Two major stories regarding pro wrestling free agency have popped up this month. The first is that Kevin Owens, despite teasing that he might depart the WWE on Twitter, signed a multi-year extension with the company roughly one month before his deal was supposed to expire. The other came days later when Andrew Zarian reported by F4WOnline that WWE officials confirmed their interest in signing AEW’s Maxwell Jacob Friedman once his contract expires in 2024. MJF has already teased starting a bidding war between the two promotions.
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In an interview with CBS Sports this week, AEW president Tony Khan addressed both of those topics. When asked about WWE wanting MJF, he said, “I think that’s great. I encourage that. I think they should keep talking about him because he’s a wrestler that’s a big part of AEW and is signed here for a few more years. So I think please keep giving us that buzz because he’s been getting great ratings for his segments and those have also been featuring CM Punk pretty regularly as they continue to interact. They’ve had a war of words and now there’ll be on opposite sides of this huge trios match where you got Sting [and] Darby Allin teaming with CM Punk against MJF and FTR. I think that’s great. You know, [WWE] had some wrestlers I really wanted to sign there and I signed him, Bryan Danielson and Adam [Cole] and Ruby Soho.”
He was then asked about Owens — “I would have been interested in that. He’s a great wrestler. I think he ended up signing for what I believe is probably a lot of money. I think that’s great and good for him. We have a lot of people spotlighted here and he’s great. Any company he goes to he’ll be a great wrestler for them.”
Days after the news of his signing broke, Owens explained why he chose to stay with WWE in an interview with TVA Sports. Translated from French to English, Owens said, “The decision was pretty easy because it really was the best thing for my family. When it comes to that, it’s always a pretty easy decision. WWE has been my home for seven years, so I have a sense of belonging. Basically, I spent most of my career there. When you look at all the wrestling companies I’ve wrestled in, in WWE, that’s where I’ve been the longest, that’s where I need to be for the next few years. That’s how I felt and that’s the decision I made.”
