Court Bauer's Major League Wrestling, which last ran in September in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, will return with two live events in January 2004 in Philadelphia, PA at the National Guard Armory on 1/9/04 and The Rexplex in Elizabeth, New Jersey on 1/10/04, according to a telephone conversation with Bauer this morning. The events should be announced today on MLW's website.
The 1/9 Philadelphia, PA event will be headlined by Low Ki vs. Homicide with others scheduled including Vampiro, Mike Modest, Ted Hart, Christopher Daniels, Bryan Danielson, Bobby Quance, Pinoy Boy, Da Hit Squad, CM Punk, Justin Credible, Harry Smith, TJ Wilson, Sonjay Dutt, Josh Prohibition, M-Dogg 20, Matt Martel (aka Stryker in New York indies), and Persephonie.
The 1/10 Elizabeth, New Jersey event will feature MLW champion Steve Corino vs. Terry Funk in an I Quit Match as well as Modest, Vampiro, Martel, Hart, Quance, Pinoy, Miller, Smith, TJ Wilson, Credible, Dutt, M-Dogg 20, Prohibition, and others. Tickets for the shows go on sale next week.
Bauer also claimed he has locked in a house show schedule for the calendar year of 2004.
According to Bauer, MLW's Underground TV show will debut in the Philadelphia market on Channel 48 WGTW towards the end of December, with 12/29 the target date for the first episode. The show will have a midnight time slot on Mondays. The TV show will now be hosted by former WWE announcer Kevin Kelly, who is replacing Joey Styles as the front man of the promotion. The promotion is looking into adding a guest co-host to the show in the future as well. The TV show is still being produced by former ECW TV producer Charlie Bruzezze.
MLW will also be returning to former TV market Dayton, Ohio and claims to have additional markets shortly. The promotion will also have a Spanish language show airing in Puerto Rico hosted by old WWF Spanish announcer Jose Rivera, starting late-December, and will be running video of the TV show via their website.
The announcements come after several months of restructuring the promotion and several members of MLW management leaving the company, including Steve Karel, Dan Kowal, and Greg Bagarozy who handled the television distribution and live event promotions.
"During the restructuring periods, we decided to go to a better support team," said Bauer. "We're looking forward to the new initiative by this team. They’re hungry and excited to make this work." Bauer declined to name any new members of the MLW staff at the moment, but said they would named shortly. Samu Anoai will be moving out of the ring and heading up issues with talent backstage. Afa Anoai will also be involved with talent logistics as well.
With Steve Karel’s Stonecutter Media no longer involved, MLW's TV will now be distributed by CBE Distribution, a subdivision of CBE, another company Bauer is heading, so that has basically been brought “in house” as well. The promotion will be utilizing local promoters for their live events, which Bauer is hopeful will add to better penetration for live events. The plan is to save on overhead costs by running smaller buildings.
Bauer said the restructuring of the company was a "blessing in disguise. I'm going in a drastic different approach with MLW. We are re-branding the promotion. It's not going to be a one flavor hardcore style. We want to have more of a true hybrid style that we were originally trying to market. We want the lucha, the strong style, the Japanese feel all in one. We want a locker room that wants to go 100% and go the distance. We want the live arena show to be better and to continue to run a well oiled machine live. We’ll be running about 8-9 match shows instead of 13-14 matches and different talent on different nights, so it’s easier for workers to work for other promotions who may schedule the same night as us and everyone ends up winning.”
Bauer was candid on the future of the company. “We're taking baby steps. We're not trying to make leaps anymore. We're going to focus on two quality shows a month and that alone is an undertaking. We were taking leaps instead of baby steps and what happens when you do that; it's a costly effect, but you live and learn from mistakes. I think the restructuring has given us a new business model so we won't be burdened by continuing to do those things.
Bauer was quick to note the promotion had its failings. "Our old model was too ambitious to ever succeed without great losses and the streams of revenue made it an impossibility at that level. My goal now is to have 250 fans. Anything beyond that is a home run and 500 is a profit. We'll be marketing the product for European and Asian consumption, as well as our stateside targets. Licensing and home video abroad will be our bread and butter. We'll be in The UK and Bangladesh and expanding from there on with international distribution. TV and home video internationally will be where we make our money. We want to do domestic video as well but the market is smaller here than it has been in the past. With the new structure, we now maintain a low overhead."
Bauer also noted that the promotion has taken over in house merchandise orders due to unhappiness with a previous outside vendor in fulfilling orders. The promotion had previously canceled a TV subscription service due to poor service from the outside vendor leading to numerous fan complaints. Bauer said there would be an announcement forthcoming about new merchandise as they have come to terms with a new designer for shirts and other merchandise.
When asked if Ring of Honor, who run both the Philadelphia and New Jersey venues MLW has just announced dates for, was aware of his plans to move into the Northeast, Bauer commented, "I don't believe so. As far as ROH goes, I think this is something that can benefit the talent. We are starting with two dates a month. If you add ROH, the talent can have four dates a month, and more if they are working Japan or TNA. I don't want to undermine anyone's creative or logistical issues. I look forward to having a working relationship with anyone. It only hurts everyone if we don't cooperate. I want to have an open door policy to make as much work as possible for the boys. We have no intentions of taking anything away from anyone; we want to encourage the crossover of talent to continue with ROH. In fact, in the last few months, we've worked together on transportation and logistical issues and it's been a refreshing relationship thus far. We've never acted in a predatorily way and we aren't now. If we wanted to do that, we would have tried to lock in exclusives for the buildings. We just want to create more opportunities for everyone, not force them to pick a team, so to speak."
When reached for comment, Ring of Honor sources declined to speak about the situation.
In regard to International talent agreements, the promotion will be working with Toryumon and Zero-One in the future. There have been discussions with CMLL out of Mexico as well. The promotion has severed its ties with All Japan Pro Wrestling, but Bauer noted he is still on good terms with Taiyo Kea, who may return down the line.
The promotion had been running on the Sunshine Network and promoting events in Florida. According to Bauer, the promotion's TV will not be returning to the Sunshine Network at this time, but plans for a Florida house show will be announced shortly.
In regard to fans from Florida who had supported the product, Bauer commented, “I want to express my gratitude to those fans. They helped MLW grow to heights I never expected and we’ll be announcing a return to the market very soon on MLW.com.”
For additional information on MLW’s upcoming dates, visit www.MLW.com.