A recent episode of the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast featured AEW World Champion MJF as the guest. One of the topics discussed included MJF’s thoughts about his choices for his top five matches in his wrestling career.
“Bryan Danielson, Iron Man match. CM Punk, dog collar match, I’m gonna throw MJF versus Hangman at Revolution. I believe that was last year. Darby versus me [at] Full Gear, we were the opening match. This is where it gets hard. I will throw in the Mistico match as well. We can do this all day. I can do a top 50 because I’ve had it. But I think those are the ones that, when people think about my career, that’ll come up. The match against Kenny Omega on Collision also.
These things can be swapped and switched. The match against Samoa Joe at Grand Slam was insanity. My match with Adam Cole in front of 82,000 people, we pretty much broke the sound barrier that night. It was absurd. It was the loudest I’ve ever [heard]; my ears hurt. Both of my matches with Will Ospreay. But the difference between me and somebody you ask this question to, I get frustrated naming these matches because I didn’t win all of them. Sure, they were great, and they were entertaining, but I didn’t win all of them, and that p*sses me off. I won a good amount of them, I said, but not all of them.”
MJF also gave his thoughts about his current run as AEW World Champion compared to his first run.
“I was a child. I was immature. I wasn’t ready. I was ready to talk the talk, and at moments, I walked the walk. But I slipped, and I fell, and I had a long cry over it, as opposed to picking myself up, dusting myself off, and going, ‘No, I’m still the best. Nobody’s better than me in the ring; nobody’s better than me blow for blow on the mic, and nobody’s better than me outside of the square—that’s me.’ That’s not just MJF; that’s Max Friedman talking. I’ve been doing this for over a decade now. I’ve been doing it since I was 18 years old. I got signed to my first contract at 19 with MLW. Then I got signed. I had an opportunity to either go to WWE or AEW when I was 22.
I went to All Elite Wrestling, and during this entire time span, I’ve proven over and over again that I’m the most complete professional wrestler in the world. There were three months that thankfully now, when I look back on them, I could laugh. I could not laugh when Adam Cole broke his ankle. I could not laugh when my friend betrayed me. I could not laugh when my left hip and my left shoulder were essentially Jell-O pudding. I could not laugh when people went from talking about me as being the guy to talking about me as being the problem. It took a lot of hard work, a lot of effort, and a lot of shining a mirror up to wrestling fans’ faces and going, ‘Oh sh*t, no, he is everything he said he was.’I’m not going to sit here and tell you that those three months didn’t su*k a bag of donkey di*ks. They did, but I feel what I’ve done now has more than made up for it. What I’ve done for the whole span of my career has more than made up for it. I’m noticing now people are talking about me in the same reverence that they did before those three months.”
MJF also gave his thoughts about how much interest WWE had towards him when he was approaching free agency in 2023 and how WWE remains still very interested in him to this day.
“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.”
MJF also gave his thoughts about his decision to join AEW over WWE in 2019.
“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 they’ve about a million times tried to counter-program 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***ing 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 [in AEW]. 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.”
MJF also gave his thoughts about his past rivalry with CM Punk in AEW and how certain things Punk has said in AEW goes against what he is saying now in WWE.
“Match? No. I mean, watch the tape. You tell me who got the better of who verbally during that entire rivalry. I hope he’s able to enjoy what he’s accomplishing over there. I have no idea, because the things that he said in my company do go against the things that he’s saying now. Some people might say that’s hypocritical. That’s not my place. All I know is since I’ve jumped into pro wrestling, I’ve been saying the same thing since the jump, my tune has not changed. I’m Maxwell, Jacob Friedman, and I’m better than you, and you know it. I also won’t sit here and lie to you and tell you that I didn’t learn so much through my hatred of that man. I learned. I learned the difference between good and great.
That’s what I learned. Now, do I like him? I’ll reiterate, no, I wouldn’t piss on him if he was on fire to put that fire out. But I’m not going to sit here and pretend I didn’t learn from him.”
MJF also gave his thoughts about how wrestling compares today to when he was growing up and how CM Punk was someone he loved to watch growing up but now if he was dying in front of him, he would just laugh.
“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. I think that’s been lost a little bit on my generation.”
MJF also gave his thoughts about who would be his choices for current day dream match opponents.
“I think this answer is going to shock people, because also, I will say I can’t pick people that are retired. John (Cena) would have been my answer, but he’s retired, so I’m gonna say Kevin Steen.”
MJF also gave his thoughts about why he said Kevin Steen and not his current name of Kevin Owens.
“No, I want Kevin Steen, the one that I watched in Ring of Honor. Not saying Kevin Owens isn’t spectacular. Kevin Owens is one of the best wrestlers in the world, and it sucks that he’s hurt right now. It kills me. But Kevin Owens can’t exactly say some of the things that Kevin Steen was able to say back in the day. So I want Kevin Steen. That’s a dream match for me. I think that would probably go down as one of the greatest matches of all time and one of the greatest promos of all time. I think I also have to say Seth Rollins, for sure.”
Transcript h/t: 411Mania.com, F4WOnline.com, Fightful.com 1, 2, & 3
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