MJF on Tony Khan Has Become “Incredible Leader” in AEW, Why AEW Feels Hot At The Moment & An Alternative to WWE, Idea of Him Never Working in WWE Being “Very Enchanting”, Malakai Black Being a “Mark” Who Used AEW as Stepping Stone for WWE Return

A recent episode of The Ariel Helwani Show podcast featured MJF as the guest. One of the topics discussed included MJF’s thoughts about Helwani’s interview with AEW CEO Tony Khan in November of 2025 and how it showed the evolution of Khan as an interviewee in pro wrestling.

“No interview is ever going to be as good when I’m not in the room. But for an interview that didn’t have me in it, it was a good watch. And I also think it showed the evolution, frankly, of my boss as an interviewee. I think he faces questions head-on. I think that he took all your questions on the chin and answered them in a very professional manner. I think he continues to be incredibly professional, even when bullsh*t is happening around him and lies are being spread. So, yeah, I’m happy for him.”

MJF also gave his praise of Khan for his evolution as a boss and him becoming an “incredible leader” in AEW. MJF also praised Khan for having one of the best minds in the wrestling business.

“Yeah, man. The fact of the matter is, look, do I love the guy? No. But I love money. And I also love seeing my company do well, and we’re white hot right now. Now, is that all because of me? There’s an argument to be made there, there’s an argument to be made there. But I also am willing to say that Tony Khan — in case you’re unaware, he’s a billionaire — and for him to be a billionaire and to decide to, with his money and his time, when he could be sticking with the futbol thing or the other football thing that’s in America that’s the type of football that I prefer, and he could just be doing that. But he decided to start a professional wrestling company because he’s so passionate about professional wrestling and he loves professional wrestling.

And he’s become one of the best minds in wrestling, man. And he’s been a great leader. You can talk all of the sh*t you want about him. Why? I don’t know. Because he gave you an alternative so you wouldn’t only be eating one type of food. You have options now. I don’t know why anybody would be mad about options…

I think he’s become an incredible leader too, man. He always was, but I just think he is really, really just — as we all do, we level up, we evolve as we age.”

MJF also gave his thoughts about why he feels that AEW is hot at the moment as a company and as an alternate to WWE’s product.

“We have an embarrassment of riches in the AEW locker room. It’s exhausting how many incredible pro wrestlers we have. 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 bullshit 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. Now, when you go to social media, if there is a post that says ‘AEW bad,’ it used to be like, ‘You’re right. Screw AEW. I’m just going to stick with TNA, MLW, WWE.’ Now, it’s like, ‘You’re not watching the show.’ Just say you’re not watching the show because you’re not watching the show. ‘What’s happening?’ ‘Bullshit.’ You’re not watching. That’s fine.

I’m not going to sit here and pretend our show is for everybody. No product is for everybody, but we are white hot right now because we’re having incredible matches, incredible rivalries, incredible PPVs, and I genuinely feel we have the best wrestling show weekly. Right now, wrestling fans are a little disenfranchised with WWE and TKO. There are plenty of people on that roster and office that I’m big fans of, but it’s allowing people, if they haven’t taken that leap yet, ‘I’m drinking Diet Coke, let me try Pepsi. Hmmm. Not bad.’”

MJF also gave his thoughts about AEW’s ability to take talent under 30 like himself, Kevin Knight, Kyle Fletcher and others and mix them with legends like Adam Copeland, Christian Cage, and Sting.

“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.”

MJF also gave his thoughts about when he is watching AEW, he does not feel like he is watching somebody play a character.

“The biggest reason why, more than anything else, is because when I’m watching All Elite Wrestling, I don’t feel like I’m watching somebody play a character.”

MJF also gave his thoughts about the interest WWE has had in him and turning them down to stay in AEW. MJF also gave his thoughts about the idea of him never working in WWE being something that is “very enchanting” to him.

“Was it tough? No. You have to know your worth, and I know my worth. And my worth was built because of the legacy that I’m building in AEW. There is something very enchanting to me, no matter how much money did, or does, or will get thrown at me. And trust me it was a lot, hypothetically. It was a f***ing lot, hypothetically. It doesn’t matter because I care about my legacy more than anything…

The idea of going down as the greatest of all time is really important to me. And I also think that there’s something very special about being able to say that with having never worked ‘there.’ I think that that’s really cool. I think the idea of that happening in the wrestling world, and to me the Mount Rushmore of professional wrestlers-turned-actors are Dave Bautista, John Cena, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. As you know, Mount Rushmore has how many heads? Four. My goal is to be that fourth head. And if I could pull that off on my name alone and the legacy that I’ve built on my own back, not from a machine, just the Maxwell machine — I think it would feel all the more sweeter.”

MJF also gave his thoughts about AEW weeding out wrestlers who only viewed the company as a stepping stone to WWE for their wrestling careers and Malakai Black being the biggest offender of those who had this mindset.

“I think it’s pretty obvious that [the biggest offender was] Malakai Black. But I don’t know the guy, like, on a personal level. Do I think he’s a bad guy? No. Do I think he was a mark for wanting to have his, ‘Oh, I need my Mania moment.’ Yeah, and there were a couple of guys like that, and they got weeded out.

And then they went over there and some of them found out the grass isn’t greener. And perhaps some of them did, for them the grass was greener. But I’d say a majority of the guys that were like, ‘I’m just going to use All Elite Wrestling to go back to WWE,’ I think you’re going to see a lot of those guys asked for a 50 percent pay cut from the office. Or you’re going to see a lot of those guys just get released. And it’s unfortunate because if you show up to our company and you work hard, there’s really no need to burn bridges.”

MJF also gave his thoughts about how the majority of AEW’s locker room had a similar view of Black during his time in the company and return to WWE in 2025.

“Like I said, I’m not sh*tting on him. I’m just simply telling you what I was told by a majority of the locker room about this specific individual. So as a team captain, as a leader — even though, yes, I am 30 — and as somebody who has been part of this promotion since day one, I don’t want to deal with guys that don’t want to be team players. F*** off, go elsewhere. Or f***ing prove me wrong. I would love to be proven wrong. It would be great. Prove me wrong.”

Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com 1, 2, & 3, Fightful.com