MLW Underground To Continue Airing On Reelz At Least Through May

MLW's deal to air its weekly "MLW Underground" TV show on the cable channel Reelz has had a number of ups and downs during its brief tenure, the likes of which could not have been expected when it was announced. In theory, the deal should have gotten even better in March, when the live feed of Reelz was added to the Peacock streaming service, but WWE's exclusivity with Peacock has resulted in MLW programming being blacked out on that stream. That MLW has a pending antitrust lawsuit against WWE complicated matters, as did reports suggesting MLW just had a deal for a 10 week trial run.

That last part may be up in the air, as PWInsider confirmed on Monday that "MLW Underground" will continue to air on Reelz in May. That report doesn't say how far into May the show will air, but it would still take MLW well past the 10 week mark.

Largely on the back of "On Patrol: Live," the spiritual successor to canceled A&E series "Live PD" that launched in July, Reelz has become a much bigger cable channel than it was a year ago, so MLW had, on paper, a better American TV deal than every other promotion not named WWE or AEW. The prime time viewership of Reelz jumped a whopping 107% in 2022 according to Variety, putting it in 51st place of all networks by that metric. By comparison, AXS TV, the home of Impact Wrestling and NJPW, was in 128th place. 

As for the lawsuit, the latest development came on Friday, when WWE moved to dismiss MLW's amended complaint. If MLW's case survives this motion to dismiss, that would put the two sides on the road to the discovery process and potentially a trial.