Eric Bischoff is a big fan of MJF.
The Hall of Famer spoke about the current reigning AEW World Champion during an interview with Ariel Helwani. Bischoff says the Salt of the Earth clearly stands out on the roster as a top talent and that Tony Khan should do whatever it takes to keep him there if/when his contract ends in 2024.
I think the world of MJF as a talent. I like him as a person. I’ve crossed paths with him a number of times, and I can’t say enough great things about his talent. I don’t know what MJF’s goals are. We’ve never had that kind of a conversation, but if I’m Tony Khan, I’m gonna work pretty hard to keep MJF on my roster. I’m gonna have to because if you look at that roster, there’s not a lot of other talents that are anywhere close to MJF in terms of overall ability and connection [to the crowd]. There’s a lot of great wrestlers there, athletes, there are. Chris Jericho, he’s in the down side of his career. He’s 53, 54 years old. Bryan Danielson, he’s kind of a part-timer at this stage of his life. But if you look at the younger crop of regularly featured talent that you have in AEW, three-quarters of them could walk through any mall in America, and nobody would know who they are. MJF stands out. He’s gotten himself here. So I’d do whatever I had to do to keep him.
The subject of MJF potentially jumping ship and going to WWE was brought up. Bischoff believes that the champ is smart enough to go to WWE and transition into their style if he had to.
He’s awful smart, so yeah. You have to be smart. You can’t go in there, 24 years old thinking you’re God’s gift to the wrestling industry with a chip on your shoulder. I don’t think that’s really MJF, that’s the MJF that he wants you to see, but I have had enough conversation with him to know that he’s really, really, really smart, and my guess is he’s smart enough to be able to easily move on to that WWE roster if that’s what he chooses to do.
Elsewhere in the interview, Bischoff spoke about why he doesn’t foresee himself ever returning to WWE. You can read about that here or check out his full interview below.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)
