Former AEW World Champion MJF believes TKO is behind online rumors designed to hurt the perception of AEW. The AEW star addressed speculation about the company’s TV future
During a recent interview with CBS Sports’ SHAK Wrestling, MJF said he believes negative stories about AEW’s television negotiations are being intentionally leaked by someone at TKO to make AEW look bad. He specifically referenced recent rumors claiming AEW is struggling to secure a new TV deal.
“TKO, WWE, what have you, their job is to make themselves look great and to make us look bad. So there’s a leak. Oh, ‘AEW is struggling to get a TV deal.’ That’s f—ing news to me, bro,” MJF said.
“Like that’s news to me. That’s news to everybody on the roster. It’s damn sure news to Tony Khan because last time I checked, they’re f—ing over the moon with us right now.”
MJF then pointed to AEW’s strong cable ratings as evidence the rumors are unfounded.
“You know, we do better numbers than f—ing almost everything that’s going on on a weekly basis on cable because right now, as I was saying, the things that draw on cable are news and live sport,” he stated.
MJF Compares WWE and AEW Dynamic to Coke vs. Pepsi
‘The Salt of The Earth’ then used a Coke and Pepsi analogy to illustrate his point about the competitive nature of the wrestling business. He suggested fans should consider the source when evaluating negative stories about AEW.
“I’ve said it once, I’ll say it a million times, Shak, I love Jolly Old Saint Nick (Khan) and I love the tricks he’s pulling out. I f—ing get it. It’s smart, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t use our brains, right?” MJF said.
“It doesn’t mean that we can’t go, ‘Oh, this is being leaked intentionally to hurt the company that is the alternative.’”
“It’d be like if Coke out of the blue was like, ‘Hey, I don’t know if you guys knew about this, but Pepsi has a– water in it.’ Everybody be like, ‘Well, I mean, where is that source coming from? It’s coming from Coke.’ Okay, I’m not really going to give much thought to this, right?” he explained.
MJF is set to challenge Darby Allin in the main event of Double or Nothing for the AEW World title in a Hair vs Title match at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens this Sunday.