AEW fans consider MJF to be one of the top heels working in professional wrestling, which may be why he categorizes fan-favorite stars like Hulk Hogan and Rey Mysterio as “disingenuous” heroes.
“I wish I could call it a persona, but this is me 24-7, bud,” MJF told CBR regarding the word “heel” in professional wrestling. “And the thing is, I remember growing up, I would watch Rey Mysterio or Hulk Hogan or Shawn Michaels. I mean, the list goes on and on of these incredible ‘heroes of professional wrestling.’ And I just remember thinking to myself, ‘Oh, my God, these guys are disingenuous. There’s no way they care that much about these people.’ It’s BS, and to top it off, they all had to play by the rules, which made it even harder to win the match, which made it even harder to get the winner’s purse.”
Instead, MJF gravitated toward villains in professional wrestling and said he wanted to pattern his career after these men, who he saw working smarter and gaining a lot of success along the way.
“What I did was I watched old school wrestling. I watched Hot Stuff Eddie Gilbert. I watched Tully Blanchard, which is why it’s so incredible that he’s now in my corner,” MJF said. “I watched Ted DiBiase, I watched Ric Flair, I watched Arn Anderson. Look, I can go on and on. I really can go on and on, because I’m a student of the game. And what I realized was, these guys were cutting corners, and everybody hated him for it, and I couldn’t comprehend why because they were winning. I don’t know about you, but I love a winner.”
MJF joined AEW in 2019 as a 22-year-old when the promotion started. He wrestled his first match for the company at Double or Nothing that year, just two months after turning 23. Now at the age of 25, MJF sits atop AEW as one of the most popular young stars in the company. MJF reiterated how he loves being the bad guy, bringing back memories of old-school wrestlers like Rowdy Roddy Piper.
“I can’t think of anybody who’s a bigger winner than me,” MJF added. “I’m undefeated. So that’s why I’m me. That’s why I’m the way I am. Genetically, I’ve always been this way. I’m always going to be this way. It’s never gonna change. And I’m fine with it. I’m fine with the fact that people have threatened to kill me on Twitter and Instagram. I’m fine with the fact that somebody dressed up as a pilot and snuck into one of the arenas when we were still traveling on the road to try to abduct me. I’m fine with the fact that when I was in Mexico, people threw a car battery at me. And luckily, it missed. And I’m fine with the fact that somebody threw piss at me. I’m fine with it all because that happened to guys like Roddy Piper.”
MJF and his Pinnacle stable will face Chris Jericho’s Inner Circle in a “Blood & Guts” match on AEW Dynamite on May 5 at 8 p.m. ET on TNT.
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