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The world of MLW never stops!

Major League Wrestling (MLW) is an American Professional Wrestling promotion based out of New Rochelle, New York that originally existed from 2002-2004. In 2011, it would be resurrected as a wrestling podcast network for the next 6 years of its existence before announcing its return as a wrestling promotion in 2017.

MLW, in its original incarnation, held its first show, MLW Genesis in Philadelphia and its second, MLW Reload, in New York City, before settling into Florida and doing shows in Orlando, St. Petersburg and Fort Lauderdale. It advertised itself as featuring "hybrid wrestling," combining a variety of different styles. MLW featured a wide-range of talent, from Ring Oldies Terry Funk, Dusty Rhodes, Abdullah the Butcher and Jerry Lawler, to 1990s stars such as Shane Douglas, the Sandman, Sabu, Chris Candido, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, Mikey Whipwreck, Raven, La Parka, Norman Smiley, Mike Awesome, Devon Storm, Steve Corino, Masato Tanaka, Jerry Lynn, and, at the time, stars on the rise such as Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe and CM Punk. It aired a weekly television show, MLW Underground TV. Unfortunately, the promotion was not financially successful and shut down in 2004.

MLW returned in 2017, promoting shows in Orlando and, and was able to secure a national television deal with beIN Sports less than a year later for a new weekly series: MLW Fusion. Prior to the show's launch, MLW would introduce contracts that would give them as much control over their roster as a WWE contract, but still allow their talent to perform in other promotions.

Some of their roster were introduced to a national audience for the first time such as Salina De La Renta, Air Wolf, Barrington Hughes, El Hijo De LA Park, Ricky Martinez, Kotto Brazil, and Marko Stunt just to name a few. Much as Impact Wrestling has done in its heyday, MLW has also provided career resurgence to the likes of Low Ki, Tom Lawlor, Teddy Hart, and arguably, the members of one of the promotion's Big Bad stables: Contra Unit.

As a note, in re any references to Joey Styles' commentary, do see the Trivia page.

Major League Wrestling recognizes five titles that are defended at its shows;

  • MLW World Heavyweight Champion: Satoshi Kojima since February 3, 2024
  • MLW World Middleweight Champion: Mistico since March 1, 2024
  • MLW World Tag Team Champions: The World Titan Federation (Tom Lawlor and Davey Boy Smith Jr.) since March 1, 2024
  • MLW National Openweight Champion: Rickey Shane Page since September 3, 2023
  • MLW Women’s World Featherweight Champion: Janai Kai since October 14, 2023

Defunct championships include;

  • MLW World Junior Heavyweight Champion: Sonjay Dutt since September 19, 2003 (deactivated after the company stopped hosting events in its original run. The championship was not brought back after MLW's promotional return and replaced by the World Middleweight Championship)

They also had one unofficial title that was defended at its shows;

  • MLW Caribbean Heavyweight Championship (a regional title originally from IWA-PR): Octagon Jr. since May 13, 2022 (Title has been returned to IWA-PR and no longer defended at MLW when it was declared vacant on January 6, 2023)

Other accomplishments:

Battle Riot (an Alternate Company Equivalent and combination of the Royal Rumble and Lucha Underground’s Aztec Warfare (or Defiant Wrestling’s own version of a rumble), with pins, submissions and over the top rope eliminations, usually featuring 40 participants and the winner gets to challenge for the world heavyweight championship whenever they want):

  • Tom Lawlor (2018) Successfully cashed in his title shot opportunity against Low Ki at SuperFight for the World Heavyweight Championship
  • LA Park (2019) Cashed in his title spot at against Jacob Fatu but came up unsuccessful.
  • Alexander Hammerstone (2021) Successfully cashed in his title shot against Jacob Fatu at Fightland 2021.
  • Jacob Fatu (2022) Cashed in his title shot againt Alexander Hammerstone but came up unsuccessful.
  • Alex Kane (2023) Successfully cashed in his title shot against Alexander Hammerstone at Never Say Never 2023.

