Booker T Weighs in on MJF and AEW Situation, How Wrestling Blurs the Lines of Re

[Liz]

During this week's Hall of Fame podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Booker T discussed the MJF and AEW situation and his thoughts on if it is real or worked. Below are some highlights and a clip of Booker T's comments on MJF:

Booker T on not being sure if this is a work or shoot: "I don't know what to think about it really. I don't know if it's a work, shoot, or not. One thing about it, if they are working, it's a good work. It seems authentic. It seems like it has a real feel to it. That's why I think like wrestling still can be that deal that makes people come out to see it because they don't know all the outcome. They still want to know, 'Man, how is this going to play out?' They want that thriller ending. I think in wrestling now with the way social media is being used as of late, it hasn't done wrestling a service at all. But for something like this, to make something like this really feel real to where MJF almost no-shows the biggest event of the year because of something going on between him and Tony Khan and the company and what not, for me, it's believable like when I went to TNA, a lot of guys that went there before me, a lot of those guys made a boatload of money off of TNA."

Booker T on stars who made the jump from WWE to TNA making more money than Samoa Joe and AJ Styles: "Then you had those originals there like Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, and those guys, and those guys were getting like chicken feed. Literally, they were getting like the crumbs. They were the guys who were the backbone of that company. And to hear the company praise you as one of the four pillars, and then you're not getting treated as like of the four pillars, it can make you feel a certain way, so I can buy this, no pun intended, but I'm all in! *Laughs*"

His thoughts on the MJF and AEW situation: "Like I say, life and reality in professional wrestling, we've always tried to blur that line a little bit. For me, I like it. That's just part of the business. This thing with MJF, does it have some bite to it? Is it something that could actually really, really happen? I think so because I think a guy like MJF, a lot of people say if he goes to WWE he'll get buried, but I think that if MJF went to WWE, he would be one of the biggest stars this world has ever seen. Just because I think like this as well. In AEW, who is talked about the most there in an upward scale as far as being the next big thing as far as professional wrestling goes? Who are they talking about? [It's MJF.] This guy has all the cards, and it's just about how he's gonna play them more than anything because at the end of the day, I think CM Punk actually said at the press conference, it's about making the most money. ... I think MJF is cut from that same cloth as far as a guy that's not going to be counting how many months he took when his career is over with, but how big his bank account is."

As noted, MJF is scheduled to appear on tonight's episode of AEW Dynamite. The show will air live on TBS at 8:00 pm EST.