AEW World Champion MJF has opened up about the art of the promo and his specific influences. In a recent interview with You Better You Bet, the champion identified “Rowdy” Roddy Piper as his all-time favorite on the microphone, favoring him even over Ric Flair.
“Roddy Piper. And you know what? A lot of people feel like I’m kind of an amalgamation of a Piper and a Flair,” MJF explained. “To me though, a lot of inspiration comes from Piper. But what I don’t do is what most hacks do in my industry, is when somebody is inspired by somebody they’ll just copy them.”
MJF also discussed his love for manipulating crowd reactions, calling it “emotional puppeteering.” He cited a specific promo in Buffalo where he teased the crowd with a Bills jersey before disrespecting it. “They went from loving me to hating me… And I feel I’m a master of it, and I have a lot of fun doing it.”
