STARDOM & MLW Announce ‘Strategic Partnership’ With Talent Crossover

Published: May 17, 2026 by Sanchez Taylor | Last Updated: May 17, 2026 by Sanchez Taylor

Sanchez has over six years of pro-wrestling news writing experience, covering the biggest news stories in WWE, NXT, AEW, TNA Wrestling and more. He has personally interviewed a number of top stars, producing exclusive content with the likes of AEW's Swerve Strickland and WWE's Nick Aldis.

STARDOM/MLW

Japanese women’s wrestling promotion World Wonder Ring STARDOM and US-based promotion Major League Wrestling (MLW) have announced a strategic partnership.

STARDOM announced the new partnership between the two promotions on May 17, with the company now releasing a statement with comments from MLW CEO Court Bauer, and STARDOM CEO Taro Okada.

STARDOM shared the following:

Major League Wrestling (MLW) and World Wonder Ring STARDOM (STARDOM) announced a strategic partnership today.

This collaboration will bring together two globally recognized organizations to create new opportunities for wrestlers, expand their international reach, and deliver compelling content to fans around the world.

This partnership will focus on player exchange and creative collaboration, creating opportunities for wrestlers from both MLW and STARDOM to compete on new stages and in front of new audiences.

This partnership reflects a shared goal of delivering world-class matches and further enhancing professional wrestling’s global presence.

MLW CEO and Owner Court Bauer commented, “STARDOM has built an outstanding roster and expressiveness in women’s professional wrestling. I have deep respect and admiration for STARDOM’s level of competition and the wrestlers who embody STARDOM.

I am grateful to President Okada and everyone at STARDOM for this partnership. This collaboration will create fresh faces, new experiences, and meaningful opportunities for both wrestlers and fans.”

Comment from STARDOM CEO Taro Okada : “MLW has established a solid position in the United States, one of the most rapidly developing markets in the professional wrestling business. Furthermore, through partnerships with organizations with a long history and tradition, such as New Japan Pro-Wrestling and CMLL, it continues to accelerate its global expansion.

Through this collaboration with MLW, STARDOM will further promote the appeal of Japanese women’s professional wrestling culture not only in the United States but also in all regions where MLW’s broadcasting and distribution network extends.

In addition, we intend to promote improvements in the competitive aspects of both organizations and further development on the world stage through strengthening exchanges between wrestlers and creating new opportunities for participation.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to MLW and President Court Bauer for their tremendous efforts in making this partnership possible.”

This partnership will further accelerate MLW’s global expansion, which is broadcast in more than 60 countries, and strengthen STARDOM’s presence in North America. Further details regarding this partnership will be announced in the coming weeks.

(Translated from Japanese)

The statement pushes that this partnership will expand both companies’ international reaches, indicating that this partnership will likely work like WWE and TNA’s, with regular talent crossover.

With STARDOM operating under BUSHIROAD, the same parent company as NJPW, it would be interesting to see crossover expand to also involve NJPW stars.

We will continue to provide updates on STARDOM and MLW’s partnership as they become available.