MJF Has "Major Influence" Over His AEW Creative (AEW News)
MJF said to have "major influence" on his AEW creative.
With recent reports that MJF pushed to lose the AEW World Championship to Kenny Omega at Beach Break last month rather than have that title match take place at the Redemption PPV, there's now some new information on the Salt of the Earth's creative influence.
When asked about "how involved" MJF was in the booking of the AEW main event scene, Sean Ross Sapp - responding during a Fightful Select Answers Q&A session - said that Max has "a major influence over the programs that he's in, and contributes creatively in some other regards". SRS adds that this creative influence has been "well known for quite some time in AEW", though Sean doesn't think MJF has influence on things involving the likes of Swerve Strickland, Adam Page, or Jon Moxley. As for the general idea of wrestlers having creative influence, Sapp said that some talent aren't keen on that concept, and rarely does he hear of talent thinking that's a good idea.
Having been off TV since that Beach Break loss, MJF made his big return at Grand Slam Mexico last week, where he attacked Andrade El Idolo and announced he'll be competing in an upcoming qualifier match for the number two spot in All In's Casino Gauntlet bout; a bout Andrade has already taken the number one spot in. Of course, the winner of that Casino Gauntlet gets themselves a future shot at the AEW World Championship.
As for why MJF had been absent recently, AEW President Tony Khan said during the Redemption media call that Max was dealing with "major injuries".