Alexander Hammerstone is one of the major talents that Major League Wrestling has signed long-term and it’s appropriate because Hammer is more about playing the long-game than trying to get that quick pin for those immediate results.
As is evident with MLW in itself. CEO Court Bauer has announced plans for MLW “The Restart” to begin with a new episode of MLW Fusion in early November, but made certain to hold back on doing anything rash during the COVID-19 outbreak. The last episode of Fusion aired back in early May and since then, MLW has found other ways to engage the wrestling fan base rather than producing live events.
Series such as Anthology fired up recounting some of the greatest matches of some of the league’s most memorable stars which was then followed up by MLW Underground, the original series for the show in 2003 that featured stars like Terry Funk, Steve Corino, CM Punk, Raven and Sabu As the odd 2020 carried on, the company began blending a short weekly series on MLW Pulp Fusion to keep fans up-to-date on it’s current crop of talents ongoing, including Hammerstone who was sure to keep busy. Hammer said as much to Dominic DeAngelo in an exclusive interview:
“What really grabs people, usually the character. Whether you have great matches, yeah people will appreciate that and respect you for it, but they’re not really even paying close attention to know that unless they’re already kind of attached to you for some reason or another.”
The National Openweight Champion does that as Pulp Fusion continues to air, making sure he’s keeping his tan at “Hogan ’91” levels and his fingers nimble on the guitar.
“I looked at it as a way as just giving them enough to remember that we’re there. To remember that there’s a reason that they want to watch us when we come back. That’s the kind of the way I saw it. It was definitely fun and I think it was definitely important because someone like me when I realized like we were quarantined I was, ‘Okay, there’s no wrestling.’ So I started pumping up the interaction on social media, the content. I tried everything. I always do random stuff on social media all the time just cause I wanted to have some kind of connection to the fans and then Pulp Fusion was an extra layer and for some people on the roster who aren’t as interactive on their own social media it’s like that was their way of having an outlet to the fans in general. I think it was really important, I think it was very well done.”
Hammerstone certainly has had his share of moments with his Dynasty brother Richard Holliday (who yes, has not relented on his concerning consumption of coffee) and divulges a little bit into the chemistry they have with one another, even it’s through a virtual medium.
“I can’t speak for everybody on the roster, but as is always is with The Dynasty we have very loose guidelines of what we’re going to do. A lot of weeks it was just like, ‘Hey, you’ve got two minutes, get yourself over’ and other times it was a little bit of guidance, but Court always is very trusting that we’re going to produce something enjoyable so it was very fun and if nothing else, getting on Zoom and messing around with Holliday it was good times.”
Just like any top star would be, Hammerstone is itching to get away from the screen and back on that canvas to defend his National Openweight Title, potentially against new talent as MLW is going to be carrying one of the largest rosters they’ve ever had when they fire back up in November.
“I’ve heard of one or two names that are going to be really exciting that I know to look forward and then there’s just things like Calvin Tankman that was announced and everyone knows we’ve got this guy that has been lighting up the indies and everyone’s excited to see what he’s going to do on TV.”
“I feel like we’re ready and we’re prime to bring in some new talent and figure out how they fit into the mix and it’s going to be a very interesting shake-up,” Hammer said, but he knows all too well about the stakes that are on the line in the league. “I say it’s going to friendly, but I know first and foremost it’s going to be really competitive and everyone’s going to be striving to put their best foot forward.”
“I think everyone’s going to be really hungry and I think this group of new guys is going to add to that fire.”
(Transcription credit should go to @DominicDeAngelo of WrestleZone)
More transcriptions to come from this insightful interview, but you can hear the entire conversation below as well:
