In a previous interview with Wrestling Inc Daily, Davey Boy Smith Jr explained that his MLW deal was coming to an end in December:
Davey Boy Smith Jr. on his MLW deal expiring in December: “If there was a happy medium where MLW could run shows in an empty arena with no fans and people getting COVID testing. I think that would be the right approach…Unfortunately, they don’t pay talent when they are sitting at home bored out of their mind, which isn’t good either. My deal is up with them in December. They’ve reached out to me about renewing my deal. The only problem is renewing a deal when you don’t know if the company is running again. With all due respect and what I think with what is all going on right now, I think what we’re looking at is the new [normal] for a while for the next year to 18 months.
In responce to this, Davey also said that he had an offer to work with Ken Shamrock on Impact, but his MLW contract stopped it. The problem with his current deal is that it’s an exclusive deal but he’s only paid per appearance.
In a statement on MLW.com, Head of Talent Relations Jared St. Laurent denied that the company had anything to do with Smith being unable to work with Impact.
He wrote: “I want to address some misinformation put out there. I had talks with Impact about Davey Boy possibly crossing over and doing some dates. We had a very positive conversation with Impact. Scott D’Amore and Impact were great to deal with and we were absolutely open to it. We gave Davey several options for how we could make this work as well as help him out financially during the pandemic. Davey opted to do nothing, unfortunately. It could’ve been a win/win for all 3 parties. It’s a shame but that is the full story. On a personal level, I’ve known Davey for almost 2 decades. It’s sad to see him elect to end his tenure with yet another company on such a sour note.“