New Details on MJF’s Contract, Negotiations With AEW & Relationship Breakdown

A report has new details on MJF’s contract with AEW, his negotiations with the company and more. As you almost certainly know by now, MJF has been having issues with AEW around his contract that led to questions about his appearance at Double or Nothing. Despite some serious drama throughout the weekend, he did end up appearing for his match with Wardlow, which he lost and then was stretchered out of the arena. He is set to appear on tonight’s episode of AEW Dynamite to speak.

Wade Keller said in a recent PWTorch VIP audio show (transcription per WrestlingNews.co that MJF began with the company on a “starter deal” which is from $40,000 to $70,000 back in 2019. Since then, he signed a new deal where he is now making in the hundreds of thousands range, but is still “four or five times” less than some other top names like Malkai Black, Adam Cole, CM Punk, and Bryan Danielson. He goes on to say that MJF was ” by all accounts is kind of fuming over this” and felt that his work and professionalism, along with his relationship with Tony Khan, would have led to his contract getting negoriated up when there “was about two years left.”

While he did get a new contract with a “percentage-wise” substantial raise, Keller notes that MJF was wanting Khan to be approached with something on the level of those being brought in considering his work and ratings draws. Keller notes, “And when Tony didn’t do that…MJF the way he handled it was to get very angry privately and then it kind of exploded. And I think Tony was caught off guard by how angry MJF was getting…”

The report goes on to note that “there’s probably a dozen people making more than him and maybe more than that and some are making way more than him who are pushed less than him.”

MJF and Khan were “really close as recently as late last year,” and that they would have long conversations about storyline and match ideas on the phone, but that the relationship “fractured” at some point. Those behind the scenes have seen suggested that MJF has gone from being passionate and enthusiastic toward his job to being more withdrawn and disgruntled, and that he “still showed up and he still did his job on-air, but he was all business and nothing more.”

Keller reiterates the point expressed by every other report that this is not a work, though of course if a contract is worked out and the situation is smoothed over it could be used as a storyline.