Major League Wrestling (MLW) continues to offer exclusive contracts to its talents

Major League Wrestling (MLW) continues to offer exclusive contracts to its talents. The company founded by its current president, Court Bauer, has been questioned due to the signing of talents that were supposed to be bound by these contracts with impediments, such as the case of Rush with Ring of Honor.

Joe Lanza, a journalist with Voices of Wrestling, has published a few hours ago with exclusive information about MLW contracts. Lanza reports that according to several sources and after having consulted with Bauer himself, the agreements are really restrictive. The signed talents can only work in companies with which MLW has a good relationship (Impact Wrestling or All Elite Wrestling, as is the case of MJF).

In the list of companies banned by MLW are WWE, WWN Live and Ring of Honor. During the entire duration of the contracts, talents cannot sign with these companies or have pre-agreements. In the case of WWN Live, both companies had problems due to the contract of Shane Strickland, who worked for both. Ring of Honor has been added recently, mainly because they have hired talent who worked with them. According to sources contacted in MLW, ROH will have no interest in collaborating with them.

The exit of several talents is explained by the fact that these big names were not signed. Cases like PCO, Brody King, Joey Janela and recently Rush, had not signed anything (in the case of the Mexican, this has been confirmed by two sources close by and by the same MLW). By not signing, they could leave at any time.

The problem with contracts is that their conditions are not competitive with the current market. Lanza points out cases of several wrestlers who have rejected contracts, from big names to rising stars, to which they offered between 120 and 150 dollars per date. These agreements are currently below the market, compared to rivals such as Ring of Honor and All Elite, who are negotiating around the five figures per year.

Another element of the important contract for which many have declined to sign is by a clause in which MLW can call their talents to perform “pre-taping”. A talent scheduled for a date can be summoned to appear the day before to record promos and material for the weekly MLW show, Fusion.

However, that would not be remunerated, charging only for the appearance in the ring. This affects several independent talents, which lose two dates to receive payment of one. In addition, MLW reserves the opportunity to contact at any time to make these recordings.

Despite this, MLW has many people hired, as it ensures several dates to work small independent names and rising talents. However, it is not so interesting for talent with more renown.