Wrestling with FreddieHappy New Year everyone, here is a classic sit down we had with AEW's MJF.
MJF is one of the hottest pro wrestlers in recent history, and he knows it. I get his thoughts on where he sees himself currently as part of AEW. And no surprise, MJF stays true to character doing what he does best, building himself up.
What's up, everybody. Welcome to a brand new episode of Wrestling with Freddie. Not brand new, because we're taking you back into the past. It's only these two weeks, so don't worry, but we're going to go at one of my favorite episodes from the past. I hope you guys like it as much as I enjoyed recording it. Enjoy the show. Happy New Year to everybody, and we'll see you next week with brand new content, just like we do every week. Un Wrestling with Freddy. Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome back to WWF Wrestling with Freddy, and today it's not storytime. We have a very special guest, someone who I have been incredibly impressed with, someone who is doing big things in the wrestling business, and we're going to get into it. It's our first time talking. I have no idea how this is going to go, so let's start the show. Welcome to Wrestling with Freddy.
Wow stepping up for the mic, the host of Wrestling with Freddie. Freddie prest Tune.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome AEW's m j F.
Hello, sir, how are you.
I'm the youngest and fastest rising star in the history professional wrestling. My name is Maxwell Jacob Freeman. I'm also the man who beat PG Punk twice in Chicago, and I am very excited to get to talk to you today, Freddy and really just put myself over for a couple of minutes. I don't get to do it often.
You don't get nearly enough opportunities to speak about yourself.
But you know, I agree, I agree. You know I always pull Tony Khan over the side, good friend of mine, Tony billionaire, just throwing it out there, and I say, Tony, fifteen minutes, that's all you can give me, you know, that's it. That's the much. It's it's ridiculous. But Tony understands whereas bread is buttered, I get more time every week on a two hour show, and all the EXWWE guys get you know, three to five.
A right listen man speaking of the fastest rising star. And we haven't even scratched the surface of your accomplishments. And I happen to think very highly of you. I find the wrestling business and stand up comedy the two hardest forms of entertainment in the history of entertainment. You're getting an immediate response and an immediate reaction from the crowd. They let you know real quick if they respect you or if they do not. And what you've managed to do, in my opinion, is establish yourself as one of the building sort of foundation stones that this company AEW has become. Now, there may have been a bedrock that it was laid upon right with like a Chris Jericho someone like that coming in, but in order to build the company, they had to identify the right young talent that could come into this business and not only be the future, but take it from the people who have their hands firmly wrapped around it right now.
You have.
They unlocked the door and you decided to just literally kick it off the hinge. E's not a knocker, Fred, No, I haven't seen you knock on a door.
And I was late to the party on you, man, And.
It's not shame, it's regret that I have for not being hip to you and what you've managed to do. And I loved listen your story and your experience with CM Punker as you called IMPG Punk was nothing less than perfect. And you made true on every promise that you were going to make. And where you stand now the world of ae W is your oyster? I used to always want to punch guys in the face who said that. Now I'm saying it, I guess I'm old. What is your plan for twenty twenty two? Where do you see yourself going the show world domination?
Humbly, I said, and respectfully, here's the deal. Nothing you said is inaccurate. I didn't come into this company with any friends. I wasn't a friend hire as a lot of people in my company are. I came in a man on an island, and essentially all I was given was opportunity, and I smashed it out of the park. Every time you see me on screen, I don't hit singles, I don't hit doubles. Hell, I don't even hit home runs. I only hit grand slams. I'm the king. I'm the King of swing. It's what I do. And you know when I was when I was told that PG Punk was coming out of my company, I was none too pleased. Everybody was talking like this is some god in wrestling that is making a big return, and you know it didn't fit well with me, because there's only one god in wrestling right now, and his name's Maxwell. Jacob Friedman but I tried to be respectful. I tried to extend my hand and shake PG Punk's hand like a grown man, but he's not capable of that because he's a bitch boy. And as you saw, I then took him to tax in his own hometown in the Mamama midwest of Chicago, Illinois, a dumpster fire, and I beat him twice. What's next, obviously, is I'm going to become the aw world champion. PG Punk wants to rematch, and that's cute, honestly. And once I'm through with him, I'm gonna become the world champion. And who knows, man, maybe I might take over Hollywood too, just like you did back in what was it, the seventies when were you on top?
