MJF was a guest on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour on Monday and addressed a number of issues including the drama surrounding Double or Nothing weekend, the scathing promo he cut on Tony Khan the following week and the agreement they’ve since reached where he earns more money without having to sign an extension with the promotion. Friedman is notorious for not breaking character in interviews, so everything here should be taken with a grain of salt.ย
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“I cannot confirm or deny there being a plane ticket. What I will say is this. I’m a businessman. I do what I have to do in order to ensure that what I need gets done. It got done. I’m back. I’m making a stupid, absurd amount of money now, and I didn’t have to sign a contract extension,” Friedman said regarding the situation in Las Vegas ahead of the Double or Nothing pay-per-view where he got his hands on a plane ticket that would’ve seen him leave the night before the show only to back off and wrestle as planned.ย
Friedman went on to say that he felt his infamous promo was “warranted” and that now he considers his relationship with Tony Khan to be “great.” He also claimed his current deal still expires in January 2024.
“Money. I’m a simple man. I go out there, all I do is win. I’m winning in the ring. I’m winning on the mic. I’m constantly winning. Obviously, I had no problem with how I was being showcased. That wasn’t the issue. The issue was money. I was looking to my left and my right, and I was hearing rumblings about what guys were making when I was two times, three times the draw they were minute-by-minute. I’ve seen the analytics. I went, ‘That doesn’t work for me.’ I’m MJ freakin F. Pay up. Not just in AEW. Guys in WWE, guys in IMPACT, guys in Ring of Honor at the time.”
Friedman returned from hiatus at All Out earlier this month, in which he hired Stokely Hathaways’ new faction “The Firm” in order to easily win the Casino Ladder Match and a shot at the AEW World Championship. He has since been threatening the competitors in the ongoing tournament for the vacated title, particularly Jon Moxley. Mox and Bryan Danielson will wrestle in the main event of this week’s AEW Grand Slam event for CM Punk’s vacated world championship.
