MJF’s knee injury looked nasty enough to get fans pointing fingers, but RUSH apparently isn’t walking around AEW with heat over it.
During a Fightful Select Q&A, Sean Ross Sapp was asked if there was any backstage heat on RUSH after MJF suffered a legitimate hyperextended knee during their AEW Dynamite match last month. According to Sapp, the answer was pretty simple: not from the one person who mattered most.
“I didn’t hear of any heat. I know there was no heat from MJF. Actually MJF had pretty well told people. It was just like, you know, it’s a freak, accident happens, all that stuff. It was unfortunate, but I didn’t hear of any heat from MJF. So if there wasn’t heat from MJF, nobody else in there is probably going to give a s***. That’s the approach that most people take.”
That lines up with what was reported after the injury happened. A lot of fans assumed MJF got hurt during the brutal Tombstone spot on the barricade, but it was clarified that the hyperextended knee actually happened after RUSH drove his knee into MJF in the corner. It was described as nothing more than a freak accident.
Sapp also shut down the idea that RUSH’s stop-and-start run in AEW had anything to do with backstage issues. While he said he’d look into whether visa problems played any role, he noted that, as far as he had been told, the creative plan was always to build RUSH up before putting him opposite MJF.
“But he was on the San Diego Collision this last week after vanishing for about a month. So I was never told that he faced those issues in June, but I will ask. But the plan was always as best I know, to give him some convincing wins, have him challenge MJF for the world title, and then add to MJF’s resume while adding legitimacy to Roush as a performer. And I thought the way that it happened worked that way.”
So while the injury changed MJF’s immediate plans, it doesn’t sound like it damaged RUSH’s standing behind the scenes. If anything, MJF made sure people knew exactly how he saw it—a freak accident that could have happened to anybody.
Do you think AEW should keep pushing RUSH after the MJF injury situation? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comments.
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