It was a wee bit later my father took over the seventies.
Yeah, I'm not that old, got it.
I was born in ninety six, so I get my dates all mixed up because I'm not a dinosaur. So enough with the yakatayak and the douche baggery coming out of you. Let's how about we gets into getting some questions and uh, and you send me my venmo after we're done with this crappy little interview.
All artists are clay or stone or whichever now and we like to use. Someone shapes us, someone molds us. Yeah, someone helps us become the man or the woman we are when we become professionals. Who put this dog in you? Or was it a moment and you did this by yourself? But who put this this energy? Because I'm I'm telling you, when I speak to you, even when you're disrespectful, it's like a young lion who doesn't care about the old lion anymore because the old lion is eaten more than he kills and you're not having that. So who helped shape this man? You know?
I feel like I was kind of born with a chip on my shoulder in the sense that I was a kid. You know, I was five foot nothing, Jewish kid. Who and when you're a young kid growing up in Long Island and you're a Jew, you're expected to be a doctor or a lawyer, something to that effect. And that kind of peeved me off a little bit because I was like, way more athletic than everybody around me. Why is it that I have to settle for kind of being a normy like dork. It was just not my thing. And you know I felt that especially whenever I played football or any contact sport. Every single play was an opportunity for me to shut people up. And when I did do well, which I did every single play, I made sure people heard it. And just growing up, I had to while I did have a you know, I had a hard time. My father gave me a small loan of two million dollars and for most people they wouldn't have been able to know make ends meat off of something that minuscule, but not me. You know, I worked my ass off to get to the position I'm in today. I was never handed anything, and it's it's you know what's unfortunate. You know what I should be handed my flowers. I don't know why people have to wait for my memorial show to tell me how great I am. Why can't people tell me how great I am right now? It's sad, Freddie, That's what it is.
I think at the very next AEW Live show, you should be showered with flowers. And I hope that the people appreciate you enough to go out and purchase from their hard earned checks instead of something for their kids.
Roses, not daisies.
Not the grocery store ones once from an actual florist set just for you. You should be like Prince Akim from Coming to America.
Never seen it? When did that come out the seventy.
Oh god, no, it was probably you were negative. I think six at the time.
It's a really good movie. You should check it out.
Sounds like The Drizzling Shits nineteen ninety six. I think I was on the cover of People magazine as like the sexiest teen kid with a smile that Crest wanted to sponsor or whatever.
It was thirty B movie rom coms around.
That those were a plus. Baby, what are you talking about? That was a a A.
Plus understood, understood. But no, yeah, you're right. I just here's the deal, Freddie, and not enough people talk about it. I feel like if I died today, I've already had one of the greatest runs in the history of the business. I've had some of the most memorable feuds and monumental moments in such a short period of time. And I'm only twenty five. And I think it's hard for be able to wrap their brain around that. And the thing is Roddy Piper, one of my all time favorites, outside of John Cena love Johnson to death. You know John.
I do know John. He didn't like me very much, how do I.
But the thing that to understand is is that that's the price of greatness is You're not always going to get along with people. That's why me and John got along so well the one time I met up with him when I did extra work. But I'm getting lost here. So Roddy Piper. Roddy Piper, one of the greatest of all time never won a world title, and that's my goal is I want to be looked upon as the greatest of all time. But I was also able to win that coveted world heavyweight championship, and I plan on doing that very soon.
So let's let's talk about Piper, because I've heard a lot.
Of people mention your name with his people saying I've heard people say the Miz as well.
But the one that clicks with me, and because I'm so much older, is Piper.
And Piper had an ability to connect to people and whether he wanted you to love him in the moment or hate him in.
The moment, he could get you to do it both times.
And it was that ability to communicate that helped him transfer into movies. He was in a movie again that was made before you were born, called They Live.
Oh, that's a great cult sci fi movie. Sah, solid movie.
And it even allowed him to have the courage to delve into stand up comedy. The few years before he passed away, I had the pleasure of seeing him perform at the improv where my dad used to perform. You're twenty five years old, if and what you said is hard to argue because you already have accomplished so much, and with each and every victory and opportunity you've had, you've made the most of it. Let's say when you're thirty five, you've won every world championship there is to win. You've taken all those things. At thirty five years old, do you think you'd be able to walk.
