Last week, it was announced that “Filthy” Tom Lawlor would re-sign with Major League Wrestling. It was one of those bits of news that would’ve flown under the radar given that MLW doesn’t have national television in the U.S–although its MLW Fusion program is available on YouTube and beIN Sports.
An MMA Invasion in Wrestling
Things were played up nicely around Tom Lawlor’s contract status. The current trend in wrestling right now is signing MMA fighters. WWE’s had Brock Lesnar for a while and just picked Cain Velasquez last month. Down in NXT, you have Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke, Marina Shafir, and Matt Riddle.
Ken Shamrock made indy appearances last year before returning to Impact Wrestling after 15 years away back in August. Let’s not forget about Jack Hager being the enforcer of current AEW World Champion, Chris Jericho’s The Inner Circle faction in AEW.
There was a time when this would’ve been rare in the western wrestling scene. You had a few fighters who entered wrestling but very few went on to have significant careers. For a time, it was just Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn who were regularly doing events.
So, when news of Lawlor’s contract came up, it was a question of would he re-sign with them or would he be scooped up by WWE for their NXT brand. Hell, he could’ve been scooped up by AEW which is something of a neighbor to MLW. Plus, there’s a rating battle going on at the moment and WWE is trying to hold on to talent while bringing more in and moving a few around.
The Tom Lawlor Story in Major League Wrestling
The 10-7-1 fighter is 36-years-old but WWE has several stars that age and older down in NXT. There’s an insurgence of professional fighters and they’ve been making news for signings and strong showings—for the most part. We won’t get into Shamrock vs. Moose from Bound for Glory. At any rate, Lawlor is one of the big stars for the company and has put on several hard-hitting bouts—such as his main event showdown vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr. from MLW Fusion episode 84.
There’s an upside in Lawlor. The weeks prior featured a change in attitude from the filthy face who has an alliance with the Von Erichs. He was more aggressive than usual and surly when interviews turned towards his contract status.
With King Mo signing with the company, the line was blurred. Was Lawlor actually leaving at the end of 2019? That’s a short amount of time to turn him heel so that he could possibly put someone over on the way out. Or was he just showing some new fire and aggression given his in-ring fortunes lately? Also interesting was King Mo watching that episode 84 main event. MLW will have to pit these two against each other eventually.
Overall, it was an angle worth following. It ran at the perfect time given the trend at the moment. Also, it was a nice prequel to what could be a big 2020 for Lawlor. MLW really had me going because this guy grew on me during his World title reign and he’s a perfect fit for the company. How he would’ve done elsewhere is up in the air for now.
