Yesterday, Major League Wrestling revealed that they were releasing Teddy Hart from his contract. Teddy was 1/3 of the Hart Foundation and had been the longest-reigning MLW Middleweight champion prior to his release.
Now, a report from PWInsider sheds light on what all led to the split between Hart and MLW.
It is being reported that Teddy Hart had asked for his release several times beginning in late November, but the promotion denied the request multiple times until changing their mind this week.
Reportedly, issues began to surface in September when Teddy Hart did not appear for scheduled pre-tapes in Dallas, Texas. Also surrounding the Dallas event, it is said that during the two-out-of-three falls tag team match between The Hart Foundation and The Dynasty, the layout of the match did not go as planned and Tom Prichard, who was the producer of the bout, was so upset that he nearly quit the promotion he had just joined.
Further down the line, Teddy Hart that no-showed the co-promoted show with Mexico's Crash Lucha Libre promotion. this caused major issues as he was a big part of the advertising for the event and was slated for a six-man tag team match, which reportedly reflected badly on MLW in the eyes of the Crash promotion. Their alliance with Crash is no longer and they are working with AAA in Mexico now.
Regarding Teddy Hart showing up in the crowd of NXT events and other wrestling shows, an MLW source provided this statement to PWInsider, "We felt Teddy was being not only disrespectful to us but to AEW and NXT and their locker rooms. If he had just been in the back, it’s a non-issue. He was taking away from the talent in the ring with the antics too."
On the final taping that Hart was a part of, where he lost the MLW Middleweight Championship to Myron Reed, it's also said that there were issues with Teddy not showing up for pre-tapes and what was planned for the match with Myron not properly playing out with some in the promotion feeling that Myron was made to look poor. Reportedly, the CONTRA fireball angle, which cost Teddy the championship, was originally meant to start a CONTRA vs. Hart Foundation program with Hart returning in January in Dallas at MLW Zero Hour as a surprise.
Teddy has said, via his and Maria Manic's YouTube channel that he felt disrespected that Major League Wrestling did not show him support when he came out and address implications that he may have had something to do with his ex-girlfriend, Samantha Fiddler's, disappearance in the fall of 2016.
Teddy had been a regular fixture of MLW since the promotion relaunched in 2017. Now, it appears that he may be settling back into semi-retirement based on comments he's made in a recent YouTube video.
"All the promoters who took a chance on booking Teddy Hart, thank you very much. That was all I needed, guys. I can go back into retirement and chill out and get big and come back whenever I want," said Teddy.
Fightful will continue to monitor the situation and report any and all updates.
