Former WWE creative writer Freddie Prinze Jr. did an interview with Chris Van Vliet to discuss a wide range of topics, including his thoughts on AEW World Heavyweight Champion MJF. Here are the highlights:
His interactions with MJF:
“I’ve been saying this for a long time, man. I’ve gotten to know Maxwell over the last two years. Every time he comes to LA, we make it a point to go to dinner and I try to take him to a different sushi spot every time, right? This kid is 26 years old, so I can say kid, and he has the single most brilliant mind in the wrestling business. Every storyline that he’s come up with, man, I shouldn’t even say that. Well, I said it. Listen, the ideas in this kid’s head at getting multiple people over, not just himself, but focusing on what’s best for the business, not what’s best for MJF, is second to none. I’m not the most experienced and educated wrestling cat in the world, but I did work for the WWE and I did ask a million questions to the Pat Pattersons of the world, to The Freebirds of the world, to the Arn Andersons, the Dean Malenkos, all these old school people, and everything they taught me, this dude has in spades. It is unreal how his mind works. He does not go into business for himself. That’s like such a cliche thing to say now ever since that CM Punk explosion at AEW. But for real, like, that’s the best way to say it, I love this kid. I texted him the night he won. Don’t get mad at me for saying this. He wrote back, ‘We did it.’ Not meaning he and I, meaning him and everyone. All I wrote back was, ‘Damn right you did.’ Because I wanted him to know like, brother, this was you and it’s awesome that you’re trying to get as many people over, as many people over as humanly possible. I just hate complimenting a heel, but man, he’s just, he’s so great at it. I love this guy so much. He’s so good for the business on both sides. Like not even working for WWE, I feel he helps WWE as well.”
MJF’s promos:
“I was there in LA at that pipe bomb promo that he cut when he went beserk and was just f this, and f that, and this and that, and I was sitting there, like, I can’t believe I got to be here for this. This is absolutely phenomenal. I’m not a big proponent of cursing to make the promo cooler, right? That’s what the Attitude Era was like, oh, he said son of a bitch, and like, I could have said it without that, and still been good. Show me you can get over without cursing and then I’ll be like, dang, you know what I mean? But with Max, it doesn’t matter. He can make you cry like when he did with that CM Punk story when he was talking about making the football team and starting defense, and here comes the defensive line, the whole defensive unit, while he’s walking down the hall to his locker, and he’s finally going to be accepted, and instead of giving him love, they threw quarters on the floor and said, pick them up Jewboy. The whole crowd that hated him, suddenly, you saw them when they made the cut, and you saw people feel ashamed of themselves. I’m sitting there and I’m like, ‘Sarah, Sarah, get in here. You got to see this.’ When it’s special, I make her watch. I’m like, ‘Look at this kid. This kid is acting. You could put this in a movie and it would move you and there’d be a soundtrack behind it.’ I’m sitting there looking at him just like how is he doing this? Then I think he just at the end of it just kicks CM Punk in the nuts, just to let you know, like no, you’re right to hate me. I just wanted to make you feel like sh*t for a minute, and because I can for no other reason than I can. He told such a beautiful story over those few weeks that they had that storyline. I could have watched that go on another two, three fights, to be honest. But he knew the perfect amount of time it should be, and he pulled it off. He wasn’t the one that came out on top at the end of it, and that’s where you see the selfishness and the selflessness all at the same time. It’s like Bruce Lee out there, man. Unnatural naturalness, or natural unnaturalness, like that’s what he’s doing. It’s crazy. I know I’m speaking about him like he’s a poet, or Picasso, but that’s what he is. Don’t forget, in that pay-per-view, that was his blood, sweat and tears on an actual canvas, painting a picture for everyone to see with Jon Moxley, who I call the werewolf. Because that’s what he looks like, wrestles like, sounds like. He’s just a werewolf out there. So yeah, man, he is a Picasso out there, and the good thing is, he’s being appreciated within his lifetime, instead of long after he’s gone.”
H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription