MJF Reveals ADHD Made Learning ‘Close to Impossible’ Growing Up

MJF isn’t just one of the best talkers in wrestling—he’s also someone who deals with ADHD every single day. But according to him, the moment he steps through the curtain, it’s like it never existed.

During an appearance on the SI Media Podcast with Jimmy Traina, the former AEW World Champion was asked if he has ADHD, and he didn’t hesitate.

“Hardcore. My ADHD is very, very, very intense, and I find the only time I am able to focus on one thing, and this is no exaggeration, is when I put the scarf on and I go to work. It is the only time. The rest of my day, I really struggle.”

When asked if ADHD ever affects his job, MJF made it clear that wrestling is the one place it doesn’t.

“No, I can’t even explain it. I truly can’t explain it. When I walk through that curtain, I don’t have it anymore, and I don’t know why. There’s zero explanation for it, because in every other facet of my life, it is an issue. It made learning close to impossible. It’s funny—it took me a lot longer to learn how to read and write, which is funny when you think about how I’ve made my money via my mouth, but I was a really late bloomer when it came to learning how to speak. Point blank at all, because somebody would be trying to teach me how to speak, and I’d be in fcking Lala Land thinking about 70 different things at once. But for whatever reason, when I walk through that curtain, it’s gone.”*

MJF admitted he didn’t realize he had ADHD growing up—he just assumed something was wrong with him.

“I didn’t. Well, it always affected me. I just thought there was something wrong with me, and I was right. It’s a disorder, right, but I do get annoyed when I would be in school and I would hear people be like, ‘Oh, I can’t concentrate, I must have ADHD.’ Suck my dck, because there’s really truly levels to it and people don’t understand.”*

He then shared how it still affects him today.

“To this day, I struggle with reading comprehension. I struggle. I could be in the middle of a sentence with the woman I’m banging, and I’m gone. And she knows it. She’s just like, ‘Ah, fck,’ and then she has to be like, ‘You were saying this, you were talking about this,’ and I’m like, ‘Okay, yeah, back on track.’”*

Despite all of that, MJF said none of it follows him into the ring, which is why he believes he stands out in wrestling.

“I’m just so in the moment, which I think is also why I stand out. Man, I watch some people in my profession, and you can tell that they are not in the moment, and you feel it. They look like a deer in headlights. They look terrified in between every little thing they do. It looks like they’re thinking to themselves, ‘What do I do now?’ I’ll tell you what you do—you beat the fcking sht out of the guy and you win the match. It’s not rocket science.”

MJF might be the loudest guy in the room, but when it comes to wrestling, he’s laser-focused like no one else. ADHD runs his life in every other way, but the second he steps into the ring, it vanishes—and that’s what makes him one of the best in the business. Love him or hate him, there’s no denying he’s got this game figured out.

What do you think about MJF’s take on ADHD and wrestling? Drop your thoughts in the comments!