The end of a five-year run
The enforcer of the Bomaye Fight Club is officially a free agent. As reported by Fightful Select via BodySlam.net on May 18, 2026, Mr. Thomas and Major League Wrestling have mutually agreed to part ways. It ends a five-year run for a guy who spent half a decade throwing people around Court Bauer's ring.
The split was said to be mutual and in an amicable fashion. The release was agreed upon. Mr. Thomas is able to work or sign anywhere after his MLW release.
The release was immediate. There is no non-compete clause holding him back. He can show up anywhere, working for any promotion, as early as this weekend. For a wrestler with his size and physical presence, the timing is fascinating. The summer schedule is heating up, and independent promotions are always looking for a credible, TV-ready heavy to anchor their cards.
But five years is a long time in professional wrestling. Half a decade under one promotional banner usually means you either become the face of the brand or you hit a hard ceiling. Mr. Thomas hit the latter. He was a reliable soldier for MLW, a guy who consistently delivered exactly what was asked of him. But you cannot help but look at his departure today and wonder what was left on the table.
The Bomaye muscle and the missed explosion
If you watched MLW over the last few years, you know exactly what Mr. Thomas brought to the table. He was the anchor for Alex Kane. While Kane was doing the talking, drinking the Bomaye juice, and building the Bomaye Fight Club into one of the most entertaining acts in the promotion, Thomas was the guy standing behind him, looking like he could snap somebody in half.
Before the Bomaye Fight Club truly cemented itself, Thomas was putting in the grueling reps in MLW's tag division. The promotion has always prided itself on tag team wrestling, relying on chaotic, tornado-style brawls to anchor their midcard. Thomas thrived in that environment. He was the base who could take a massive bump to the floor, let the smaller guys run their high spots, and then slide back in to clear the ring with absolute authority. It is a selfless style of wrestling that rarely gets the credit it deserves, but it is the glue that holds a frantic tag match together.
And he often did. His role was simple but effective. He was the heater. When a babyface got too much momentum, Thomas was the brick wall they ran into. He had a great look, real athletic intensity, and he understood his job perfectly. He didn't need to chain wrestle for twenty minutes. He needed to throw a devastating spinebuster, protect his stablemates, and look menacing while Kane secured the National Openweight Championship and eventually the World Heavyweight title.
The problem is that MLW never really evolved him past that point. The Bomaye Fight Club was wildly popular, but the booking always prioritized Kane's ascent. That is not entirely a knock on Court Bauer. Kane is a genuine star. But when you have a guy like Thomas on the roster for five years, you eventually need to see if he can carry a program on his own.
The biggest tragedy of this run is that MLW completely missed out on the easiest booking trope in professional wrestling. The slow-burn enforcer turn. We have seen it work a million times. Batista turning on Triple H. Wardlow turning on MJF. You have the charismatic, arrogant leader and the silent, deadly muscle. The crowd naturally wants to see the muscle finally snap and destroy his boss.
MLW had the pieces on the board. They had the crowd investment. But they never pulled the trigger. They never gave Mr. Thomas that definitive, breakout moment where he dumped Kane on his head with a powerbomb and claimed his own spotlight. Instead, he remained the loyal soldier until the very end. That is a massive booking failure. It was a comfortable spot, but comfortable rarely gets you to the next level in this business.
The MLW revolving door
Major League Wrestling occupies a weird space in the North American wrestling scene right now. It operates as a fantastic finishing school for talent. Guys go there, get television experience, figure out their characters, and then leave for bigger paychecks in AEW or WWE.
It has been the story of MLW for years. Look at the names who have passed through their doors. Swerve Strickland, MJF, Jacob Fatu, LA Knight. They do an excellent job of finding talent before the bigger companies realize what they have. But that business model inherently means you are always going to lose your best people. It is a constant cycle of rebuilding, a perpetual reset button that Bauer has to hit every twelve to eighteen months.
The departure of Mr. Thomas feels a bit different, though. He wasn't a guy who just popped in for a cup of coffee. Five years is an eternity in MLW. He was a foundational piece of their midcard and tag division. Losing him doesn't cripple the company, but it removes a very reliable piece from their chessboard.
You need guys like him to make a weekly wrestling show work. You need the credible enforcers who can take a loss to a rising star without losing their own aura. It is an exact science, and replacing it is harder than it looks. You cannot just pull any big guy off the indies and expect him to instantly have the same timing and presence. Bauer will find someone else, of course. He always does. But it leaves a noticeable hole in the current roster right as we head into the summer.
The free agent market
So where does a massive, athletic enforcer with five years of national television experience go? The good news for Mr. Thomas is that he is hitting the market without any restrictions.
The obvious answer for anyone leaving MLW is often AEW, considering the sheer volume of talent Tony Khan signs. But AEW's roster is incredibly bloated right now. Unless he is brought in specifically to act as a bodyguard for a heel faction—maybe standing behind Christian Cage or The Don Callis Family—it is hard to see where he gets consistent minutes on television. They already have guys like Wardlow, Brian Cage, and Powerhouse Hobbs struggling for regular screen time. Going to AEW right now might just mean trading the MLW midcard for the Ring of Honor pre-show.
Game Changer Wrestling is a much stronger possibility. GCW loves bringing in guys with TV experience who can work a hard-hitting, bruising style. A run through the GCW roster, working physical matches against guys like Mance Warner, Effy, or Matt Cardona, would instantly raise his stock on the independent scene. He needs reps as a solo star. He needs to show the world what a twenty-minute Mr. Thomas main event looks like. GCW is the perfect chaotic environment to let him off the leash.
We also shouldn't discount the international route. Big, bruising American heavyweights always fare well in Japan. A tour with All Japan Pro Wrestling or Pro Wrestling NOAH would do wonders for his resume. The Japanese crowds respect pure physicality. Entering a tournament like the N-1 Victory would force him to work a grueling schedule against some of the stiffest strikers on the planet. It is exactly the kind of trial by fire that transforms a good enforcer into a great singles wrestler.
The prediction
Here is the reality of the situation. Mr. Thomas is too good to sit on the sidelines for long. He is a proven commodity. He knows how to work a television camera, he understands his character, and he hits incredibly hard.
My prediction? He shows up in TNA Wrestling before the end of July.
The fit is simply too logical. TNA has been doing excellent work with bigger men recently, and their creative team knows how to present an enforcer without exposing their weaknesses. The TNA product right now is built heavily on character work and physical brawls. You could easily slide him into the X-Division as the classic monster for smaller, faster guys to bounce off of.
TNA also has a track record of taking guys who hit a ceiling elsewhere and completely reinventing their presentation. Look at what they did with Steve Maclin. He left WWE as a forgotten midcarder and within two years, he was holding the TNA World Championship because they actually let him showcase his aggression. Mr. Thomas has that exact same violent upside. If TNA gives him a live microphone and tells him to just break people, he could easily follow the Maclin trajectory.
Imagine him walking down the ramp at a TNA Impact taping, stepping right up to someone like Moose or Josh Alexander. It writes itself. They need fresh challengers, and he needs a national platform that will actually let him wrestle rather than just standing at ringside.
The MLW chapter is closed. It was a good run, but it had clearly run its course. The split was amicable because both sides knew there was nothing left to accomplish together. Now, he gets to rewrite his own narrative. For the first time in five years, he isn't just the muscle for someone else's faction. He is calling his own shots.
Watch the tapings closely. The minute a heel needs a hired gun, or a babyface needs a massive obstacle, Mr. Thomas is going to walk through that curtain. And this time, he won't be standing in the background.
