MJF Reveals What He Learned From His First World Title Reign

MJF is riding high with the #1 spot in the PWI 500, and he recently revealed what he learned from his first AEW World Title reign. The AEW star took the top spot on the list in large part on the back of his second and third runs as World Champion that dominated the first have of 2026.

MJF spoke with Pro Wrestling Illustrated and was asked about what he learned from the first World Title run, which saw some bumps in the road, to turn things around for this year. In typical MJF fashion he pointed to how he trusted people and let the fans in, mistakes he said he won’t make again. You can see the highlights below:

On Learning From His First Title Reign:

“See, I learned so many lessons in my first world title reign. I think it’s safe to say that a brunt of those 406 days is some of the best business our company had ever done. And then my best friend at the time who turned out to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, Adam Cole, broke his ankle and everything went to… hell in a hand basket for those last two months of a god knows how many month-long reign. But I learned a lot in those two months alone, isolated. And I wanted to stay away from those mistakes that were made and never make them again. And I feel I did do just that.”

On What He Learned:

“I think the biggest lesson that I learned was, trusting people has never benefited anyone in this profession. I think that every single time anyone in the history of this sport has let their guard down, they’ve been let down. And I know that that’s not a great way to look at it, but it’s just the God’s honest truth. Name me a tag team that tagged forever and never became at odds at any single significant point. It just doesn’t happen in wrestling. Name me friends in wrestling who weren’t necessarily tag team members or stablemates, it just always ends up horribly.

“And I let my guard down. I let my guard down with the fans as well. I allowed them to — I let them in, if you will. And I think that was a massive mistake and it’s a mistake that I’m never going to make again. Because I don’t think wrestling fans deserve to have me open up to them at that level ever again. I think I like keeping them at an arm’s length. You get to watch me perform. That should be good enough, I’m the greatest professional wrestler who’s ever lived. And I think that’s why this year was so incredible for my company. It’s because I just focused on wrestling, I focused on talking s**t. I focused on increasing ticket sales, ratings, pay-per-view buys. And I don’t care if people like me. That s**t’s for the birds; I’m good on that. So, that’s what I learned from the first title reign and was able to bring it in to both my second and third.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Pro Wrestling Illustrated with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.