Posted on 2/13/126 by Colin Vassallo
MJF sat down with Chris Van Vliet in Las Vegas, Nevada to
discuss winning the AEW World Title for a second time and
how this reign is different from his first, how he defied
the odds to make it in professional wrestling, how much
interest there really was from WWE, his rivalry with CM
Punk, starring in Happy Gilmore 2 with Adam Sandler and
beating up Eminem in the movie, why his scene from The Iron
Claw was cut, his ultimate dream match, and more!
Do you think you’re the best wrestler to never wrestle in
WWE?
“Yeah, it’s not even close. It’s not even close. Before me,
the answer would have been Sting. And then he wrestled
there.”
Kenny Omega?
“No, stop it. I love Kenny to death. If you put our names
into a search engine, I can assure you, more people are
looking my name up than his. Now, is he gonna go down as one
of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time? Yes, but
that’s not the question you just asked me. The question you
just asked me is outside of the wrestling bubble. Kenny
Omega has done some awesome voiceover work. He’s been
involved in some massive video games, but he’s not MJF, and
by the way, that’s no shade. I’m sure people are going to
try to clip this and make it seem like I’m talking sh*t
about Kenny Omega. Kenny Omega is great. I’ve talked about
Kenny Omega’s greatness when we wrestled on Collision a
couple of years ago. I can’t say enough nice things about
Kenny Omega, but he’s no MJF.”
When the bidding war was happening, when your contract with
AEW was coming to an end, how much interest was there from
WWE?
“You know the answer, there was a lot. I had some nice calls
with some nice folks who are high up on the chain, and they
were interested in me. They’re still very much so interested
in me, and I understand why. But for all my faults, one
thing I am not is unprofessional. If you put a contract in
front of me with the right amount of money, I’m going to do
this. I’m going to broadcast how important those three
letters are [AEW]. Those three [MJF] letters are just as
important as these [AEW], because you’re paying me to say
that. Now, do I believe it’s true? You’ll never know, and
that’s the beauty of it. No matter what promotion I’m
working for, I’m going to shamelessly shill what’s going on.
Now, can I look in the camera and say I really do believe
everything I’ve said prior to this? Yes I can, but they’ll
never know.”
Give me your top five MJF matches of all time.
“Bryan Danielson, Iron Man match. CM Punk, dog collar match,
I’m gonna throw MJF versus Hangman at Revolution. I believe
that was last year. Darby versus me Full Gear, we were the
opening match. This is where it gets hard. I will throw in
the Mistico match as well. We can do this all day. I can do
a top 50, because I’ve had them. But I think those are the
ones that, when people think about my career, that’ll come
up. The match against Kenny Omega on Collision also. These
things can be swapped and switched. The match against Samoa
Joe at Grand Slam was insanity. My match with Adam Cole in
front of 82,000 people, we pretty much broke the sound
barrier that night. It was absurd. It was the loudest I’ve
ever [heard], my ears hurt. Both of my matches with Will
Ospreay. But the difference between me and somebody you ask
this question to, I get frustrated naming these matches
because I didn’t win all of them. Sure, they were great and
they were entertaining, but I didn’t win all of them, and
that p*sses me off. I won a good amount of them that I said,
but not all of them.”
How old were you in that now famous photo when you’re a kid
meeting CM Punk?
“I believe it was the year after my Bar Mitzvah. I think I
was just turning 14.”
So fast forward 10 plus years later, you’re in the ring, toe
to toe, cutting promos with him. But it’s like you had met
your match.
“Match? No. I mean, watch the tape. You tell me who got the
better of who verbally during that entire rivalry. I hope
he’s able to enjoy what he’s accomplishing over there. I
have no idea, because the things that he said in my company
do go against the things that he’s saying now. Some people
might say that’s hypocritical. That’s not my place. All I
know is since I’ve jumped into pro wrestling, I’ve been
saying the same thing since the jump, my tune has not
changed. I’m Maxwell Jacob Friedman, and I’m better than
you, and you know it. I also won’t sit here and lie to you
and tell you that I didn’t learn so much through my hatred
of that man. I learned the difference between good and
great. That’s what I learned. Now, do I like him? I’ll
reiterate, no, I wouldn’t piss on him if he was on fire to
put that fire out. But I’m not going to sit here and pretend
I didn’t learn from him.”
With how busy you are. You’ve been in so many movies
recently, you’re the AEW Champion. Do you think about how
much longer you want to wrestle?
“No, because I’m young, the idea hasn’t even entered my
head, like when I was watching that John Cena retirement, or
the AJ Styles retirement.”
Cena has got 20 years on you:
“So does Cody, so does CM Punk, so does LA Knight, so does
Jey Uso, so does essentially every top guy, Roman, all these
dudes are 40s to 50. I’m 29. So yeah, I do think it’s silly
to even go there to Oh, when am I going to hang them up? I’m
a baby, you know what I mean? I’m a top act, and it’s very
rare for somebody my age, if ever, to be in the situation
that I’m in. But I’m also very cognizant of the fact that
I’m just getting started, I don’t know what my prime is
going to be. I don’t think I’m going to have a prime. I
think I’m just going to be great for at least the next 20 to
30 years, and it’s crazy to say that out loud, because when
you hear 20-30 years, you’re like, Oh, that’s a lot of time.
30s, 40s, 50s, it’s all ahead of me. It’s all ahead of the
viewers. I personally feel that year over year I’ve only
evolved and gotten better. And I’m very curious to see what
I look like as a wrestler when I’m 35, when I’m 45, or when
I’m 50.”