During the AEW Worlds End PPV in 2023, Samoa Joe emerged victorious over MJF, clinching the world championship title. Since that event, MJF has not made an appearance on AEW's television broadcasts, and in January, his profile was conspicuously removed from AEW's official roster webpage. This week, the wrestling community's speculation over MJF's relationship with AEW intensified following the disappearance of his merchandise from ShopAEW.com.

Dave Meltzer from F4WOnline.com shed some light on the situation, stating, "He is out of action as his shoulder injury was significant. Aside from that, he is literally being as secretive as possible about his situation."

Adding to the commentary, Sean Ross Sapp from Fightful.com provided further insight into MJF's condition, "Still healing up, I know some things were progressing slower than what they anticipated but he was always planned for some time off anyway from what I understood. I don’t know if that was once the injury started to happen but it had become clear by a month out of that pay-per-view, Worlds End, that he was going to have a pretty extended amount of time out."

In a statement made in January, AEW President Tony Khan expressed his future intentions regarding MJF, saying, “I would love to have MJF in AEW in the future, should the contractual situation allow,” when questioned about MJF’s ongoing association with the company.

MJF has been removed from the AEW roster page and his merchandise has been removed from AEW Shop.

This could be a potential story line. pic.twitter.com/xvBOUYczCE

— The Wrestling Blog (@WrestlingBlog_) March 22, 2024