Opera Cup (a single-elimination tournament revived from discontinuity since 1948):

  • Davey Boy Smith Jr. (2019)
  • Tom Lawlor (2020)
  • Davey Richards (2021)
  • The 2022 tournament was cancelled since Alex Kane stole the cup from Richards.
  • Davey Boy Smith Jr. (2023)

"Major League Tropes":

  • Acrofatic: Subverted by Barrington Hughes. Hughes is as immobile as he is fat. Played straight by Gringo Loco and Ace Romero, with the former flying from the MLW set in his debut match against L.A. Park (who himself can qualify for this trope) with a perfect crossbody, and the latter very agile and capable of suicide dives despite weighing 400 pounds.
  • Acronym and Abbreviation Overload: CONTRA Unit’s full name is “Crusaders of Nihilistic Terror Revolution Armada” Unit.
    • Apparently the SWAT in MLW’s version of the Samoan SWAT Team stands for “Samoans With A Tongan”.
  • Adam Westing: In 2021, Tim Donaghy, a former NBA referee who served prison time for his involvement in a scheme to fix games, debuted in MLW as a crooked referee.
  • "Angry Black Man" Stereotype: The inception of Injustice, as Rich Swann and Myron Reed felt they were constantly screwed over by referees and management. Though once Jordan Oliver joined, it became a group of angry men in general.
  • Balance, Speed, Strength Trio: The New Era Hart Foundation. Teddy Hart is the balanced one, Brian Pillman Jr. is the speedy one, and Davey Boy Smith Jr. is the powerhouse.
  • Batman Gambit: Tom Lawlor overheard Salina De La Renta and Sami Callihan discussing ambushing Lawlor to take him out before Lawlor got his title shot against Low Ki. Lawlor had someone backstage tell Callihan where he could be found. Callihan took the bait, and Lawlor was able to ambush Callihan, using Callihan's claw hammer on him in the process.
  • Big Bad: Steve Corino, as the leader of the Extreme Horsemen in the original.
    • Low Ki, Salina De La Renta and their Promociones Dorado faction became this from 2018 to early 2019.
    • Contra Unit, headed by Jacob Fatu & Josef Samael, have been this for almost two years.
    • Cesar Duran and his Azteca Underground faction has been shaping up to be this after planting the seeds of Contra’s demise.
    • Raven and his new faction The Calling in 2023, sort of mix between Raven’s old stables like The Flock or Raven’s Nest, and Contra.
    • Mr. Saint Laurent and his World Titan Federation starting from late 2023.
  • Big Bad Wannabe: Richard Holliday (and by extension Alicia Atout) were shaping up to be the Big Bad as a result of their betrayal of Alexander Hammerstone, the goal of being the World Champion, and heavily implying that he's the one who's been making Hammerstone's life a living hell as well as Cesar Duran. Despite all that he failed in gaining the championship, twice.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Tom Lawlor virtually saving Konnan's life at MLW Never Say Never after Promociones Dorado jumped Pentagon backstage and then bludgeoned Konnan. Calvin Tankman fits this trope as well because he rescued Injustice from being stuffed into bodybags by CONTRA.
  • Big Good: Ross and Marshall Von Erich were initially treated as this during the ongoing feud with Contra. While their alliance with Tom Lawlor is treated as MLW's ultimate team of good guys, Contra was considered unstoppable until the Von Erichs arrived. Only after they showed up have Contra actually started losing matches. They also represent tradition and respect in wrestling, i.e. Contra's polar opposite.
  • Big Guy, Little Guy: The Smash N Dash Connection, with Barrington Hughes as the big guy and Kotto Brazil as the little guy.
  • Blood Knight: Since turning face, Sami Callihan has started picking fights with every member of Promociones Dorado along with a face vs face match out of respect for Mance Warner's brand of violence.
  • Bounty Hunter: The Extreme Horsemen (Corino, C.W. Anderson and Simon Diamond) sent both Abdullah the Butcher and Jerry Lawler to take out Funk. Since the revival, Brody King counts as one.
  • Butt-Monkey: Stokely Hathaway pre-Fusion. Kit Osbourne/Rip Von Erich of Team Filthy.
  • The Cameo: Among others, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams brought out D'Lo Brown as a partner against MLW Global Tag Team Crown Champions C.W. Anderson and Simon Diamond at MLW Hybrid Hell. Also, notable cameos that had happened during the Battle Riot: The Blue Meanie, the Spirit Squad (Kenny & Mikey), Impact's Fallah Bahh, and Konnan (who would later go on to have a prominent role in the promotion in the months ahead) to name a few. In the following year's Battle Riot, Impact's LAX (Santana & Ortiz) made their presence known after fighting off Low Ki and Ricky Martinez at Impact's United We Stand the night before.
