MJF Denies Trying to Overthrow Chris Jericho for Control of The Inner Circle

MJF will challenge Chris Jericho at Saturday's Full Gear event for a potential spot in Jericho's Inner Circle faction. Fans have already assumed that, if Friedman wins, he'll wind up turning on Jericho in some form or fashion and take charge of the heel group. Friedman appeared in an interview with Wrestling Inc. this week, where he emphatically attempted to shoot down that idea.

"That is furiously ridiculous," he said. "I want to make something perfectly clear because I see these things. I see them on the Twitter, and the Instagram, and Facebook and the Reddit. I'm not trying to turn on Chris Jericho. I'm not trying to turn on Inner Circle. I'm not trying to turn on Sammy [or] Jake. I'm not trying to have them join some new crazy crew. That is not my intention.

"I've already made my intention known several times," he continued. "I want to become the AEW World Champion. The best way to do that is to be a part of the best group and to be able to learn from the wealthy tree of knowledge that is Christopher Jericho. We are talking about an absurd amount of years in this business, 30 years. 30 years of knowledge. I mean who wouldn't want to soak that in? So for all the people that are saying that, I believe their s--t stirrers. I believe that they're imposters."

Unfortunately for Friedman, he doesn't have the greatest track record when it comes to partners. It was at last year's Full Gear that Friedman betrayed his mentor, Cody Rhodes, during the AEW World Championship match. That spawned a rivalry between the two that culminated in MJF winning a bloody match at Revolution.

"I feel that people love to read in between the lines," he said. "Pro wrestling fans, genuinely, do a lot," MJF noted. "They'll try to guess what's going to happen next, and then when it doesn't happen, they get upset, and they throw a little fit. 'Aw, this thing I wanted to happen didn't happen.' Unfortunately, for all these people that think they're dealing with this type of scenario in their head where there's going to be a turn, there is no turn. The reason why I 'turned' on Cody Rhodes is because Cody Rhodes turned on me first. Chris Jericho's a good person. I'm a good person. I'm ready to do good business with Chris Jericho."