Latest On AEW Talent’s Reaction to MJF’s Dynamite Promo & Situation

A new report has details on the reaction backstage to MJF’s AEW Dynamite promo and the latest surrounding the situation. As noted, MJF cut a promo on last night’s Dynamite telling Tony Khan to fire him and laying out his issues with Khan and the company, which was ultimately saw his mic be cut off and him leave through the crowd during the ad break. MJF was also removed from AEW Shop and the AEW official website.

Fightful Select spoke with a lot of talent at the company about the matter and reports that most of the talents’ reactions range from the idea that it’s always been a work from MJF’s side to the idea that it wasn’t a work but is one now. One talent said that they would be very frustrated if they found out the situation had been a work any further back than this weekend, noting that they’d talked to both MJF and Khan in confidence in an effort to figure out what was going on and all accounts were that they were real issues. Khan had indicated to people that working the talent is not something they would have to expect, and as has been noted several talents had to do extra unscheduled work at the meet & greet to cover for MJF’s no-show and weren’t told anything about a work.

One talent said that they try to stay away from stories from MJF on interviews and Twitter because of his tendency to stay in character, but the notion that MJF is “always working” was repeatedly shot down and one talent said, “If he acted like MJF all the time, he probably wouldn’t still be working here.” That talent did say they’ve noticed more frustration from MJF this spring, and a longtime friend of the star said that MJF was adamant to them that it wasn’t a work, but that it “reeked of desperation” to make something happen on screen and they don’t think Tony Khan or AEW would allow MJF’s promo on TV without a plan.

Several people on the roster said they were sympathetic to MJF being frustrated about the contracts for original talent compared to those for incoming free agents. No one could or would confirm that Khan had been or is on the work, though most believe that the situation turned into such as of the meeting between them on Monday.

It was noted that these feelings do not reflect the whole locker room, and just those talent spoken to.