Posted in: AEW, Sports, TV | Tagged: aew, dynamite, recaps, wrestling

MJF Dispute Revealed to Be Glorious Work on AEW Dynamite

Published Thu, 02 Jun 2022 10:33:10 -0500

If there were any point where the animosity between MJF and Tony Khan was real, it would appear the two parties have worked out their differences. If we had to guess, based on the past weekend's events, it wouldn't surprise us to learn that MJF and Tony Khan have been working the dirt sheets for weeks or months with this story. On AEW Dynamite this week, MJF came to the ring and delivered what may be one of the most tastefully-executed worked shoots in the history of pro wrestling. The result was fertile ground for future stories and the potential for MJF to ascend to a level of wrestling stardom rarely achieved in the modern era.

By now, you've probably heard all about MJF's promo. Declaring that he was speaking as "Max Friedman," MJF complained that he doesn't get the credit or paycheck he deserves. He laid into the fans for their fickleness, his fellow wrestlers for their jealousy of his talents, and Tony Khan for his propensity to hire WWE rejects and pay them more than him. MJF ended the promo by demanding Tony Khan fire him and calling him a "f*cking mark" before his microphone was cut off, the screen went dark, and AEW Dynamite cut to commercial.

When the show returned, the announcers didn't say a word about what viewers had just witnessed. Instead, they recapped an earlier segment where Hiroshi Tanahashi challenged CM Punk to a match at Forbidden Door. Indeed, for the rest of the night, no mention was made of MJF or his promo. Even a Wardlow squash match and segment later in the show avoided mentioning MJF by name. AEW's social media posts about the segment, made in real-time as is customary during episodes of Dynamite, were deleted after the ending. The promo hasn't been posted to YouTube. No photos of MJF have been shared with the media. When it comes to worked shoots in pro wrestling, companies often make it obvious that what viewers witnessed wasn't "real" by constantly referencing it in storyline terms. In this case, everyone behaved the way they would have if it were real, which is a layer of nuance not usually displayed in this great sport.

As any excellent heel promo should be, the promo itself was full of truths. MJF is one of, if not the best, total package wrestlers in the world today. AEW does hire too many ex-WWE guys and push them over the AEW originals. The fans are fickle. They do change their opinions "on a dime" and then pretend they always felt that way. At the same time, MJF threatened the ultimate heel move for AEW fans: jumping ship to WWE.

If you're an AEW fan, think back to how you felt before AEW started. Back when WWE held a monopoly over big-time wrestling in the United States, you were forced to watch their 10 hours of tedious programming every week while they directly insulted your intelligence and often purposely tried to punish fans for their opinions. It was a bleak world where wrestling on a mainstream level wasn't fun anymore. For the kind of fan who appreciates AEW, there's no worse fate to imagine than a return to that dark era of complete WWE dominance.

Fans have already tasted that danger when Cody Rhodes left AEW for WWE. But while Rhodes is a great wrestler and may indeed achieve top star status in WWE, he's also a wrestler in the back half of his career, and whose act in AEW had become stagnant. MJF is, as he will tell you, the future of pro wrestling. For a star of MJF's caliber, a guy who could be a top star in any company for many years to come, leaving AEW and going to WWE would be a terrible blow, potentially even a turning point that could lead to AEW's downfall. That makes his threat to do so far more real than anything that could occur in the ring.

So, where does AEW go from here? The only logical direction is for MJF to win the AEW Championship, and who better to win it from than his old rival, CM Punk. And when he does, it could make sense for it to happen in a double turn, with MJF becoming the babyface (or at least a tweener) and Punk becoming the heel. It may sound ludicrous to propose switching the alignment of AEW's current top babyface and heel, but hear us out.

During his feud with Punk, MJF also cut some memorable promos, also promos filled with truths, including about how he felt abandoned by CM Punk when Punk left wrestling. But MJF wasn't the only person critical of Punk. Some of the best criticism of the current AEW Champion came from some of AEW's most beloved babyfaces: Eddie Kingston and former champion Hangman Adam Page. Both men have more or less accused Punk of being an interloper, a washed-up former WWE star taking a spot from younger, more deserving guys who have been with AEW from the start. And Punk himself, as smart and savvy as he is, must also recognize that dynamic.

With Punk as AEW Champion, many fans look toward the Summer of 2022 as the third "Summer of Punk." But in a reversal from the second "Summer of Punk," Punk has more in common, in character and storyline, with 2011 John Cena (except he still gets cheered). MJF has more in common with 2011 CM Punk. The nostalgic love for Punk as a babyface champion isn't going to last forever. And as great as it is, MJF's heel act also has a limited shelf life before it too becomes stale.

AEW may have something similar to what we're thinking planned. They may have something completely different planned. But one thing that's become increasingly clear is that all of this is part of some plan. Unless you believe that AEW had no idea what they would do with MJF after the Wardlow feud, it makes sense that they've been sowing the seeds of this storyline for months, whether it sprang from a genuine dispute once upon a time or not. To believe that Tony Khan and MJF only came to terms last weekend requires immense stupidity and incredible risk by all parties involved. Is it possible? Sure. But given all of the information we have now, it seems incredibly unlikely.

Wrestling fans have all-too-often seen stories with great potential crash and burn, or flail and fade, and that could still happen here. But AEW has had some success with excellent long-term storytelling, such as the feud between Hangman Page and Kenny Omega or the one between MJF and Wardlow. If any wrestling company in 2022 can pull off an all-time-great storyline, it would be AEW. And if any wrestler can do it, it would be MJF. Now, we just need to wait and see how it all plays off. And don't forget to enjoy the ride.

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