Various: Impact Under Siege 2023 Date, MLW Owner on Antitrust Lawsuit Against WWE, Indies

Mar 10, 2023

Impact Wrestling Announces Date & Location for Under Siege 2023

Impact Wrestling recently announced that this year’s Under Siege event will be taking place at the Western Fair District Agriplex on May 26th in London, Ontario, Canada.

It was also announced that this upcoming event will be held as an Impact Plus special.

It was also announced that they will also be holding a set of Impact! tapings on May 27th at the same venue.

BREAKING: #UnderSiege is coming to the Western Fair District Agriplex in London, ON, Canada on Friday May 26, followed by #UnderSiegeFallout on May 27!

Tickets go on-sale THIS FRIDAY at 10am ET. pic.twitter.com/ebKEG0ji7W
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) March 8, 2023

MLW Owner Court Bauer on Reason for MLW Filing Antitrust Lawsuit Against WWE

A recent episode of the Talk Is Jericho podcast featured Major League Owner Court Bauer. One of the topics discussed included Bauer’s thoughts on the process that lead to MLW filing an antitrust lawsuit against WWE.

“Rewinding to 2021, I was talking up like, ‘We got this big deal, it’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming.’ Then we have the media embargo, they knew it was going down, the night before the press release was going out, the papers were signed, and then we’re told, ‘Deal off.’ That, long story short, triggered an antitrust lawsuit with WWE. I’d reached the summit, right, it’s so hard to get a TV deal. It’s not easy. It doesn’t matter how much money you have, how good your product is or not. It’s just a hard thing to do. Especially now, when the content is king era has kind of toppled and the gig is dead and now it’s just a rush to pick up the best deal you can. We got in there right before that shit hit the fan. After that streaming deal went south, I basically had to go back out there and start over, like Groundhog Day, and start shopping and pitching and doing it all over again. It’s like getting knocked down from the top of the mountain and going through it all over again and just trying to keep the business afloat while you go through that. Two years later, and we had to go through the pandemic and we had to go through all this stuff. By the way too, billionaires just doing what they do in the midst of this, it wasn’t easy, and so meeting after meeting, and we got there with REELZ and we signed the contract in December and announced it in January, and we’re just so elated to be there.
REELZ has grown, it’s one of the rare stories of being a cable network that is a success story in 2023. Most are in this contracting state or they’re losing viewership. It’s just the natural progression of cable, and what’s happening with REELZ is they’re growing. They are now a top 25 network. To give you a comparison, VICE is in the high 70s, AXS TV, which has New Japan and IMPACT, ranked like 98 [or] 99. I think TNT and TBS float anywhere, depending on the week, from number eight or nine to 12. The same for USA in that ballpark. FOX Sports 1 is in the high 50s, MTV’s ranked in the 40s. So we’re in a top 25 network. They hover between 23 and 26 most weeks, but that’s huge. I think for us, we’ve had guys like Hammerstone and Fatu in the company. Before MJF was in AEW and Tony Schiavone made his comeback, they were in MLW, but our network at the time was ranked like 136, beIN Sports. So for us to leap virtually 110 channels to REELZ, it’s like, ‘Finally, we got the platform. Finally, people are gonna find out [Hammerstone], Fatu, all these guys in MLW.”

Bauer also stated that he wanted to hold WWE accountable for their actions that “almost mortally wounded” his company.

“Look at Ring of Honor and New Japan when they ran the Garden. I know AEW’s had issues, whether it’s contract tampering, whether it’s arena issues. This shit’s been going on for 40 years. Just ask the promoters through the decades, and how were they wounded? How were they damaged? For us, we were almost mortally wounded, and it was time to hold them accountable, so that’s what I did. I think Vince is the kind of guy that just, the WWE as a whole, they want to control, they want to have maximum market share. They want to suffocate the competitors by virtue of, look at how it’s happened. Exhibit A through Z, it speaks for itself.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

Former WWE NXT UK talent Xia Brookside recently announced on Twitter that she is currently in the process of moving to the United States and will be available for bookings starting this July.

During a recent interview with the Busted Open Radio podcast, Kia Stevens, known as Awesome Kong, revealed that she is currently in the process of writing a book about her life and career.

Lucha Libre AAA recently announced that they have pulled Christi Jaynes from the card of their upcoming Lucha Libre World Cup 2023 event on March 19th in Guadalajara, Mexico due to immigration documents-related issues. It was announced that Dalys will be replacing Jaynes on Team Rest of the World for the event. (English translation via Fightful.com)

Coastal Championship Wrestling reportedly is currently in the process of reviving classic wrestling promotion Championship Wrestling from Florida, according to PWInsider. Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Kevin Sullivan was recently hired to be the Executive Producer and Creative Director for the promotion’s revival. Johnson also reported that CCW officials current plans are to start holding tapings this May and events this June for CWfF.

Former WWE and ECW wrestler Justin Credible and his family reportedly were recently displaced following a fire incident that engulfed their building complex this past Monday in Waterbury, Connecticut, according to NBC Connecticut.

New Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced that they will be holding a NJPW Strong brand event called NJPW Strong Resurgence on May 21st in Long Beach, California.

Impact Wrestling recently announced two new matches for the card of their co-promoted Impact x NJPW Multiverse United event with New Japan Pro Wrestling on March 30th in Los Angeles, California:

KENTA vs. Minoru Suzuki
Impact X-Division Championship 6-Way Scramble match – Rich Swann vs. Kevin Knight vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Clark Connors vs. Rocky Romero vs. Trey Miguel (c)

Impact Wrestling also recently announced four new matches for the card of their Sacrifice 2023 event on March 24th in Windsor, Canada:

Impact Knockouts World Championship – Jordynne Grace vs. Mickie James (c)
Impact X-Division Championship – TBA vs. Trey Miguel (c)
Josh Alexander, Rich Swann, & Frankie Kazarian vs. Time Machine (KUSHIDA, Alex Shelley, & Chris Sabin)
Busted Open match – Bully Ray vs. Tommy Dreamer

Ring of Honor recently announced a new match for the card of their Supercard of Honor 2023 on March 31st in Los Angeles, California: