During the main event of Full Gear and in the weeks after the show, MJF has once again cemented his place as AEW’s number one bad guy. The star cheated to win the AEW World Championship and then promptly attacked the man who claimed the gold in William Regal.
The new champion has also been positioned against the increasingly popular Ricky Starks for his first World Championship defence at Winter Is Coming. However, heading into Full Gear there were hints that his character may be about to go in a very different direction. More than once he entered to huge cheers from the crowd, and even played into these cheers during some of his promos. He also spoke about wanting win the ‘right way’ after what amounted to a dressing down from William Regal.
Discussions Held Over Babyface Switch For MJF
In the lead up to Full Gear it was reported that some within AEW were pushing for MJF to become a babyface, although the man himself was said to be resistant to the idea. Writing in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer noted that a change to the Salt of the Earth’s character was discussed.
“Multiple people have noted to us in the past week that there was discussion regarding having MJF be the lead face coming out of Full Gear. It was my intuition because the company needed a new hot babyface to really around and making a top babyface today is far harder than a top heel. That said, Tony Khan made the call and at this point the absolute worst idea would be to turn MJF face now because that window has closed at least for many more months down the line. It might have missed its peak and all, but who can say where things will be in six months or a year.”
MJF will be back in action on the special Winter Is Coming edition of AEW Dynamite on December 14th when he defends the World Championship against Ricky Starks. The match will also be for the Dynamite Diamond Ring.