On Sunday at Forbidden Door, MJF will wrestle in front of a near sold-out crowd in London, England at The O2 against AEW World Champion “Hangman” Adam Page. As AEW’s longest-reigning men’s World Champion, he gets another shot at gold — his first time in the World Championship picture since losing the belt to Samoa Joe at Worlds End 2023.
They’ve always been in each other’s orbit in some way as two of AEW’s biggest homegrown stars. At AEW All In Texas, MJF secured a win in the Casino Gauntlet for a future title opportunity. On AEW Dynamite last week, the champion goaded him into using his contract. However MJF, as always, had something up his sleeve. This week, he threatened Mark Briscoe’s life, which got Hangman to agree to his terms for the match.
VICE had the opportunity to chat with the challenger ahead of Forbidden Door about his feelings on the cowboy, his move into acting, becoming AEW’s “main antagonist,” and more.
VICE: You’ve been AEW World Champion before, you are the longest-reigning AEW World Champion. With all the talent in the men’s division right now, what does it mean to you to have this opportunity again, given it’s as competitive as ever?
MJF: Look to me, I think the reason why All Elite Wrestling is so exciting right now. While it’s predominantly me if we’re being honest, besides the fact that my back hurts from carrying it, you got me, you got the cowboy, you got Swerve [Strickland], you got [Will] Ospreay, you got Kenny [Omega], you got [Jon] Moxley, and Kyle Fletcher. There’s an insane hodgepodge of present-day, all-time generational talents. And the product’s never been hotter.
I think it’s never been hotter because it’s never been more competitive, more young, more fresh. I think that — how does it feel? It feels right to me. I feel like this is the reason God put me on this earth. It was to prove that I’m the greatest wrestler on God’s green earth and what better place to do it than the place where the best wrestle?
The division just gained a new star in Ace Austin, too. He was a big deal in TNA. Any thoughts on him?
Here’s the deal. We have a lot of cutesy guys that wear trunks and do flips. I don’t really concern myself with Ace Austin. I’ve heard he’s talented. He’s just not my cup of tea.
Let’s talk about your Forbidden Door opponent, Hangman Adam Page. You’ve had an on-again, off-again feud with him since AEW started. People love to refer to him as the main character of AEW. I know the pillar thing has almost lost all meaning at this point but you’re a foundational part of AEW, so do you feel kind of slighted by that?
No, because realistically, the only two pillars that people genuinely thought were pillars were me and Darby [Allin]. If we’re being honest here, look, I didn’t have much to work with in those early days. You know what I’m saying? Now, I most certainly do. Sammy Guevara is pretty solid though. I just think he’s really dumb. I don’t feel slighted because the new terminology for me is that I’m the “main antagonist.”
Which, while I disagree with it, that’s what these fans think of me, and it is what it is. At the end of the day, they’re misinformed, they’re uneducated. But I do agree with the simple fact that since day one, since 2019, your two main homegrown guys have been me and the cowboy.
They refuse to say that I’m the best, even though nobody’s a better talker than me. Nobody elicits more emotion; nobody creates more intrigue. Nobody creates higher ratings. Nobody’s better in the ring than me. Nobody has better theme music than me. The list goes on and on. But yeah, I think because they hate me so much, this is frankly the only way they can give me credit. So you want me to be the main antagonist? You want me to be the bad guy? Sure, no problemo.
On AEW Dynamite we saw you threaten to set Mark Briscoe on fire. Hangman’s got a dark past with arson, he set Swerve’s house on fire. Do you think it’s a good idea to be going arson for arson with him?
You have to understand my point here. This guy, he didn’t just threaten to set Swerve’s house on fire. He did it. And here’s little ‘ol MJF, this cowboy schmuck is super rude to me and convinces me to say something that I don’t believe in, saying that I’m gonna execute my contract out of anger. Which again, rude. Now here I am, all I did was threaten to light Mark Briscoe on fire. Did you see me light him on fire?
Nope, I did not.
Nope, I didn’t. ’cause I’m not a bad person like Hangman Adam Page. I’m not an arsonist, like Hangman Adam Page. I’m simply just trying to put a magnifying glass over everybody’s quaint little cute hero. He’s not a good person. But also, I have no beef with Mark Briscoe anymore. I beat Mark Briscoe clean, smack down the middle of the ring on Dynamite. It’s over. Mark Briscoe was a little chess piece because here’s the deal, cowboys, they play checkers. MJF, the white-collar badass, plays chess.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you about this because it’s been confirmed now, you’re the current CMLL World Light Heavyweight Champion, and so–
No, no, I’m the CMLL World Champion.
Right… the CMLL World Champion. You’ll be facing Místico again, but this time it’s in a mask versus title match. I have to ask, is there a particular reason you said no to doing a hair versus mask match like he wanted?
Yeah, I have a lovely head of hair and there’s no reason for me to lose it. I’m currently a big hot commodity in Hollywood. Do you think they’re going to hire me for jobs if I’m a balding freak?
Well, I mean, you’ve got Bautista, The Rock–
I’m not Bautista, I’m not The Rock.
You could be though.
I could be, but I’m not bald. And I don’t wanna be bald. I respect Bautista and The Rock. I respect these gentlemen. They’re trailblazers. Without them, I don’t get the opportunities I’m being afforded right now in the world of Hollywood. But that doesn’t mean that I wanna be bald. Mm, no, thank you.
So, just to clarify, because I have to do my job here, it has nothing to do with an expensive trip you may have taken to a certain country?
Oh, I mean, I take trips all the time.
Turkey, maybe? I hear the weather’s nice.
Turkey was lovely. Yeah, I’ve been to Turkey. Turkey’s a lovely place, I mean, it was actually an expensive trip. I stayed at the Ritz Carlton and I ate a lot of good food, but I don’t understand how that has anything to do with my hair.
You’ve done The Iron Claw, and you’re in Happy Gilmore 2, which recently came out with Adam Sandler. Is there a dream project that you would like to do or somebody you’d love to work with, maybe even a director?
You know, I said [this] before, I wanna end up on a Mount Rushmore of professional wrestlers turned actors. If I have the opportunity to get to work with any of the three Gods that are Bautista, Cena or The Rock, I’d be a very happy boy. Outside of that, my dream acting thing would definitely be getting to be involved in a superhero franchise. I grew up going to the movie theater and those were the movies that would get me to leave my house.
Don’t miss out on the action of Forbidden Door starting Sunday, August 24th at 1 p.m. ET. The pay-per-view is available to purchase via Prime Video, PPV.com, YouTube, traditional PPV, and TrillerTV internationally.
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