Jay Reddick of The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that MLW will be returning to Orlando, FL for their early November event, Blood & Thunder. The promotion is making it’s return back to the area after over a year absence. You can read all the details below:
After more than a year away, Major League Wrestling is coming home to Orlando’s Gilt Nightclub this November, the Orlando Sentinel has learned exclusively.
The professional wrestling league, which debuted at Gilt in 2017 and has grown into one of the top promotions in the United States and beyond, is returning to Central Florida on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 4 p.m. for Blood & Thunder, a taping of its MLW Fusion TV show. Tickets for the event go on sale Monday, Sept. 16, at 10 a.m. at mlwtickets.com.
“We’ve been trying to make this happen for more than a year,” MLW CEO Court Bauer told the Sentinel. “So much of our DNA is anchored in Orlando. The fanbase is incredible, and the longer we were away, the more I thought, ‘We’ve gotta get back.’ So I have a lot of good feelings about returning.”
Gilt was the exclusive home of MLW for its first nine months. Stars such as Matt Riddle, Pentagon, Fenix and Ricochet wrestled classic matches for a few hundred fans at Gilt, helping to make the promotion one of the most buzzed-about spots for in-ring action.
While some old favorites such as Tom Lawlor, MJF, Low Ki and Salina de la Renta remain from the previous Gilt run, MLW has built a new generation of stars, including Jacob Fatu and the CONTRA Unit; Alexander Hammerstone; and Marshall and Ross Von Erich, the sons of Hall of Famer Kevin Von Erich.
“I’m excited for Orlando to see some new faces,” Bauer said. “Jacob Fatu had just barely joined us before we left Orlando, but he has just blown up this year. The Von Erichs get huge reactions everywhere they go. It’s fascinating to see how wrestling has changed and how we’ve had to find new ways to stand out.”
MLW has grown exponentially since its last Gilt show in July 2018, selling out venues across the country. MLW Fusion, which airs weekly on beIN Sports in the United States, can be seen in 14 other countries around the world as well.
“We got a T-shirt order from Switzerland this week, for a Mance Warner T-shirt,” Bauer said of another MLW rising star. “Somebody in Switzerland wants to rep the ‘Southern Psycho.’ Can you believe it?”
But Bauer said he has always itched to return to the unique Gilt venue, where wrestlers enter the arena down a staircase and a low balcony puts fans right on top of the action. In November, he’ll get that chance.
“It’s this great mashup of retro and modern,” Bauer said of Gilt. “With that staircase, it always reminded me of the old Sportatorium in Dallas, where the Von Erichs ruled. To see a new generation of Von Erichs coming down that kind of walkway is going to be really cool.”
MLW: Blood & Thunder is set for Nov. 9 at Gilt Nightclub, 740 Bennett Rd. One episode of Fusion taped in Orlando will air later that night on beIN Sports, with others set to air in the following weeks. For more information, visit MLW.com.
