Court Bauer On Why The Von Erichs Turned Down NXT For MLW, MJF Working For AEW And MLW

Ross and Marshall Von Erich are part of the next generation of Von Erichs as the sons of Kevin. They recently signed with MLW despite offers from other companies including WWE.

MLW founder Court Bauer talked about having them in the fold when he spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast.

"We started talking to them in January but closed the deal in late spring. Two weeks later we found out that the Viceland special was coming so it was serendipitous and everyone thought it was a reaction to the Viceland special but we were in talks for months," said Bauer.

"They turned down NXT and elected to go to us and they came at a time when we were looking for something special and different. They checked off a lot of boxes for me with that kinda Steve Austin-style of brawling or Texas-style brawling: 100 miles per hour and pushing the action at you. And they're great guys."

Bauer said that the Viceland special "The Last of The Von Erichs" brought him to tears and gave him goosebumps. He also noted that this is not the last of the Von Erichs as MLW is a new chapter for them.

"With MLW it wasn't by design but we have a lot of legacy guys coming in like Brian Pillman Jr. People will chant 'Pillman' again and be able to invest in his journey," stated Bauer. "It's something so special and pure about pro wrestling that you don't really have with MMA, boxing or other sports?You know how to pay it off because you have controls in pro wrestling. That's what I think makes pro wrestling the best sport because of these qualities?

"The Von Erichs for us have been a major get in 2019. For the guys like Alex Hammerstone and Jacob Fatu, the 2019 class of MLW has been wild. If you look at who they are and where they'll be in the next few years, it's incredible. It's really just a special crew."

Bauer then expanded on why the Von Erichs chose MLW over NXT.

"The presentation of The Von Erich family ? people don't realize when Kerry went to WWE they changed him to The Texas Tornado," stated Bauer. "Kevin would talk about that and say, 'Why would you run away from the Von Erich name?' Also just a lifestyle choice as they have families. Kevin has many grandkids out in Hawaii so the quality of life decision was important to them.

"There's also this weird, surprising connective tissue between Kevin and his sons and me through Gary Hart and knowing what I'm looking to do with them. It's much aligned with what Gary did who is my mentor and was the matchmaker behind WCCW. There's a lot of accidental connective tissue that made it feel more comfortable to them."

MLW has two stars in MJF and Jimmy Havoc who are also booked in AEW and Bauer was asked about fans possibly getting confused at them portraying different gimmicks in different promotions.

"I don't. I think the fans are sophisticated enough to know that the presentations are different and they're not gonna be like, 'Oh, they're schizophrenic characters.' I think in presentation they are vaguely consistent and AEW's doing a good job as are we so there hasn't been any of that weirdness," said Bauer.

MLW Fusion can be seen every Saturday night, 8/7c, on BeIN Sports. Court's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of a recent episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post. Featuring Court discussing MLW's debut PPV Saturday Night Superfight, why Jacob Fatu vs LA Park for the MLW World Heavyweight title is the main event, the La Parka – LA Park lineage, putting together Teddy Hart vs Austin Aries, The Von Erichs turning down NXT for MLW, how AEW books MJF and Jimmy Havoc, MLW closing a chapter with it's first PPV and more.

You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.