MJF Says That He 'Won The Race' Against AEW's Four Pillars, But They're Catching Up

If anything has defined MJF's AEW World Championship run so far, it's been the 27-year-old's quest to prove himself worthy of holding the promotion's top title. MJF outlasted Bryan Danielson in an Iron Man Match at Revolution, and side-stepped Ricky Starks at the height of his popularity and confidence last December, but in recent weeks the champ has found the walls closing in as the other three "Pillars" of AEW slowly corner him with their eyes on the company's biggest prize.

In recent weeks, "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry, Sammy Guevara, and Darby Allin have either individually or together laid out their case against MJF, telling the champion that he's had an easy route in AEW while they've all struggled their way to the main event scene week-in and week-out. But no matter the route, MJF is focused on the fact he got to the top first. In a new interview with the New York Post, MJF opened up about the competition between the "four pillars" and what it says about AEW's self-made stars.

"I won the race and I won the race by a large margin," MJF said about the comparison between him, Perry, Guevara, and Allin. "But now the fact that these guys have caught up and they're in the hunt for this [title,] when we're all in our 20s and we're all at the pinnacle at this profession battling for the most important title that there is in our sport, I think that's very telling of the success not just of the four of us, but the success of All Elite Wrestling because All Elite Wrestling has built four megastars that are household names that could have the huge honor of being the holder of the Triple B (Big Burberry Belt)," MJF said.