MJF Addresses Report About AEW’s Next TV Deal: “I Love Jolly Old Saint Nick & I Love The Tricks He’s Pulling Out”

MJF speaks candidly about the report concerning AEW’s television deal.

At the post-ROH Supercard of Honor media scrum, AEW/ROH owner Tony Khan addressed a note from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that had to do with how those within WWE were discussing AEW’s next television deal.

The report can be read below:

But another person in WWE noted to us this week that they have definitely spread word in the company among some if not many that AEW won’t be on Paramount/Skydance and question if they can get a viable deal elsewhere. One person there noted that people at the highest levels are talking like AEW won’t get another deal, but those kind of stories spread previously at the last negotiations, not that they wouldn’t get a deal, but that their deal would be at the same level or perhaps a lower level than the prior deal and instead they had a 2.3x increase.

Two-time AEW World Champion MJF followed up on Tony’s comments and reacted to the report. He spoke to Shakiel Mahjouri and hinted at WWE President Nick Khan being the one who leaked it.

“I do laugh — I think I saw — and again, it’s a business, right? So, it’s dog-eat-dog. So TKO, WWE, what have you, their job is to make themselves look great, and to make us look bad. So, there’s a leak, ‘AEW’s struggling to get a TV deal.’ That’s f*cking news to me, bro. That’s news to me, that’s news to everybody on the roster. That’s damn sure news to Tony Khan. Because last time I checked, they’re f*cking over the moon with us right now! We do better numbers than f*cking almost everything that’s going on on a weekly basis on cable, because right now, as I was saying, the things that draw on cable are news and live sport.

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it a million times, I love Jolly Old Saint Nick, and I love the tricks he’s pulling out. I f*cking get it, it’s smart. But, it doesn’t mean that we can’t use our brains. It doesn’t mean that we can’t go, ‘Oh, this is being leaked intentionally to hurt the company that is the alternative.’ It’d be like if Coke out of the blue was like, hey, I don’t know if you guys knew about this but, Pepsi has ass water in it. Everybody would be like, where is that source coming from? It’s coming from Coke? Okay. I’m not gonna give much thought to this.”

Coming up for WWE is Saturday Night’s Main Event on May 23rd, and on the 24th, AEW is presenting their Double or Nothing pay-per-view.

If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Shakiel Mahjouri with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.