BANKIE'S HOT TAKE #89 - The Present Meets The Future at "WE BEEN HERE"
There are rare times in pro wrestling where it feels destined that a match is the right place, right time to happen.
At Monster Factory Pro Wrestling’s We Been Here on April 4, 2024 in Paulsboro, NJ during WrestleMania Week, former Impact Wrestling World Champion Steve Maclin returns home for an opportunity at the MFPW Championship against Goldy!
One of my good friends, Tough Tim Hughes, has always told me about how impactful the Monster Factory was to his growth as a performer. Naturally, it has been beneficial to countless others as well.
When Danny Cage officially took over control of the Monster Factory in the mid-2010s from the legendary Larry Sharpe, Steve “Tommy” Maclin was the first prodigy Cage and the Factory developed under his tutelage. Maclin won the MFPW Championship and a Tag Team Title during his Monster Factory journey. His dedication and perseverance to the craft of pro wrestling got him a WWE developmental contract in 2014.
Maclin became Steve Cutler and worked his tail off, growing even more as a performer. After becoming a Forgotten Son and one of the Knights of the Lone Wolf under King Corbin, Maclin found himself out of WWE in early 2021.
Unlike many others who would have folded, Maclin, who was bred tough in the US Marine Corps before entering the wrestling industry, bet on himself and went to Impact Wrestling, where he became Impact World Champion on April 16, 2023 at Rebellion, defeating KUSHIDA to win the vacated title in a fantastic fight. He held onto the belt for 54 days, losing the gold to Alex Shelley in June.
Although he was no longer champion, Maclin showed that he had the grit to be the best in the world.
From time-to-time, Maclin would return to the Monster Factory to give back to the younger students and share his knowledge. He even had a second reign as MFPW Champion after his WWE release.
One of the students who watched Maclin’s rise was Goldy.
Goldy, a man with a wealth of potential, studied the blueprint Maclin laid down, and began blazing his own trail in the wrestling industry. He became a big-time player in American X Wrestling out of Pennsylvania, and recently made appearances in both Jersey Championship Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling’s excursion events to the United States.
But the master of the “Golden Touch” has become the face of the MFPW. Goldy was one of the faces of the critically acclaimed Monster Factory series on Apple TV. Currently in his second reign as MFPW Champion, Goldy shows no signs of slowing down and continues to put the Factory on his back.
And yet, according to my sources, there’s a bit of envy from the man who states he’s “born better”. Goldy aspires to be better than Steve Maclin in every facet of the word. He wants to be where Maclin is in his career. And with that, comes a tad bit of jealousy.
At We Been Here, Goldy and Steve Maclin will do battle for the MFPW Championship. Can Maclin come back in and become a three-time title holder for the school that started him on his journey? Or will Goldy step out of that self-imposed shadow and defeat the prodigy that paved the way for other Factory students to venture to bigger and better?
The Present Meets The Future at the Factory on April 4th.
