Bully Ray has offered one of the most nuanced takes on the ongoing speculation about MJF potentially leaving AEW for WWE — acknowledging that the move would make him a bigger star while simultaneously warning about what would inevitably be lost in translation. Speaking on Busted Open Radio, Bully drew a direct comparison to the diluted WWE version of Matt Hardy’s Broken character.
“I don’t know if you’d get the Maxwell Jacob Friedman in WWE that you get today,” Bully said. “And that would suck, because I never wanted a watered-down Broken Matt Hardy, and I would never want a watered-down MJF.” The comparison is apt — WWE’s attempt to revive Hardy’s acclaimed TNA character as “Woken” was widely considered a pale imitation of what made the original concept so compelling. MJF’s raw profanity and boundary-pushing character work would similarly face restrictions under WWE’s programming standards.
Bully Ray Concedes MJF Would Be a Considerably Bigger Star in WWE Despite the Creative Tradeoffs
Despite the concern about dilution, Bully acknowledged the financial and mainstream reality of what a WWE move would mean for Friedman’s profile. “If Max was in WWE, he would be a considerably bigger star.” MJF recently re-signed with AEW and appears committed to the company for the foreseeable future, making the WWE speculation more of a character beat than a genuine possibility at this stage. His current AEW World Championship run has been one of the most acclaimed of 2026, suggesting the version of MJF that exists in AEW remains far preferable to whatever a watered-down WWE alternative might look like.