Mance Warner Confirms He Has Asked For His MLW Release

"The Southern Psychopath" Mance Warner returned to The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast today where he discussed his new AdFreeShow.com show "ManceSplainin" as well as his MLW status with Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman. It was reported back in October that Warner had requested his release from MLW to sign with AEW, but he was denied the request. He talked about the situation on the podcast.

"Well, I think people have seen that before on the dirt sheets out there. Old Mancer did ask for his release from MLW, but you've seen that on dirt sheets, and that's kind of where we're at right now," Warner said. "It is what it is. Where I'm going to be and what I'm going to be doing, I'm always going to be at GCW [and] IWA Mid-South.

"I'll be there this weekend, but with all the shows being canceled, and now we don't really know if things are shutting down again. There's a vaccine coming out, [but] we don't know when everything's going to come back. So for right now, I know I got Game Changer Wrestling going on. I got a IWA Mid-South show coming up this weekend, but after that, I got no idea what's going on."

Hausman asked Warner if he is still under contract with MLW and for how long. Warner's last MLW match was back in March, and he stated his focus on GCW and IWA Mid-South on the podcast.

"Well, that's all that's Mancer knows right now man. I mean, that was a little bit ago," Warner noted. "I saw that on the dirt sheets. People were talking about it back then, and it's all we know. I'm just kind of doing my thing. Wrestling when I can, doing Game Changer Wrestling, GCW, and here we go. Maybe y'all will find out before me on a dirt sheet or something."

Former Impact star Jake Crist was on The Wrestling Inc. Daily recently, and he is also a mainstay at IWA Mid-South. Warner credited Crist for helping him early in his career, and he discussed the long history and prestige that IWA Mid-South holds.

"He's one of the guys that helped me out when I was breaking in," Warner revealed. "I started going to IWA Mid-South when I was first starting, so I was three months in, and I started going there because anyone that knows anything about independent pro wrestling knows IWA Mid-South is the place that you go and make a name and you learn because there's so many people there.

"When I was there, you had Chris Hero coming back all the time. Tracy Smothers would be there every week. I'd sit with him in the corner, and he would just, knowledge man. He'd give you knowledge. So sitting with him and Mitch Ryder, Ian, there's all the people there every week. The time period when I was going there every single week, you had all them guys. I credit that to getting me to where I kind of got to because you learn so quick. You're in front of the same crowd on Thursday and Saturday. You can't do the same s–t. You got to learn how to mix stuff up.

"I always joke around, it's one of the last territories because it's people coming in and the stories there. The people there have seen everything, so you got to give them something different, and if you can't, you gonna have to go somewhere else because they're going to tear you up in that ring."

Warner expanded on how Crist helped him early in his career most notably how they could work in the ring without having to call any spots beforehand. He also noted Crist's extensive career in the business and the knowledge that he has.

"The knowledge that he has man, he's one of those guys where me and him will joke around about nowadays a lot of people just calling a bunch of stuff," Warner recalled. "Every time, from the first time I ever worked with him, we don't. We just go out and work. So we'll go out there for 15 – 20 minutes, and we're just going out there and reacting to what the crowd wants.

"For me it's cool because you learn so much more on the fly out there in front of people where you're just reacting. You don't have time to sit there and think and go, 'I got to do this s–t. I gotta do this bulls–t.' So he's one of those guys. He's been wrestling forever too. I remember him telling me stories about how he was in high school going to HWA (Heartland Wrestling Association) out there in Ohio. Then HWA, WWE were bringing in people there when WCW closed down.

"He's seen so much. He's been everywhere. He's done everything. He was at Combat Zone Wrestling, Impact [and] every place you can think of. I remember watching him at a damn Ring of Honor show back in the day. So it's just cool s–t to be in there with the guys that I grew up watching on bootleg tapes where you get them on the internet, and then all of a sudden you're getting to work with these guys. He's the f–king man."

In regards to his new show called "ManceSplainin" on AdFreeShows.com, Hausman asked who came up with the idea for the show.

"Conrad [Thompson], man. He's good at that s–t," Warner remarked. "He's got ideas. They always work. I got eyeballs, and I can talk. And I'll sit here, and I'll watch wrestling and talk. It works out for everybody involved. It's an idea that I hadn't heard before, so I basically get a sit-down, and at first, I was wondering like, 'so I'm just basically going to watch pro wrestling. Why the hell would anyone want to watch me watch pro wrestling?' And then you get into the mix, and it makes sense.

"And I go, 'Oh, this is perfect.' I'm having to 'ManceSplain' this as only I can to people who don't watch wrestling and they hate watching wrestling. So I always have fun with it. It's always a good time on there."

Warner explained that the fans are the ones that pick the match they watch. He said that the non-fans ask interesting questions that he enjoys explaining to them why certain things in wrestling are the way they are.

"Basically, the people that are on AdFreeShows.com, the fans on there, they pick a fight that they want to watch, and then we sit down. I don't watch it beforehand," Warner noted. "I've watched everything at some point, but I don't want to watch anything before.

"I want to watch it at the same time they're watching it, and then there's questions to where you go, 'God damn, I ain't thought about that.' Why is there a referee out there? Why is Mick Foley wearing three shirts right now? Then he's got barb wire on, and it makes sense. It's chaos man. I love it. I'm drinking. They're drinking. It's just a whole bunch of talking. It's great. It's always good man."

Mance Warner can be found every week on AdFreeShows.com with his brand new show "Mance-splaining". You can also follow him on Twitter @ManceWarner. Mance's full interview aired as part of today's episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.