  • Camp Straight: Mike Mondo and Kenn Doane of the Spirit Squad. Yes, THAT Spirit Squad.
  • Canon Welding: Since the arrival of Mil Muertes and "El Jefe", MLW retroactively places the Lucha Underground universe into its realm. This is especially evident with Muertes' LU backstory, along with Cueto pulling the strings of Azteca Underground and the desire of creating a new Temple. In that respect, The Azteca Underground storyline qualifies as a Stealth Sequel to the late promotion and former El Rey Network drama.
  • Chekhov's Gun: The Funkin' Army (Terry Funk/The Sandman/"Dr. Death" Steve Williams) went into the War Games match against the Extreme Horsemen (Corino/C.W. Anderson/Simon Diamond/Barry Windham/PJ Walker (Justin Credible) at a disadvantage. Unlike the usual cage for a War Games match, this one did not have a roof on it. The reason for this became apparent when Sabu and manager Bill Alfonso came out, since it allowed Alfonso to throw a table over the top so Sabu could come off the top and put Justin Credible through it.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Some wrestlers will show up and disappear just as quickly with no notice. Special mention goes to the Kotokushi Death Squad, Zeda Zhang and Su Yung who showed up twice, beat up a few low card male wrestlers, were featured on MLW's website, then suddenly stopped being used. Their profile was removed during one of MLW's profile updates. Also, Stokely Hathaway had abruptly vanished from MLW as a result of signing with WWE's NXT in early 2019 after his brief return in late 2018.
    • The Stud Stable came back when MLW began running shows again with Colonel Parker, Aria Blake, the Dirty Blondes and Mike Parrow (he wasn’t actually part of them this time around since he was fired by them in 2018) all returning. When MLW had a small hiatus before Battle Riot 3, every member of the stable was gone once again.
  • Continuity Nod: While Fred Yehi got Chuck Cunninghamed again and a planned reuniion of Team Filthy after Simon Gotch betrayed Tom Lawlor never came to fruition, Ariel Dominguez was shown beaten up and bloodied after trying to save Tom from a Contra beating during Episode 61 of Fusion.
  • Cool Old Guy: Konnan, as opposed to his gimmick as LAX's manager where he's portrayed as a middle-aged gangbanger. In MLW he's a mentor to Pentagon Jr. and Fenix, trying to look out for them while beefing with Salina De La Renta and her stable. He has however reverted back to a middle-aged gangbanger with his latest iteration of LAX, 5150 since Battle Riot III.
  • Crowd Song: The Sandman’s entrance would have crowds singing along to “Enter Sandman” of course. In his one night return in 2019, they still sang despite having to use an instrumental version of the song.
  • Crossover: Unofficially with Impact Wrestling since 2018. At least a handful of the MLW roster is comprised with its wrestlers also being affiliated with Impact (& vice versa). At Impact's United We Stand event during WrestleMania week, this trope would come into play officially with at least one Impact vs MLW match on the card.
    • Does it frequently with PCW Ultra, which makes sense since Josef Samael is a co-founder.
    • As of July 26, 2019, MLW has an "alliance" with Pro Wrestling NOAH. Current GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion Minoru Tanaka will be coming back after appearing at Battle Riot 2019, and Alexander Hammerstone will participate in NOAH's N-1 Victory Tour in August, with further collaboration expected.
    • On August 12, 2019, MLW announced a "strategic partnership" with The Crash Lucha Libre. Six days later, MLW announced Ricky Martinez would be wrestling on The Crash's September 7th card. And then on August 23rd, MLW announced a co-promoted event with The Crash on October 5th, which will be an MLW Fusion taping.
    • During the Saturday Night Superfight PPV, MLW announced a partnership with AAA Lucha Libre. This has led to various AAA wrestlers such as Laredo Kid and Drago making appearances, and will lead to a joint card held by MLW and AAA in Tijuana on March 13th.
    • On February 2, 2020, MLW announced that they have entered into a partnership with Dragon Gate. The COVID pandemic put a stop to those plans but as of Mar 31, 2021 they have announced the partnership is back on. It finally bared fruit in 2022, first with Ho Ho Lun at that year’s Blood and Thunder event.
