MJF doesn’t work for New Japan. That didn’t stop NJPW from handing him the mic on its own broadcast, and MJF did exactly what MJF does with it: trash the entire company.
The Callout
During Road to King of Pro-Wrestling, right after Ryohei Oiwa and Zack Sabre Jr. beat Yota Tsuji and Ares, NJPW aired a pre-taped video of MJF calling the promotion out by name. He branded New Japan “second rate,” said its top stars have left, and vowed to “lock the Forbidden Door” and put the company “out of business.” NJPW Global then posted an “Oiwa vs. MJF” graphic of its own.
Then came the challenge. MJF called out Oiwa, the winner of this year’s G1 Climax, and offered to defend what he calls his “actual” AEW World Championship against him, a pointed shot at the title Will Ospreay currently holds, framing his own belt as the only real one. The stakes, as MJF put it, come down to “who the real king of the headlock is.”
This Has Been Building Since August
MJF trashing NJPW on its own TV isn’t a random swerve. It’s the latest shot in a feud that started when Oiwa won the 2026 G1 Climax by tapping someone out with a headlock. MJF posted that he was “the superior headlock wrestler”; Oiwa invited him into the 2027 G1; MJF turned it down flat, calling Oiwa a “fake tough guy” and insisting he has “nothing to prove.” Oiwa fired back that he’d “come storming into” MJF’s ring himself, and MJF said he’d fight him anywhere and beat him with a headlock takeover.
It’s a classic MJF move: antagonizing an entire country’s wrestling scene and its most devoted online fanbase at the same time, all built around an old-school “battle of the headlocks” hook.
Will It Actually Happen?
For now, this is a tease, not a booked match. No date, venue, or stipulation has been announced, and whether MJF even sets foot inside Ryogoku Sumo Hall for King of Pro-Wrestling is unconfirmed. He’s still under AEW contract, and Oiwa has bigger business that night anyway, challenging Yota Tsuji for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Oiwa has never set foot in an AEW ring, either.
But MJF doesn’t talk this big about a nothing program. Between the “put New Japan in the grave” promos and the Tokyo Dome-sized ambition baked into a feud with the G1 winner, this feels like the first seed of something much larger being planted, headlock and all.
