Shawn Spears gives his thoughts on AEW World Champion, MJF.
The Chairman and the Salt of the Earth know each other very well from their days together in the Pinnacle, the short-lived faction that also included FTR. Spears discussed MJF’s rise in AEW and how he generally just understands the industry as whole during an interview on Vibe 105.5FM Toronto. He adds that MJF worked with top-tier talent like Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, and Bryan Danielson, all who helped mold him into a megastar.
He’s [MJF] exactly that, he’s a performer. He understands this industry, he grasps onto things a lot faster than most, and he has been in the ring or been under the wing of a lot of our industry’s top talent. I believe it was Cody [Rhodes] that brought him in. Cody Rhodes brought him into AEW way back when. So, you’re under the wing of arguably the biggest star on the planet today. And then you go from there to Chris Jericho and then you’re in these blood feuds with guys like CM Punk, and you’re going an hour with Bryan Danielson. Like, you are getting a top-notch first class crash course in how to be a megastar and he has received it well, he’s understood it well, he continues to try to improve week to week.
Spears later states that MJF works as hard if not harder than anyone else in AEW and because of that he will continue to improve on a weekly basis.
I know Max very well both in front of the scenes and behind-the-scenes. I’m pretty confident in saying that even though he’s the World champion, it’s not enough. He won’t rely on just being the World [champion], he’s going to aim higher, he’s going to go bigger. That’s just how he’s molded, that’s how he operates, and you know, I dare say I wish a lot of people across the board, talent-wise would work that hard.
Elsewhere in the interview, Spears spoke about potentially competing during AEW’s upcoming tour in Canada and how he might resurrect the Chairman gimmick. You can read about that here.