Away and say I'm done, I'm going to Hollywood. I'm gonna be a You'll.
Walk away way before then. You know, there's talk of a bidding war. I don't know if you've heard fred word, but there I have. And you know, these Fox execs they're thirsty for daddy. I mean they want a piece of meat. Bubblah blah band. And you know I'm not gonna sit here and pretend I'm not interested. I like money. I think if there's one thing that I love more than gold, it's green fred and I'm gonna go wherever I'm offered the most. By the time I turn thirty five, though, I'm probably gonna be well and done with wrestling. I'll probably have achieved everything that I possibly can in the pro wrestling genre. And by that time, i'd imagine you're going to be seeing me on billboards for movies and TV shows.
Listen to everything this guy is saying. Please, all you guys listening, whether you hate him or whether you love everything he's saying, it is one hundred percent necessary.
If you want to achieve a dream in.
I don't know about business, okay, but I know about the art world, whether it be acting or comedy, or music or wrestling. Everything this man says and is doing is what is necessary. I know everyone thought I was this sweet boy. You said you had no friends coming into this game. I had no friends coming into this game, all right.
I lied. I cheated, I stole.
I told casting directors my name was Ryan Phillippy so that I could get an audition when they didn't want to see Freddie Brinz Junior. I did whatever was necessary to get in the room and make the most of my opportunities. I would love nothing more than an actual public Do you realize what you're saying hasn't happened.
Ever publicly?
If there was an open bidding war for the services of MJF, and it was a legitimate bidding war, that would literally put more eyes and ears on the business of wrestling than have been in thirty plus years. And you're talking about it like it's nothing, like it's already gonna happen.
Well, here's the deal, man. I'm sure by the time twenty twenty four rolls around, you will see people that we're working in AW already now potentially making the jump to WWE. But what you won't see is the amount of money being thrown. When I tell you, and this is a straight fact, I know for a fact, when twenty twenty four rolls around, we're talking millions of dollars here that I know for a fact that whomever owns WWE by then, we don't know is going to be willing to pay Maxwell Jacob Friedman, while Tony Kahn, good friend of mine, love TK. Great guy is also going to be offering me a butt ton of money, and I love aw aw is a great place. But like I said before, I love money. That's all that this is. At the end of the day, this ain't friend business. This is show business, and it's a business with a capital B. And that's all that matters to Max. Now, once I've done everything I can in the Squared Circle, that's when I move on to my next venture. And I'm excited for all these chapters in my book. I'm also excited for people to look back and listen to this podcast and go, this kid called his shot like Babe, Ruth, You're damn right. I did, and I had fun doing it all the way through. I'm twenty five right now, I'm a baby, and when I'm thirty five, I'm still gonna be a baby. I'm si gonna be young.
You shit.
Dwayne the Rock Johnson and John Cena did not enter, or should I say, did not exit the pro wrestling landscape until they're mid thirds. That's both of them, and they and they were not the titans they are in Hollywood until they're mid to late thirties. I'm already telling you right now. I love wrestling. Wrestling is great. I'm going to continue to be the top name of the industry because don't get it, don't get it twisted, folks, I already am. People are already referring to me as the top heel, which I despise. And we can get into that after I'm done with this beautiful monologue in professional wrestling and I'm a baby.
Your contract it's twenty twenty four, whatever year it is, your contracts up, your free age.
January first, twenty twenty four.
Is MJF the highest paid wrestler in the business in twenty twenty four.
I think, if let me put it this way, yes, and I'll tell you why, because I think WWE is going to be willing to do whatever it takes to get me to jump ship, because to have me is to pretty much take a sniper rifle and shoot the heart of all lead wrestling. Because that's what I am. I'm the glue because everybody around me hates my guts. Everybody wants to punch me in the face. I am the top tier guide that everybody has a problem with when you take your biggest antagonist, even though personally I feel I'm a protagonist. But when you I'm sault to the earth. When you take your biggest antagonist, so to say, and you take them away, what do you have? What is the Batman without the Joker? He's nobody. They need each other, he's not intriguing. There is no success without having that thorn in your side. And I got no problem being that thorn because it makes me a shit ton of money. So to answer your question, Fred, yeah, I do believe that these people are gonna be willing to shill out a lot of cash for me, because not only am I one of the greatest talkers, not only am I one of the greatest professional wrestlers this sport has to offer. I'm someone like Piper, a gentleman that you had mentioned earlier, that is able to make people seal something viscerally seals something. It's a lost art in my industry. I don't know where it went away. At some point people started caring more about the moves than the emotions. I'm not that guy. I'm the guy that's gonna make people tune in and I'm gonna grab them by the face. That's what I do. That's why I'm irreplaceable.
