Major League Wrestling (MLW) started as a promotion in 2002 and ran for two years. It fell dormant in 2004.
Court Bauer then moved onto the podcast game in 2011, launching MLW Radio. Following steady growth and explosion with popular podcasts such as Something To Wrestle With Bruce Prichard and many others.
The wrestling promotion was revived in 2017, and MLW signed with beIN Sports for a television series. This is a brief history of MLW Fusion.
The series entitled MLW Fusion in April of 2018. It airs weekly on Friday nights at 8:00 PM Eastern. Their commentary team in 2018 was Rich Bocchini and Tony Schiavone.
They started it off hot, with the first episode being main evented by Pentagon Jr., presented by Salina de la Renta, and Rey Fenix.
Many other names would debut on the show, such as “Swerve” Shane Strickland, “Filthy” Tom Lawlor, Simon Gotch, MJF, Sami Callihan, and Joey Janela. Of course, these are not all of them, but a few of the bigger names.
A pay-per-view event was held called The World Championship Final. At this event, Shane Strickland was crowned champion, to Salina de la Renta’s chagrin. She put out a 20,000-dollar bounty on Strickland’s head.
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Brody King would debut to attempt to collect on this bounty. Strickland and King clashed on the June 7th taping for MLW Fusion, which later aired on June 22nd, 2018. Strickland defeated the Straight Edge King, thwarting his efforts.
Low Ki would eventually be the one to unseat Strickland as the MLW World Champion. Low Ki is also presented by Salina de la Renta. The crafty Salina boasts a stable now including Low Ki, LA Park, and Hijo de LA Park.
She had presented Pentagon, Jr., Rey Fenix, and Sammy Guevara but kicked them to the curb. Salina’s crew now feuds with a rival faction presented by Konnan. Konnan’s charges are the Lucha Bros (Pentagon, Jr. and Rey Fenix).
Besides Salina and Konnan’s crews, several other factions, or “fight teams,” as they’re called in MLW, exist. These include Team Filthy, Black Friday Management, Col. Parker’s Stud Stable, and the Hart Foundation.
Probably the two most noteworthy are Team Filthy and the Hart Foundation. The Hart Foundation is a new reincarnation of the group, with Teddy Hart, Davey Boy Smith, Jr., and Brian Pillman, Jr (Lexis King in the WWE’s NXT brand).
In 2018, MLW champions were Low-Ki, The Lucha Bros, and Maxwell J. Friedman (MJF). Low-Ki was the World Champion, the Lucha Bros were tag team champions, and MJF was the World Middleweight Champion.
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They have had lots of major action lined up, including a street fight between Tom Lawlor and Sami Callihan, a flag match between Puma King and MJF, and Simon Gotch’s Prize Fight Challenge.
Also, on the card is a No-Disqualification match between the inhuman PCO and Brody King. When will these matches show up on MLW Fusion? You’ll have to tune in to find out!
Over the past six years, Major League Wrestling has seen a great deal of growth and change. While the names of more recent years, such as The Lucha Bros, Sammy Guevara, and MJF, are no longer there, that isn’t to say the promotion hasn’t grown.
During the promotion’s rise, names like Alex Hammerstone and Jacob Fatu called the promotion home. Change was as much a part of the promotion’s past as it is its present and future. The company grew with names such as Alex Kane and AKIRA.
With wrestling, as in life, the one constant is change, and in Major League Wrestling, change took place.
At times, out of necessity but typically to evolve and embrace skill, it has been synonymous with MLW. What does the future hold for this exciting promotion? The sky is the limit!
