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Exclusive: Hammerstone Navigated Rocky Free Agent Waters And Tumultuous Times In TNA On The Road Home To MLW
Hammerstone made his triumphant return to MLW at the Battle Riot 7 event last weekend and the wrestling world feels aligned because of it. Hammerstone was synon
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Hammerstone made his triumphant return to MLW at the Battle Riot 7 event last weekend and the wrestling world feels aligned because of it.
Hammerstone was synonymous with Major League Wrestling as it's world champion and lead babyface act for years, but the opportunity to grow as a wrestler and achieve other goals in the industry took him elsewhere when his contract ended at the beginning of 2024.
In his time away, Hammerstone navigated rocky free agent waters and tumultuous times with TNA, but that journey led him back to the company he helped build. In an exclusive interview with The Takedown on SI, Hammerstone opened up for the first time about returning to MLW, his time in TNA, and what the future holds for him in pro wrestling.
"It was very interesting," Hammerstone said of his return to MLW at Battle Riot. You don't exactly know how things like that are going to go, from multiple angles, as far as how the locker room is going to be receptive to you, all the way to how the fans are going to react. Are they still going to care? Are they going to know who you are? Are they going to be excited? And I gotta say, on every level, it just exceeded my expectations."
"The locker room was incredible. The backstage -- everyone was just so professional and so kind to me. And then the fan reactions speak for themselves. Getting to go out there and see the happiness and feel that energy -- it's like it was definitely at a level that I've been missing for a while. It really rejuvenated me, so to speak."
Hammerstone last wrestled for MLW at the end of 2023. In 2024, Hammerstone took overtures from WWE, AEW, and other promotions, but landed with TNA -- a company that made sense to him when weighing the different offers he had in front of him.
"There's been subtle discussions at every point with every company at the time last year," Hammerstone said of his early free agency. "When I was in free agency like that, that TNA deal seemed like the best -- the best offer for me at the time. I understand that sometimes people get lost in shuffle, but with the size of the TNA product at the time, I thought that was a good opportunity to stand out. I was very happy with the match they gave me Hard to Kill. So, that just seemed like the most logical choice at the time."
Hammerstone's run in TNA started off hot thanks to a feud and a flurry of good matches against TNA legend, Josh Alexander, but Hammerstone said eventually the company stopped caring about him.
"At a certain point, perception is reality," Hammerstone said. "So I'm sitting there and from my perception, I felt like the company stopped caring about me and maybe I needed to do something in a different way. Maybe they were looking for something that I wasn't giving them. But also that was never a conversation that was had. I'd be very happy to be sat down and told, 'hey, creatively, this is what we want to do. So we need to see more of this out of you.' And I never got that. It was just like, hey, where are we going creatively? And a lot of times it's like, well, you know what you're doing with this guy. You know what you're doing this that guy, so why don't you know what you're doing with me?"
The former MLW World Heavyweight had to sit back and watch video packages be edited that featured nearly every member of the TNA roster, except him. It was the same story when it came to the company's promotional posters.
Then came the TNA End of the Year Awards where his bout with Josh Alexander ended up falling by the wayside, sparking a fair amount of online criticisms.
"Whether that's a minority of fans or not. I don't care if I lose the poll. Just put me on the poll. So it got to a point where I felt like there was a loss of faith in me. And I don't know where that came from, but I could be way off here, and I'm not blaming anybody except myself, but once you start to perceive things like that, that becomes reality. So it's like, if this company doesn't have faith, I mean, why should I even have faith in myself if they don't have direction for me? Why should I try so hard? It's not to say that I ever gave up, but mentally, I just felt beat down."
Now that Hammerstone is back with MLW, he says that working with new stars is a priority. However, showing off his fire and reminding people what he can do is his top goal.
"There's a handful of people that I really want to work with (in MLW)," Hammerstone said. "That's another thing really exciting about stepping away for a certain amount of time and then coming back. The landscape with the changeover, it means there's a whole new main event scene for me to get in there with.
"As soon as you step back in the ring, you start seeing the other champions and you're like, 'no, that's mine, not yours. So, that's an aspect to it, you know. There's also the idea that MLW is partnered up with New Japan. They've partnered up with CMLL. So that opens these bridges to potentially go overseas or over to Mexico and work with these other companies and a whole list of other talent over there. The first thing, though, is I just want to just kind of remind people of who I am and what I'm capable of. I think the Battle Riot was a great start to that. For anyone who thinks I've lost my passion or my fire, go watch that match and tell me the same thing."
Make sure to check out our full conversation with Hammerstone in the video above, and don't forget to subscribe to The Takedown on SI YouTube channel for more exclusive interview content.
