Major League Wrestling

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MLW LLC
Major League Wrestling
Company typePrivate
IndustryProfessional wrestling
Digital media
Founded2002 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
FounderCourt Bauer
HeadquartersOrlando, Florida,
United States
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Court Bauer (CEO)[1]
Products
  • Television
  • Publishing
  • Finance
  • Merchandise
  • Live events
  • Radio
DivisionsMLW Radio Network
Websitemlw.com

MLW LLC, d/b/a Major League Wrestling is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Orlando, Florida founded in 2002 by former WWE writer Court Bauer.[2][3] The promotion ran several live events and tapings for a television show named Underground TV. However, MLW would close its doors in 2004 due to shortage of money after a few sponsorship exits and after Ring of Honor suprassed them by becoming the third biggest promotion in the United States. Bauer resumed promoting events in July 2017. MLW is considered the fourth largest wrestling promotion in the United States behind WWE, Ring of Honor and Impact Wrestling, through its deal with beIN Sports and having contracted wrestlers for their shows and events.[citation needed]

History

As a professional wrestling promotion, MLW operated from 2002 to 2004. The promotion produced a 34-event television series named Underground TV, which ran between April 7, 2003 and February 14, 2004. These shows were hosted by Joey Styles and consisted of pre-taped matches from prior events. MLW styled itself as being an alternative to sports entertainment. Founder Court Bauer described MLW's product as "the most violent, hard-hitting action mixed with cutting edge storylines", which was favorite for frustrated fans of the defunct ECW that had folded the previous year.[4] The promotion also promoted many former ECW wrestlers such as Sabu, Terry Funk, Shane Douglas and Steve Corino.[5] Between 2002 and 2003, MLW also had a working agreement with the Japanese promotion All Japan Pro Wrestling, which featured the MLW World Heavyweight Championship being defended on the promotion as part of the agreement and title defenses in Japan appearing on MLW Underground TV tapings.[6] In 2004, MLW suffured shortage of money, which led to a few sponsorship exits.[5] After Ring of Honor, which was a powerful competitor within the independent wrestling scene, overtook them as the third biggest promotion in the United States, the promotion finally ceased operations in March of that year.[5]

In 2017, MLW announced it would once again be promoting wrestling events, the first one was named "MLW One-Shot" with tickets going on sale July 21, 2017.[7] In the same year, MLW announced it would run more shows in Orlando in 2018.[8] Given the success of their independent outings, MLW was able to secure a television deal on beIN Sports United States for their program MLW: Fusion, which debuted on April 20, 2018 and runs Fridays at 8 PM Eastern Standard Time/5 PM Pacific Standard Time (with a replay at 11 PM EST/8 PM PST.)[9][10][11]

In May 2018, MLW announced the reactivation of the MLW Tag Team Championship.[12] In July, MLW continued its expansion by presenting their first two-hour special on beIN Sports, Battle Riot from the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, New York City. Court Bauer noted that the Battle Riot event concept had originally been intended to be used by the promotion during its original operation in 2004 and was excited to revive the concept for this special. Additionally, Major League Wrestling began introducing contracts as part of their growth strategy, with former MLW World Heavyweight Champion Shane Strickland the first talent confirmed to have signed a long term deal with the promotion and also the introduction of their third active title the MLW Middleweight Championship.[13][14]

Touring and TV tapings

In the beginning, MLW would hold one show a month, originally from the Viking Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the original home of MLW before the revival in 2018. However, by the end of 2002, MLW began running two shows a month in, but also in 2003, multiple shows in a weekend were held in New York. The first time MLW left New York was December 20, 2002, for MLW King Of Kings from the War Memorial Auditorium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Although primarily focusing on the Florida but the promotion didn't held more due to closing its doors in 2004.[15]

In 2018, MLW announced their revival with helding shows back in Florida and also returning to New York following their successful deal with BeIN Sports. MLW's touring pattern changed drastically. Instead of running regular shows in cities where the company had a following, MLW began focusing more on cities that carry its television show.[16][17][18][19] On Spetember 18 it was announced that MLW would do shows and tapings in Chicago.[20]

MLW Radio Network

MLW returned with a changed business model in 2011, focusing exclusively on producing broadcast and digital content within the professional wrestling category."[21] MLW Radio Network has grown to become the leading provider of professional wrestling podcasts in the world with 5-6 podcasts in the top iTunes 100 in the sports category on the average day.[2] Many prominent professional wrestling figures currently appear on the MLW Radio Network, including former WWE and WCW wrestlers Kevin Sullivan, Jim Duggan and MVP, former WWE executive Bruce Prichard, former WCW commentator Tony Schiavone and former WCW President Eric Bischoff.

