MJF’s “Next Stone Cold” Parallels Totally Miss The Point

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MJF just gave AEW fans one of the best promos in company history, and no comparison to «Stone Cold» Steve Austin or CM Punk will do that fact justice. For more than eight minutes on the June 1st edition of Wednesday Night Dynamite, Friedman captivated the audience with his words, compelling them to erupt into cheers after initially garnering boos. Not only that, but he sent talking heads and pundits scrambling, trying to figure out if this was all a work or a shoot. The beauty of this is that no one knows for sure, and audiences may not find out until 30 years from now when MJF settles down and has his own tell-all podcast.

For the last several weeks, rumors have been swirling around MJF and AEW. He is unhappy with his pay within the company, and disconcerted about the reality that ex-WWE wrestlers are making several times what he is. MJF also no-showed a scheduled appearance over Double Or Nothing weekend, which is what got him heat from the Wednesday Night Dynamite audience in the first place, and fans weren't sure if he'd be on hand for his match with Wardlow at the pay-per-view at all. That bout went on, and MJF lost, but he may be the weekend's biggest winner despite leaving on a stretcher.

Related: Why The Hardy Boyz Don't Need An AEW Tag Team Title Run

His promo on June 1st was genre-bending and self-aware, blurring the lines between reality and wrestling. Those comparisons to "Stone Cold" and Punk, flattering as they might be for Friedman deep down, totally miss the point of what he just did on television. The Monday Night Wars and Attitude Era were white-hot for various reasons, chief among them being that the internet hadn't pulled the curtain back on all of professional wrestling's secrets. The ongoing