So you have no appreciation for the history of the movies that I've.
Been here except Scooby Doo. I grew up on those. They're solid.
Yeah, I'm sure you made your parents watch them as well, so you owe them an apology.
But you are.
Arguably the most old school wrestler in the business right now. Do you are you a historian of the business as well? Or do you simply have an appreciation for it? Do you not care about it?
Compleat student of the game. I literally was just watching a match with Moose Cholac from the thing. It was like the fifties, And that's what I do. You know, I study my sport because I don't. I don't want to be the best. I need to be the best. That's just how I've been, That's how I was raised, That's how I grew up. It's it's the only thing that's acceptable to me. If I go out there and I do anything but have the best moment of the night, I feel like a failure. And I refuse to feel like a failure. That's for the people watching me at home. All of you guys can be failures. MJF is not allowed to be a failure. That's why I watch all the greats, and that's why I study professional wrestling at nauseum. That's just how I operate. That's why I study the greats. That's why I study the Tully Blanchard, who I now get to work along with. That's why I study, you know, Moose Cholac, who I just brought up earlier, Pampiro Ferpo. I'm studying old school. Even Jesus, I'll watch I'll watch some crazy out of the box shit, just because you never know what you can pick up or get out of it. I was watching an Antonio Roca match. This was two weeks ago, and I was watching how he performed a headstitters. It was very different than the headscisters you see today, and it's just interesting. I watch all facets of wrestling. I especially I love territory wrestling. I can watch Mid South wrestling till I'm blue in the face. It was always, always, always presented to you in a way where you didn't feel like your intelligence was being insulted. And that's what I do because professional wrestling is real, and it is especially real when I'm out there, and I think that's what fans, whether they realize it or not want to see. They don't want to see two guys go out there and perform moves like it's a video game and then go on Twitter and go, oh, thanks for the match, Bud. That's not what people want to see. People like, we're fighting out there.
You sound like me talking to my buddies that are my age.
I mean, it's the truth. I am not a gimmick. Nothing about me is a gimmick. When I walk through that curtain and when I walk back to the curtain, I am and always will be MJF twenty four to seven. I am going out there to win so I can get the winners purse, move up in the rankings, and hopefully soon down the line, become your AW World Champion. Somewhere along the way this got lost and I am back in pro wrestling. I have come back to fix the wrongs that have been written and write them back.
That's what this is why you should be.
This is why when people say you're a heel, it drives me crazy.
I'm trying to fix the product that has been broken for the last couple of decades. That's what I'm trying to do. Freddie, when you got a guy like PG Punk who's walking around pretending like he's some hotshot in my ring and talking all this mess. I won't stand for it. I don't care what you've done in the past. You're in my company now. You're in my company now.
So you mentioned Mid South rest, Yes, and Mid South was famous for men having a genuine reason to fight, and they communicated the reason why, and they communicated what they were going to do, and like you said, at some point down the road, that was lost. And I've always said this many times, wrestling is the purest definition of art because it's the literal blood, sweat and tears on a literal canvas. But it's made live. It's like getting to watch Jackson Pollock died before you were born, famous painter, American artist, famous in a time when American artists didn't get face. But that's what you're doing out there on a weekly basis. That's why I say, are you going to be the highest paid wrestler in twenty twenty four?
I listen.
