MJF says WWE counter-programming proves they respect AEW.
The Endeavor-owned promotion seems to have renewed its efforts to stifle the growth of the Tony Khan promotion in the last year. One of the tactics they have adopted is running shows at the same time as AEW PPVs, to reduce the chatter about the rival promotion and stop the casual audience from checking out the product.
The current AEW World Champion talked about this during a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet. He was discussing the interest from WWE before he signed with AEW. MJF claimed that WWE trying to kill them is smart business and it shows that they respect the work AEW is doing:
I respect what they’re doing. I respect their product. I know that they respect our product because about a million times they’ve tried to counterprogram us, slash us any way they can, hurt us any way they can, which, by the way, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, that’s smart business. Try to kill me. Try to kill me before I kill you. It’s f*cking smart. I’m not going to take that away from them.
MJF also claimed that he would have been just as successful if he had chosen WWE as his home. He knew AEW was the right choice for him; however, after having a long conversation with Tony Khan and realizing that he loved the era of territorial wrestling just as much as him.
The Salt of the Earth is set to defend his title against Brody King at the Grand Slam Australia event later this week. You can check out the full match card for the show here.
