AEW star MJF recently appeared on the SI Media Podcast with Jimmy Traina, discussing a range of topics, including his struggles with ADHD and how it affects his everyday life versus his in-ring performance.
When asked whether he has ADHD, MJF responded:
“Hardcore. My ADHD is very, very, very intense, and I find the only time I am able to focus on one thing, and this is no exaggeration, is when I put the scarf on and I go to work. It is the only time the rest of my day I really struggle.”
When asked if ADHD ever becomes an issue in his job, MJF explained:
“No, I can’t even explain it. I truly can’t explain it. When I walk through that curtain, I don’t have it anymore, and I don’t know why there’s zero explanation for it because in every other facet of my life, it is an issue. It made learning close to impossible. It’s funny. It took me a lot longer to learn how to read and write, which is funny when you think about how I’ve made my money via my mouth, but I was a really late bloomer when it came to learning how to speak. Point blank at all because somebody would be trying to teach me how to speak and I’d be fucking Lala Land thinking about 70 different things at once but for whatever reason. When I walk through that curtain, it’s gone.”
On when he first realized he had ADHD, MJF said:
“I didn’t. Well, it always affected me. I just thought there was something wrong with me, and I was right. It’s a disorder, right, but I do get annoyed when I would be in school and I would hear people be like, ‘Oh, I can’t concentrate I must have ADHD.’ Suck my dick because there’s really truly levels to it and people don’t understand like. I really do. To this day, I struggle with reading comprehension. I struggle I could be in the middle of a sentence with the woman I’m banging and I’m gone and she knows it’s just like ah fuck and then she has to be like you were saying this you were talking talking about this and I’m like okay yeah back on track. The first time I noticed it…I mean it was hard to notice it because it was just it’d be like asking somebody when did you notice you had bad eyesight you didn’t notice you had bad eyesight until you took a fucking eye exam and somebody told you hey this is this is not how people human beings are supposed to be able to see so you know I just remember I would get in trouble all the time in school because they felt that I wasn’t paying attention you no shit, or wasn’t able to study. Yeah, for whatever reason, when it comes to professional wrestling, it’s like it just vanishes.”
MJF also shared his thoughts on the importance of focus in professional wrestling, emphasizing how it sets the greats apart:
“I’m just so in the moment, which I think is also why I stand out. Man, I watch some people in my profession, and you can tell that they are not in the moment, and you feel it, and they look like a deer in headlights. They look terrified in between every little thing they do. It looks like they’re thinking to themselves What do I what do I do now. I’ll tell you what you do you beat the fucking shit out of the guy and you win the match. It’s not rocket science.”
MJF’s candid take on ADHD offers a rare look into the mind of one of wrestling’s most compelling performers, proving that despite his challenges, when he steps into the ring, nothing holds him back.
