Major League Wrestling’s partnership with REELZ appears to be a short-term deal, limited to just 10 weeks.
The distribution deal provides the company the most exposure its received since MLW relaunched back in 2017. New episodes of MLW Underground air on REELZ Tuesday nights at 10 p.m. EST. Viewership has been healthy so far, averaging 83,000 viewers per episode.
A new report from Variety suggests that MLW Underground is set to end its tenure on REELZ after the ten-week period. The most recent episode, which aired on February 28, was the fourth episode of Underground thus far.
Earlier this week, news broke that Peacock was adding the live REELZ feed to their streaming service. The time slot that MLW Underground currently runs will be ‘blacked out’ due to WWE having an exclusive deal with the streaming platform.
Court Bauer’s fight league has carved out a niche for itself in an industry dominated by the likes of WWE and All Elite Wrestling (AEW).
MLW has pending litigation against WWE with claims that WWE stopped them from reaching a deal with Tubi and interfered with their relationship with Vice TV. On February 13, the judge on the MLW v. WWE antitrust lawsuit case dismissed MLW’s complaint against WWE. This allowed them to amend their complaint. The ruling came about as the judge believed MLW lacked sufficient facts to prove its case.
It is uncertain whether MLW Underground will air on a different network following the end of the ten-week run.