Several MLW-contracted wrestlers have become regular members of the AEW roster. Maxwell Jacob Friedman, Brian Pillman Jr and a few others have appeared on multiple AEW shows while still being under contract with Major League Wrestling. Announcer Tony Shiavone is now also in that group.

MLW’s Court Bauer addressed the relationship between the two promotions on a recent media call.

“People probably want there to be some animosity between our two organizations as that is kind of the history of wrestling where you have to go to war and stuff, that there has to be some weird tension but there isn’t here,” Bauer said in regard to the relationship between AEW and MLW.

“Funny story, I’ve been interviewed by the media once or twice and I’ve been given these loaded questions where [they were hoping] I would smash AEW, but my response has always been to give my genuine feelings and fondness towards Tony, Cody, and the guys. Guess what? They never ran those quotes! I guess it’s not as sexy, but the truth was I really want those guys to succeed.”

Bauer would continue to say he wants both promotions to succeed.

“I want AEW and MLW to succeed. It shows that there is a bigger world beyond our industry that shares the market that is completely valuable in appeal that isn’t WWE. For twenty years, frankly, probably longer, WWE has had a massive, massive dip on the market share and for media rights, licensing, you name it, they have owned it in the wrestling space and that narrative needs to change. If we’re not successful, that’s bad for the fans, the talent, the crew, and the health of our business.”

The full interview can be listened to in the player below:


Bauer also addressed the possibility of a MLW vs AEW storyline happening someday.

“Is there going to be some big world war between promotions? Maybe that’s where this goes, maybe it doesn’t. Are there other strategic alliances? Maybe there are, maybe there aren’t, but I know that the fans will enjoy that so the media, and maybe a few companies, but I really have to say Tony [Khan] is a great guy, so is Cody. I genuinely like all of those guys. Right now it’s been great.”

Bauer also addressed Jim Cornette’s role in MLW. Bauer noted that Cornette does not have any further dates booked with the promotion.

“Jim came in to pitch in for a certain amount of dates when Tony [Schiavone] could not make his commitments that were carved out in his contract. Jim fulfilled his last date with us on July 6th so, as of right now, we don’t have any future dates with Jim.”