Specialty matches

The match consisted of only two teams wrestling ring is surrounded by a large steel cage that two wrestlers from each team started the match, and after five minutes another wrestler would enter, then every two minutes after another wrestler would enter.[22][23][24][25]
  • Battle Riot
The Battle Riot differs from the classical Battle Royal as the contestants do not enter the ring at the same time but instead are "assigned" entry numbers, like WWE's Royal Rumble with the most common being winning a match. The match begins with the two wrestlers who have elected numbers one and two, with the remaining wrestlers entering the ring at regular timed intervals, either 90 seconds or two minutes, according to their entry number.[26][27]

Current roster

Main article: List of Major League Wrestling personnel

While Major League Wrestling has no formal partnerships with other promotions, its contract structure allows many of Major League Wrestling's fighters appear in other companies such as Impact Wrestling, Lucha Underground, New Japan Pro Wrestling, Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide and Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre.

Former personnel

See also: List of former Major League Wrestling personnel

Championships

Reign The reign number for the specific champion listed
Location The city in which the title was won
Event The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the title was won
† Indicates the title change is not recognized
+ Indicates the current reign is changing daily
<1 Indicates reign was less than a day

MLW World Heavyweight Championship

No. Wrestler Reign Date Days held Location Event Notes Ref.
1 Shane Douglas 1 June 15, 2002 90 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania MLW Genesis Defeated Vampiro and Taiyō Kea in a 3-way match [28]
— Vacated — September 13, 2002 — — N/A Douglas attempts to throw the title down; referee John Finnegan says if he doesn't defend the title he will be banned from wrestling in PA [28]
2 Satoshi Kojima 1 September 26, 2002 267 New York City, New York MLW Reload Defeated Jerry Lynn to win the vacant MLW World title [28]
3 Mike Awesome 1 June 20, 2003 <1 Fort Lauderdale, Florida MLW Hybrid Hell [28]
4 Steve Corino 1 June 20, 2003 235 Fort Lauderdale, Florida MLW Hybrid Hell Corino challenged Awesome to an impromptu match following Awesome's victory over Kojima. Corino claimed that Awesome had promised him title shot before his win whenever Corino wanted [28]
— Vacated — February 10, 2004 — — — Steve Corino was no longer listed as the MLW World Heavyweight Champion after the company stopped hosting events
5 Shane Strickland 1 April 12, 2018 91 Orlando, Florida The World Championship Finals Strickland defeated Matt Riddle to win an 8 man tournament and the vacant MLW World title [28]
6 Low Ki 1 July 12, 2018 2,134+ Orlando, Florida MLW Fusion Match aired on July 20, 2018.

MLW World Tag Team Championship

No. Wrestler Reign Date Days held Location Event Notes Ref.
1 C.W. Anderson and Simon Diamond 1 May 9, 2003 277 Orlando, Florida MLW Revolutions C.W. Anderson and Simon Diamond defeated Steve Williams and P.J. Friedman to become the first champions
— Vacated — — — —
2 Pentagon Jr. and Rey Fenix 1 June 7, 2018 2169+ Orlando, Florida MLW Fusion Defeated Jason Cade & Jimmy Yuta and The Dirty Blondes to become the new champions. Match aired on June 15, 2018.

MLW World Middleweight Championship

No. Wrestler Reign Date Days held Location Event Notes Ref.
1 Maxwell Jacob Friedman 1 July 19, 2018 2,127+ Queens, New York MLW Battle Riot Friedman defeated Joey Ryan to win the title. Match aired on July 27, 2018

Retired championships

This section of championships are a list of titles which have been retired by Major League Wreatling.

