AEW needed a fully committed MJF & are getting it once again | Opinion
I’m glad the fully committed MJF finally returned to AEW in a time when the company desperately needed that to happen.
Here’s a refresher on the 18 months between January 2024 and June 2025 that was a stretch I think he might even privately admit was a bit “mid”.
After losing at December 2023’s Worlds End and ending the longest World title reign in company history, he was out nearly six months recovering from injuries and made a surprise return at May 2024’s Double or Nothing to confront Adam Cole who had turned on him before he left.
That return was, well, yeah. MJF simply kicked him low, hit a brain buster, booted him out of the ring, did a “I’m staying” promo to finally end the whole “bidding war of 2024” bit, showed off a new AEW tattoo, and away we went – a strange way to kickstart what once promised to be an all-time AEW feud that suffered from sh*t luck timing due to injuries.
Sure, MJF feuded with Will Ospreay in a somewhat memorable International/American title angle in 2024, but the Cole storyline just laid out there never fully concluded until December 2024’s Worlds End. By that point, fans were just done with it and I’m guessing so were Cole and MJF. It was voted the worst feud of that year by readers of our website (yes, even AEW gets ‘worst’ awards on our website!) and it was hard to dispute that. It was past the expiration point, but they had to drink the sour milk anyway.
He wrestled just 11 times in 2024 and after defeating Daniel Garcia at September 2024’s All Out (remember that whole ordeal about Garcia’s indecision on whether to re-sign affected this?), MJF disappeared for two months only to return for a Full Gear match against Roderick Strong that I completely forgot happened. I bet you did too.
After he beat Cole at Worlds End, he was gone for another two months, came back to beat Dustin Rhodes, took on Hangman Page at 2025’s Revolution, and then, there was the whole Hurt Syndicate thing that just…I don’t know what. Alrighty, then.
It wasn’t until his Mistico feud began in June 2025 that we finally got glimpses of the talent that was white hot for most of 2021, 2022 and 2023. He just didn’t feel as committed as he did before, likely because of outside interests like doing movie projects and such, and it was evident watching him on screen. Wrestling felt like one of the things he was doing rather than the primary thing he was doing.
That’s definitely not the case anymore.
Since last summer, everything old feels new again. There was the aforementioned Mistico feud and his rivalry with Mark Briscoe in which he physically pushed all the chips into the middle, especially in the tables n’ tacks match at last September’s All Out. While there was another three month gap with no in-ring activity, he regained the World title at last December’s Worlds End and it’s been one of the best moves Tony Khan has made creatively in a long time.
He’s defended the title seven times since then, two of those coming outside AEW as he committed to the “traveling champion” moniker. He has wrestled Page, Bandido, Brody King, Mike Bailey, Kevin Knight, Zilla Fatu, Alec Price, and this past weekend, Kenny Omega. The shortest of those was 17 minutes and he’s put everything he has into them. While not as star-laden yet in terms of challengers that his first reign had, I think I have overall enjoyed this run more and we’re only four months in.
He’s on TV regularly again, he’s wrestling more, and his promos feel more inspired and less laden with forced attempts at catchphrases. In short, it feels like he has fully bought into what’s being asked of him and he’s excelling, truly putting the World title as a North Star that everyone is trying to get to. That’s the way it should be and he’s nailing it.
Of course, that leads us to tonight’s Dynamite where he defends again, this time against past rival Darby Allin. There’s a narrative out there that Allin should win tonight because it’s where he trained as a wrestler, that it would be a good story, you need surprise title changes, blah, blah.
I’m here to tell you there’s no way MJF’s run should end tonight, even if it’s to create a moment that would just be erased at next month’s Double or Nothing in a rematch anyway.
AEW needs the MJF train to roll into their biggest show of the year: August’s All In. That’s just over four months away – plenty of time for intriguing feuds with Andrade El Idolo, Swerve Strickland, and maybe even someone like Kazuchika Okada. There’s zero reason to make a stop on the way to Wembley. Zero.
As to who MJF could defend against in London, there’s plenty of time to figure that out even though the odds-on favorite is the aforementioned Ospreay. I’m looking forward to continuing to enjoy the hopefully continued ride until we get there and more of MJF being the conductor.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.