Top AEW star "firmly" ahead of Dominik Mysterio as a heel, according to WWE veteran
With AEW's MJF and WWE's Dominik Mysterio being two of the most entertaining acts in the business today, fans have debated over which of the young stars is a better heel. Wrestling veteran Jim Cornette recently shared his views on the conversation, saying he does not expect Rey Mysterio's son to surpass the AEW World Champion anytime soon.
Speaking on his Drive Thru podcast, Cornette justified his stance by first looking at how MJF and Dominik are presented in their respective promotions:
"Even if [MJF] is the big fish in a small pond, he is the world champion of the primary opposition promotion. He is being featured as the top guy in that atmosphere. Even though Dominik has done a world of good with this gimmick he's got, MJF is still [...] if not the best, one of the two or three best verbalists in the business." [00:31 - 00:58]
Cornette then went on to assess their in-ring work, once again giving the edge to The Salt of the Earth:
"Dominik is great at the style he has been trained, and he is hanging in there and he is pulling his weight. We haven't seen that he can put together top main event, world title-style matches [...] with an opponent besides his father, and MJF has with Punk and with Danielson. And the matches he has had on his own where be was the leader and the veteran with Darby [Allin]." [01:02 - 01:31]
Who’s been the better heel in 2023? Dominik Mysterio or MJF? https://t.co/msKMMjZBNy
Cornette concluded his point by saying that Ex-Con Dom could one day surpass Friedman as a heel but does not think that will happen this year. With MJF constantly teasing joining WWE following the "bidding war of 2024", perhaps then a more like-to-like comparison can be made between the rising talents.
"So, no, I'm not saying it might not ever happen. But right now I think MJF is firmly in the lead as far as getting the most out of their talents and is probably going to be for the next year until that bidding war. Then we will see." [01:33 - 01:49]
MJF comments on comparisons to popular WWE star
Due to his outstanding character work and promo skills, MJF has been compared to some WWE greats like The Miz and Ric Flair. With Dominik Mysterio generating so much crowd heat on a weekly basis, he, too, has joined the list of people Friedman has been compared to.
MJF took to Twitter to acknowledge the public debate while calling out media publications for profiting "off of hate" in the process:
@nodqdotcom @aaronrift I think Dom is fantastic.
I think these are clickbait articles to start wars amongst fans by creating toxic battles which then reinforces discourse under your articles which in turn forces the algorithm to push your tweets and your website so you make money off of hate.
I… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Dominik and Judgment Day are currently continuing their long-term storyline opposite Rey Mysterio and the newly reformed Latino World Order in WWE. Meanwhile, MJF is expected to face off against the other "pillars" of AEW (Sammy Guevara, Jack Perry, and Darby Allin) in the near future.