No. Championship Date of entry First champion(s) Date retired Final champion(s) Years active Notes
1 MLW World Junior Heavyweight Championship September 19, 2003 Sonjay Dutt February 13, 2004 Sonjay Dutt 1 Dutt defeated Christopher Daniels to win the title in a tournament final. The title was no longer listed as active after the company stopped hosting events.

Notes

  1. ^ "Court Bauer (@courtbauer) - Twitter". twitter.com.
  2. ^ a b "ABOUT MLW". 17 April 2017.
  3. ^ https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/fighting/article216946070.html http://archive.is/1QeRq
  4. ^ "MLW Underground announces new deal". SLAM! Sports. April 23, 2003. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
  5. ^ a b c "MLW history". Cagematch. September 17, 2018. Retrieved September 17, 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "MLW Japan relationship". Cagematch. September 17, 2018. Retrieved September 17, 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ "EVENTS". 17 April 2017.
  8. ^ Reddick, Jay. "Major League Wrestling announces more Orlando shows in 2018".
  9. ^ "How to watch MLW Fusion on beIN SPORTS starting this Friday". 18 April 2018.
  10. ^ Satin, Ryan (March 26, 2018). "Major League Wrestling Signs TV Deal". Pro Wrestling Sheet. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
  11. ^ "BEIN SPORTS ADDS MAJOR LEAGUE WRESTLING TO ITS GROWING SPORTS ROSTER". Major League Wrestling. March 30, 2018. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
  12. ^ "MLW TAG TEAM TITLES TO BE DECIDED AT MLW'S JUNE 7TH FUSION TV TAPING IN ORLANDO". Pro Wrestling Insider. May 10, 2018. Retrieved 2018-05-10.
  13. ^ "MLW Signs Shane Strickland to Long-Term Contract, Moving to Sign Other Talents - 411MANIA". 411mania.com.
  14. ^ "WORLD MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP TO BE CROWNED JULY 19TH AS JOEY RYAN COLLIDES WITH MJF AT MLW'S NYC CARD". Pro Wrestling Insider. June 28, 2018. Retrieved 2018-06-28.
  15. ^ "Major League Wrestling (MLW)". Cagematch.net. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  16. ^ Namako, Jason (April 26, 2018). "Matches set for 5/3 MLW Fusion TV Taping in Orlando". Retrieved September 16, 2018.
  17. ^ Johnson, Mike (April 28, 2018). "SIX MAN TAG ADDED TO STACKED MLW MAY 3RD MLW BEIN SPORTS TV TAPING IN ORLANDO". Retrieved September 16, 2018.
  18. ^ Johnson, Mike (May 31, 2018). "MAIN EVENT ANNOUNCED FOR MLW NYC DEBUT NEXT MONTH". Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  19. ^ Johnson, Mike (August 2, 2018). "BIG MLW TAG TITLE BOUT SET FOR NYC RETURN". PWInsider. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  20. ^ Johnson, Mike (September 18, 2018). "MLW TO DEBUT IN CHICAGO". PWInsider. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  21. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-02-20. Retrieved 2015-02-15. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  22. ^ Johnson, Mike (September 6, 2018). "MLW WARGAMES COVERAGE". PWInsider. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  23. ^ "MLW War Games to air on Friday's Fusion TV show". Prowrestling.net. September 10, 2018. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  24. ^ "MLW War Games at Fort Lauderdale's War Memorial Auditorium will be a dream come true". Miami Herald. August 29, 2018.
  25. ^ "Video interviews with MLW talent while in Fort Lauderdale for War Games". Miami Herald. September 14, 2018.
  26. ^ Johnson, Mike. "MLW BATTLE RIOT NEWS AND NOTES FROM NYC". PWInsider. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  27. ^ Trionfo, Richard (July 17, 2018). "MLW FUSION REPORT: JANELA VERSUS FRIEDMAN, TEAM FILTHY VERSUS THE STUD STABLE, AND MORE". PWInsider. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  28. ^ a b c d e f Martin, Fin (August 2003). "Major League Wrestling". Power Slam Magazine. Lancaster, Lancashire, England: SW Publishing LTD. pp. 22–23. 109.

References

External links

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