AEW CEO Tony Khan re-signed top star to stop him from joining WWE, feels veteran; serious management issues pointed out

AEW CEO Tony Khan doesn't hesitate in taking shots at WWE. He reportedly stopped talents like Rey Fenix and Ricky Starks from joining the Stamford-based promotion. Wrestling veterans Konnan and Disco Inferno recently pointed out how Khan might have re-signed MJF last year to prevent him from joining the global juggernaut.

When AEW started in 2019, MJF was one of the names who got the most attention due to his incredible heel persona and mic skills. The promotion was onboard with Friedman and crowned him the AEW World Champion at Full Gear 2022. However, since returning to the promotion at Double or Nothing 2024, many have pointed out how The Wolf of Wrestling hasn't felt the same seemingly due to his creative direction.

On a recent edition of the Keepin' It 100 podcast, Konnan and Disco Inferno said they were disappointed with AEW's booking of MJF. Konnan called MJF's current handling a result of bad management decisions and said top stars like him deserved to know their direction.

"That's bad booking and bad management. He's been there for five years, if you don't understand this by now then I mean, five years is a long time. So, this is for promoters, all your top guys need to be taken care of and they need to know where they're going. You have to give them that respect." [1:14-1:41]

Disco Inferno claimed that Tony Khan stopped MJF from moving to WWE by signing him to a new contract despite having no direction for him in the promotion moving forward.

"I think when MJF was running his mouth about the big thing that he was gonna go to the WWE, bro a lot of people were hoping for him to go to WWE. I think Tony signed him just so he wouldn't go to WWE and didn't really have anything planned for the guy going forward." [0:55-1:14]

Konnan also claimed that AEW star MJF has become an uninteresting character

In the same episode, Konnan made it clear that MJF was one of his favorite characters in the Jacksonville-based promotion. However, the WCW veteran claimed that since MJF got an 'AEW' tattoo, he had become uninteresting. He further slammed Friedman's angles with stars like Daniel Garcia and Adam Cole.

"I think the AEW product has been subtended for many years. I just think MJF since that tattoo thing for whatever reason, he's become very disinteresting. All his angles, the one with Daniel Garcia, that was never finished. The one with Adam Cole, when he came back against Adam Cole. He's done nothing in the last year that I've been really interested in which is hard to say because he's one of my favorite characters." [0:22-0:50]

We will have to wait and see what Tony Khan has in store for MJF in 2025.

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