Before MJF signed with AEW at 22 years of age, he made sure that he was going to be considered as one of the hottest young stars in professional wrestling by accepting every opportunity on the indie scene, performing over 100 times a year, and mastering the art of cutting a promo. MJF’s dedication led him to three AEW World Championship wins and several main event opportunities on pay-per-view, but he believes that the young talent of today will fail to follow in his footsteps due to their lack of work ethic.
“I was wrestling a minimum of four times a week on the independent circuit, a minimum. And then on top of that, I was training at Create A Pro,” he explained during a recent appearance on “Shut Up and Wrestle.” “I will see guys get signed young like I did, but they didn’t wrestle three to four times every single week and nor are they training after they got signed because it’s ‘Oh, I’m making big money now’ … that makes me sick to my stomach.”
MJF didn’t name which talent he’s become frustrated with, but he went out of his way to credit AEW star Lio Rush, who debuted his new “Blackheart” gimmick earlier this year, leading him to be featured more often on television while being one of the most unique young stars in the industry today.
“That dude trains all the time. That dude then realized, Okay, this thing I’ve been doing for a decade since I was a young guy, it’s not working anymore. I’m going to switch it up now … his flavor of ice cream that he’s doing now might not be your flavor of ice cream that you’re interested in, but it’s gotten him on television … I respect that immensely and I wish there were more guys like him in our age group.”
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Shut Up and Wrestle” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
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