    • In October 2020, it announced a "strategic alliance" with IWA-PR for the “celebration of inter-promotional events, direct support to the events of each of the companies and collaboration in other types of promotions” and brought in its Caribbean Heavyweight Championship to be defend at MLW events.
    • An unofficial one with New Japan Pro-Wrestling has been going on since the Restart, with New Japan’s Rocky Romero wrestling in a few matches for the promotion, while Tom Lawlor regularly wrestles in and has established a Team Filthy branch in New Japan Strong. Lawlor also formed another Team Filthy branch in Paradigm Pro Wrestling.
    • On April 29, 2021, MLW announced a partnership with British promotion Revolution Pro Wrestling.
    • On July 7, 2021, it was announced that SHIMMER Women Athletes co-founder Dave Prazak had joined MLW to help relaunch its women's division; later to be announced in September as the MLW Women's Featherweight division.
    • On mid-November 2021, MLW announced its relationship with All Japan Pro Wrestling, for Yoshihiro Tajiri to defend the MLW World Middleweight Championship there, just as Satoshi Kojima did with the World Heavyweight Championship in the Underground years.
    • On March 27 2023, MLW announced an international inter-promotional collaboration with German promotion Westside Xtreme Wrestling was in the works, that later revealed that WXW wrestlers would come over to defend their titles at MLW shows.
    • On August 24 2023, MLW announced an official crossover with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, starting with them sending KUSHIDA to wrestle at Fury Road'23. They also announced a partnership with Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling the same month, sending Maki Itoh to wrestle at Fury Road'23.
    • On September 26 2023, in a promo by Salina del la Renta, it was revealed that MLW has partnered with historic Mexican Lucha Libre promotion CMLL, in a landmark strategic alliance between MLW, NJPW and CMLL for a variety of crossover collaborations, commencing on October 2023.
  • Curse Cut Short: The cold open to the May 25, 2018 episode of Fusion ends with one.
  • Darker and Edgier: Moreso than WWE, less so with Lucha Underground, and sits about equal with Impact Wrestling.
  • David vs. Goliath: Inverted at MLW Revolutions, with the Samoan Island Tribe defeating Los Maximos, played straight in the rematch at MLW Hybrid Hell.
  • Death from Above: MLW War Games included what started as a handicap match with "The Polynesian Warrior" Mana against Matt Martel (Striker) and Richard J. Criado. The Samoan Island Tribe (Samu and Ekmo) made their way out brawling with Monsta Mack of Da Hit Squad, and it got turned into a Falls Count Anywhere Weapons Match. The Samoans absolutely destroyed their opponents. It ended with Martel set up on a table in the crowd. Ekmo climbed up so he was on top of the posts of the two rings and dove OVER the guardrail to put Martel through the table. The referee didn't even bother to count the pin. This has been Jacob Fatu's mantra as of late especially from when he climbed the top of the steel cage and landed on Tom Lawlor (who was already victorious and exhausted after his title match with Low Ki).
  • Deadpan Snarker: Tony Schiavone on commentary. An example from when LA Park was throwing chairs into the ring during his match against Sami Callihan: "Someone's going to tell their friend 'I was really close to the action!' 'Oh? Where was your seat?' 'In the middle of the ring.'"
  • Dead Guy Junior: Brian Pillman Jr. and Davey Boy Smith Jr. respectively.note 
  • Deep South: "Ol' Mancer" Mance Warner is a rare positive example of this trope. He's a decent if slightly ditzy guy who just happens to enjoy eye pokes and light beer.
  • Defeating the Undefeatable:
    • Low Ki has been untouchable since MLW's original run in 2004, with him having never lost once within the company. His 15-year undefeated streak ended at the hands of 'Filthy' Tom Lawlor at MLW SuperFight.
    • Barrington Hughes went undefeated for nearly two years in the promotion. His streak ended when he got squashed by Jacob Fatu.
    • Jacob Fatu was undefeated and reigned as world heavyweight champion for about 2 years before Alexander Hammerstone dethroned him.
  • Dirty Coward: CM Punk, who at MLW Summer Apocalypse, August 22, 2003, brought out Florida indy wrestler Chasyn Rance as his special "Straight Edge Referee" for his Straight Edge Rules (fans couldn't curse or drink beer during the match) match with Raven. Rance, of course, allowed Punk to cheat nonstop. Jason Cade has this in spades as well during his feud with Jimmy Yuta.
