I Don’t Give A F**k If Anyone Has A Problem With Me Saying This …

While MJF admits competition among AEW’s top stars can get intense, the reigning AEW World Champion believes the atmosphere backstage is far healthier than it was during previous eras of professional wrestling.

Speaking on the Shut Up and Wrestle with Brian Solomon podcast (full episode below), MJF discussed a variety of old-school wrestling topics and reflected on the current state of locker room dynamics in AEW. According to MJF, while there is naturally a battle among talent looking to reach the top of the card, the level of animosity seen in past generations is largely absent today.

“What I will say is this, this is the most harmonious my locker room’s ever been,” he said. “But at the end of the day, this sh*t gets competitive, bro. It does. Some people handle it better than others. That’s for damn sure,” MJF said. “But do I think it’s anywhere near as nasty as it used to be? Thank God, not even close. You know, there’s no one on my roster that I don’t respect, unless they give me a reason not to, you know what I mean? But as far as from a talent perspective, I respect every other guy that is in the conversation of being the 1A, 1B, 1C, etc.”

The AEW champion went on to compare the modern wrestling landscape to stories he has heard about previous generations, noting that while he admires many aspects of wrestling’s past, he is grateful some of the backstage politics and personal feuds have faded.

MJF continued, “Whereas you hear so many stories from that bygone era, while I fantasize about that bygone era, and I can tell you emphatically, I truly believe, and I don’t give a f*** if anyone has a problem with me saying this, you plot me into any era in any territory, I still become who I am now. I believe that in my heart of hearts. I really do. But I am so thankful that the level of chicanery of top guys trying to fing murder each other has really been flattened. Do I think it’s ever going to fully go away? No, some people are fing unwell, you know what I mean? They just constantly want more. But, it’s better.”

MJF is currently in his third reign as AEW World Champion. Although he will not defend the title at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door on June 28, he is scheduled to captain a heel team in a massive steel cage match. MJF, Kevin Knight, Kyle Fletcher, Kazuchika Okada, Andrade El Idolo and Jake Doyle will face Mark Briscoe, Roderick Strong, Kyle O’Reilly, Orange Cassidy, Konosuke Takeshita and Darby Allin at the pay-per-view event.

Elsewhere in the interview, MJF emphasized that he is far from the only wrestling historian in the AEW locker room. While he acknowledged not everyone approaches the business the same way, he believes it is easy to identify which performers have studied the industry’s past and incorporated those lessons into their work.

“I’ll tell you, there are a lot of guys like me, especially in my locker room,” he said. “Now, there’s also a lot of guys not like me, but I think it’s pretty easy to tell who’s students of the game and who’s not when you watch their body of work.”