NOTE: This story opens with a spoiler about a recent MLW taping.
Major League Wrestling (MLW) has been criticized in recent months for hiring wrestlers who have been accused of troubling behavior or worse.
This criticism ramped up again with the surprise appearance of Masha Slamovich during a taping on Saturday (September 12). PWInsider reported that the Russian star not only debuted for the company at an event in South Carolina, but she also beat Shotzi Blackheart for the MLW Women’s World Championship.
At this stage in her career, Slamovich is best known for her time in TNA, where she was once the Knockouts World Champion. However, her time with the company came to an end after a former partner, independent wrestler AKIRA, accused Slamovich of domestic violence.
When the allegations were first made public in 2025, Slamovich responded by apologizing and taking responsibility for her actions before adding the relationship was “toxic and mutually destructive.”
The news of Masha besting Shotzi for the MLW title was met with swift backlash from some fans on social media.
“Why is MLW now letting abusers into their company, and why are they letting abusers win their title belts?” read one comment on X (Twitter).
Another person wrote: “Should we ignore the fact she literally admitted she admitted she did domestic violence and abuse on her then-boyfriend? Simply… what the f*ck.”
As was pointed out by some of these critics on social media, MLW has a history of employing wrestlers who were turned away from other promotions due to their actions.
Among the current MLW stars mentioned in these posts were Matt Riddle, Austin Aries, Wolfgang, and Joe Coffey.
In 2023, Riddle was among several WWE wrestlers released during a roster purge. However, he had been dogged by allegations for quite some time before his departure.
During the #SpeakingOut movement of 2020, indie wrestler Candy Cartwright accused Riddle of sexually assaulting her years earlier. Riddle denied Cartwright’s allegations, and her suits against him and others dropped. He continued making headlines with things like his public admission of failing drug tests at WWE for cocaine use, and a 2023 altercation with a police officer at New York’s JFK Airport.
Wolfgang and Joe Coffey similarly faced allegations during #SpeakingOut. In WWE’s NXT, the two men competed with Joe’s real-life brother, Mark Coffey, in the stable known as Gallus.
In 2020, Wolfgang’s former fiancé posted that the Scottish wrestler was emotionally manipulative and alluded to his being in possession of possibly illegal digital content. The post was deleted. Around the same time, Joe Coffey was suspended by WWE for a period of time after he was accused of harassing a woman and unsolicited stalking.
It is not known what, if anything, came from the allegations against Wolfgang, and both he and Joe Coffey continued their runs in WWE until all members of Gallus were released by the company in 2025.
Likewise, former WWE star Austin Aries was accused of sexual assault during #SpeakingOut, including by indie wrestler Ariela Nyx. In a statement, Aries pushed back on the claims, saying he was “not a sexual predator” or abuser but apologized if his wrestling character ever crossed a line.
Needless to say, all these wrestling stars have found success in MLW. Furthermore, Slamovich’s appearance at this past weekend’s event was actually done so as a replacement for another controversial wrester, Tessa Blanchard.
Tessa had previously been announced by MLW for the show, but then the company soon scrubbed mentions of her from its website. CMLL, the Mexican company which has Blanchard under contract, later billed her for an event in Mexico City on the same date as MLW’s South Carolina show.
Following the theme of 2020 allegations, Blanchard was accused in that year of bullying by several womenwrestlers, including one who accused her of using a racial slur. Blanchard issued some denials at the time, particularly with an emphatic statement that she’s never used racial epithets.
[Note: Cageside Seats does not report any of these allegations against wrestlers as fact; these accusations were made in statements by others.]
Some wrestling fans made note of the fact that Slamovich seemingly replaced Blanchard on the card while noting both stars have problematic pasts.
“Normally I just put this kinda thing aside for wrestling since so many people in the business are awful and I use it as an escape from the world but MLW is just so damn tone deaf on who they keep bringing in,” X user @ProXFirefly6 wrote.
Another person wrote: “So they won’t bring in a racist bully but will happily bring in and crown someone who’s committed domestic violence?!”
What are your thoughts on MLW bringing in stars with bad reputations? Is it an issue, or do all promotions have talent who have been accused of doing questionable things? Let us know what you think in the comments.