  • Disney Owns This Trope: The company trademarked the WarGames name due to no active rights holder, as WWE left the name dormant after its purchase of WCW and MLW used it for its 2003 and 2018 shows with the name. However, in 2018, WWE acquired the rights to the WarGames name from MLW for its NXT TakeOver events, which led to MLW to create a variation called War Chamber.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Legendary manager "Playboy" Gary Hart sent Homicide and Low Ki to attack Terry Funk at Reloaded Tour 2004, January 10, 2004, out of revenge for Funk having lost the "I Quit" match to Ric Flair at NWA Clash of the Champions IX, on November 15, 1989. In the revival, Salina De La Renta dispatched L.A. Park to go against Mance Warner. Why you ask? For accidentally spilling beer on Salina's dress in the hallway.
    • Gino Medina was either fired from or quit the Dynasty, depending on whether you believe him or Richard Holliday. All Holliday was guilty of during the feud is talking smack toward Gino and insisting he fired him. Gino DDTed Holliday on a stage and put him in the hospital.
  • The Dragon: Ricky Martinez for Promociones Dorado. Jake Hager for the Stud Stable. Jacob Fatu for Contra Unit.
  • Dumb Jock: Richard Holliday is basically a himbo.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: Some of the early episodes of Fusion don't seem to have people's alignments quite worked out.
  • Enemy Mine: What does noted Garbage Wrestlers Sami Callihan and Mance Warner have in common? Both of them have beef with Salina De La Renta (& her Promociones Dorado stable). Callihan has his grievances with Salina after failing to take out Tom Lawlor as well as Warner spilling light beer onto Salina's dress.
  • Enforced Plug: Stephen P. New, Attorney at Law (and Jim Cornette’s lawyer) and his mid-show ads for his law office; New, Taylor & Associates.
  • Expy: Alex Hammerstone is one part Triple H, one part Late 00's Chris Jericho.
  • Evil Old Folks: Josef Samael is in his 40s, but loves to torture the victims of Contra Unit's assaults. He even loves throwing fireballs in the faces of any of the hapless victims of these beatdowns. Hell, one of them was how Fenix got written off alongside brother Pentagon Jr.
  • Eyepatch of Power: Kotto Brazil started to wear one as a result of an attack at a Miami nightclub by Ricky Martinez.
  • Faceless Goons: CONTRA Unit’s Sentai Death Squad.
    • Cesar Duran’s Los Aztecas henchmen.
    • The Calling has Gas Mask Mooks.
  • Gangbangers: 5150, the newest iteration of the Latin American Xchange.
  • Garbage Wrestling: Lots, everywhere. With Sabu, the Sandman, Terry Funk, Jimmy Havoc, Sami Callihan etc. what else would you expect?
  • The Giant: Mocked by Andrew Everett in his match against the diminutive Team Filthy member Ariel Dominguez. Everett isn't a big man by any means, but Dominguez is *tiny*.
  • Genre Blindness: Los Maximos tried to ram the Samoan Island Tribe (Samu and Mananote )'s heads together, which they no-sold.
    JOEY STYLES: "There is a young man who has not watched his wrestling tapes."
    • Barrington Hughes tried the same thing with Samu and his son Lance Anoa’i, with predictable results.
  • Gimmick Matches: Three-Way Street Fights, Falls Count Anywhere, War Games, No Rope Barbed-Wire, Mexican Massacre, etc.
  • Gold Digger: The reason that Aria Blake would end up with MJF from her ex Joey Janela. Later mentioned that MJF had to pay her off as well after they broke up.
  • Hate Sink: Contra Unit has quickly established themselves as this. Their attack on Tom Lawlor after his cage match with Low Ki and their beatdown of Ace Romero after his match with Simon Gotch got thrown out drew massive heat. It went up to eleven after Jacob Fatu and Josef Samael's beatdown of a jobber tag team got so heated that fans began throwing garbage into the ring and forced arena security in Chicago to act in order to stop irate fans from rushing the ring.
    • A similar incident occurred in another episode of Fusion when Tom Lawlor (along w/ his Team Filthy teammates) desecrated the Texas state flag in the middle of the ring and disrespected the hometown heroes; Ross and Marshall Von Erich. Yep, Team Filthy isn't Dallas' favorite wrestlers at this point.
    • The Spirit Squad. The reason they were signed is because one half of MLW's audience hates them for being the kind of "Sports Entertainment" MLW isn't, the other half hate them for legitimately being good, obnoxious heels.
