MJF: If You Show Up And Work Hard In AEW, There’s No Need To Burn Bridges

MJF had this to say about anyone who thinks they can use All Elite Wrestling as a leapfrog back to the WWE.

In the last couple of months to a year, the locker room for AEW has been at an all-time high in regard to morale and satisfaction, according to many wrestlers and talents backstage in the locker room.

While speaking with Ariel Helwani, MJF detailed the good shape of the locker room and who he believes was the biggest offender in the last couple of years when it came to All Elite Wrestling.

“I attribute that to the fact that there are no longer people in the locker room who look at my company as a stepping stone; they look at it as a legitimate company. We had a lot of guys, I shouldn’t say a lot, but we had some guys that came in and they were like, ‘I’m going to show up, be top guy, and go back to Vince.’ Really, motherfucker, you’re going to leapfrog me? Good luck, pussy. Not going to happen on my watch, and it didn’t. No one is nearly as good as me, Hangman, Swerve, Kenny, Ospreay, Samoa Joe. A lot of guys came in and thought they could “brother brother” themselves to the top and it didn’t happen. We no longer have that in the locker room, and it’s a breath of fresh air. I no longer have to look at anyone in the eye and think to myself, ‘This guy doesn’t want to be here.’ Everyone in my locker room wants to be here. People had to get weeded out,” he said.

Asked for names, MJF replied, “The biggest offender? I think it’s pretty obvious that’s Malakai Black (Aleister Black in WWE). I don’t know the guy on a personal level. Do I think he’s a bad guy? No. Do I think he was a mark for ‘Oh, I need my Mania moment.’ Yeah. There were a couple of guys like that, and they got weeded out. They went over there and some found out the grass isn’t greener. Perhaps, for them, the grass was greener. The majority of guys that were like, ‘I’m going to use AEW to go to WWE or back to WWE,’ you’re going to see a lot of those guys get asked for a 50% pay cut or get released. It’s unfortunate because if you show up to our company and work hard, there is no need to burn bridges. I’m not shitting on him, I’m simply telling you what I was told by the majority of the locker room about this specific individual.”

Aleister Black / Malakai Black was released from the WWE a year after making his return to the company.

H/t to Fightful for the transcription.