"Tony Khan is thanking me"- Top AEW star calls himself the biggest draw in professional wrestling
AEW has seen significant year-on-year ratings improvement over the last two years, and MJF believes Tony Khan should be thanking him as he's the biggest draw in all of professional wrestling.
AEW Dynamite was in a ratings war with WWE NXT for a good part of two years before NXT shifted to Tuesday nights. The 'victory' was a huge feather in Tony Khan's cap and since adding the likes of CM Punk, Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole, AEW attendance, pay-per-view and merchandise numbers have hit greater heights.
Here's the heat map for tonight's AEW show at the UBS Arena on Long Island, NY. The green dots represent seats distributed - this helps better visualize how much of the upper deck has been sold so far. This was posted on patreon.com/WrestleTix this morning. https://t.co/56KMyBqDtf
Speaking to Peter Schwartz on Schwartz On Sports, MJF said that he deserves the credit for drawing viewers to the product.
"Tony Khan is appreciative of me and what I've been able to do for this business. These are facts. Facts don't care about your feelings. I am one of the biggest rating draws, on average, per-minute, when I am out there, in the entire business. In the entire business! No matter what promotion you're talking about. That's me, and I've only been on worldwide television for two years. So no, I'm not thanking Tony Khan, Tony Khan is thanking me because I am the draw of draws." (h/t: Fightful)
AEW star MJF explained why he is a draw
MJF's segment w/CM Punk peaked at 1.160 Million Viewers & 592K in 18-49 in the minute by minute ratings
#AEWDynamite's Peak in Total Viewers
#AEW https://t.co/AbjIleXeMb
The MJF vs. CM Punk segment was the highest viewed segment on Dynamite, crossing over a million viewers while the show on average did under 900,000 views. MJF offered some insight on what makes him must-see.
"Quite frankly, the reason that is happening is because unlike everyone else in my industry and sport and business, I'm not phony. I'm not playing a part or playing a role. I am Maxwell Jacob Friedman 24/7, 365 and that's why I fell in love with wrestling because wrestling was real and is real and it is real when you have a guy like me on your TV screen," said MJF.
There's no doubt that the Salt of the Earth works extra hard to maintain his gimmick even when the cameras aren't on him, and that does blur the lines of reality and kayfabe. That's the best form of character work possible, when people cannot differentiate if you're just playing a bad guy or really are one.
AEW has pushed MJF very well so far and they're absolutely right in doing so. With the CM Punk feud escalating, MJF has positioned himself as one of the top stars in the industry.