Tom Lawlor Denies Talks With AEW And WWE Following MLW Departure
On a today's episode of The Wrestling Inc. Daily, Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman sat down with NJPW Strong Openweight Champion "Filthy" Tom Lawlor. During the discussion Lawlor opened up about being a free agent after four years in MLW. Hausman asked Lawlor if he's had any contact with AEW President Tony Khan.
"No, not unless unless it was on the DVD VR message board back in the day. I don't remember doing so," Lawlor stated. "No, I've had no talks with anybody from that side or the other big one that I'm assuming you're gonna bring up. You're talking about WOW, right?"
Along with being an accomplished pro wrestler, Lawlor had an extensive career in MMA having fought in UFC and most recently at PFL where he officially retired after his June 17 bout against Jordan Young at PFL 5. AEW has brought in their fair share of MMA fighters through Dan Lambert's American Top Team. Lawlor responded to the idea of joining ATT and Men Of The Year in AEW.
"I don't think they necessarily need me in that angle whatsoever," Lawlor admitted. "They've got plenty of stars on the ATT side of things. They've got Jorge Masvidal, who's a far bigger star in the world of MMA than I ever was. Paige VanZant, which brings in an entirely different demographic for MMA viewers. Dan Lambert's an awesome mouthpiece. It's not like they need somebody to go out there and talk for them. Junior dos Santos, he was the heavyweight champion in the UFC. It doesn't get much more prestigious than that. He won that huge fight over Cain Velasquez on FOX that had great viewership back in the day. Like I said, I don't think I'm needed for them at all."
Lawlor said earlier in the interview that he hopes that he is not a free agent for too long. Though, he does enjoy working on the indies as well. Lawlor talked about how much AEW he has watched and his impressions of the product.
"I guess, early on, I wasn't able to watch as much AEW just because of my life schedule, but I found more time recently," Lawlor said. "My kids have grown up. Timing changes a little bit and I found more time to watch the shows, and now with Hulu, I can get the west coast feed live. It's a lot easier to watch it rather than having to watch it later on at night.
"So I have caught a lot more of it. For the most part A+. The action's great. The angles aren't insulting, for the most part. I can't think of something. I mean, obviously, there's always gonna be blunders like the explosion with Kingston and Moxley, but I thought they did as good of a job trying to cover that up as they could."
You can follow Lawlor on Twitter @FilthyTomLawlor
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