MJF has spent more than a decade in professional wrestling, and the biggest lesson he’s taken from it isn’t exactly heartwarming. He believes the only person a wrestler can truly trust in the business is themselves—and his experience with Adam Cole apparently helped drive that lesson home.
Speaking to Bleacher Report, the Salt of the Earth was asked what he has learned about himself since entering the wrestling business. He immediately pointed to the period when he allowed himself to trust Cole.
“I think the biggest thing I’ve learned about myself is to only trust myself. The only time I’ve ever really gone south in my career, which was, in my opinion, one time and for a very brief period of time, was when I trusted Adam Cole.”
That storyline relationship eventually ended with Cole turning on MJF, and MJF says he hasn’t put his heart on the line since. As far as he’s concerned, becoming heartless is part of what got him where he is today.
“I put my head and my heart on the line. I have not put my heart on the line since. My heart’s on f–king vacation, okay. I don’t know if it’s ever coming back home. The reason I’ve gotten to the position I’m in, and I will say it proudly, is because I’m heartless.”
MJF’s priorities these days are pretty straightforward. He wants championships, money and a legacy, and he believes he has already accomplished all three at just 30 years old.
“The only thing I’m concerned with is being world champion, which I am. The only thing I care about is becoming incredibly rich and leaving a legacy in this industry. And I’ve managed to do all three of those things at the very old, hunched-over age of 30.”
Then MJF widened the conversation beyond himself. He thinks young wrestlers make a mistake when they automatically assume veterans in the locker room are there to help them. In MJF’s view, most veterans still have their own careers to protect and aren’t necessarily interested in helping someone become better than they are.
“Not all of them, but 99 percent of the veterans in the locker room, they don’t have your best interest, they don’t want you to beat them, they don’t want you to be better at talking than them or better at wrestling than them. Because if you’re better than they are, that’s taking food off their plate.”
That’s why MJF believes younger talent should learn to rely on their own instincts rather than blindly following whatever established wrestlers tell them. Of course, he also admitted that advice only works if those instincts are actually good.
“The only person you can trust in this industry is yourself. Now, if you’re a young reader who has piss poor instincts, then I can’t help you. You’re better off being a follower.”
MJF being MJF, he couldn’t leave it there without getting in one more shot. He acknowledged that plenty of wrestlers can make a perfectly good living as followers—they just aren’t going to make his kind of money.
“Trust me, there are plenty of followers in this industry, and they make good money being followers, just not MJF money.”
For MJF, that ultimately separates the people who lead from everyone else. Some wrestlers are going to follow the pack, while others are simply wired to become stars.
“Not everybody is a lead. Some people are born to be backup dancers. Some people are born to be stars. That is truly what I’ve learned. The only person that I can trust and should trust is myself and my own instincts.”
So more than 10 years into his career, MJF’s biggest lesson is pretty simple: trust your own instincts and don’t assume the veterans around you necessarily want to see you surpass them. Considering he believes trusting Adam Cole was the one time his career went south, he clearly doesn’t plan on making that mistake twice.
What do you make of MJF claiming 99 percent of wrestling veterans don’t have younger talent’s best interests at heart? Let us know in the comments.
