Soundsphere caught up with Joe Coffey about his and the Glasgow Boys’ arrival in Major League Wrestling (MLW), what that means for them, and what that means for the promotion – which is growing in popularity now that MLW Fusion is back on YouTube.
Image credit: Major League Wrestling
Soundsphere: So, the Glasgow Boys are in MLW. What’s your manifesto?
Joe Coffey: Well, basically, we’re really not here to make friends. I’ve got friends. We’re here to make waves. We’re always the GBOT and who we formerly were. The mission statement, our manifesto, and our message are quite simple. We are coming for the big score. Any title that’s on the line or up for grabs, that’s exactly what we are going for. And just to make this clear as well, we are not visitors in MLW. We’re going to be here for a bit, so it’s just a message to the locker room that we’re not, pardon the pun, sticking around for a cup of coffee. We are here to take over because that’s what we do. That’s what we’ve done everywhere we’ve ever been. We have made ourselves very, very well known.
Soundsphere: What attracted all three of you to MLW, and how has the promotion been as a home so far?
Joe Coffey: It’s been great. I’ve actually really, really enjoyed my MLW experience. You know, it’s the fastest-growing wrestling league in America and in the world, in my opinion. There is literally something for everyone, and it’s not even that. MLW makes its live experience inclusive and as broad as possible so that everyone can enjoy it, and it’s also affordable. It’s affordable for families, and tickets start at like $15, even for the fall events in Charleston, Philadelphia, and Chicago. I think in this day and age, that’s incredibly important because all I see, not just in wrestling but all over the world. For example, I’m a massive Celtic fan, football-wise, and all I see is greed everywhere. And, you know, working-class people get shunned as per normal. MLW has assembled a great locker room, and unfortunately we’re going to disrupt it when we’re kicking about in MLW, but it has been very harmonious.
Image credit: Major League Wrestling
Soundsphere: MLW is gaining momentum. Why should fans not sleep on it, especially with it being easily available on YouTube in the UK?
Joe Coffey: Yeah, that’s the thing. You know, it’s on YouTube, the fact that it’s just so easily accessible is a massive positive. There are so many pros and cons to the way social media is these days, and things like YouTube, but that accessibility is a huge advantage. It’s available to everyone in the world, and the good thing is I’ve seen nothing but positive feedback about MLW. Wrestling can sometimes be, if you look on Twitter/X or whatever it’s called, this incubator and echo chamber of negativity, but any time I’ve had a look at the comments on YouTube once the show airs, I’ve seen nothing but positive reviews. I think there are a lot of people in that locker room, and in the office as well, who want to do something special and want to create something very different for people to enjoy.
Soundsphere: How do you feel about working in a promotion that is more edgy and puts combat sports style front and centre?
Joe Coffey: Yeah, I absolutely love it. I’ve been a professional wrestler for many years now, and I’m very versed in different styles. But it is good to go in and do things like that. For example, you’ve got Matt Riddle. His reputation speaks for itself. You’ve got Killer Kross as well. They’re people I’m looking forward to getting in the ring with and, you know, mixing it up a little bit. I have combat experience myself. I’ve been boxing for eight years, street fights in Glasgow back in the day as well, just to survive. But no, I’m looking forward to bringing my style, which we’ve coined “designer violence” with the GBOT, because it’s going to be violent, but you can make sure that we’re going to look good doing it.
Image credit: Major League Wrestling
Soundsphere: What feels different about MLW compared to previous places you’ve worked?
Joe Coffey: Now we get to concentrate on ourselves, and I think you’ll see a much better version of us in that case because we actually get to focus on ourselves for a change and, you know, not help everyone else, which is fine. It served a purpose, and it is what it is. But it’s a very selfish industry, and although we’re very giving individuals, both individually and collectively, sometimes you have to take care of yourself first.
Soundsphere: We see a lot of tribalism in the internet wrestling community, with fans only supporting one promotion, swearing off all others, then arguing online with the fans who picked a different one. What would you say to those people?
Joe Coffey: Grow up. Seriously, grow up. You’re lucky. Seriously, you are lucky to have this amount of content in this day and age. For example, I grew up in the ’90s, so it was WWF, WCW, and ECW if you were lucky.
So my Friday nights, because obviously we would get it on the Friday after it had been taped on the Monday, would consist of getting home from school, going out and playing football or whatever, coming back, watching WCW on TNT at nine o’clock. It started after Cartoon Network and then flipping between that and Sky Sports. At not one point when I was a kid did I think, “Oh, I’m choosing this, I’m choosing that.” No, I just loved it collectively. It was just the best time. And then, depending on the week, ECW would be on Bravo over here, and you would just absorb so much wrestling.
I think a lot of people need to grow up but also, paradoxically, take a step back and think about what they were like as a kid. Would you enjoy this? Because people who are wrestling fans of our age grew up with it. It just baffles my mind, honestly. There’s so much talent across every promotion in the world. Enjoy it. Just enjoy it because, you know what? This is essentially another boom period. Wrestling’s never been this popular again. It’s everywhere. Even I’m back home in Glasgow just now, and there are billboards with wrestling, different promotions, obviously the bigger promotions and things. Just enjoy it. Really enjoy this period because you never know when the next dip might come.
Image credit: Major League Wrestling
Soundsphere: Many wrestling stables break up with members moving around. What’s it like for you to keep travelling the world and standing alongside your brother and Wolfgang in a new home?
Joe Coffey: It’s great. I mean, the three of us have been through so much, you know, so many highs and so many lows over the years. We’ve been together, I think, six or seven years as a group, so it is familiar, you know what I mean? We’ve all got our separate jobs on the road. I’m the guy who finds the gyms. Someone else finds where’s good to eat. We’ve all got our different little tasks when we go to each city and town.
So it’s great. Obviously, myself and Mark grew up together as massive wrestling fans, so this is what we’ve always wanted to do as kids, and it is great to travel the world. Wolfgang’s become another brother because that’s what wrestling brings, it’s a certain type of brotherhood. We’re all from Glasgow, and we all kind of have the same humour and everything, so it has been great. We’ve got to do some really, really great things and some cool things, and long may it continue. We’re just looking positively towards the future.