"They were probably going to pay him good money" - Wrestling veteran comments on MJF rejecting WWE's big offer

Despite widespread speculation that he would be crossing over to WWE, MJF re-signed with AEW last year. Now, wrestling veterans Disco Inferno and Konnan have shared their thoughts on how valuable the former World Champion might be as an acquisition at the end of his current deal.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman challenged Adam Page for the AEW World Title last month at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2025 in a match stipulation that greatly favored The Salt of the Earth. Unfortunately, the self-proclaimed "generational talent" was unable to reclaim his Triple B as The Hangman defeated him to retain his strap with his signature Buckshot Lariat.

Friedman has been on a roll since he returned from injury at last year's Double or Nothing and revealed that he had re-signed with All Elite Wrestling. This followed rumors that expected MJF to jump ship to WWE - a move the star had been hinting at throughout 2023. On the latest edition of the Keepin' It 100 OFFICIAL podcast, Disco Inferno addressed the subject of the AEW "pillar" staying on in the Tony Khan-led company. He then asked his co-host Konnan for his thoughts on how valuable MJF might be as a talent, likely at the end of his current AEW contract.

"He had good value to go to the WWE. They were probably going to pay him good money to come there, and Tony outbid them, right? If he's a stock, do you think his stock price is going to be even bigger than it is?”

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Konnan did not have an exact answer to Disco's question, but he did say that Friedman has all the tools needed to elevate himself and any storyline he's part of.

"I don’t know, because he’s young, and you could still do cool s*** with him. And he still has charisma, and he can still rock the microphone," said Konnan.

AEW won MJF's much-touted "bidding war of 2024", as the latter signed a multi-year and reportedly quite lucrative deal with All Elite Wrestling last year.

MJF thanked Cody Rhodes for including him on a major show

Maxwell Jacob Friedman has been involved with AEW since its inception, in fact, since its very first pay-per-view, Double or Nothing 2019. Notably, even before that, MJF took part in All In 2018, an independent show promoted by Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks and organized by ROH, which played a key role in the eventual founding of All Elite Wrestling.

With seven years having passed since the original All In, Friedman took to X/Twitter to share a screenshot of a text message he sent to Cody, seemingly requesting a conversation for a spot at the event. The former "American Champion" expressed his gratitude towards The American Nightmare, writing:

"Thanks Rollercodester," wrote Friedman.

MJF was defeated by Matt Cross in the opening match of the main card of All In 2018.

Please credit Keepin' It 100 OFFICIAL and add H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for transcription.

About the author

Anurag is an AEW writer for Sportskeeda Wrestling. He holds a BA and MA degree in English along with a TEFL certification to teach English. Before Sportskeeda, he worked as a Content and Correspondence writer at Nayabad Titas, a theater group. He has also worked as a English language tutor.

To ensure complete accuracy, he uses internet resources, social media platforms, and especially pieces composed by his peers to find solid, verified information that he presents as objectively as possible. Thanks to his academic background, he can research different subjects thoroughly.

Anurag's interest in wrestling began as a child. He watched RAW and Smackdown frequently from age 10 or 11 and was officially hooked by the YES Movement story in WWE heading into WrestleMania 30.

As a lifelong wrestling fan and lover of stories, Anurag would read news, articles, and other content about the talent and events he enjoyed watching. His understanding of the business continued to grow with time, and his interest in the art and sport of wrestling led him to pursue a career as a writer.

Apart from writing, he loves to read books, watch movies and television programs, play and listen to music, and write poetry and fiction.

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Edited by Anurag Mukherjee