MJF on Re-Upping With AEW, Fans Chanting His Name When Triple H Appeared on The Pat McAfee Show

– During a recent interview with Sports Illustrated’s Justin Barrasso, AEW star and former AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman (MJF) discussed his recent AEW return at Double or Nothing, re-signing with AEW, fans chanting his name when Triple H appeared on The Pat McAfee show, and more. Below are some highlights:

On fans chanting his name when Triple H appeared on The Pat McAfee show: “Cody Rhodes is a mentor of mine. I ****ing love the guy. I love the Rhodes-a-coaster. But when Triple H is doing an interview on one of the biggest sports shows, whose name were they cheering in the background? My name. I’m not just the biggest star in AEW. I’m one of the biggest stars in the history of the ****ing business.”

On his return promo at Double or Nothing: “The reason that promo resonated with people is because everything that came out of my mouth was fact. It wasn’t feelings. It was facts. Can you remember the last time someone became a household name and arenas in WWE were chanting their name when they zero exposure elsewhere? We’re talking the Crockett era, aren’t we? I take pride in that. AEW is my territory. But I’m a name in every territory because I made professional wrestling my *****. MJF made MJF.

On how he’s still evolving: “And you know what’s crazy? I’m still evolving. Nobody really knows me 100 percent ever, and nobody ever will. To coin a line from one of the greats, if there’s one thing for sure about MJF, nothing’s for sure. I almost look at my wrestling matches as a discography of sorts. Somebody might say to you that the match between me and Jungle Boy at Double or Nothing in 2020 is one of the greatest matches they’ve ever seen. Somebody might say the greatest match they ever saw was MJF versus Darby Allin at Full Gear, or that MJF versus Adam Cole at Wembley Stadium was the greatest spectacle they’ve ever seen, or MJF in the Iron Man against Bryan Danielson, or MJF in the Four Pillars match, or MJF versus CM in the Dog Collar match, or MJF versus Cody Rhodes. The list goes on and on. What’s so interesting about me to toot my own horn–toot toot–is because I’m so good at talking, people genuinely forget how great I am in the ring. Then they see me wrestle and say, ‘Holy ****, MJF is the best wrestler in the world.’ And I don’t wrestle too often. That’s why, when I wrestle, it’s can’t-miss.”

On if there was any chance of him going to WWE when his contract was up: “Of course there was. Am I going to get into the weeds? No. At this point in time, this move made the most sense for me. I’m making a ton of ****ing money. As far as when the contract ends, that’s nobody’s business but my own.”

MJF is set to make his return later tonight on AEW Dynamite. Dynamite is being held tonight at the Blue Arena in Loveland, Colorado. The show will be broadcast live on TBS starting at 8:00 pm EST.