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AEW star MJF did not appear for today's Fanfest in Las Vegas. The word making the rounds at the event is that he legitimately did not attend and that the promotion was not able to get in contact with him. For fans who had paid for MJF autographs and photos, AEW staff did their best to make good to them, including refunds and offering exchanges to other talents.
As PWInsider.com has discussed on Elite audio in recent weeks, there's been a feeling that MJF hasn't been on the same wavelength of late behind the scenes with AEW management and has been keeping more to himself behind the scenes. We are told that MJF actually has 18 months to two years left on his existing deal and that AEW management has wanted to talk about locking him into a newer deal as it's not unusual for AEW to rip up a current deal and lock talents into newer, longer-term contracts well before their existing one expires. Thus far, MJF is said to have not been receptive to sitting down and talking. That's had some feeling he was being disrespectful to Tony Khan, although we've never heard that Khan himself feels that way.
MJF referencing Cody Rhodes and Bruce Prichard in interviews of late and referencing WWE talents, including defending the output of the company's Performance Center to fans on Twitter, has also made some raise their eyebrows and launch conspiracy theories.
MJF has been increasingly vocal about his unhappiness with the promotion on social media as well, including tweeting "F*** this place" in response to AEW President Tony Khan's comments about him during a Double or Nothing media call several days ago before deleting the tweet. When asked about MJF's status during the call, Khan stated that wrestling strives when the real life intersects with what's on the screen. There was no free agent market when AEW started. That has changed. The match is a huge opportunity for Wardlow to become an official part of AEW and be something more than MJF's thug. He said that everything else MJF has brought to the conversation about his gripes, contractual discussions and other issues adds to the interest in the match.
MJF is scheduled to wrestle Wardlow tomorrow at Double or Nothing.
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