MJF pumping the brakes on criticism of TNA President Carlos Silva
MJF is softening his tone in regards to TNA President Carlos Silva.
A match between MJF and TNA star Nic Nemeth was scheduled to take place for indie promotion Create-A-Pro earlier this month, but the bout ended up being canceled after a new policy was instituted by Silva. Citing partner conflicts, Silva put a stop to any indie matches that would have pitted TNA talent against wrestlers from AEW. The decision was made after an episode of AEW Collision was moved opposite TNA Impact on April 2 due to the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament.
In the wake of this, MJF called Silva a “dumb motherf***er” and accused him of lying. But the former AEW World Champion was a bit more cordial during his appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show this week. MJF said he’s heard from people that Silva is a good guy who is learning on the job after having no prior experience in pro wrestling.
“The truth is he didn’t want AEW talent to go up against TNA talent because he thought that my boss intentionally put, I believe it was a Collision, on the same night as TNA,” MJF said. “Even though every single year, I believe it’s the college basketball playoffs, I’m not sure, but I just know every single year during a specific season of the year we get pushed to — are they on Tuesdays or Thursdays? I don’t even f***ing remember. Thursdays, sorry. We get pushed to Thursdays. He thought that we intentionally asked Warner Bros. Discovery. We were preempted. And he didn’t know that, so because he didn’t know that, he got offended. And then he pulled a couple of matches off. I was offended because, A: You’re taking a match away from me that I was looking forward to, I was looking forward to beating the sh*t out of Nic Nemeth, formerly known as Dolph Ziggler. And B: You’re taking money out of people’s pockets.
“So I was a little upset, but I have been informed that this guy’s getting smarter to the business, he’s fairly green, he’s fairly new, and he’s learning on the job. And I’ve been told that he’s a good guy, so I’ve pumped the brakes a little bit on ol’ Carlos Silva. He’s learning on the job.”
Silva was named president of TNA in February 2025. Already an executive for TNA’s parent company Anthem Sports & Entertainment, Silva did not work in wrestling prior to this but was a top executive for MMA promotions PFL/World Series of Fighting.
AEW Forbidden Door & TNA Slammiversary no longer set for direct competition —
AEW and TNA were set to go head-to-head on June 28 when the companies present their respective Forbidden Door and Slammiversary pay-per-views. However, Slammiversary has moved its start time to the afternoon and will not be going directly against the AEW event.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.