Alex Hammerstone had zero plans moving away from Major League Wrestling, but was fully confident of his star potential and growing leverage in the industry. It was reported by Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful that the MLW World Heavyweight Champion signed an extension with Court Bauer’s company that will keep “The Master Of Muscle Mountain” in the Major League ranks at least through 2023. Hammerstone gave further context in a Fightful interview regarding his decision to sign, which was really never a decision in the first place.
“I’ve been in the business for ten years now and it’s nice to finally be in a position where I’m really starting to see a return from it. Beyond that, there are a lot of things that MLW offers me that other companies might not. Not an intense schedule, not the demand of being on the road five days a week or something like that. That’s not something I might ever want to do. As my time goes on in wrestling, I always say, ‘I wrestle for free, but you have to pay me to travel.’ I love the wrestling part, but the traveling kicks my ass and is the most frustrating part of it. There are a lot of advantages at MLW right now. As far as the contract goes, we were able to come to something I was happy with.”
Hammerstone kept his ears and eyes to the ground of how the business aspect has been shifting and that guarantees are far and few between.
“I’ve kind of seen the landscape of wrestling changing so quickly. The kind of realization that nothing is guaranteed anymore. Also, I’ve always been a huge proponent of the cream rises to the top. If you’re good enough, you’ll get what’s yours. We’re almost at a point in wrestling where there is almost such an over-saturation of talent that being talented isn’t enough. You have to be at the right place at the right time, which I think is something that a lot of people have used as a cop-out at times, but now I feel it’s true. Watching companies like WWE release a multitude of guys who are legitimate world championship material. I’ve always thought Kevin Kross [Karrion Kross], since he got into the business, ‘If WWE gets their hands on him and puts the machine behind him, he’s going to be the next megastar.’ Beyond even wrestling, I thought he was a movie star. He’s the most charismatic dude in the world. To watch him, now he’s without a job. I’m sure he’s going to be fine, but it makes you realize that things are changing so fast, nothing is guaranteed, you’re not sure who is looking for what. All those things play a factor when you’re re-negotiating.”
Another aspect that played into Hammerstone re-sigining is that close relationship he has with Court and many other people in the MLW office.
“Having a more personal one-on-one relationship with people in the office and Court himself and realizing there is a trust and value there, that it’s more than just ‘we’re trying to lock you up because we don’t want people to have you. No, we place value in you, we see what you’re going to bring to the table, we want you to be a big part of this company moving forward.’ I feel that duty and responsibility and pride of elevating the company and taking something that isn’t as well known as it could be or should be at this point and hopefully bringing more attention to the product.”
