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MJF) has emerged as its biggest hero.
Friedmans persona in the ring is, to put it bluntly, that of an asshole.
He wears a Burberry scarfall the time.His tag line is Im better than you, and you know it.
He calls people poors.
He constantly refers to himself as a generational talent and the devil (his fans are devil worshippers).
And perhaps worst of all, hesproudly from Long Island.
Youre the man!)
Its an interesting, modern approach to traditional wrestling kayfabe: Isanyoneever not performing nowadays?
If that makes people laugh, cool.
If that makes people cry, cool.
If that makes people angry, cool.
Im really just in it for the money.
Are you a fan of any other stand-ups?Love Bill Burr.
I think Kevin Hart is a riot.
My favorite is Tom Segura.
Its just a grind, and it sucks until it doesnt suck and you make it.
I want to talk about the origins of MJF.
Was there any change?There was no difference.
The promoter at the time told me that he wanted to change my name to Pete Lightning.
I told him to blow me.
I was like, Whatever, so I did it.
Its the same guy.Always been.
Ive been me since birth for better or worse.
Youve never been tempted to take on any other kind of gimmick?Thats the thing.
Theres so many people that are gimmicks and Im not just talking about in the wrestling industry.
Im talking about in the real world.
Politicians are gimmicks, man.
Yeah, and going off of that, because you are so mean sometimes …I think Im honest.
I use the wordhonest.
Well, do you ever worry about being too honest?
Is there a line that you wont cross?No.
Not even a little bit.
I think thats a big issue with my generation.
In a fake world, people want to see real people, and theres nobody realer than me.
I think thats up to the interpretation of the fan base.
Thats my honest answer.
Its up to the viewer who beholds the person to decide how they feel about them.
I cant control how people feel about me.
One of the things I was eager to ask you about was your better than Moses promo.
Did you see that at the time asHeres an opening for me.
Heres a way for me to get in there as a real big-time hero?No.
I think sometimes people just have sympathy for the devil.
Your only goal should be to be the No.
1 thing people are talking about.
By the way, I hate that wordpromo.
I prefer oratory exhibition.
The amount of classic oratory exhibitions that I have I take great pride in that.
Do you ever find yourself winging it in the oratory exhibitions?
Or are you fully prepped when you go out?No, Im always shooting from the hip.
Because to me, I think its so brutally and painfully obvious when …
Lets use this example: Youre in a board meeting over at Vulture, right?
Did I say that right?
Yes, you did.
There is no emotion in his voice.
There is no feeling in his voice, in his tone.
You get fucking bored.
I dont want to listen to this robot, man.
Ive never been interested in that, and I never will be.
Im curious how you see yourselfas an actor.
I mean, youve compared yourself to the Rock, John Cena, Batista.
The John Cena one interests me, because hes so willing to humiliate himself on-camera.
Would you be willing to humiliate yourself?Yeah, man, listen.
Wrestlers are a different breed.
Im not saying a lot of actors are like this.
Im just saying that there are certain actors that have a cred of being prima donnas.
Theyll show up late to set, whatever.
Pro wrestlers are used to hot dogs and handshakes as a thank you.
And were very coachable.
Would you call yourself an artist?Huh, thats an interesting one.
Feels too pretentious for me.
Im not into it.
What I would say is Im a star.
Artists dont sit down on a chair and paint with the potential of being paralyzed from the neck down.
That doesnt happen with art.
Rarely, if ever, will you hear about that happening on a movie set.
I wish more fans understood that every time we step through those ropes, were risking our lives.
Weve seen multiple people die in the ring.
Weve seen multiple people paralyzed in the ring.
Yeah, I was delighted to see yousend words of encouragement to Adam Pagewhen he was injured.
That was really sweet of you.I took it right back when I found out he was fine.
It really offended me.
It hurt for me to fucking tweet that.
Then when I found out that he was just fine, I was like,Who am I?!
Turns out hes fine.
Now I feel gross for tweeting this like a total poor.
Speaking of Twitter …What a dumpster fire that place is.
Do you think youll stay on it?Yeah.
If you have fun on the app, have fun on the app.
Stop thinking you are.
You commented on the rise of antisemitism thats been happening.
Im curious, because you constantly say that youre just out for you.
Youre interested in taking care of yourself.Well, that is my heritage, my culture, and my religion.
The fact of the matter is the Holocaust was not very long ago.
Our temples are constantly being desecrated with swastikas or other Nazi symbols.
I think thats really important for change.
It can be kind of subtle and microaggression-y, yeah?Oh, yeah, absolutely.
It wasnt cool for me to talk about it.
Oh, whatever dude, youre not going through it.
Youre a rich white guy.
Im not white to a Klansman.
Im not white to an antisemite.
The next thing I wanted to ask you about was this Saturday.
Im curious what you want to do for that generation.Look who Im talking to right now.
Anne, this is my power.
I went onPardon My Take, the No.
1 sports podcast in the world.
Im about to be in a major motion picture.
I think what youre going to see is stability with the AEW World Championship if I win it.
I think we are in the dawning of a new era.
Its the MJF era.
I say that with gumption and with honesty.
All we need is a leader, and Im ready to be that guy.
I am ready to usurp anyone and everyone that thinks theyre up next, because guess what?
No, you aint.
I am ready to do more for this business than anyone has in a decade.
Well, thank you very much.
Im going to roll up now.
Youre very welcome for this interview.
Youll never have a better one.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
