MJF Responds to Cody Rhodes’ Comments About Expecting to See Him in WWE

– As previously reported, WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes spoke about his expectation that his former AEW colleague and onscreen rival, MJF, will someday appear in WWE. The AEW World Champion was asked about Cody’s recent comments during an interview with Jimmy Traina for the SI Media podcast. Below are some highlights (via Fightful):

MJF on Cody Rhodes’ comments: “I don’t know why, I saw fans absolutely ****ting on him when all he was saying was his opinion. It’s an opinion. I pray t god I don’t get lambasted online for some of the opinions I’m doing in this interview. I just feel like everything’s so radicalized now and hyperbolic now. That’s why, there’s certain aspects about social media I love. I think it brings people of the same like-mindedness together. I think it allows people to find their own communities. But what I hate about some of the social media, I find that hate-mongering and fear-mongering is the stuff that gets pushed the most. It’s because of this sensationalist stuff that people start believing in the sensationalized stuff and the hyperbolic stuff. I can’t relate to it. I’m a straight shooter. I say it like it is 110% of the time. Cody Rhodes felt that way. In Cody Rhodes’ mind and opinion, that was his way of putting over a friend, a prodigy, a former coworker, former protege. I guess I shouldn’t say former. I still talk to Cody to this day. He’s a great guy. He’s doing great things over there, I’m doing great things over here.”

On if he spoke to Cody after his comments: “No. We text each other all the time. He puts me over, I put him over. We’re both fans of each other’s work. We’re both incredible at our jobs. We’re both on top of the industry.”

On Cody wanting MJF in WWE: “I’ll put it his way. If you’re a fan of professional sports in general, an All-Star player like, for example, Kobe Bryant, R.I.P., was the bedrock foundation of the Lakers. You think he wasn’t doing interviews while LeBron was in the league, saying, ‘God, I wish LeBron James was playing here?’ I’m sure if we Google it, he was, and probably consistently throughout his career. Listen, it’s normal. Of course we want MJF in our company. Who the fuck wouldn’t want me in their company? I’m the best thing going today. I’m the AEW World Champion. Nobody dresses like me, nobody talks like me, nobody looks like me, nobody walks like me, nobody wrestles like me. I take it as a compliment, and I think the AEW fans should take it as a compliment too because that means that their world champion, the face of their company, is a hot commodity. So that’s the only way I feel it should be looked at.”

As noted, it’s rumored that MJF may have already renewed his contract for AEW for several more years. However, MJF himself denied those rumors during his chat with Traina. Previously, Friedman has claimed that his AEW contract will expire in January 2024.