The #2 that never was: MLW

[Evenflow DDT]

The deaths of ECW and WCW in 2001 left quite the void in the world of pro wrestling. The next couple years saw the birth/continues expansion of companies like XPW, 3PW, WWA, CZW, TNA, and ROH. Most new companies were lucky to run more than two years before shutting down.

TNA, ROH, and CZW continue to operate today. But there is on company that I feel if they had the proper backing would be the number two company in America, and that company is Major League Wrestling.

MLW was the brainchild of Court Bauer. It was marketed as hybrid wrestling, which encompasses and showcases many different forms of wrestling. MLW's mission was to present itself as an alternative to*sports entertainment. Founder Court Bauer described MLW's product as "the most violent, hard-hitting action mixed with cutting edge storylines creating a counter culture attitude that only MLW can deliver to its rabid fans.

It had a wonderful mix of Hardcore, Puroresu, Technical, and Lucha Libre style wrestling. It featured past stars who previously wrestles in WCW and ECW. Also future stars like a young CM Punk.

If you get a chance check MLW out on YouTube. I think it was truly an excellent product but unfortunately was unable survive going out of business in 2004.

 

[klunderbunker]

Let's also look at some of the names around the titles:

Mike Awesome
Shane Douglas
Steve Corino
Jerry Lynn
Random Japanese guy that people claim to love but likely have never actually seen but say they have so they sound smarter than the actually are
C.W. Anderson
Johnny Swinger

In other words: it was the final years of ECW all over again.

The owner Court Bauer on what MLW was aiming to be:

the most violent, hard-hitting action mixed with cutting edge storylines creating a counter culture attitude that only MLW can deliver to its rabid fans

In other words: ECW all over again.

The commentator for this company: Joey Styles.

In other words: ECW ALL OVER AGAIN.

That's all MLW ever wanted to be: ECW done a few years later but with a better name and a few fresh faces so you wouldn't notice all the ECW alumni on the show. It was ECW all over again and little more.

 

[Evenflow DDT]

Yes, in the beginning. You gotta get your name out there somehow. It worked for WCW in the 90s when they brought in a lot of WWF guys to get eyes on the Plus at the time ECW was still popular, so why not capitalize on that?

I don't have a crystal ball so I don't know if they would evolve as time went on or Sign talents that would go on to make a name for themselves in the mid 2000,s but I can say what they did then entertained me 100x more than TNA today.

 

[Remix]

Yes, in the beginning. You gotta get your name out there somehow. It worked for WCW in the 90s when they brought in a lot of WWF guys to get eyes on the Plus at the time ECW was still popular, so why not capitalize on that?

They weren't popular enough to stay in business, keep a TV deal or pay their talent on time though.

 

[Planet_Velvet]

A lot of the feds that came after the fall of both WCW and ECW almost all wanted to have the renegade reputation of ECW. It's one thing when you employ a former guy on the ECW roster here or there. But it seems like a lot of those feds just wanted to piggy back off of the past reputation of a fed that went under. That's why most of the names were there with a few new guys on the indy scene. The idea that they wanted to be carbon copies of ECW with diffeent names as opposed to making a name and a rep for themselves with some unique, definite characteristics is why a lot of these feds never made it past marketing DVD's and making a lot of noise they eventually couldn't back up.

 

[Trill Co$by]

That's the unfortunate outcome of the indy scene sometimes. Try as you may, it's sometimes impossible to draw the interest you need to get a solid backing. Keep in mind that even TNA was at the point of closing their doors until Dixie Carter came into the picture... and this is back when people like Klunder wouldn't give TNA a second glance because it wasn't "on a major network" or whatever reason, even though other people back then really loved TNA.

That being said, I don't think MLW was entertaining enough to stick around. It seems to me like the guy was just out to capitalize on, like Klunder admitted, the last days of ECW and wanted to try and milk it for what it was worth. Which, if he was going the Legends of Wrestling route, isn't a bad idea but only in small doses. You add onto that the fact that at 2001-2005, the independent scene pretty much exploded from people just wanting something other than WWE to turn to. So with so many other companies like Chikara, PWG, ROH, CZW, TNA [with NWA piggy backing], UWA, UWF, and even Lawler's latest adventure popping up, it was like MLW got lost in the shuffle because their shows just weren't on that same level of entertainment.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

When SKY TV in the UK had "The Wrestling Channel" (which was awesome by the way and exposed me to TNA, ROH, CZW, AAA, NOAH, NJPW, FWA and many more), MLW was one of the companies they showcased. I enjoyed what I saw, being a fan of Steve Corino, Jerry Lynn, Mike Awesome etc, and its a shame that the company didnt succeed and remain in business.

I know people are saying "it was ECW all over again"...so what? ECW was still popular at the time it went out business due to the terrible TV deal that Heyman signed and being unable to get back on TV on a national level, so these new companies wanted to take advantage of the fanbase who still wanted an ECW type product, and use the wrestlers from ECW and WCW who didn't get signed by WWE when they bought out all the competition.

With wrestlers like Corino, Awesome, Lynn, Christopher Daniels, Super Crazy, Masato Tanaka, Vampiro, Sabu, Raven, a young CM Punk, Juventud Guerrera, Sonjay Dutt and featuring the likes Terry Funk, Jerry Lawler and many more former ECW/WCW names...they had a good solid roster of talent with veterans, current big names and up-and-comers. It was easily as good as TNA was in its early days, and if they had had the financial backing that TNA ended up getting, I could have easily seen MLW being in the number 2 spot that TNA is now in.

 

[Planet_Velvet]

True story. There was a fed running down here in Georgia and a lot of the guys walked out of it because they had issues with the owner. Within months, they started their own fed. It showcased champions from some of the better feds in the state. However, the shows were put together to humiliate and degrade the owner of the other fed. Unfortunately, the new fed ran three shows and was done.

I guess what I am trying to say is that if you don't have clearly-defined long-range goals in business of any kind, you won't survive much less prosper. That's why a lot of those post-Attitude Era start-ups fell on their butts. They were trying to strike while the iron was hot and it wasn't even lukewarm yet.

 

[Planet_Velvet]

True story. There was a fed running down here in Georgia and a lot of the guys walked out of it because they had issues with the owner. Within months, they started their own fed. It showcased champions from some of the better feds in the state. However, the shows were put together to humiliate and degrade the owner of the other fed above all else. Unfortunately, the new fed ran three shows and was done.

I guess what I am trying to say is that if you don't have clearly-defined long-range goals in business of any kind, you won't survive much less prosper. That's why a lot of those post-Attitude Era start-ups fell on their butts. They were trying to strike while the iron was hot and it wasn't even lukewarm yet.

 

[Matty~!]

MLW was never a viable number 2 promotion it was interesting to see a mix of old ECW guys and the new breed of independent talent coming up, but I think that is where its allure stopped. It didn't feel fresh and the fact it the start it used a lot of the former ECW production crew didn't help matters because it never could shake the ECW comparison.

Also using Satoshi Kojima on those early show was a big reason for financially crippling the latter shows and as good as Kojima became he wasn't close to being a great worker in 03/04 and didn't bring as much to the table in terms of interest as Bauer probably thought he would.

I followed the US Indy scene at the time very closely and for me both ROH and IWA MS were producing far more entertaining products and there was a plethora of other promotions that had equivalent shows in terms of entertainment value.