At the beginning of the year MJF received a pay raise from AEW but he is still making less money than a lot of other stars according to Wade Keller of PWTorch. Keller stated. “There’s probably a dozen people making more than him and maybe more than that and some are making way more than him who are pushed less than him,” such as CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Christian Cage, Mark Henry, Malakai Black and Adam Cole, Jon Moxley, Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega.
On his latest PWTorch audio show, Keller disclosed that MJF started with AEW in 2019 on a starter deal, which ranges from $40,000 to $70,000, but is now making “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” which is still modest compared to the salaries of other top AEW talents. In many cases, those wrestlers are getting paid four or five times more than him,” Keller said. “So, you know, MJF is by all accounts is kind of fuming over this. He felt that his work, his professionalism, his rapport and friendship with Tony Khan would have led to Tony renegotiating his deal when there was about two years left on his contract
“And by the time January 1 2022 came around, yes, he got a new contract and a raise…But MJF was thinking, ‘Hey, come on, Tony, approach me, get me on the level of some of these people that you keep bringing in. I’m doing great work, and I’m drawing great ratings.’ And when Tony didn’t do that…MJF the way he handled it was to get very angry privately and then it kind of exploded. And I think Tony was caught off guard by how angry MJF was getting…”
Keller then pointed out how MJF’s segments do better viewership than most AEW wrestlers but his pay doesn’t reflect that.
“MJF and Tony Khan were really close as recently as late last year,” Keller said. “MJF was one of those wrestlers Khan would have long phone conversations with about ideas for storylines and matches. At some point, that relationship fractured and the real reason might be as simple as MJF feeling disrespected that Tony didn’t approach him with the new contract offer sooner. It’s possible something else triggered or amplified this the situation but that hasn’t been even hinted at in reports elsewhere or from our sources, but some people are wondering that -is there something else we don’t know about?”
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