AEW Boss Tony Khan Explains The Evolution Of MJF's Character

AEW World Champion MJF's metamorphosis from a dastardly heel to "The People's Scumbag" has been greatly appreciated by fans, and even more so by AEW President Tony Khan, who green-lit the idea of his top star making a significant character change for the first time since he joined the company in 2019.

On a recent media call, Khan acknowledged that MJF was going through a "transitional period" but cautioned fans against reading too much into the character change. 

"We've seen MJF becoming one of the true fan favorites [but] I don't think it's changed who he is at his core necessarily," Khan said. "As he said, he may be a scumbag, but now he's our scumbag. And I think that's probably the best characterization we can give — I think it's a very apt description of it. He's our scumbag. He's the MJF we've always known and loved to hate, but now we really don't have to hate him so much anymore."

While citing the "ungodly" amount of merchandise sales generated by "Better than You, Bay Bay," Khan noted that MJF and Adam Cole — the reigning ROH World Tag Team Champions — are continuing to sell a ton of t-shirts and apparel for the company, which he feels is another indicator of MJF's popularity growing with each passing day. "They also get these massive reactions, and I think it's awesome," Khan said. "It's befitting of a top star, and in this case, a fan favorite."

In an unfortunate turn of events, MJF and Cole will be unable to team together for the foreseeable future after the latter announced on this week's "AEW Dynamite" that he has to undergo surgery to fix an ankle injury. As a result, MJF will defend the ROH World Tag Team Championship in a handicap match against The Righteous this Sunday at WrestleDream.