Following a run with All Elite Wrestling, Danny Limelight joined MLW, making his debut at MLW Battle Riot III in 2021.
Limelight was paired with Slice Boogie as the new 5150 led by Konnan and Julius Smokes. The duo would go on to win the MLW World Tag Team Championships on the December 9, 2021 episode of MLW Fusion. Limelight, who wrestled under the name Rivera in MLW, remained with the company until he was granted his release in September.
Speaking to Will Washington, Righteous Reg, & Phil Lindsey of Grapsody, Limelight explained his MLW departure.
"Honestly, I couldn't tell you," he stated when asked what happened. "I felt like we had something special going on there. I had a great time at AEW. United Wrestling Network always let me do promos, but never gave me a live mic in the ring. MLW kind of, early on, realized that this shit was money. 'Just go out there and talk before your match.' I went out there and it was me, Konnan, Slice Boogie, and Julius Smokes. That's where people started being like, 'this guy is a personality too and not just this guy who can do these moves.' At AEW, they never gave me a mic. I would ask all the time to do a promo for myself on Dark, I would try, it just wouldn't happen. They would only see me having these cool matches, they never saw me as a personality, they never saw me be me. Once MLW gave me a microphone, shit started popping."
Limelight continued, explained where things went wrong in MLW.
"Where things went downhill was Konnan got sick, he couldn't come, he had to get surgery and go through his recovery process. Shoutout to Konnan, he's doing better now. That kind of left me, Boogie, and Julius by ourselves, which is fine, because we could do it anyway. Then, Boogie had some personal things come up, so he had to go away. Then, it was just me and Julius Smokes, and they were trying to figure out somebody. We had Homicide in one time, then they started bringing Hernandez in, trying to keep it going, but it started falling apart. I told them, 'let me do it by myself if we can't get this 5150 thing to rock because of all these issues. Let me go myself.' I was a singles wrestler before anything else. I felt like it was a timing thing where they didn't really have anything for me. They took care of me, let me go. Thank you Court Bauer for the opportunity that MLW gave me. I felt like it definitely did get me out there as a personality, they allowed me to be myself. I love them for that. I just kept going with that and what I was doing there and I brought it to New Japan and I brought it to United Wrestling. Now that I'm a free agent, I can do whatever I want. I'm still Danny Limelight and now I have a live mic, and I can say whatever I want. Mic on, safety off," he stated.
Limelight confirmed he is "100% a free agent."
His contract was reportedly set to run through June 2023 with MLW before he was granted his release.
Limelight is now active in NJPW STRONG, United Wrestling Network, and other independent promotions.
Fans can watch the full interview with Limelight in the video above.
