Major League Wrestling

**Major League Wrestling, LLC (MLW)** is an American professional wrestling promotion based in New Rochelle, New York. The promotion founded in 2002 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by former WWE writer Court Bauer.

### (2002–present)

Following the closures and acquisitions of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as the WWE) in 2001, Major League Wrestling (MLW) was founded on June 16, 2002. Shortly after its founding, the promotion spent three months moving their headquarters from Philadelphia to New York. MLW styled itself as an alternative to WWE's sports entertainment, following in the tradition of ECW.
In 2003, MLW again moved their base of operations to Florida, and negotiated a deal with Sunshine Network to air a television series titled *Underground TV*, which ran between April 7, 2003 and February 14, 2004. The series was hosted by Joey Styles and consisted of pre-taped matches from prior events. Furthering MLW's ties to ECW, the promotion highlighted many former ECW talents, such as Sabu, Terry Funk, Shane Douglas, and Steve Corino. This led to criticism of MLW for being an imitation of ECW in comparison to Ring of Honor, another Philadelphia-founded promotion that launched five months prior to MLW's formation.

#### Post-COVID-19

On June 9, 2020, MLW reached a new media rights deal to stream their programming on DAZN. CEO Court Bauer also announced during the same month that reruns of *MLW Underground TV* would air on BeIN Sports throughout the summer.

In August 2020, after an eight-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MLW announced that *Fusion* TV tapings will resume in October of that year. On September 10, it was announced that *MLW Fusion* would move to Wednesday nights on fubo Sports Network. On October 10, it was revealed that *Fusion* would return on November 18 at 7pm EST and new episodes would also premiere on MLW's YouTube channel on the same night.

In October 2020, MLW announced a "strategic alliance" with IWA-PR for the “celebration of inter-promotional events, direct support to the events of each of the companies and collaboration in other types of promotions”. MLW would also began incorporating story elements from the now-defunct Lucha Libre promotion and television drama, *Lucha Underground*, into an angle involving IWA-PR. Talent formally associated with *Lucha Underground* were brought into MLW as part of the "Azteca Underground" stable.

In April 2021, MLW announced a television deal with Vice on TV. A block of MLW programming, including reruns of *Fusion*, began airing on Saturdays starting May 1. The agreement would further expand when it was announced on September 17 that Vice would air MLW's Fightland as a television special on October 7.

On April 29, 2021, MLW announced a partnership with Revolution Pro Wrestling.

In June 2021, Dave Meltzer reported that MLW would begin taping content in Los Angeles for a spinoff series that would "resemble *Lucha Underground*" with plans to film vignettes in the summer and matches in the fall. It would later be revealed on August 4, 2021 that MLW had signed a deal to produce a new series centered around Azteca Underground, featuring a different roster from that seen on *MLW Fusion*.
On July 7, 2021, it was announced that Shimmer Women Athletes co-founder Dave Prazak had joined MLW to help relaunch its women's division; later to be announced in September as the MLW Women's Featherweight division. During the premiere of Battle Riot III on July 24, 2021, MLW announced a new season of *Fusion* that would air on "a new home" in the Fall, and the premiere of a new mini-series, titled *MLW Fusion: Alpha*. It was later announced on September 6 that *Fusion: Alpha* would premiere on September 22 on MLW's YouTube channel, and would air on Saturdays and Mondays on BeIN Sports.

## Touring and TV tapings

Main article: MLW Fusion

In the beginning, MLW would hold one show a month, originally from the Viking Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. By the end of 2002, MLW began running two shows a month and, in 2003, multiple shows in a weekend were held in New York. The first time MLW left New York was December 20, 2002, for *King Of Kings* from the War Memorial Auditorium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The promotion primarily held events in Florida prior to closing its doors in 2004.
Since their return in 2017, MLW was running shows back in Florida, but also returned to New York in 2018 as a result of 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. On September 18, 2018, MLW announced their debut in Chicago. On October 19, 2018, MLW announced that they would return to Florida to make their Miami debut.

## Personnel

Main article: List of Major League Wrestling personnel

### Contracts

In 2018, after the promotion was revived, MLW signed some talent to exclusive contracts. It also gave MLW power over the performers' dates. Their wrestlers are allowed to perform for other promotions but have to prioritize MLW events. MLW's roster mainly consists of independent contractors who have also appeared in other promotions (namely Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide and Impact Wrestling).

### Partnerships

MLW currently has working relationships with Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, the International Wrestling Association, Pro Wrestling Noah, The Crash Lucha Libre, Impact Wrestling, and New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

## Championships

### Current

MLW World Heavyweight Championship

MLW Women's Championship

MLW Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship

MLW World Tag Team Championship

MLW World Television Championship

MLW World Middleweight Championship

MLW Women's Tag Team Championship