MJF made an appearance on Wrestling with Freddie to discuss a wide range of topics.
During it, MJF talked about his wrestling future and what he expects to happen in 2024 when his AEW contract expires:
His belief there will be a bidding war when his contract is up:
“I’m sure by the time 2024 rolls around, you will see people that were working in AEW already now potentially making the jump to WWE, but what you won’t see is the amount of money being thrown. When I tell you, and this is a straight fact, I know for a fact when 2024 rolls around, we’re talking millions of dollars here that I know for a fact that whoever owns WWE by then, we don’t know, is going to be willing to pay Maxwell Jacob Friedman.”
“While Tony Khan, a good friend of mine, love TK, a great guy, is also going to be offering me a ton of money. I love AEW. AEW is a great place, but like I said before, I love money. That’s all that this is. At the end of the day, this isn’t the friend business, this is show business, and it’s a business with a capital B, and that’s all that matters to Max.”
“Now, once I’ve done everything I can in the squared circle, that’s when I move on to my next venture. I’m excited for all these chapters in my book. I’m also excited for people to look back, listen to this podcast and go, ‘This kid called his shot like Babe Ruth.’ You’re damn right I did, and I had fun doing it all the way through.”
“I’m 25 right now. I’m a baby. When I’m 35, I’m still going to be a baby. I’m still going to be young. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and John Cena did not exit the pro wrestling landscape until their mid-thirties. They were not the titans they were in Hollywood until their mid to late thirties. I’m already telling you right now. I love wrestling. Wrestling is great. I’m going to continue to be the top name in the industry. Don’t get it twisted folks, I already am. People are referring to me as the top heel in professional wrestling, and I’m a baby.”
His belief that he will be the highest paid performer in 2024:
“I think WWE is going to be willing to do whatever it takes to jump ship because to have me is to have pretty much take a sniper rifle and shoot the heart of All Elite Wrestling. That’s what I am. I’m the glue. Everybody around me hates my guts. Everybody wants to punch me in the face. I am the top tier guy that everybody has a problem with.”
“When you take your biggest antagonist, but personally I think I’m a protagonist and the salt of the earth, but when you take away your biggest antagonist, what do you have? What is Batman with The Joker? He’s nobody. He’s not intriguing. There is no success without having that thorn in your side. I have no problem being that thorn because it makes me a ton of money.”
“Yes, I do believe these people will be willing to shell out a lot of cash for me because not only am I one of the greatest talkers, not only am I the greatest professional wrestler this sport has to offer, I’m someone like (Roddy) Piper that is able to make people feel something, viscerally feel something. It’s a lost art in my industry. I don’t know when it went away. At some point, people started caring more about the moves than the emotions. I’m not that guy. I’m the guy that’s going to make people tune in and I’m going to grab them by the face. That’s what I do. That’s why I’m irreplaceable.”
H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription