Friday will mark a historic night for Major League Wrestling.
For the first time in MLW history, FUSION is being broadcast on live national television. And two men who have plenty of experience calling live professional wrestling are extremely excited to bring all the action into living rooms all over the nation.
Tony Schiavone and Rich Bocchini will be on the call. The MLW announce team knows the significance of this show for MLW and its fans. But they also understand it takes a team effort to pull off a great live television broadcast.
“This is MLW’s foray into live wrestling, which changes everything,” Schiavone said. “With live wrestling, we always say ‘How are the wrestlers going to perform?’ But that’s just a part of it. The directors, the producers, the announcers, the technical directors, the cameramen … they’re all a part of this. They’re on the clock, too and they’re live, too.”
Bochinni put it succinctly: “No safety net.”
Neither seemed to be nervous about the opportunity in front of them. Part of that, according to Schiavone, is the team MLW CEO Court Bauer has assembled.
“I’ve always thought we had a great production company. I really did,” Schiavone said. “We have people who have done live wrestling before. So, I think it’s going to be really good and I think it’s going to be great for this company.”
Friday night’s MLW FUSION LIVE broadcast will feature a double main event, with a guaranteed new champion. The vacant World Middleweight Championship will be up for grabs in a 4-way ladder match with Kotto Brazil, Andrew Everett, El Hijo de LA Park and Dezmond Xavier.
“We do know that we will see a new champion tomorrow,” Bochinni said. “I’m sure it will be a surprise. I’m sure there will be a lot of surprising things in that match. You never know what’s going to happen in a ladder match. It’s a great way to get people excited. You see a ladder match, you’re not going to turn away from it.”
“I just hope that because of how dangerous a ladder match is, that the guys get through it without really getting hurt,” Schiavone said. “I do that all the time, but even more so when it’s live TV.”
In the other main event, Mexican superstar and leader of Los Ingobernables Rush will face off with Rich Swann.
“I thought Rush was absolutely tremendous when we saw him in Chicago,” Schiavone said. “He had a great presence in the ring. He’s an exciting performer and I’m excited to do another one of his matches.”
“Swann has so much charisma,” Bochinni added. “He’s so athletic in the ring. Rush is such a huge star in Mexico. To be able to bring that fusion together here where you have a guy like Swann, who really represents in a lot of ways a new breed of hybrid wrestlers, who can work a submission style but can also go out and fly around the ring. Rush is very similar in some ways. To put those two together, it should be an incredible match.”
