Without Wale’s encouragement and support, Bauer is not sure there would be an MLW today.
In 2017, Major League Wrestling began running events again with the original founder Court Bauer at the helm once again. Fast forward five years later, the promotion is still moving along and this weekend, they’ll be presenting their Fightland show from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Court Bauer joined The Masked Man Show to promote MLW and the upcoming event. Bauer’s friendship with Grammy-nominated artist Wale is well documented. Bauer went on to state that if there was no Wale, there would be no MLW.
Bauer shared that after the WaleMania event in 2017, Wale encouraged him to run a wrestling show and it was that encouragement that kept Court’s spirits up and made him want to give it another shot. Throughout the years, even when things may not have been as positive, Wale was there for Court and the MLW owner appreciates that.
There would be no MLW if there wasn’t Wale. After the third WaleMania in Orlando, we were sitting outside because the night club was so damn hot that night. Everyone had a towel drenched in sweat and I almost congealed with Mark Henry passing him in the hallway. It was pretty hot. It was like a sauna in there so everyone kind of fled to the parking lot to cool off and we were just thinking at one point, maybe we could have WaleMania be a wrestling show or something and he just really encouraged me to come back and just do one show. ‘Just get it out of your system but you should do it’ and I was just like, ‘Man, I don’t know. I don’t know.’ But it was that encouragement and keeping my spirits positive that said, okay, maybe I give this a shot and he really gave us a boost, he really did. Giving us the endorsement out the gates meant the world to me and you know, there’s always promotions gonna talk about great times. There’s a lot of times you’re sitting there and it can get quiet, it can get lonely because sometimes you just go through those lows with a company and Wale’s always kind of been there, instinctively kind of knowing when to check in, ‘How’s it going?’ And everything and so he’s been such an important person personally to me with MLW over the years because it’s now going on five years since that nightclub conversation in the parking lot and in this business, they’re there for the moment, he’s there for real and he’s been there since day one and so I know I can hit him up on the phone, he’s gonna hit me back and I think it’s a two-way street too so, it’s show business, wrestling, entertainment, music, it’s tough and it can be awesome but it also can be difficult and very few people allow themselves to have that vulnerability to say hey man, this is what’s going on. He is so perceptive and knows when that’s happening and is one of the most genuine guys I’ve ever really been around because he knows it, he gets it and that’s what I love about the guy. I can’t praise Wale enough.
Elsewhere during the conversation, Bauer spoke highly of Alex Kane, former MLW National Openweight Champion. He said Kane is one of his guys that is earmarked for a big 2023.
Alex Kane, the captain of The Bomaye Fight Club, he is incredibly special. He is one of my guys that is earmarked for a big ‘23. He signed with us in spring of ‘21 and he’s just continued to improve, improve. He’s called ‘The Suplex Assassin.’ Give him a look. He’s one to be on the lookout for. He’s really special. We really look at talent and assess ‘em in a special way. We see ‘em in the here and now but we’re trying to forecast a few years ahead and this guy is the real deal.
On the Fightland match card includes Taya Valkyrie versus Trish Adora for the Women’s World Featherweight Title in addition to a Last Man Standing match for the MLW World Heavyweight Title.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit The Masked Man Show with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
