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Major League Wrestling (MLW) announced a partnership with Veeps earlier this week, marking the latest free streaming platform the promotion will appear on – joining YouTube and beIN Sports.
“MLW Fusion” will debut on Veeps on Saturday with a loaded lineup of professional wrestling without the need of fans having an extra streaming service that might hit them in the wallet harder than a Killer Kross chair shot.
MLW CEO Court Bauer stressed the importance of remaining free and open to the viewing public in an interview with FOX Business, contrasting the experience that has come to NFL fans.
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“I’m a huge sports fan so as we’ve kinda seen the streaming evolution unfold, it feels like you’re kinda paying tolls as you go from game-to-game,” Bauer said. “You might need this subscription to follow that game and that subscription to get that game and now you need a certain subscription to get that exclusive Christmas game. Then, you start looking at what it costs. It’s no longer $9.99 a month. Some of these services are $30 a month. And it’s all right, Netflix is 30 (on some plans), ESPN is 30 and you start to look at it and it’s like, I think we live in a subscription fatigue era where you can subscribe to toothpaste and exotic candy bars from Japan and get them every month and I think everyone starts to look at their bill and say, ‘Yeah I think I’m a little bit over all of these subscriptions.’
“So, I’ve always felt like YouTube is kinda at the epicenter of giving fans access in some form to the content. I think what we’re doing with Veeps is now unlocking a free window to watch on their huge platform and that’s gonna be massive for us. It’s gonna be great for them. It’ll be huge success. So, I think when you have this kind of disruptive force where we can be the challenger league and say, yeah, no paywall, we’re giving it to you free, that means a lot when times are tough for a lot of people. So, to be able to watch wrestling every Saturday reliably and not look at your bill and be dinged for it and pay that toll is I think gonna be well-received. From our point of view, we always want to super serve the fans, give them our best product, give them our best action and give it to them for the best price and the best value.”
Bauer said the partnership with Veeps opens MLW to new avenues to bring in fans.
Veeps was founded by Good Charlotte members Joel and Benji Madden and Live Nation later bought a majority stake in the streaming platform in 2021. Pro wrestling fans can claim a “free ticket” to the show before viewing.
“It’s huge for us,” Bauer told FOX Business. “We’ve been really building the last two years and looking at things on a global scale. This is a huge strategic opportunity that we’re unlocking with this partnership. Live Nation is the worldwide leader in live entertainment, of course in ticketing with Ticketmaster, touring logistics, their investment in arenas is massive, merchandise, sponsorships and marketing. We’ve been growing a ton in the last two years from our massive deal with Panini trading cards and selling out every show since January 2024.
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“So, this partnership is just going to turbo charge MLW in a multitude of ways.”
Tucked in the press release on Tuesday was a mention of how the two sides would “infuse music culture into future events, creating crossover moments connecting wrestling audiences with artists across metal, country, punk, hardcore, and alternative communities.”
Bauer said that idea was being talked about for about a year.
“That’s something we’ve been mapping out and talking with them for almost a year. We started mapping this out almost a year ago with Joel and Benji Madden, who launched Veeps back around in 2017 and of course Live Nation bought it around 2021,” he said. “Paul Walter Houser, Brian Walsh and I, we all sat down with the Veeps and Live Nation team to kinda see are what the opportunities here for what you guys are doing with this platform to what you’re doing with Live Nation and touring and what you’re doing with your production and of course with all your great artists? And we were like what’s the synergy there? What’s the crossover opportunity?
“Pro wrestling has always been kind of embedded in the fabric of Americana. You think back in the ’80s. You have MTV and wrestling, it was like peanut butter and jelly. It just went really well together. In pop culture in general, you can look back into the black and white days of TV with Gorgeous George on TV. So, there’s always been some unique crossover appeal of wrestling. So, now we’re looking at how do you we do that? What could be the opportunities to integrate what Live Nation and Veeps does with musicians, with great artists, touring artists and MLW? So, there’s a whole wave of opportunities we’re exploring from that end. I think there could be some really exciting things. This isn’t just a streaming deal.
“Now, MLW is in the business with the world’s largest live entertainment and ticketing company. There’s just unlimited potential to this partnership.”
Pro wrestling fans who may be introduced to the company via Veeps are in for a show.
The MLW roster features household names that may already be known to the average wrestling audience, like Kross, Bishop Dyer, Alex Hammerstone, Donovan Dijak, Shotzi, Scarlett Bordeaux, Trevor Lee, Austin Aries and others. But the company has also blended its partnerships with places like Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and Stardom into its talent pool as well.
“We’re premiering this Saturday with a new season and it’s free. It’s free on YouTube, it’s free on Veeps and it’s gonna be a stacked two-hour special,” Bauer said. “We got Austin Aries vs. Trevor Lee. Killer Kross, our world heavyweight champion, will in action and in a press conference along with Danny McBride and yours truly will have a little bit of a press conference. We have a great women’s division with Shotzi and Priscilla Kelly. They’ll be battling this weekend. Bishop Dyer, some of you remember him as Baron Corbin from WWE, he’s one-half of the world tag team champions. He’ll be in action.
“It’s just a who’s who on our show from Japan to Mexico to the top stars here in the U.S. We’ll be kicking this thing off live and in color this Saturday night, 6:05 p.m. ET on YouTube, on Veeps and beIN Sports throughout the night. But Saturdays, we’re gonna plant our flag and do it big.”
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