MLW’s TV Deal with REELZ Status Update

As noted before, Major League Wrestling’s current television deal with REELZ Channel is for ten weeks in length and is expected to expire due to issues over REELZ’s recent streaming deal with Peacock.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that MLW officials were not informed beforehand of REELZ working on a streaming deal with Peacock. In a follow-up report, Meltzer reported in Friday’s Daily Update that MLW officials reportedly only found out about REELZ’s deal with Peacock after the news was made public by Variety.

Meltzer reported that REELZ’s deal with Peacock also includes the possibility of additional REELZ programming being blacked out for Peacock if it contains ads for MLW’s weekly Underground series.

Those within MLW reportedly stated that REELZ officials had informed them that they are not cancelling their Underground series after the ten weeks are over and instead have been happy with the ratings for MLW’s shows. Others within MLW reportedly stated that they concede that a television show can be canceled at any time and are currently not able to confirm nor deny that their weekly Underground series will be officially cancelled on April 11th.

In regards to the length of MLW’s current television deal, PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that MLW’s deal with REELZ was not for ten weeks in length nor was it designed to end next month. Those spoken to reportedly stated that the deal signed was more of an “open-ended deal” that would involve MLW episodes being delivered weekly for the network and not something that had a finite ending date for 2023.