Characters Discussed: MJF
Brief Mentions: Everyone who has previously fought MJF during his entire AEW career. Except for Cody Rhodes.
(08/16/23): Added around 10 songs.
Only girls who were irreparably damaged by their experiences in public high school can be true MJF fans. And I am bestowed with that honor.
"I look inside myself and see my heart is black
I see my red door, I must have it painted black"
I'd like to highlight that most of this is based on his fight with CM Punk. Of course, they are, you think; however, I'm sure it's well understood that this was a magnum opus when it comes to story-telling. Our boy gradually filled with hate and malice and the first world championship belt he goes for is worn by a guy who comes out of a red door.
"Who are you working for
What did you hope to gain
Why do you hate your past
So much you destroy the ones you love"
As I've stated previously, MJF goes for the throat verbally. But honestly, he goes cheap to satiate the character's ego. His taunts always end up riling up his competition to put them on his level. But no one will ever truly be on his level because he is " the best" and no one can replace them no matter hard they try and out do him with their pity points. He wants them to simmer on his insults and try to go on the level of the devil, which is as metaphorically low as you can go. I might be generalizing here, because everyone bases their characters around their hopes and dreams and yet they could snap at an instant when pushed over the limit. Anyways I could argue that his method of deflecting is allows him maintain to maintain his championship, but it also allows him to maintain a sense of superiority over his competitors when pushing them to be their worst and calling out how petty it is to specifically go after him and not the belt.
"You never had the answers
And now you tell me the facts of life
I really couldn't be bothered with you
Get out of my face and watch me die"
In my mind's eye, I immediately related this to Bryan Danielson. He's the exact opposite of MJF when it comes to relationships. A good mentor, a good wife, and he has good kids, and the current defining character trait of MJF is that he has nothing. No one wants to help him despite how many times he's reached out, as well as his recent relationship ending in a publicly bad way, as mentioned during their tête-à-tête on (02/23/23). Bryan is the hero in the situation who has healthy relationships which deem him morally superior to MJF. But MJF can call out his hypocrisy when mentioning how Bryan can easily ruin those relationships by willingly putting himself in harm's way through being in the ring. Bryan is ruining his sport and is merely an afterthought since William Regal left.
"One: you lock the target
Two: you bait the line
Three: you slowly spread the net
And four: you catch the man"
Another analysis of how he treats his competitors, and the example I could use, is the recent Four Pillars, specifically Sammy Guevara leading to Adam Cole. The Sammy ordeal was based on Sammy being a heel (more or less). He was an asshole who was frequently booed. MJF offers to pay him and angers Jack Perry and Darby Allin, who are the obvious better of the two. He then offers an into Jack to let him keep the belt, but to his frustration, Jack and Darby offer a truce with Sammy to work against MJF. And once again, at his weakest, MJF screws the other three men and maintains his championship.
It was well known that before the most recent Double or Nothing, there was supposed to be an interaction between Britt Baker and MJF on Adam Cole. After Sammy betrays their "friendship," it cuts to the back of MJF watching and the sideline reporter Rene asking him how he feels, but MJF smacks the microphone out of her hand. Supposedly he was going to talk only to be interrupted by Britt, and she would have brought up Adam Cole. I don't know if that smack was intentional, but it got the attention of Cole, who went out to deal with MJF on (06/07/23.)
Sorry, I just have to add that this feud honestly feels too quick; I think it's down to this option. MJF keeps the belt cheaply (as he tends to do) or through a moderate scuffle with some blood involved. It frustrates Adam Cole continuing their feud but pushing it to the side
"If this is really living
Then why am I so unforgiving
Half the world is down the toilet
Half is on its way"
Alright, so maybe this is a song about not liking George W. Bush. But hear me out. It's about the character of MJF's worldview on the other characters in the roster.
As he stated on (02/23/23), he has been emotionally vulnerable with so many people in his life only to constantly overlook his feelings. It's destroyed his character (emotionally). This soft-hearted man has been constantly filled to the brim with hatred and anger; the more people he fights, the more that hate grows. On the outside, his character is bored, tired, and angry at his lack of competition. He's beaten half of the roster and has tried to reach out to all of them through being emotionally vulnerable. Which is his attempt at connecting with his competition. And the more people he fights, the more parts of himself and his worldview he destroys.
"Ugly yellow zebra, all filled with hate
You headbutt the jar, your backside pulsates"
Once again, another weird song about a British man keeping a wasp in a jar. But I'm putting my English knowledge to work!
