MLW and Impact Wrestling have announced they will collaborate over WrestleMania weekend in order for fans to be able to see both of their live events.

Impact Wrestling released the following statement earlier today:

“IMPACT Wrestling, a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp., and Major League Wrestling (MLW), announced today that they will be collaborating for their events on April 4 by coordinating talent and schedules to ensure that fans can attend live events presented by both organizations when virtually the entire professional wrestling world descends upon the New York metropolitan area.”

IMPACT Wrestling and @MLW will be collaborating for their events on April 4 by coordinating talent and schedules to ensure that fans can attend live events presented by both organizations!

FULL DETAILS: https://t.co/SQkjmx93VM pic.twitter.com/hc56ZosbRh

— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) January 30, 2019

Impact moved their event to the state of New Jersey so they could hold it after 11 PM.

“Due to the New York curfew preventing us from starting at 11:00 p.m. ET, we have moved our live event to New Jersey,” stated Impact’s Scott D’Amore. “We want to thank our partners at WrestlePro for facilitating this collaboration on April 4th and also thank House of Glory and stress that we couldn’t make this happen for our great fans without their cooperation.”

Impact Wrestling & MLW Events Over WrestleMania Weekend

MLW will present “Rise of the Renegades” at 7 PM on April 4th from the Melrose Ballroom. At 11 PM that same night, Impact Wrestling will present “United We Stand” from the Rahway Recreation Centre in New Jersey. The two venues are said to be about an hour’s drive from one another.

“This arrangement eliminates talent booking conflicts and ensures that loyal and passionate fans of both IMPACT Wrestling and MLW are able to attend our respective live events on April 4th,” said Impact Wrestling President, Ed Nordholm.

“Both promotions believe in putting the fans first,” said MLW COO Jared St. Laurent. “Fans will be traveling from all over the world in hopes of seeing the best of the best.”

Major League Wrestling CEO Court Bauer has commented on the state of MLW contracts.

It’s no secret that the market for independent wrestling talent is heating up. WWE, New Japan, Ring of Honor, All Elite Wrestling, Impact and MLW are all working aggressively to bolster their rosters. The shifting landscape has dealt MLW a few setbacks in recent months. Former MLW World Champion Shane Strickland is rumored to be WWE bound, while Ring of Honor has signed MLW regulars RUSH, PCO and Brody King.

In light of MLW losing a few talented guys to ROH, a fan on Twitter asked Bauer about the state of MLW contracts. User @RulezGoldberg says he finds it difficult to invest in MLW storylines without knowing if the wrestlers he’s following will be around long-term.

Bauer addressed RUSH, Brody King and PCO’s departures and provided some insight about MLW’s “open borders” philosophy towards wrestler contracts.

https://twitter.com/courtbauer/status/1087158362251378688?s=12

In the year-plus since the relaunch of Major League Wrestling, the promotion’s has demonstrated resiliency as they continue building a loyal audience. Similar to ROH refreshing its roster to offset the losses of The Young Bucks, Cody Rhodes and Hangman Page, MLW has also been bringing in fresh faces. New (and returning) performers to be featured at upcoming MLW shows include Ace Austin, Mance Warner, Gringo Loco, Rey Horus and Aero Star.

Catch MLW Fusion Friday nights on beIN SPORTS. Those new episodes are added to MLW’s YouTube channel the following night. 

MLW’s next big event is SuperFight, which takes place next Saturday night, February 2nd from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA. Matches from that show will be part of the MLW Fusion Live television special.

MLW Fusion Episode 40

The end of 2018 has been the most contentious free-agency period in wrestling since the Monday Night Wars. As multiple promotion scramble to lock-up talent to their promotion, allegations of talent-raiding and contact interference are rampant.

Admittedly, what is likely a frustrating time for wrestling promoters is also an exciting time for wrestling fans.

According to MLW’s Court Bauer, a promotion recently tried to sign talent already committed to MLW. He made the following comments on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/courtbauer/status/1073597480003002371

“Now that’s what I call #Honor”

MLW, Impact Wrestling, and Lucha Underground all shared talent throughout 2018.

Ring of Honor recently signed PCO and Brody King from MLW. Neither of them was officially locked-up to the company, however, and King had been upfront with MLW about wanting to go to ROH because of the NJPW talent-sharing relationship.

MLW presents a live edition of Fusion tonight from Miami. The following matches are scheduled to take place on the show:

• Rush vs Rich Swann
• Dragon Lee vs DJZ
• MLW Middleweight Championship (Ladder Match)
  Kotto Brazil vs Andrew Everett vs El Hijo de LA Park vs Dezmond Xavier

2018 Talent Raids

This is not the first time this year MLW has complained publicly about other promotions attempting to negotiate with their contracted talent. Court Bauer had the following to say recently on Wrestling Observer Radio.

“I had guys at WaleMania approached by WWE people backstage in the green room about signing,” Bauer said. “I’m like ‘you can’t do that, I’ll give you a freebie, don’t do it again’. Boom, they do it again. I had to send a cease and desist to WWE, that’s called tortious interference.”

Bauer also sent out the following Tweet regarding two luchadors blowing off MLW in order to negotiate with WWE.

https://twitter.com/courtbauer/status/1072138953346740225?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Court Bauer’s MLW is having a tough time getting WWE to stop negotiating with their talent. Bauer recently appeared on Wrestling Observer radio and discussed what appears to be a widespread issue in 2018 for wrestling promotions.

“I had guys at WaleMania approached by WWE people backstage in the green room about signing,” Bauer said. “I’m like ‘you can’t do that, I’ll give you a freebie, don’t do it again’. Boom, they do it again. I had to send a cease and desist to WWE, that’s called tortious interference.”

Bauer also recently mentioned on Twitter that luchadors Garza Jr. and Ultimo Ninja were supposed to be brought into MLW but ended up ditching his company to negotiate a deal with WWE.

https://twitter.com/courtbauer/status/1072138953346740225?s=09

Former MLW Champion, Shane Strickland, is expected to sign with WWE. The terms of his Lucha Underground contract will likely dictate when he signs with the promotion, however. Recent ROH signees, PCO and Brody King, were not under MLW contracts when they signed deals. King was upfront with MLW about wanting to go to ROH because of their relationship with NJPW when asked as well.

WWE Allegedly Negotiating With Wrestlers Contracted To Other Organizations

There have also been reports from various outlets stating WWE has contacted wrestlers contract to NJPW about signing. Tetsuya Naito told Tokyo Sports he rebuffed a deal from WWE this summer. This week, a report from the Wrestling Observer indicated WWE has interest in Kushida, who is also under contract with NJPW until 2019.

MLW To Air Live On Fusion This Friday

MLW will air live this week on BeIN Sports. The move to airing live specials is something which could up the value of Bauer’s company. Live programming is as valuable as it ever has been to advertisers and networks at the moment.

“There is an energy and sense of expectation to live TV, and with only one or two other companies on live, it puts us in rarified air,” said Bauer to SI.com. “We have now exceeded every milestone we had mapped out in our business plan within our first 13 months of operation. Once again, we now find ourselves in unchartered territory, but it’s very exciting.”

Randy Orton is known to rub people the wrong way earlier in his career. It seems his actions have caught up with him.

Former WWE writer and MLW founder Court Bauer alleges that Randy Orton would “expose himself” to new WWE writers. An on old episode of MLW Radio (Episode 49: Ribbing and Junk, 2012), Bauer said:

“For every new writer that would show up, he comes in the room puts his hand down his pants, pulls out his d*ck, touches himself, then says ‘I’m Randy Orton, shake my hand…oh you don’t want to shake my hand? Are you big leaguing me? That’s f**ked up man. Should I tell Vince and Steph you won’t shake Randy Orton’s hand?”

Bauer would go on to say that he barely avoided falling victim to Randy Orton’s antics back in 2005. Thankfully, Stephanie McMahon entered the room and interrupted what was about to unfold. Bauer describes that situation as ‘a teacher walking into the room’ and everything going back to normal.

Recently a fan asked Bauer if the story was true on twitter and he responded.

https://twitter.com/courtbauer/status/1028032487765803008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1028032487765803008&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwrestlingnews.co%2Fwwe-news%2Fwwe-statement-on-alleged-sexually-inappropriate-behavior-by-randy-orton%2F

WWE issued a brief statement to WrestlingNewsCo regarding Randy Orton’s sexual misconduct. The company says they are “looking into” the situation.

It looks like former WWE Superstar Carlito could be returning to WWE in the near future, according to former WWE creative team member Court Bauer and Mexican wrestling Konnan, both of whom broke the news on their MLW Radio Show.

WWE has been looking for a Hispanic star to help expand into that market, and Carlito could be the guy they are bringing in to attempt to fit the bill.

Carlito was released from WWE back in 2010 after violating the WWE Wellness Policy and refusing to go to rehab. His last WWE television appearance was at the WWE Hall Of Fame induction ceremony in 2014, where his father Carlos Colon was inducted.

Carlito has stayed busy in recent years, working primarily for his fathers World Wrestling Council (WWC) promotion in Puerto Rico, as well as other independent events.

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As seen on Wednesday’s edition of TNA Impact Wrestling, TNA and GFW founder Jeff Jarrett returned on the broadcast on Destination America.

Former WWE creative team member Court Bauer spoke of a rumor that Jarrett is in the process of trying to buy majority ownership of TNA Wrestling, a deal that could be the one Jarrett has been referring to on social media over the past couple of days.

It’s also worth mentioning that there is talk of a TNA-GFW merger of some kind, although it should be stressed that this is strictly speculation at this point.

Many are also pointing to the fact that TNA has brought back their infamous “King of the Mountain” gimmick match for the upcoming TNA Slammiversary pay-per-view, a match that Jarrett will be involved in at this Sunday’s event.

As of this time, representatives from both TNA Wrestling and Global Force Wrestling are refusing to comment on this story. We should have more information as additional news surfaces throughout the coming days.

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