MJF Discusses The Biggest Issue Facing Young Talent In Wrestling
AEW’s MJF believes that young talent in the wrestling business need to look out for themselves.
Maxwell Jacob Friedman is undoubtedly one of the biggest talents and heels in professional wrestling today. He has headlined some of the industry’s biggest PPVs and consistently finds ways to remain relevant within the wrestling landscape.
Speaking with Bleacher Report, MJF shared his thoughts on younger wrestlers seeking advice from veterans, arguing that older talent often does not have the best interests of younger wrestlers at heart.
“In all sincerity, I think one of the biggest issues that young people in the industry make is that a lot of guys are busy walking around trying to find veterans in the locker room. Here’s the deal and the god’s honest truth. Not all of them, but 99 percent of the veterans in the locker room, they don’t have your best interest, they don’t want you to beat them, they don’t want you to be better at talking than them or better at wrestling than them. Because if you’re better than they are, that’s taking food off their plate. The only person you can trust in this industry is yourself.”
-MJF
At first glance, it could be easy to dismiss MJF’s comments as simply another example of his outspoken persona, but his perspective touches on a longstanding discussion within professional wrestling.
The industry has a long history of tensions arising when established wrestlers see younger talent receive opportunities ahead of them, while fans have also frequently called for rising stars to be given greater opportunities rather than seeing established names continue to dominate the spotlight.
There are, of course, exceptions to this. MJF himself benefited from his real-life friendship with Cody Rhodes, which helped open the door for his arrival in AEW. Jon Moxley has also been widely regarded as a leader within the AEW locker room and has spoken about wanting to help younger talent improve. Marina Shafir is one example, having embraced Moxley’s guidance and subsequently becoming part of the Death Riders.
Nevertheless, it’s difficult to argue with MJF’s accolades at such a young age in his career. The three-time former AEW World Champion is heading into this weekend’s AEW All In: London as part of the Casino Gauntlet, with a future opportunity at that very title on the line. As such, further success could be in his future.
Elsewhere, MJF recently pushed back against the idea that preferring AEW over WWE means fans have to actively criticise the competition. You can read more about that here.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on future plans for MJF as soon as we hear more.
