Jim Ross holds MJF in high esteem.
During the most recent edition of his Grilling JR podcast (via AdFreeShows), Jim Ross was previewing AEW Dynamite: Winter Is Coming and noted how it's rare to see MJF competing on TV. He praised Tony Khan's booking of the young star and then went on to compare MJF to a younger, athletic Paul Heyman. Here are his full remarks:
"I think Tony Khan is booking MJF perfectly because he's not overexposing him. He's keeping him fresh. Of course, Max is really great at keeping himself fresh because Max loves Max. I don't blame him. If he doesn't have his own back, who does? He's very smart. Let me tell you this, statement of the night may be that MJF is a younger, actually athletic version of Paul Heyman. I was around Paul Heyman when he was in his 20s a lot and I helped Paul a great deal back when nobody wanted to work with him because he was so obstinate in their view. Well, I saw talent. Was he a pain in the ass? Absolutely. But he was our pain in the ass and he was my pain in the ass partner who made both of us better. So we did some good work in WCW before he ever got to WWE, I always thought. I enjoyed it, I can tell you that. So Max is a young Paul Heyman, only with muscles and athletic ability. So that just tells you where he ranks in my lexicon of some of the smartest guys I've ever been around in pro wrestling. The thing about it, he's in his mid-20s. So hopefully he won't ever self-destruct... He and I have had some really good talks over our tenure there at AEW. I always talk to him at every TV and we chat about different things. He asks questions that are intelligent questions, so you know that he's thinking about things that are spot on because of the questions that he asks or the subjects that he wants to discuss."
MJF defeated Dante Martin on Dynamite to win the Dynamite Diamond Ring for the third straight year. He and FTR were confronted by Sting, Darby Allin, and CM Punk after the bell and will face them next Wednesday in a 6-Man Tag Team Match.
Paul Heyman can currently be seen on WWE SmackDown, where he serves as the Special Council to Roman Reigns. The return of Brock Lesnar, however, has caused his loyalty to The Bloodline to come into question. Roman Reigns returns to SmackDown tonight after being absent last week.
Fightful will have live coverage of SmackDown beginning at 8 p.m. ET with a post-show review (combined with AEW Rampage) at 11 p.m. ET.
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