MJF Says Aleister Black Saw AEW As a ‘Stepping Stone’ To WWE

MJF says that Aleister Black was the “biggest offender” of someone who saw AEW as a stepping stone to get to WWE. The AEW star recently appeared on The Ariel Helwani Show, and during the interview, he was talking about the AEW locker room and how morale has improved backstage in the company.

During the conversation, he spoke about how AEW is a more positive place because there aren’t people who consider AEW just a “stepping stone” to get to WWE anymore. When asked who the biggest offender was, he mentioned Black, who was part of AEW as Malakai Black. Black was let go from WWE in the roster cuts last month.

It has been reported that people don’t believe Black will return to AEW anytime soon, though the bridge between the two is not considered to be burned. You can see highlights of MJF’s comments below:

On the AEW Locker Room Being a Positive Place Right Now:

“Oh my god, night and day. I attribute that to, there’s no longer people in the locker room who look at my company as a stepping stone, they look at it as a legitimate company. And we had a lot of guys — I shouldn’t say a lot of guys. But we had some guys that came in, and they were like, ‘Pshh, I’m going to show up and be top guy, and go back to Vince.’ Really, motherf**ker, you’re going to leapfrog me? Good luck, pussy. Not going to happen on my watch.

“And it didn’t, because no one is nearly as good as me. No one’s nearly as good as Hangman, or Swerve, or Kenny, or Ospreay and Samoa Joe. The list goes on and on. So I think a lot of guys came into my company, they thought they were going to be able to ‘brother brother’ themselves to the top. And it didn’t happen, because we are where the realest of real wrestle. So we no longer have that in the locker room, and it’s a breath of fresh air, man. I no longer have to look at anyone in the eye and think to myself, ‘This guy doesn’t want to be here.’ Everyone in my locker room wants to be here. Everyone’s ready to f**king rock and roll, and everybody wants to put on the best show possible.”

On How They Got to This Point:

“People had to get weeded out. Yeah, man.”

On Who Saw AEW as a Stepping Stone:

“You want me to say a name? The biggest offender? Hm. I think it’s pretty obvious that’s Malakai Black. But I don’t know the guy 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.’ Like, yeah. There were a couple of guys like that, and they got weeded out. They went over there, and some found out the grass isn’t greener.

And perhaps some of them did. Perhaps for them, the grass was greener. But I’d say the majority of guys that were like, ‘I’m going to use All Elite Wrestling to go to WWE, or to go back to WWE.’ I think you’re going to see a lot of those guys asked for a 50% pay cut. You’re gonna see a lot of those guys just get released. And it’s unfortunate, because if you show up to our company and work hard, there is really no need to burn bridges.”

On His Stance On People Like That:

“Like I said, I’m not s**tting on him; I’m simply telling you what I was told by the 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’s been a part of this promotion since day one? I don’t want to deal with guys that don’t want to be team players. F**k off. Go elsewhere. Or f**king prove me wrong. would love to be proved wrong. It’d be great. Prove me wrong.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit What Do You Wanna Talk About? with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.