Exclusive: MLW's Court Bauer Reveals His Lessons Learned From Writing For Vince McMahon And WWE

Major League Wrestling has made quite the inroads over the last year as they reached a television deal with beIN Sports and a streaming deal with FITE TV. The man behind MLW is Court Bauer who founded the promotion in 2002 and has spent nearly 20 years in the wrestling industry.

Much of that time has been as a writer and Bauer was on WWE's writing team from 1999-2002 and again from 2005-2007 when MLW had ceased operations. Bauer joined our WINCLY podcast where he talked about what he learned from WWE that he took with him to MLW.

"Vince McMahon and his emphasis on ruthless efficiency and accountability," stated Bauer. "It can make you, on one hand, come across as a prick, but on the other hand it guarantees the fans they get the product that they hope they get and the expectations of the crew are met.

"There's this thing that's happened in my time in wrestling since I was a teenager in the 90s. You see there's an undercurrent of a lackadaisical vibe sometimes. There's a lot of hard-working people but sometimes its like, 'Eh, we'll get it next time kind of approach.' There is no next time for WWE or Vince McMahon.

"I really think that was one of the core things that separated Vince in the 90s and 2000s from a competitor like WCW. The expectation to get it right the first time is critical. There's no second chances because he'll hold you accountable."

While accountability and getting everything right the first time are aspects of WWE that Bauer has implemented in MLW, there are also things he learned from his time there that he doesn't want to be a part of his promotion.

"The thing you have to be careful of is politics. WWE is so huge that there's going to be layers, it's inevitable," admitted Bauer. "Now more than ever because you don't have the access that you once had to Vince... That's difficult and it's a by-product of their success and how much they've grown.

"On that, having direct access to me is easy... I'm very much a micro-manager.

"The other thing is, creative teams don't work. I was a part of one, I didn't think it was successful at WWE. When I've been a consultant at other companies I've seen it and it's another layer of politics and makes it more complicated."

Bauer then compares politics in WWE to playing a video game where as soon as you get through one boss, you then have to see another boss until you get to the final boss, Vince McMahon.

"You don't have that at MLW. It's a lot more fluid, it's a lot easier. I'm a lot more accessible most days," Bauer said before stating that younger talent need that access and constant feedback whether it's good or bad.

"For me, I think the guy jerking the curtain all the way to the top has that same access [to me]."