Court Bauer discusses the future of MLW.
On Saturday, Major League Wrestling will hold it's first pay-per-view event Saturday Night SuperFight. MLW has become one of the most popular Independent companies over the last year thanks to its diverse style and easy access on YouTube. With the promotion running on pay-per-view, MLW CEO Court Bauer talked to Newsweek about how MLW has found its niche and the future of the company.
"There's a time that if you wait long enough that the right deal could come along. If you go too early it could be to your detriment because you are seeing that as [the] only going to get stronger," Bauer explained. "We're the only ones in that space where we could do something. WWE and AEW are locked down, Impact just bought a network. Ring of Honor by design are broadcasting on their own networks. We are the only ones in the hunt, so it's a precious moment for us. Timing is everything, and it's working out for us right now. The problem with YouTube is the ad dollars are soft. You can put 30 ads in there, and it's super soft. For us [YouTube] is kind of a puddle jumper for us to a more meaningful streaming deal, and, by design, if we're going to leave YouTube we're going to a place where it's not going to be an issue to find us."
Along with airing weekly on YouTube, MLW Fusion airs live on beIN SPORTS every Saturday. While MLW has tapped into various fanbases including hardcore, lucha, and entertainment, the promotion has yet to cater to fans of women's wrestling. That changes on Nov. 9 at MLW Blood and Thunder when the promotion holds its first-ever women's bout. And, according to Bauer, bigger plans are in store.
"My goal is to have Major League Women, an entire spin off of MLW, that's my end goal," Bauer said. "There's Major League Wrestling and then there's Major League Womens and that's their own full-hour of programming and they go out and don't have to share the stage. In terms of programming it's a different kind of presentation that would be fun to do, so that's our longterm strategy."
Fightful will have coverage of MLW Saturday Night SuperFight beginning at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday. You can view the card for the event by clicking here.