This perspective can be from any of his former or future competitors. Let me pick a name… god the best example has to be Cole because of its freshness. Cole is an entirely different character from MJF's past foes. He did this willingly, not out of anger or being called out or insulted, just because he wanted the fight. MJF wasn't even mean compared to his usual vitriol, but I want to highlight that most of Cole's silence before he talks is about observation. He's watching MJF as he quotes lines stolen from Cole. He's watching that anger fester and grow as his silence and coy attitude only make MJF angrier and reminds him of another former WWE star who is super similar to Cole. He goes for jabs constantly, but Cole seems strong enough to ignore them, angering MJF further.
"Accusations run astray
Inside the guilt machine
Turning tension's twisted coil
Till nothing's left of me"
First of all, this is a fantastic song. Second, I'm going for the literal interpretation of MJF being a wound spring. For each person he has fought with the belt, the closer to home they tend to hit, and the tighter the spring is wound. Jon Moxley expected little from him, seeing that he was a stand-in for CM Punk, but after William Regal helped him with the ring, it was the first push of turning the BCC from an anti-hero group to a full-on heel group.
Regal didn't care for MJF's sob story tactics. He more or less called him weak for being so open about his sadness. Ricky Starks used MJF's own tactics against him, to his dismay, bringing up rumors and sensitive topics to make MJF snap at him. It highlighted how sensitive the character of MJF is when faced with his own tactics, and it also filled his Twitter replies with pictures of menstruation products. Bryan Danielson hit him where it hurts. As I stated previously, Bryan is his antithesis. By being his total opposite, Bryan had leverage to use his positive relationships against the ever-so-lonesome MJF, hurting him more.
The Pillars were his former companions who he worked alongside to elevate the company. They all believe themselves to be better than MJF. However many buttons they pushed, the character of MJF had already started to decay with his hate. And by pushing him about his hate and loneliness, it only made him stronger. Adam Cole is the final push before CM Punk. MJF, at this point, is a husk, bored with his competition, and his heart is blackened with hate. He finally snapped back before being pushed to his usual breaking point. Cole is carefree and will probably have some advantage over MJF. Which isn't good! As I said, he's a husk. That spring is at a breaking point, and we will all face the consequences on (06/14/23) or (06/17/23).
"Now all I can do
Is love what was once
So alive and new
But it's gone from your eyes
I'd better realize"
So I'm sure you are all aware that I firmly believe the character of MJF is desperate for help. He wants connection. He wants someone to talk to, yet his competitors constantly ridicule and ignore him. And not to mention his defensive standoffish attitude when he goes on the attack if ridiculed in the slightest way. He always looks to the past and always mentions the vaguest future. He's sure he'll be wanted in 2024, but he remembers working with that devil-may-care Bryan or the confident shield member Moxley, even the slightly less of an asshole Chris Jericho. He remembers precisely how CM Punk used to be. His past experience is the strongest part of his character because he absorbed all of these former fresh faces into his own persona. Even though these people have moved on and grown from their experiences, he wants them back, he wants to see the former who had the same motivation and strength he has now, and in all honesty, when he gets these "old heads" reinvigorated efforts, he's bored. He is stuck on one man.
Cheese Category: Here are the two on the nose cheesey songs that are a given seeing that he and CM Punk will have another feud in the coming months.
"Please know my actions are not motivated only by envy
I too have a destiny
This death will be art
The people will speak of this day from near and afar
This event will be history
And I'll be great too
I don't want what you have
I wanna be you"
I could put this entire god-forsaken song here, but it can all be summed up to this arguably large portion. All I can say, everything which built up to the Dog Collar Match. And also the way MJF constantly mimics CM Punk even after his months-long absence.
I will wait to put you through an entire comparative essay. I will be merciful to the few who read this.
"You gave me fortune, you gave me fame
You gave me power in your God's name
I'm every person you need to be
Oh, I'm the cult
Of person-ality"
Did your parents take you to the annual Epcot Eat to the Beat Concert performed by Living Color when you were around the ages of 9 or 10? Were you still too young to appreciate how it's kind of cool that you saw them perform Cult of Personality in person? Yes? Well a character hyper fixation is the perfect fix, for me at least. (it's not.)
It's about their relationship. If MJF didn't base everything about his character around CM Punk he wouldn't be where he is now, and boy oh boy it's maddening. But using his strength and wit as a character he is desperate to remain at the top, wanting more people to be like him and work around his ego and his run as champion.