If I ran WWE and you came in a meeting and your contract was up, my negotiation would be a big checkbook that said WWE, Titan Corp. Or whatever, it was, and I would send it over to you, and I would tell you to write in a number and an amount of years, and then I would sign that check and I would hand it to you, and that would be the end of our negotiation. That's how much I respect and depreciate the root you're taking because to be as old school as you are in the modern era for kids that were born into social media and whose egos have been warped so badly that the slightest compliment makes them feel like Jesus Christ or Mahatma Gandhi, and the smallest criticism makes them want to jump off a bridge. And you literally storm through it like a snowplow. And there is nothing that I've seen, And like I said, I was late to the game, but there's nothing I've seen in aew that is going to slow you down. You're going to hit the same challenges that every other superstar before you is hit, but many of them have smashed through as well. And when you say Roddy Roddy Piper, I knew Piper. Okay, we weren't best friends, but I knew him. My dad was a stand up. He had a great appreciation for that and my father's one of his best friends.
With Keith Keith David. Keith David was.
Piper's friend from they live, and so it was all this sort of weird and cstuous crew. My dad died when he was twenty two. Had an attitude like yours. Nothing's going to stop me, but the one thing that could was himself, and he was messed up on drugs and that's the quickest way to screw up your path.
And to watch.
You, brother, listen, I'm not even supposed to say this, but to me, you're the best heel working period and I still think you're a face because I genuinely think you're saving wrestling because you come at it with such an honesty, an old school grit.
You don't care who's in your way.
They're an obstacle and they're going to get smashed the same way they were when you were in high school playing football, and the guy across from you may have been bigger, or had or was told that they were going to be the great, big, huge nfler, but on that night they got put on their ass by you.
And I love you for that.
Man.
Am I allowed to say that? If I'm not you, I mean.
I'm kind of getting sick over here. But nothing you're saying is inaccurate, you know, is it definitely over the top. I don't want to take you out for dinner, Freddie. I need to relax a little bit. You know, you can ask around. This is a fuck. Everything that comes out of my mouth is a shoot. But what you need to understand is, like, people don't like me in my locker room. No one is a fan of MJF in my locker room because everybody wants to be MJF. Everybody wants to be the twenty five year old guy who's already on top. Nobody's happy that I have done what I've done in such a short period of time. And guess what, I don't give a shit. And they're gonna be way more upset when I beat seam Punk again wherever he decides we're going to wrestle, and when I'm wearing pretty platinum, the aw world tight or they're gonna be even more upset. And so are you personally listening to this podcast who crosses their fingers every week that somebody's gonna shut me up. Newsplash is not gonna happen. And I'm not being apologetic for that. Like I said, I approach this as sport because it is, and I'm a professional athlete. I don't mess around. And there are other guys who are happy to be here. They're just happy to be on TV, and that's great golf plat for you. I'm not gonna be happy until I am the most successful, the most famous professional wrestler who's ever graced this earth. That's when I'll have a real smiling on my face. Now there are moments where I'm able to soak it in. You bet you're ass. When I was being held up on that throne by all those short, stocky fat boys as they carried me to the ring and I had my tongue down that girl's consoles last week, that I was a pig, and shit, I was having a good time. You have to be able to take a step back and enjoy the fruits your labor. But I will not be completely fulfilled. This chip will not be off my shoulder until I go down as the greatest of all time.
MJ.
You are a young gunner, but you are old school as fuck. And that is the first time I've ever said fuck on my podcast.
You are one hundred percent correct.
I was told a long time ago by a very smart man in Hollywood storyteller's cut no wood, and that was one of the reasons I became an actor. And not even I can shut you up. You are the man. I am so grateful for you doing this. Where can people find you so they can harass you and you cannot give a shit while crapping all over them at the same time, you can.
Follow me on Instagram and Twitter at the Underscore MJF. If you are a producer in Hollywood and you are looking for a very handsome, very young stud for your upcoming movie, you can email me at BOOKMJF at gmail dot com. If you are someone who is looking to spend upwards of six hundred semi dollars for a cameo, I'm not looking forward to it, but I do it so you can go there to cameo for me. This has been Maxwell Jacob Friedman.
I'm better than you and you know all right, you guys, thanks for tuning in. I'll see everybody next week with a brand new episode of Wrestling with Freddy Peace. This has been a production of Iheart'smichael Tutap podcast network for more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. What's up you, guys, Thanks for listening. Appreciate you guys. I hope you had an awesome, awesome holiday. I hope you have an awesome new Year. And here's the brand new episodes of Wrestling with Freddie starting next week.
Peace
