MLW world heavyweight champion Alexander Hammerstone recently appeared on Cafe de Rene with Rene Dupree to give his opinion on the ongoing MJF and AEW situation, and why the Hammer believes that it is all real even if it eventually became a work for AEW programming.
MJF and Hammerstone both ran with the Dynasty faction in MLW prior to MJF leaving to sign exclusively with AEW. Highlights from the interview are below.
Believes that the tension between MJF and AEW is real, and that it only became
“I don’t have an insider scoop. All I know is that if it’s something that is a giant work, it’s something that became that at a certain point. Because to a certain point, it was all very real. I know there were some legitimate, real frustrations there, and real tensions. So I don’t know at this point what’s going on, I don’t know exactly. But as far as my opinion of the whole situation, I have mixed views because I’m the type of who always says, because I always hate when fans try to talk bad on a company or wrestlers try to get a social media parade to support them to help them get out of a contract or something. It’s like you signed that. Nobody held a gun to your head and said, ‘Sign this.’ At some point, you said okay, this is agreeable. And it’s like if you sign a contract for $100,000 because you feel like that’s a good offer and then you have become a $200,000 wrestler, that’s part of the gamble because part of the gamble too is that you get the $100,000 contract, and then a year later, you’re only worth $50,000 but you’re still getting paid that $100,000. So it’s just decisions we make. So on one hand, I do feel that.”
How he understands MJF’s frustrations and compliments him for being an excellent wrestler:
“MJF’s case is a little bit different because he was like, ‘Here’s the measurements, here’s the ratings, here’s this, here’s that, here’s the sales, here’s the segment views’, and it wasn’t a difference of a couple dollars. It’s like, ‘Why are these people getting paid five/ten times more than me, just because of where they came from? What are they doing here?’ And I do think he’s one of the best, and it’s not just about, like everyone’s like, ‘Oh man, he’s a great talker, but he’s a boring wrestler. He can’t wrestle.’ I’m like dude, he’s a fantastic wrestler. And I remember thinking it when I saw him wrestle a couple matches on some indie shows. But then after I wrestled him myself, I was like, ‘Oh my god, this guy’s incredible. He’s just so good.’”
Says he is interested in seeing how it all plays out:
“It’s like he said. ‘Well I’m not out there dropping people on their heads or doing dives or doing 1000 superkicks, so you don’t think I’m good.’ And it’s like it sucks because we’re at a point where sometimes, some of the more subtle things in wrestling don’t get appreciated, except by the other workers or people who are kind of in the show. So it’s definitely an interesting situation. I know I’m interested to see how it plays out. I hope it all works out for the best for him. But no matter what happens, he’s a young kid, so he’s got plenty of years left in the tank to get back on his feet and do whatever he wants to.”
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)
