Various: MLW Announces 2023 Opera Cup, Mike Bennett on The Kingdom Being ROH Gatekeepers, Indies

Jul 14, 2023

MLW Announces Full Bracket & Participants for 2023 Opera Cup

Major League Wrestling recently announced the full bracket and first round matches for this year’s Opera Cup tournament.

It was announced that this year’s tournament will start on the July 20th episode of MLW Fusion.

Full bracket and First Round matches for MLW 2023 Opera Cup:

Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Calvin Tankman
“Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams vs. Tony Deppen

The 2023 #OperaCup brackets are set!@DBSmithjr vs. @CalvinTankman @sauce_williams vs. @Tony_Deppen #MLWFusion @betonline_ag
📺 https://t.co/NCTNPiWyYJ pic.twitter.com/wPorspTuO5
— MLW (@MLW) July 14, 2023

Mike Bennett Comments on His Current Run in ROH & The Kingdom Being Gatekeepers of ROH

A recent episode of the AEW Unrestricted podcast featured Mike Bennett as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Bennett’s thoughts about his current run in Ring of Honor.

“I am having the time of my life during this run, for a few reasons. First of all, when Ring Of Honor shut down, it crushed us. I’m not going to sugarcoat it, it crushed us. Not just from a financial standpoint, but from an emotional standpoint, like that was our family. Anyone that has ever been in the Ring Of Honor locker room, it’s The Kingdom, it’s the Briscoes, it’s Dalton Castle, it’s Delirious, it’s Shane Taylor, it’s all these guys that made up this incredible company, but more so, we were a family and you broke up the family, so we felt instantly crushed. When Tony came in and bought it, it was like ‘Okay, but what’s this going to be? Did he just buy it for the library? What’s he gonna do with it, what is Tony’s viewpoint of it?’. Right out the gate, before we had shows, before we started hiring people in, to see the level of respect that he gave to company right off the bat, to know what Ring Of Honor meant, not only to us, but to the wrestling world as a whole… I instantly knew it was in good hands. Regardless of what happens, the person who now owns Ring Of Honor is holding our baby and he looks like he respects it as much as we do.”

Bennett also gave his thoughts about his belief that The Kingdom are the gatekeepers of ROH.

“As far as me, Taven, and Maria go, it feels like we’ve been put in these roles. I don’t want to step on toes, but it feels like we’re kind of like the gatekeepers of Ring Of Honor where we come in and we’re like, ‘Hey, we want everyone to know what this company is about and we want to know what the vibe is about, so we’re going to show you what it’s about.’ That means if you have a five minute match in front of 400 people at Universal Studios, you’re still going to go out there and you’re still gonna kill yourself, and you’re still gonna bust your ass. Why? Because that’s the Ring Of Honor way. For me, if I get busted open a minute into the match, I’m finishing the match regardless because that is the Ring Of Honor way because we put our blood, our sweat, and our tears into this ring. Whether it’s a five minute match or a twenty minute match, we’re going to show people what Ring Of Honor stands for. I love that role. Being in the ring with Action and Darius, here’s these two young guys, we’re trying to figure out where they fit. Dante just got hurt, what are we going to do with Darius, what are we going to do with Action? Let’s put them together. Okay, Mike, Matt, Maria, let’s guide them through something. Then we went out there and had that Fight Without Honor match, which I hold so much pride in. Watching Darius and Action wrestle now, they look like two men with a purpose. We’re elevating The Kingdom, we’re elevating Ring Of Honor, we’re elevating the younger talent. Mind blown, that’s what we’re supposed to do as we get older in wrestling, as we mature in wrestling. That doesn’t mean the cool stuff ends for The Kingdom, we can keep going and keep rising and keep doing cooler stuff, but while we’re doing it, we’re gonna pull up Action and Darius. We’re going to pull up The Infantry with us. Why? Because that’s what Ring Of Honor represents.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

Deadline reported that a new documentary film based on WWE Hall of Famer Andy Kaufman is currently in production by Campfire Studios, Seven Bucks Productions, Worldwide Pants Incorporated and Fifth Season.

FOX 5 News reported that Madison Square Garden officials recently secured a new ten yer permit to continue operating the historic venue at its current location in New York City, New York.

LuchaBlog reported that Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre recently signed former Lucha Libre AAA talent Villano III Jr. to a contract with the company. It was also reported that this means that there is no longer two different Villano III’s working in AAA and CMLL.

The city of Windsor, Ontario, Canada recently issued an official proclamation stating that this weekend will now be officially known as “Slammiversary Weekend” in honor of Impact Wrestling’s upcoming Slammiversary 2023 event in the city.

West Coast Pro Wrestling recently announced that legendary Japanese wrestler Kenta Kobashi will be making an appearance for the company at their West Coast Pro 5 event on October 14th in San Francisco, California.

Carma HoldCo Inc. and WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair recently announced that they will be launching a new Ric Flair brand energy drink called “Wooooo Energy!” It was also announced that this new energy drink is currently available to purchase online and will soon also be available at major chain stores.

Pro Wrestling Revolver recently announced that Jon Moxley will be making an appearance for the company at their Heat Em Up event on August 3rd in Dayton, Ohio.

Prestige Wrestling recently announced that Shazza McKenzie will be making an appearance for the company at their The Respect Issue event on September 24th in Los Angeles, California.

Major League Wrestling recently announced that O’Shay Edwards is the next official draft pick selection for this year’s MLW Open Draft.

In a recent interview with The Undisputed Podcast with Bobby Fish podcast, Trevor Murdoch gave his thoughts about how wrestling used to be different in the past. Murdoch stated “Our wrestling shows used to have variety. You used to be able to watch a match that had storytelling, and then a little bit more of a high-spot match, and a tag team match. The whole show was a variety of different styles. If you didn’t like it, you could wait for the next match, and you’d see something different. Whereas nowadays, wrestlers, they don’t stand out. It’s hard to stand out in their own lane. They don’t. That’s the whole basis of pro wrestling, good guy verse bad guy. Sometimes, those lines, you got bad guy against bad guy. There needs to be clear, definitive lines on who the good guy is and who the bad guy is. I think I back then, they made that very clear.” Murdoch also gave his thoughts about how the National Wrestling Alliance is trying to get back to the old way of wrestling for shows. Murdoch stated “That’s something that we’re trying to do in the NWA is go back to the basics of telling the simple story of good guy versus bad guy. This guy wants to beat the shit out of this guy, and this guy want to beat the shit out of this guy. It’s one of the reasons why I like being in NWA because it breaks it down to its basic form.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)