David Sahadi Addresses Departure From MLW, Says Court Bauer ‘Likes To Feel As Though You’re Loyal To Him & To Him Only’

Candid responses from Sahadi about his MLW departure.

It was first reported by Mike Johnson of PWInsider that David Sahadi exited Major League Wrestling. He had been working behind the scenes for the organization.

Sahadi confirmed his departure on an episode of his Beyond The Lens show. Sahadi shared that he knew his time was coming to an end when he was working production for Scott D’Amore’s Maple Leaf Pro promotion and asked Court Bauer if he could use MLW’s footage of Hammerstone.

Bauer asked Sahadi if he was working with D’Amore now. Sahadi went on to state that Bauer likes to feel as if you’re loyal to him and him only. Sahadi is a freelance worker, but told Bauer he’d treat MLW as if it were his exclusive home.

“Everything in that reporting is true, and there are different perspectives on different things… I got the call about two weeks ago. It was on a Friday, and I wanna say before I get to the details of the conversation with Court (Bauer) that it was a great phone call. I mean, I knew it was coming. I’m not sure if Court knew that I knew and it was a great phone call and we left on a great term where Court’s just like, ‘Hey, you made this easy.’ I said, ‘Court, I understand…’ I first sensed it was coming when I worked for Scott D’Amore, Maple Leaf Wrestling. They had a show in July, and Tim Wahlberg who is a Hall of Fame director… he is Scott’s guy and he had a conflict with a baseball game. He also directs the Baltimore Orioles games so, I told Scott I would do that show because Scott’s a friend and I’m not sure where Maple Leaf Wrestling is going right now. That might be his last televised show. I don’t think so, and I asked Court if we could use footage for Alexander Hammerstone in the show because Hammerstone was part of Scott’s show, and I wanna use the entrance when he made his return to MLW and Court’s response on email was, ‘So you’re working for them right now?’ So right then, I knew it struck a nerve with Court because Court likes to feel as though you’re loyal to him and to him only, even though I’m a freelance worker and I made it clear to Court that I would treat MLW as if they were my exclusive company. But, this is Scott D’Amore, friend, and this is not United States and it’s not a competitor to MLW so as a friend, Scott D’Amore, who I love — great leader. I worked with him for many years but I knew him as a friend first. I was doing that for Scott and I knew that Court didn’t like that. He was unhappy. But, we were also in this two-month period where MLW does not have any live shows. They were off in July and August and the next live show is (September) 13th, Fightland in Dallas. So that was the first sign…”

There was a two-month period when MLW did not have any live events, so Sahadi took up an offer from Eric Bischoff to work with Real American Freestyle, which is launching on August 30th. Sahadi said when word got back to Court Bauer that he’d be working with R.A.F., it felt like a betrayal to Bauer.

“When news got out that I had been working with Eric Bischoff for Real American Freestyle, I heard from sources inside MLW, that really incensed Court Bauer. He thought I was betraying him… I know that that irked Court. Because maybe he thought that I was treating him as number two. In my mind, it’s like, I thought I could do both because MLW is off for July and August and that’s when Eric needed me the most. So maybe Court knew that, you know, I would not be able to give him my 100 percent creativity, energy and everything for MLW with this on the plate. But to me, it happened (at) such a great time when MLW was kind of dark so, the timing of me giving it my 120 percent for R.A.F. couldn’t have happened at a better time.”

When Bauer and Sahadi spoke about his exit, Bauer said he had to answer to a Board of Directors that looks at numbers, and Sahadi was one of the highest-paid independent contractors. Sahadi said he was led to believe that the decision to let him go was business/financial-related.

Sahadi does not believe that is the case, but he was complimentary of MLW and thinks he’ll be back with them in the future.

“He (Court Bauer) led me to believe that it’s something with finance. That was the only misunderstanding there. Not that it was a conflict of interest. He never brought that up in the phone call, that me working for R.A.F. was a conflict of interest for him. He just said he had to answer to a Board, and that the Board looks at numbers and I was one of the higher paid guys that was an independent contractor. Not the highest. One of the higher-paid guys, and that it was a business and financial decision. But I had a feeling that it wasn’t, and obviously by their statement, it was based on conflict of interest but, again, they’re very complimentary in that statement and I’m very complimentary of them. I think MLW’s a great product. I think I’ll be working with them again in the future.”

As noted, Sahadi will be part of the launch of Real American Freestyle. Their debut show is August 30th, and the promotion’s Chief Marketing Officer, Eric Bischoff, broke news about the promotion that can be read here.

If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Beyond The Lens with an H/T to Fightful for the transcriptions.