MJF will challenge AEW World Champion Jon Moxley in the main event of tonight’s Full Gear pay-per-view. He recently spoke with Joseph Staszewski of The New York Post and pointed to how the All Out press conference incident is among the numerous times that huge moments in his AEW career have been overshadowed by events out of his control.
MJF named other examples – Cody Rhodes unveiling his oversized neck tattoo for the culmination of their feud at Revolution 2020, Matt Hardy’s injury was the talk the same day MJF wrestled Moxley the first time for the AEW World Title, and current ROH World Champion Chris Jericho’s crash-pad landing was he hot topic following Blood & Guts last may, not a bloody MJF pushing him from the top of the cage. MJF said he gets “offended” every time he is not that talking point after a show he’s on.
“It hurt every time because I’m not just in pro wrestling, pro wrestling is my life,” MJF said. “This is what I eat, sleep, live and breathe by. I could cry just talking about this. I care about pro wrestling more than anyone has in the history of the business and I can say that with a straight face because it’s the God’s honest truth. There’s a reason that every single time I go out there it’s incredible TV. It’s because I obsess over this shit. This is my life. This is all I care about, OK, outside of making millions of dollars. I love this shit.”
This is all part of a “gigantic pyramid” sized chip that has been growing on MJF’s shoulder, even before his days in wrestling, and will continue to grow if he becomes champion tonight because the negativity drives him. MJF said the negativity pours out of him in the ring, on the mic, and in the gym. The most recent instance was his promo with William Regal, where he unloaded on Regal for reneging on bringing him into WWE NXT, and an e-mail he sent to tell him WWE only hires world-class athletes, the best of the best, and he wasn’t one at that time. MJF said it was “cathartic” to get to confront Regal on TV.
“I feed off of negativity like no one else in the history of mankind,” he said. “I swallow it and I use it as fuel. That’s just how I’ve been since birth.”
MJF hates being labeled a “heel” but negativity is the fan reaction he’s elicited most in his career. Fans have recently embraced him more, and he’s fine with that.
“Being anything other than myself, fully authentically, doesn’t interest me. I am who I am,” he said. “People will react to me the way they want to react to me. That’s megastar shit. That’s John Cena shit. That’s Rock shit. That’s [Hulk] Hogan shit. There were times in their career when they would come through that curtain and they got the loudest boo and there were times where they came through that curtain and they got the loudest cheer. That’s what I bring to the table. Think people need to stop worrying about fake bullshit labels and just enjoy this ride because I’m over as shit and it is fun.”
MJF believes changing one’s presentation based on crowd reaction is the “biggest mistake” you can make in pro wrestling, which he equates to the double turn at WrestleMania 13 with WWE Hall of Famers Steve Austin and Bret Hart, and if Austin would’ve started wearing all pink and long tights, and kick pads, just because people liked him.
“The reason that I am who I am is because I am authentic,” MJF added.
He continued, “I need to make sure there isn’t a single person in the world who can look at somebody to their right and their left and go, ‘Yeah, MJF’s good but this guy’s better.’ Screw that, man. Once I win this world title, there is no one on my level.”
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