Konnan Talks MLW's Move To Wednesdays, Using Former Lucha Underground Talent
By moving to Wednesday nights recently, MLW Fusion turned the ongoing Wednesday Night Wars into a three-way dance, airing on the same night as AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT.
Although MLW airs an hour earlier and is available on-demand at various platforms including YouTube and DAZN, it was still a "very weird decision" by the company to move Fusion to a crowded night of wrestling, according to WCW legend and MLW star Konnan.
During his recent appearance on The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast, Konnan spoke of why viewer fatigue in wrestling is at an all-time high.
"MLW moving to Wednesday, now that's very weird," said Konnan. "I would have never jumped in on Wednesday nights. But that might be a decision out of Court Bauer's hands. I mean, why would you wanna go up against the Big 2?"
When Nick Hausman pointed out that MLW airs an hour earlier, Konna said, "I know, but how much wrestling can you consume each day? On my podcast, I review almost 10 hours of wrestling every week and I should be paid extra to watch RAW, which is a torturous three hours. I have to do it because I'm making money off of my reviews.
"But should an average fan really have to watch that many hours? If I were a regular fan, I'd just go back and watch clips or read stuff instead of the whole show. It's very hard to digest the amount of wrestling right now."
While acknowledging that MLW has a quality wrestling product, Konnan conceded that it's not easy to go up against "two big behemoths" on Wednesdays.
"MLW should continue to do what they're doing [to stand apart]," felt Konnan. "They have their own vibe and unique style. You're not gonna reinvent the wheel, wrestling is wrestling.
"That's why I've always been a big proponent of Lucha because of how different it is. Some people dislike how different it is, there are no tags, not enough selling, but that's because it's not American wrestling."
Konnan went onto criticize the Lucha wrestling in American wrestling promotions.
"What you see there is Lucha moves within the context of an American match, not actual Lucha wrestling. If I brought in real Luchadores, the viewers would eat them up.
"During my time in Lucha Underground, I had this exact argument backstage. They wanted Lucha elements in American style, and I was like, 'why would you do that?' Lucha Libre is so unique and original, not everything is about telling a story. When I'm booking in Mexico, sometimes I like to give fans a 'video game match.' Just watch, stop thinking about what's happening."
Speaking of Lucha Underground, Konnan gave props to MLW for bringing in Mil Muertes.
"That was a very smart move, to go into the Lucha Underground vault and bring some characters from there. Those are things MLW does so well, such as the Opera Cup hosted by Stu Hart. Nobody knew who MJF was, they do now. Another example is Rush, before he went to ROH.
"Court is really good at finding new talents," said Konnan while mentioning the likes of MLW World Champion Jacob Fatu, Brodie King, and NXT Superstar Timothy Thatcher. "Fatu is incredible, bro."
When asked if the DAZN streaming deal has helped MLW offer more lucrative contracts to talents, Konnan said, "Maybe, but I can't tell you for sure because I haven't been a part of that.
"Court's very smart, he's not trying to run but just wants to take baby steps. He's doing a great job with the storylines, discovering talents and developing them. He's also very aware of the Mexican fans and is catering to them. He's done a great job at MLW."
Konnan can be seen every Wednesday night as part of MLW Fusion. Konnan's full interview aired as part of a recent episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here. You can find the full interview in both video and audio form below: