Court Bauer Reveals WWE & MLW Discussions

The MLW President reveals "forbidden dance" talks with WWE.

by Andrew Pollard
Alexander Hammerstone MLW Fightland
MLW

While promoting MLW's huge Fightland event, MLW President Court Bauer revealed that the company held talks with WWE earlier in the year.

Previously, there had been rumours that Vince McMahon's sports entertainment juggernaut had been in discussions with MLW about some form of working relationship, and Bauer has now confirmed that that was indeed the case.

Speaking on a media call (as per eWrestlingNews), Bauer explained:

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“We’re talking with different offices about bringing their talent in and doing some international title matches. As for domestic partnerships, that’s where it gets a little tricky. We’ve had talks, people are probably aware, we talked with WWE earlier this year. You have these conversations, try to see how it would work, and the biggest concern you have, at least for me, is you’re kind of inviting tortious interference and allowing it to happen if you go down that road and if you don’t feel like you’re getting enough in return to even take that risk, what are you doing? What’s the strategy there? It can be very complicated, whether it’s WWE or another company. It can be risky because often the talent, when they come through, you’re not going to now be able to control the creative for. These guys you spent a lot of time building up are now not in your system and now they are main event stars in MLW, but they go over there for a cameo and they’re not treated like top guys, you’re doing a disservice to them and your fans that have invested in their journey. It’s a really delicate thing and every conversation with every company is different. It’s a bit of a dance and sometimes it’s the forbidden dance.“

MLW Fightland was taped on 2 October and aired this past Thursday. There, after months of build, Alexander Hammerstone finally dethroned Jacob Fatu to become the new MLW World Heavyweight Champion. Not only did that bring an end to Fatu's two-year reign as MLW's top dog, but it also marked the Samoan Werewolf's first loss in MLW.

Elsewhere, Fightland saw Tajiri become the new MLW World Middleweight Championship, King Muertes defeated Tom Lawler in a casket match to retain the IWA Caribbean Heavyweight Championship, and Calvin Tankman and Davey Richards got themselves through to the final of the 2021 Opera Cup.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.