MJF shares a heartwarming message ahead of his title defense at AEW Grand Slam
MJF is pretty excited about performing in a match in the presence of his home crowd in New York. He will be defending the AEW World Heavyweight Champion against Samoa Joe at the Grand Slam special at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The match itself has a history now, with Samoa Joe running rampant through the roster to finally face MJF after her beat Roderick Strong. The Salt of the Earth was recently on the CBS New York Show and had only praise for the audience in his hometown. During the interview, he said, 'he feels great that he's home.'
"I feel great, I feel fantastic. I am home. You know, every Tuesday night, on TBS, we do live shows, with incredible professional wrestling. How would I know? Because I am on the show, I am incredible. But all the while, I have to go to these God awful states with God awful people, but finally, finally, I am home, amongst my people, beautiful New Yorkers. I couldn't be happier that we are going to Arthur Ashe. It's an historic venue and I am very excited." [0:27 - 0:51]
MJF is known for his excellent mic skills, and he has gone a long way to create some hype for the show in the mainstream with this interview of his. It remains to be seen how the audience finally reacts to the show now.
The practice of face wrestlers making appearances on talk shows has been around since the seventies, and everyone, from Hulk Hogan to John Cena has ventured into this space now and then.
Kris Statlander credits MJF with her getting a chance in AEW
Current AEW TBS Champion Kris Standlander revealed recently that while she started her career in AEW with a dark match, she credits MJF for recommending bringing her on. On the podcast Under the Ring, she had something bittersweet to say about her connection with the Salt of the Earth.
"I hate to give him credit, but I know MJF was probably the biggest one, so I do have a lot to owe him, unfortunately, but he's been there for me a lot as a friend. I think if he hadn't recommended me as someone to bring in, I probably wouldn't have gotten that opportunity so early on. I'm sure it probably would have happened eventually. I would hope it would have at least but, yeah, it just kind of just happened out of nowhere. The first day that I was there, it was kind of like, ‘Were gonna bring you in’, and I was like, ‘All right, let's do it,'" added Statlander. (H/T WrestlingNews)
It seems MJF has the ear of the head booker of AEW, Tony Khan, and it looks like he's poised to be the face of the company for at least some more time.
What do you think? Can MJF become a popular media name like The Rock and Cena? Tell us in the comments section.