MJF recently shared his thoughts on fan tribalism within professional wrestling during an appearance on Inside The Ring.
The AEW World Championship holder explained that when he was growing up, WWE was essentially the only major promotion available, and he believes the existence of another major company today benefits the entire industry.
“Listen, I grew up idolizing everybody that was in WWE when I was a kid. There was no alternative. It was a complete monopoly. WWE was the only thing that existed.
And I would have loved if there was an alternative growing up when I was a kid, but there wasn’t. And now that there is one, I think it’s really cool that both companies kind of push each other to be the best versions of themselves — at least the athletes and what we’re doing out there.”
MJF said the rivalry between fanbases is similar to the type of loyalty seen in traditional sports.
“Why is there tribalism? I think tribalism is just a sports thing, right? If I’m in New York and I say I’m a Giants fan and there’s a Jets fan, you know, we can get into an argument over that. Silly — I know we’re both from the exact same place and we both love the exact same sport — but we’re arguing over that.
So that’s what I think it comes from. I just think it’s a Neanderthalesque trait, if that makes sense.”
While acknowledging that both companies feature talented performers, MJF also made it clear that he believes AEW Dynamite currently stands as the best wrestling program on television.
“Now I’ll talk all day long about what I think we do better from a business aspect — how we treat wrestlers or how we treat our fans. But I’m not going to sit here and pretend that our wrestlers are 10 times better than their wrestlers in every single capacity. It’s just not true.
Every professional wrestler is different. Every single professional wrestler has their pros and cons.”
He closed by confidently declaring himself the top performer in the industry today.
“But if you’re asking me point blank, do I think AEW Dynamite is the best professional wrestling show on TV? I do actually fully believe that. And the reason why I know that to be true is because I’m on it every week.
And I’m the best professional wrestler in the world today. Nobody is more complete than me — on the microphone, in the ring — fully untouchable.”
