Between Tony Khan’s All Elite Wrestling and Vince McMahon’s WWE, there is plenty of room for top talents like MJF and Kevin Owens in the modern pro-wrestling landscape.
A report from Andrew Zarian of Mat Men Radio noted that WWE and its television partners, FOX and USA Network, had a high interest in signing Maxwell Jacob Friedman. The popular heel added fuel to the fire by suggesting a bidding war when his AEW contract is up in 2024.
Khan welcomes competitive interest in AEW’s homegrown talent, telling CBS Sports that other companies should be interested in someone of MJF’s caliber.
Check out the full interview with Tony Khan below.
“I think that’s great. I encourage that. I think they should keep talking about him because he’s a wrestler that’s a big part of AEW and is signed here for a few more years,” Khan said. “So I think please keep giving us that buzz because he’s been getting great ratings for his segments and those have also been featuring CM Punk pretty regularly as they continue to interact. They’ve had a war of words and now there’ll be on opposite sides of this huge trios match where you got Sting [and] Darby Allin teaming with CM Punk against MJF and FTR. I think that’s great. You know, [WWE] had some wrestlers I really wanted to sign there and I signed him, Bryan Danielson and Adam [Cole] and Ruby Soho.”
Khan — who serves as founder, president and booker of AEW, among other titles — has acquired a number of former WWE superstars this year. One name the AEW boss had his eye on was former WWE Universal champion Owens.
“I would have been interested in that. He’s a great wrestler,” Khan said. “I think he ended up signing for what I believe is probably a lot of money. I think that’s great and good for him. We have a lot of people spotlighted here and he’s great. Any company he goes to he’ll be a great wrestler for them.”
Looking at the independent scene, there is clearly fan appetite for former Ring of Honor talent Danhausen.
“He was on the Jericho Cruise interacting with a lot of the AEW wrestlers and that was great,” Khan said. “He’s had an injury recently, so it’s something to keep an eye on for sure. But he’s got a big following and he does sell some merch and he’s a very nice guy. So he’s got a lot of things going for him.”
