Maxwell Jacob Friedman has been pushing pretty hard to convince us that he can’t wait for 2024 and his contract with AEW to expire.
While he’s great at playing his character and rarely if ever breaks kayfabe, there does seem to be some truth behind his frustration with AEW.
In an interview with Rasslin’, he went into depth on how WWE wrestlers coming to AEW and making oodles of money are the source of his frustration.
He also teased whether he was serious or not, and it continues to have fans going back and forth whether it’s a work or not.
More money
If MJF is being honest, then it seems the crux of his problem in AEW is that former WWE wrestlers and cashing in big contracts while originals like himself may not be making as much.
“Let me explain something to you, by 2024, daddy is going to make more money than The Hardys have made in their entire run.
“Once you get into Long Island, you don’t want to leave Long Island, so what does it matter if the traffic is bad coming out? I can’t wait to leave this company, how about that?
“Oh no, hope that doesn’t ruffle any feathers in the office, oh no. Who said AEW? I didn’t say AEW, you just said AEW, maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. Maybe I’m in a sh– mood, maybe I hate my boss, maybe I f—— love my boss, who knows?
“I think there’s a lot of stuff going on in this company that is inaccurate. I think all these ex-f—— WWE guys that are making an absurd amount of money. When quite frankly they can’t sniff my f—— jock when it comes to the ratings I pull in whenever I am on screen, I think they can all go to hell.
“I think that somebody in the upper management has a problem with me, and it’s very obvious if you see what I am dealing with week to week.
“Let’s talk about Shawn Spears (Tye Dillinger). Shawn Spears is an ex-WWE guy that gets it. Now, if/when I were to go over there, I’d have me a ball. Because I have built my brand and established myself here.
“So, when I go over there, I am not going to have to deal with the same type of bulls— that Shawn Spears had to deal with. Because a guy like that has been criminally underrated for over a decade.”
Sounds like WCW
Whether fair or not, AEW has drawn a lot of comparisons to WCW since it started
Initially, it felt new and fresh like WCW. It gave us an alternative to the WWE with new characters we weren’t used to seeing and storylines.
WCW saw it’s resurgence and became profitable after signing Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, similar to AEW bringing in Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley.
Aside from that parallel, there’s no comparing Jericho and Moxley to Hogan and Savage, so we’re leaving it at that.
But WCW continued bringing in WWE talent and using the shock value of their arrival to help boost ratings.
More than that, WCW was considered a ATM machine of sorts thanks to their guaranteed contracts and arguably bigger ones.
To be fair, the guaranteed part and contracts in general weren’t Eric Bischoff’s doing as it was standard procedure Turner media used when dealing with the Atlanta Braves, whom Ted Turner also owned.
Is it possible MFJ is pointing out AEW is following the path of WCW as an ATM for WWE wrestlers, or is he exaggerating for our benefit? Let us know in the comments below.
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