  • Hidden Depths: Dense as he can be, Richard Holliday got his degree in business somehow.
  • History Repeats: Shane Douglas won an eight-man tournament to be crowned the first MLW World Heavyweight Champion, then insulted the MLW title belt by spitting on it and throwing it down in a repetition of him throwing down the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on August 27, 1994. Except this time, he was stripped off the belt and MLW later refused to acknowledge Douglas' reign as champion and officially recognized Satoshi Kojima as the first-ever MLW World Heavyweight Champion.
  • Hollywood Satanism: The Sinister Minister, of course.
  • Hypocrite: Teddy Hart and the new Hart Foundation. Teddy demands respect from people while at the same time leading Brian Pillman Jr. to bludgeon the shit out of Kevin Sullivan for trying to lead Brian down a better path. Also with the Injustice stable during which they claimed that the referees wronged them even though they cheated in some of their matches with foreign objects and interference.
  • Insistent Terminology: In the revival, MLW's in-ring talent are referred to as "Fighters", in order to emphasize that there are numerous styles of wrestling employed by the members of the roster. Mr. St Laurent's World Titan Federation is meant contrast this with his in-ring talent being referred to as "Superstars".
    • The original era championships were referred to as “Global” championships instead of “World” championships.
  • Intercontinuity Crossover: The arrival of Mil Muertes and the acquisition of Promociones Dorado by Azteca Underground is one between MLW and the defunct Lucha Underground.
  • Interface Screw: Happens whenever The Calling are onscreen.
  • Masked Luchador: La Parka/L.A. Park, Fénix, Pentagón Jr., Rey Horus just to name a few.
    • Unmasked Luchador: Juventud Guerrera
    • Non-Masked Luchador: Super Crazy, Daga, Konnan
  • Ms. Fanservice: Francine. She once did a promo for the MLW T-shirt which started with a closeup of her saying, "If I can't wear my MLW T-shirt," then pulling back to see her sitting nude from the side with her legs folded up against her chest, "then I won't wear anything at all."
  • Oddly Small Organization: Black Friday Management, a supposedly shadow syndicate founded by Gary Hart along with Homicide and Low Ki during MLW’s last year in its original run. It came back when Low Ki came back for the revival along with Stokely Hathaway as the manager, though it was implied that it also did business outside the promotion as MVP was said to be a former member before he came to the company. Low Ki was the last talent to be affiliated with it.
  • Parts Unknown: Played with. Jordan Oliver is announced as from "The 845", which is a New York State area code that includes his hometown of Newburgh.
  • Power Stable: Promociones Dorado, Contra Unit, Team Filthy, The Dynasty (for a brief time with Grogan) in the revival, the Extreme Horsemen in the original.
  • Power Trio: Los Parks, The New Era Hart Foundation, Sami Callihan and his Death Machines team, Injustice (before Kotto Brazil left), The Dynasty (before MJF left) in the revival. The Samoan Island Tribe (during Ekmo’s brief run) in the original.
  • Precision F-Strike: Salina De La Renta with a couple of choice ones aimed at Ricky Martinez after he lost by KO to Low Ki.
  • Product Placement: CM Punk once cut a promo on Raven with a case of Pepsi featured prominently on screen, and Punk even invoked the company's 1984 campaign slogan, saying he will show Raven why he is the "Choice of a New Generation."
  • Psycho for Hire: Sami Callihan is a bounty hunter in MLW, often paid to do dirty work for Promociones Dorado to soften people up. Later on after Callihan's departure, Jimmy Havoc fulfills the role for the faction.
  • Put on a Bus: As is tradition for most wrestling promotions, MLW often quietly releases wrestlers they have no use for. On screen though, some departures are explained, such as Seth Petruzelli getting beaten up by the Stud Stable and having not been seen since.
  • The Quisling: Simon Gotch betrayed Tom Lawlor to Promociones Dorado, leading him straight into an ambush.
    • According to Konnan, Salina de la Renta was the one that let CONTRA Unit into MLW in the first place, and received undisclosed funds from the spring of 2019 – September 2019 before the relationship supposedly had a falling out upon LA Park electing to cash in his Battle Riot title shot. There are also indications that Salina and CONTRA briefly collaborated again on or near May 9th, 2020 by aiding CONTRA in gaining arena access to the AAA/MLW Super Series, which led to the seizure of the league by CONTRA until the Restart.
