Earlier today, AEW World Champion MJF appeared on The SI Media Podcast and addressed Haus of Wrestling’s reporting about his contract status. As we previously stated, based on a conversation with a higher-up at WWE and others at the company, MJF has not been in talks with WWE. Furthermore, WWE believes that Friedman quietly re-signed with AEW a while ago. For those who missed it, here is what Friedman had to say regarding our reporting.
“I’ve never lied,” he began. “January 1, 2024. When stuff like that gets leaked out, it makes me laugh because I remember something got leaked out about Cody having secretly re-signed, and then he showed up. Somebody got leaked out about, you know, CM Punk and Tony Khan, you know, actually fine, everything. You know? I think fans leak out things that they want to be true. I love AEW. I want to stay in AEW. After this pay-per-view, it’s time to assess the situation from a professional setting.”
Haus of Wrestling contacted several people at WWE for their reaction and heard much of the same that we did before these latest comments.
One higher-up WWE source responded simply with “storyline.”
Another higher-up source at WWE reiterated that they heard Friedman had re-signed last year and believe it happened before his return at AEW All Out 2022 as The Devil. They went on to say that Friedman is “locked in” and got a huge deal when he re-negotiated his contract with Tony Khan last year.
This story will be discussed on today’s episode of Rumor & Innuendo. Rumor & Innuendo records live Monday through Friday at Noon EST before being uploaded to the Rumor & Innuendo podcast feed, available on all major podcast platforms.
The live recording and immediate replay can be found on the @WWECreativeish, @WrestlingHaus, @Nick_Hausman, @AdFreeShows, and @rumorinpod X accounts, as well as the Haus of Wrestling, Ad Free Shows, and Rumor & Innuendo YouTube channels.