’s f—— smart. I’m not going to take that away from them. But I knew I would have a better opportunity, and I would be given more of a leash. Now there’s no leash at all because I’m just stupidly over and I just do whatever the hell I want, but I know I’d be given more of a leash based on the way my now boss was talking about what his vision is for professional wrestling.
I’m already annoyed at Twitter because somebody’s gonna make it seem like I was sh—-on Cody or Punk or WWE when I’ve literally sat here and whatever, it is what it is, that’s the fun of the app. I’ll just go on there and I’ll just probably make it even worse.”
On the promo he had with Jeff Jarrett on Dynamite
“That was hilarious. I’m gonna say when I called my boss a f—- mark, and then we had to cut to a commercial break in the middle of me talking, and they cut my microphone. So I’d say that’s the only time my microphones ever been cut. So I think that’s probably the right answer for the time I crossed the line. Yeah, it’s a pretty good one. Yeah, that’s probably numero uno.”
MJF also talks on Kenny Omega, his dream match, how he landed the role in Happy Gilmore 2, The Iron Claw, getting married and more!
All quotes are courtesy of Insight with Chris Van Vliet.
You can watch the full interview below:
MJF is set to defend the AEW World Championship against Brody King on this Saturday’s Grand Slam Australia special, which will air on a tape delay from the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. The event will air during the normal Collision timeslot of 8:00 pm ET on TNT and HBO Max.