MLW court has adjourned as former tag team champion EJ Nduka “The Judge” is leaving the company to pursue free agency. Nduka officially captured the MLW tag team titles with his Hustle & Power tag team partner, Calvin Tankman, last February at Superfight. On last night’s episode of MLW Underground on Reelz, Hustle & Power were unsuccessful in defending their titles against Samoan Swat Team, Juicy Finau and Lance Anoa’i, and following the bout, Nduka took to Twitter to announce his run with MLW has come to an end for the time.
“Thank you @MLW,” Nduka began. “It’s been one crazy ride. & Thank you all for supporting me. … THE JUDGE IS JUST GETTING STARTED. See you soon.”
Nduka signed with MLW in June of 2021 as part of their Open Draft, a little over a month after his release from the WWE Performance Center. At the time, Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that Nduka’s release came as a surprise to many in WWE since he is taller than Braun Strowman and has, arguably, a better bodybuilder body than Lex Luger.
Nduka signed with WWE in 2019 and spent twenty months in the Performance Center without debuting on NXT TV. In regard to his release, Nduka told me at the time that he was surprised by the move and felt he was working as hard as he could to do what WWE wanted from him. He noted that the bridge to WWE had not been burned and teased big things soon, then came his MLW signing.
Fightful is reporting that there is major interest in Nduka from AEW, who has offered him a contract but he has yet to accept it. Haus Of Wrestling can confirm that as of this writing, Nduka is a free agent and has not signed with anyone. Furthermore, Fightful’s report notes that Nduka has had contact with WWE and that there is also interest from Mexico and Japan.
Stay with Haus Of Wrestling for all the latest on where The Judge’s court will be in session next.