Dominic Garrini on Tom Lawlor Pushing To Bring Him Into MLW, Teaming With Lawlor at AAA vs. MLW, Possible Tag Title Run

Speaking with Jeffrey Harris for the 411 Wrestling Interviews Podcast, MLW star MLW star Dominic Garrini talked about his team with “Filthy” Tom Lawlor and Lawlor pushing to bring him into MLW initially. Garrini has been a regular ally of Lawlor’s, teaming with him on several occasions including the AAA vs. MLW Super Series that served as one of the last live wrestling shows before the industry was more or less shut down in terms of live shows by the pandemic.

Garrini talked with Jeffrey about what that experience at AAA vs. MLW was like, how much Lawlor pushed for him to get into MLW and possibly teaming with Lawlor to make a run at the Von Erich’s MLW Tag Team Championships. Highlights and the full podcast are below:

Dominic Garrini on teaming with Tom Lawlor at AAA vs. MLW Super Series right before the pandemic shut everything down: “Yeah, I remember they brought us down a day early for everything, so I literally landed in San Diego on Thursday. And I had a text from Court [Bauer] that was like, ‘Hey, if you’re not comfortable wrestling this weekend, there’s no problem with that.’ He goes, ‘You know, no worries, we’ll just do promos and we’ll go from there.’ From that point, I was already in San Diego from Cleveland so I was like, ‘Let’s go.’ I said, “I’m good.’ And I also had it in the back of my head, like, ‘Man, this could be the last match I have for a little while, so to me there was no better place to have one of my last matches for the foreseeable future than in front of thousands of people. I had never wrestled in Mexico to that point, so I was really excited for that. The opportunity to work for AAA as well was just unparalleled. So it was all those things together.”

Dominic Garrini on Tom Lawlor’s influence on bringing him into MLW: “And you know, getting to team with Tom is one of the biggest things, just because from the day Tom started in MLW, Tom always beat the drum to bring me into MLW. Tom and I had been friends for a couple years now, and he’s really been a guy that’s always pushed for me in MLW. And when I told him that I was gonna sign, he was just beyond, you know, he was over the moon excited for it. So to be able to share that Mexico debut with Tom, and then to be as hated as we were there, because I don’t know how it came off on the video but man, they hated Tom and I that night. And it was almost like a perfect storm. And like I said, if I’m gonna have one match to last me about six months, that was probably one of the better ones that I could have had.”

Dominic Garrini on a possible run at the tag titles with Lawlor: “Yeah, with — you know, before the quarantine, it was gonna be maybe a little different because Tom was gonna have to try and split time between the Pro Fight League contract he just signed and MLW. But with Pro Fight League cancelling their upcoming season, you know, if we could get back by the end of the year, Tom and I are definitely targeting them Von Erich boys. We just think they’ve been given everything in MLW. Everything’s on a silver platter to them, whereas guys like myself and Tom have had to work harder than those guys have because our last name isn’t Von Erich and we’re not dynasty wrestlers like they are. So they’re definitely in our crosshairs. You know, what we did in Dallas was just the start of everything with them, and our game plan is to continue to terrorize them until they give us what we want, which is those tag team titles.”

In the full interview, Garrini talks about coming from Brazilian jiu-jitsu to pro wrestling, why MLW was the right place for him, teaming with Tom Lawlor, a possible run at the MLW Tag Team Titles, dealing with MLW’s shutdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic, main eventing the famous 2300 Arena and much more.

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0:00: Introduction
2:30: On making the leap from Brazilian jiu-jitsu to pro wrestling
5:34: On training under Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae
6:12: On why MLW was the right fit for him, working to reinvent himself in 2018 and 2019
9:02: On MLW attracting talent with MMA and grappling experience like him
10:34: On his MLW debut against Ariel Dominguez and coming in in his BJJ gear in order to make a statement of who he is
11:42: On setting out to bring something different to the ring, bringing a shoot style back into wrestling
15:03: On teaming with Tom Lawlor at AAA vs. MLW Super Series right before the COVID-19 shutdown
17:05: On being dealing with stuck in a holding pattern due to the pandemic, MLW being on a hot streak before the shutdown
19:44: On the downtime making him fired up for the industry to return
21:17: On the importance of working in front of a crowd for him and adjusting to no crowd if MLW runs empty arena shows
23:21: On Court Bauer continuing to make moves for MLW during the downtime
24:50: On if he wants to continue teaming with Tom Lawlor and a possible run at the tag team titles
25:59: On working the legendary 2300 (ECW) Arena against the Von Erichs, Davey Boy Smith & Killer Kross
27:08: Where to find him online
28:39: Outro

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