The topic of wrestler compensation has recently been in the news after Swerve Strickland said AEW pays wrestlers much better than WWE, and with Ronda Rousey criticizing TKO for underpaying its UFC fighters.
With that in mind, Denise Salcedo asked AEW World Champion MJF how important it is for him to work in a place where wrestlers are paid what they deserve. In answering the question, MJF questioned the logic of some AEW stars who jump to WWE for less money.
“We are where the best wrestle. That’s just
a fact. Me, Swerve Strickland, Hangman Adam Page, Samoa Joe, Kenny Omega, Brody King, Bandido. I’ll just say it after I had to wrestle him last week, fucking Kevin Knight. Speedball Mike Bailey’s really got something. Kyle Fletcher, Okada, Takeshita, Jon Moxley. I can go on until I literally am out of oxygen.
This is where the best wrestle. We’re real premier athletes. We’re not models. We’re not ex-football players, or ex-volleyball players, or whatever. This is what we’ve wanted to do from the jump. Everyone whose name just came out of my mouth, the only thing they’ve ever wanted to be in their life is a professional wrestler. And we have honed our craft to the best of our absolute abilities, which has made us so incredible, which is precisely why we are getting compensated the way we should be compensated.
I cannot…god bless people that do it. People will jump to the other place to get booked the same and or worse, to be compensated for less. Why? I don’t know. If the answer is legacy, you know what I want my legacy to be? I want my legacy to be that my children are gonna be able to afford to go to any school they want. They’re gonna be able to afford to go to any restaurant they want. They’re gonna be able to go on vacations. They’re gonna be able to wear the nicest clothes. And that’s happening because I get compensated what my talent is worth. I’m not going to settle for less compensation so I get to have a WrestleMania moment. That doesn’t make sense to me. My legacy is my family. My legacy is my wife. My legacy is my children, my grandchildren, etc.
My legacy is also what I do in the squared circle and on this microphone. And I can assure you, if you make a big enough name in All Elite Wrestling, your legacy is gonna go a long way in this fan base. No one’s ever gonna forget the name MJF. No one’s gonna forget the names of all those gentlemen who I just mentioned previously. So it is important to pay professional wrestlers what we’re worth. We wake up every morning in a severe amount of pain. What we do is incredibly painful. What we do is incredibly hard. What we do is incredibly taxing. What we do takes us away from our families, and our children, and our grandchildren.
So yeah, I think it’s really important to pay your pro wrestlers, to pay your fighters, to pay your football players, your soccer players, your baseball players, what they deserve to be compensated.
Tony Khan, is he a mark? Yes. But, he’s also caring, and genuine, and understands what we’re doing. We’re putting our bodies on the line for him to make money, so the least he can do is shill some of that back to us.”
Who do you think MJF is talking about when he refers to illogical AEW stars who jumped to WWE for less money and equal or worse booking? Is his argument about fair wrestler pay correct? Let me know in the comments below, Cagesiders.