  • Reset Button: The Reload shows in January 2004 were supposed to be this, but it was too little too late.
    • Happened again 13 years later after the promotion initially folded.
    • "The Restart" initiative was more akin to a soft reboot for MLW post-COVID-19.
    • The "Fusion: Alpha" initiative was yet another one for the return of crowds to events.
  • Ring Oldies: Kevin Sullivan, PCO, Tommy Dreamer and LA Park. Also, Konnan who came out of retirement to face Low Ki for the MLW Title in December 2018. Dan Severn counts, participating in the second Battle Riot at the ripe old age of 61.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: "Filthy" Tom Lawlor is on one of these when Low Ki and Salina De La Renta decided to make Tom's pursuit of the MLW Title personal. The most personal point is when Salina paid off Simon Gotch to turn on Tom Lawlor and Tom made Simon tap out in a no-holds-barred, no ropes match, with nothing standing between him and Low Ki as a result.
  • Sanity Slippage: Used to explain Tom Lawlor turning heel on the Von Erichs.
  • Screwed by the Network: What Injustice believes their members suffer from.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After failing El Jefe of Azteca Underground numerous times, Salina left the area. She didn't get too far...
  • Slobs Versus Snobs: The theme of the Dynasty vs Hart Foundation feud. Teddy Hart took the Middleweight title formerly belonging to Upper-Class Twit Maxwell J. Friedman, MJF brought his friend Richard Holliday back to assault Hart, one tag team match later and Alex Hammerstone would make the feud 3v3.
  • Smug Straight Edge: CM Punk, of course.
  • Spicy Latina: Salina De La Renta
  • Spiritual Successor: To ECW, both good and bad. Good, in terms of the action. Bad, in that promoter Court Bauer, along with inheriting several former ECW roster members, seemed to have Paul Heyman's money management skills as well.
    • Since its revival in 2017, MLW also counts as one to WCW, in terms of its talent (namely Tony Schiavone, Konnan, Kevin Sullivan, LA PARK to name a few) and the old school styles of wrestling.
    • More directly with Lucha Underground, as the Azteca Underground storyline began to take shape. What's more, at the time of LU's final season, a handful of the talent was featured prominently at least in the early years of the revival of MLW.
  • Straight Gay: Mike Parrow of the Stud Stable is out of the closet in Real Life.
  • Tag Team:
    • The Samoan Island Tribe
    • The Far East Connection (Dick Togo and Ikuto Hidaka)
    • Da Hit Squad (Monsta Mack and Mafia)
    • The Stampede Bulldogs (Harry Smith and TJ Wilson, aka WWE's the Hart Dynasty- DH Smith and Tyson Kidd)
    • The Havana Pitbulls (Ricky Reyes and Rocky Romero)
      • Essentially the entire MLW Tag Team division both past and present, obviously. If we listed every team which competed in MLW, we'd be here all day.
  • Tag Team Twins:
    • Los Maximos
    • The Shane Twins (Mike and Todd)
  • Take That!: The Quagmire Ribs (sponsor of the Hart Foundation's webseries H2) website has a menu option of 'Sinclair's Extreme Right Wings' and its made in Baltimore. A jab at Ring of Honor by extension of its owners, the Sinclair Broadcasting Group.
    • The Filthy Island episode of Fusion was one to the UFC’s Fight Island events. It was even promoted as being a wrestling version of what Fight Island should have been.
  • Tempting Fate: MJF drew #1 for the 2019 Battle Riot. Prior to the match starting, he cut a promo about how he was better than everyone and called himself "The Ultimate Fighter". Then the second entrant was introduced: Dan "The Beast" Severn! Cue MJF looking ready to shit his tights.
  • Thug Dojo: Team Filthy’s latest incantation is basically Cobra Kai, they even use the creed in some of their promos.
  • Traumatic Haircut: Contra's Josef Samael gave Tom Lawlor one after he and Jacob Fatu jumped Lawlor and kidnapped him during the MLW Fury Road special.
  • Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object: Jacob Fatu versus Barrington Hughes. Fatu squashed Hughes to establish how dangerous he is.
  • Upper-Class Twit: The theme of Maxwell J. Friedman's Dynasty stable.
