On April 19, MLW announced that they will premiere on VICE TV in the spring.
MLW founder Court Bauer had been teasing a new television deal for months was reportedly negotiating with Discovery regarding a new deal.
VICE TV is already involved in wrestling with its Dark Side of the Ring series and Bauer could not be more excited to work alongside the broadcast station.
"It took some time, but the hardest part was trying to keep the dam from cracking," Bauer said on Busted Open Radio. "There was chatter last week and I just couldn't say it. I was 'like, we gotta announce this soon, people are starting to figure it out.' It's good when people are excited. We're excited about it. VICE was backstage at our first show back in 2017 and they were documenting a lot of it. This relationship kind of goes back four years to day one when we brought back MLW in Orlando. There's probably a lot of weird candid footage from that night. It's wrestling, crazy shit happens. They have some great material if they ever want to use it. VICE, they have a deeper relationship with wrestling than most networks, who are just like, 'what do you have? we're willing to pay this. If it brings eyes, great, but we're not too invested in it.' VICE has a real passion for wrestling. Finally, they found the right partner with what they're doing and where they are in the culture."
While no premiere date has been given, Mike Johnson at PWInsider reports content is expected to begin airing in May.
When discussing the content set to air on VICE TV for the premiere, Bauer said, "Phase one is going to be rolling out shows where (we have crowds). I think we'll debut by showing footage from Dallas and Philly from 2020. Then phase two will kick in and you'll learn more about that on Fusion. You have to keep people understanding what the product is."
While MLW has a deal with VICE TV, Bauer is also in the process of securing a second show on a network as well.
"We're deep in talks, like the eighth inning. We have at least two bids on a second show. It's a project we've been looking at and it's an opportunity to scale up our roster and give more opportunities for our guys to work and put more eyes on our roster, but do it differently. Will it be a brand split or something else? It'll be something else," said Bauer.
MLW Fusion currently airs every Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET on YouTube.
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