-- Maxwell James Friedman appeared on the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani today and spoke on a number of topics that he's been involved with as of late though as is always the case, the lines of when he's in character and when he's not is blurred. Helwani opened up by asking MJF if he needed to make a phone call to AEW officials and/or Tony Khan, playing up the fact that on his last appearance on this show, AEW was apparently not happy that he did it without gaining prior approval from the company and Helwani asked him if all those rumors were true.
"Did PR get a little upset that I didn't clear it with them? Yes. Does PR now have absolutely no choice but to just salivate at the fact that MJF is leaving his house to do an interview in regards to Arthur Ashe? Yes, because things have changed a little bit. The ball's in my court, pal. That's what's changed. What does that mean? Let's talk now. I'm one of the biggest ratings, not just in AEW but in all of professional wrestling minute for minute."
-- Helwani asked MJF about his contract status, noting that it expires in January 1st 2024.
"Here's the deal. A lot of people think I'm leaning towards one place or the other. Here's what I'm leaning towards: money. That's all I care about, that's what I live for. I go where the money is at, whoever is going to offer me the most amount of money is where I'm gonna to go, that could be anywhere. Hell, if there's some financial backer out there that wants to start his own wrestling company and use me as the figurehead, that's where I'll go. It's that simple, that's all I care about is money."
-- When asked if he came back with a new deal, MJF responded with:
"I most certainly did but with no contract extension. Once again, love Tony Khan to death but kinda got the man by the balls cause I'm a draw and I'm only 26."
-- Speaking about Double or Nothing and whether he truly bought a plane ticket out of Las Vegas and was going to no-show the PPV:
"I cannot confirm or deny there being a plane ticket. What I will say is this, I'm a businessman, I do what I have to do in order to ensure that what I need gets done. It got done, I'm back. I'm making a stupid, absurd amount of money now and I didn't have to sign a contract extension."