  • Wham Episode: Episode 131, the 2021 season finale of Fusion, finally revealed the identity of Promociones Dorado's mysterious backer, El Jefe. The man behind Promociones is none other than the former Dario Cueto from Lucha Underground.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: There was a storyline where Simply Luscious appeared to be scouting either Raven or CM Punk. She was released before it was resolved.
  • White Gangbangers: Jordan Oliver's gimmick. Fridge Brilliance and Truth in Television applies, because Oliver's hometown of Newburgh, NY is known for having extensive gang activity, so it'd make sense that a white kid who grew up there would be a gang member.
  • Wild Card: Technically, Richard Holliday in 2021 solely by being associated with the now-babyface Alex Hammerstone. While still antagonistic towards Alicia Atout and Savio Vega, Holliday was also part of the squad who raided MLW Headquarters to take it back from CONTRA Unit in 2020, and was feuding with the firmly heel Gino Medina. Eventually subverted in 2022 when he and Alicia Atout did a Face–Heel Turn by way of stabbing Hammerstone in the back and the two of them kissing on top of Hammerstone's unconscious body to boot.
  • Wrestling Family: Samu and Ekmo (Jamal/Umaga) teamed together as the Samoan Island Tribe, Samu’s son Lance Anoa’i briefly worked with the promotion in the revival and even teamed with his dad for one match. Former MLW World Champion Jacob Fatu is the son of The Tonga Kid and now teams with Lance as part of the new Samoan SWAT Team.
    • Cousins Teddy Hart and Davey Boy Smith Jr. made up two thirds of the New Era Hart Foundation with Brian Pillman Jr.. Smith later began teaming with his other cousins, the brothers Mark and Thomas Billington who are nephews of the Dynamite Kid.
    • Marshall and Ross Von Erich signed with MLW in 2019, with their father Kevin later making appearances as well, and the sons held MLW's tag team belts from November 2019 to January 2021. They dropped the belts to another family pair, Los Parks, made up of father and son LA Park and El Hijo de LA Park, who are also joined by his other son LA Park Jr..
  • Wrongfully Attributed: The "Caribbean Heavyweight Championship" had several fictional aspects were added to the background of the title in this form. Despite using the belt and the acronym “IWA” being visible on camera, MLW confabulated it with the longevous WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship by claiming that it had “been won by the likes of Pedro Morales, Gilberto “Gypsy Joe” Meléndez, Abdullah the Butcher, and Gorilla Monsoon” (though of these, only the third actually held that title, with the others holding different accolades within the World Wrestling Council). The promotion claimed that “the San Juan Star, El Vocero and Claridad island newspapers have all chastised Holliday's actions when he held the tile”, this despite the first being defunct, the second no longer covering professional wrestling and the third never having done so. The claim that it was sanctioned by the “Sports Ministry of Puerto Rico” is equally fictional, since no such executive department exists and the Puerto Rico Department of Sports and Recreation only oversees promotions as a form of entertainment business.
  • You Are Fat: Injustice began calling Brian Pillman Jr. fat and making fat-shaming comments about him after he announced his intent to move down to the Middleweight division in order to challenge for Myron Reed's championship. It served to show Injustice's pettiness because Pillman is already in great shape.
  • You Have Failed Me: Salina De La Renta punished Sami Callihan for his failure to take out Tom Lawlor (see Batman Gambit above) by forcing him into a Falls Count Anywhere match against LA Park, which Park won after spearing Callihan through several chairs. This was also the reason that Salina had fired Sammy Guevara for losing his match when he was in her Promociones Dorado faction.
    • Salina herself failed El Jefe numerous times, during which El Hijo de LA Park lost his match against Bu Ku Dao in a recent Fusion episode. That instance is the straw that break the camels back to which she later got abducted by a large masked man outside the arena. it's strongly implied that she got sacrificed as a way to help "El Jefe" create a new Temple.
  • Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Mike Awesome defeated MLW World Heavyweight Champion Satoshi Kojima for the title at MLW Hybrid Hell, June 20, 2003... and promptly lost it immediately after to Steve Corino, who would hold the title for the rest of the promotion's original run.

Alternative Title(s): Major League Wrestling

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