According to Sports Illustrated, Court Bauer’s Major League Wrestling has a television deal with national network beIN Sports.
Beginning April 20, MLW will be part of beIN Sports’ “Friday Night Fury” fight block at 8 p.m. ET, with a replay airing at 11 p.m. ET.
“We’ve been in talks since the fall, and they were very impressed with our product,” said Bauer. “We offer a different presentation because we identify ourselves as a combat sport, but we have a lot more creative freedom than every other combat sport to give the most high-octane presentation.”
MLW is crowning a world champion at its April 12 “World Championship Finals” show. Later this year, Bauer confirmed, MLW will unveil both tag team titles and a middleweight title.
The shows will be taped, with MLW recording a monthly broadcast and then assembling its weekly programming from there. In addition to MLW CEO Bauer, who worked on the WWE creative team, the front office includes Bruce Prichard,
The television deal allows MLW to reach over 50 million households in both English and Spanish, and also marks the official return to prime time for Tony Schiavone after a 17-year hiatus from his final broadcast on WCW’s Nitro in March of 2001.
The move elevates MLW to a rarified air in pro wrestling. Ring of Honor is owned by its provider, Sinclair Broadcast Group, and although Impact Wrestling airs in more homes, their deal with Pop TV is a barter deal. The nature of that arrangement is Impact only has a certain amount of minutes to sell advertisements, while MLW is receiving a rights fee. The only other company with that privilege and status is WWE.