{"id":102957,"date":"2021-10-25T12:00:24","date_gmt":"2021-10-25T16:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=102957"},"modified":"2021-10-25T06:40:29","modified_gmt":"2021-10-25T10:40:29","slug":"filthy-tom-lawlor-sign-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/10\/25\/filthy-tom-lawlor-sign-next\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Filthy&#8221; Tom Lawlor: Where should he sign next?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cFilthy\u201d Tom Lawlor has been an integral part of the Major League Wrestling reboot that has unfolded over the past 4 years. Lawlor not only held the MLW World Heavyweight Championship at an important part in the promotion\u2019s re-blossom to the wrestling scene, but has competed in a vast amount of important main event matches for the promotion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Tom Lawlor vs. Marshall Von Erich\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l0PPT3Zo9Wc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unfortunately, it seems like Lawlor is likely on his way out of the promotion given the recent <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/fightful\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fightful Select<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> report that his contract is up soon and that no talks have been made to bring him back. This will be a massive loss for MLW, but an essential gain for another company.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Speaking of other companies, we\u2019re here today to take a look at Lawlor\u2019s potential next move in the wrestling world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>What&#8217;s Next for &#8220;Filthy&#8221; Tom Lawlor<\/h2>\n<h3><b>New Japan Pro Wrestling<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is the layup answer, simply because Lawlor is already featured heavily on NJPW Strong &#8211; so heavily that he\u2019s their<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/04\/23\/filthy-tom-lawlor-njpw-strong-openweight-champion\/\" target=\"_self\"> current reigning Openweight Champion<\/a>. Lawlor is one of the top heels on Strong every week and is seemingly very favored by the promotion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As COVID-19 begins to fade away more and more, I definitely see Lawlor eventually popping up in Japan to wrestle for the promotion in their home base. Lawlor would be a fantastic edition and a breath of fresh air to the Junior Heavyweight division.\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NJPW could even pass off Lawlor as a heavyweight if he put on a few pounds, especially because MLW did it a few years back.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Ring Of Honor\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As an avid Ring Of Honor watcher, I\u2019d personally be stoked to see Tom Lawlor pop up and turn the company upside down. The main event scene is desperately lacking effective heels outside of La Faccion Ingobernable, and Lawlor could provide that from day one.\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cFilthy\u201d could also easily adapt to the Pure Wrestling style that the promotion is heavily backing right now. Lawlor matching up with Gresham would be an instant main event for any ROH pay-per-view.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While this would be a big move for the company, I don\u2019t see it happening, unfortunately. It\u2019s very rare that ROH is in a \u201cspending mood\u201d nowadays with their roster already loaded with big-money deals and I\u2019m sure Lawlor is looking for a decent payday.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>All Elite Wrestling\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If this would have happened in 2019, I\u2019d be all for it. But it\u2019s 2021 and AEW has an absolutely loaded (and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2020\/11\/21\/aew-roster-too-big\/\" target=\"_self\">bloated<\/a>) roster. Lawlor is a good addition to any wrestling promotion, but he would get lost in the shuffle if he lent his services to Tony Khan and co.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unless Lawlor was to bring his \u201cTeam Filthy\u201d friends Kevin Ku and Dominic Garrini with him and enter the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2020\/03\/05\/defense-of-aews-factions\/\" target=\"_self\">Faction frenzy<\/a> that AEW has, I don\u2019t think he would fit well in the current confines of the Elite Zone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>IMPACT Wrestling\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eh? <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tom Lawlor and IMPACT Wrestling are like Pineapple and Pizza.. they just don\u2019t go together.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lawlor\u2019s presentation and style just don\u2019t seem like it would fit in the Nashville-based promotion. Although other hybrid-style competitors like Killer Kross have succeeded there before, the thought of the two parties working together just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I would be open to giving it a chance though, given that Impact needs more heels that can be taken seriously and presented as legit bad guys.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>WWE\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Again\u2026 eh. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lawlor is 38 and an independent wrestler, meaning WWE shouldn\u2019t be interested in him. And even if they were, I just don\u2019t think the fit is right &#8211; even more so than the IMPACT fit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We\u2019ve seen countless independent wrestlers watered down by the WWE system. If you strip away what makes Lawlor a special talent, then he\u2019s going to end up being one of the annual roster cuts that the wrestling titan makes every year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Verdict<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Overall, I definitely see New Japan Pro Wrestling or Ring Of Honor as the best fit for Lawlor. His style of wrestling is best served in a sports-centric environment, something that both of those promotions provide in their own individual way.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cFilthy\u201d Tom Lawlor has been an integral part of the Major League Wrestling reboot that has unfolded over the past 4 years. Lawlor not only held the MLW World Heavyweight Championship at an important part in the promotion\u2019s re-blossom to the wrestling scene, but has competed in a vast amount of important main event matches [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3960,"featured_media":90075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5283],"tags":[4133,226,2012,188,81,2015,47],"class_list":["post-102957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlw","tag-aew","tag-impact-wrestling","tag-mlw","tag-njpw","tag-roh","tag-tom-lawlor","tag-wwe"],"modified_by":"Alex Richards, LWOF Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3960"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}