MJF revealed on Shut Up And Wrestle that his first encounter with Cody Rhodes involved a lie Rhodes told about him to promoter Ethan Page, and that confronting Rhodes directly is how their friendship began.
MJF said Rhodes told Page that MJF had been hitting on Page’s sister at an Alpha-1 show in Canada. Page confronted MJF about it, who then went straight to Rhodes rather than let it go.
“I walked into his locker room; he had his own locker room at this place. I didn’t knock on the door, I just opened it, and I said, ‘Hey.’ He’s looking at me in disbelief. I go, ‘Why the —- did you tell the booker I’m trying to bang his sister?’ He was like, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ I go, ‘Dude, please don’t make me bring Ethan down here, he’ll collaborate.’ He starts laughing, and he goes, ‘Who are you, man?’ Then we just started shooting the —-,” MJF said.
MJF said the interaction stuck with Rhodes. A few weeks later at another show, Rhodes told him he was surprised by how many bookings MJF had landed, and that reaction eventually translated into Rhodes recommending MJF for the inaugural All In in 2018.
“That’s legitimately how I got booked for All In, just because Cody was so shocked. I had no right to be booked for all the shows I was booked for, but I was everywhere,” MJF said.