Court Bauer Says Alex Hammerstone, Jacob Fatu Were Rejected At WWE Performance Center

If there are two wrestlers outside the current WWE roster that fit the so-called "WWE mold," they'd have to be MLW stars Alex Hammerstone and Jacob Fatu. Both Hammerstone and Fatu are physical specimens and certified heavyweights who wrestle a style that, many believe, fits perfectly within WWE's playbook.

Despite possessing all the natural gifts, neither wrestler has ever come close to landing a WWE contract. While Hammerstone has revealed he unsuccessfully auditioned for WWE on three occasions, Fatu has been mum about his pursuit of a career in WWE. Their MLW boss, Court Bauer, however, is seemingly willing to spill the beans. In a recent interview with "Busted Open Radio," Bauer opened up on all the instances WWE rejected his two biggest stars.

"Hammerstone went for a few tryouts and was told, 'You look too much like Triple H,'" Bauer revealed. "The same with Fatu — people forget he had like three or four tryouts at WWE PC. They didn't sign him. Now, everyone's like, 'He should go to WWE.' There's a reason the dude keeps re-upping with us. This is the system that has figured it out. We found him, and he found himself. 

"He has all the love for his family [The Bloodline] and what they're doing there [in WWE], but he's enjoying his time in MLW. If you're finding him on MLW, support the company that gave him that spotlight. Don't try to fancy book something, when the machine there [in WWE] didn't get it, didn't see it. So, support where he is and where he is thriving."

Following his WWE auditions, the last of which took place in 2018, Alex Hammerstone also tried out for Impact Wrestling — only to be rejected. According to Tommy Dreamer, who conducted the interview with Court Bauer, Hammerstone reminded Impact executives of Shane Douglas during his tryout and believes it was a mistake on Impact's part to not sign the budding wrestler.

"You saw him as your franchise, and you signed him, which is cool," Dreamer told Bauer, praising the MLW boss for believing in Hammerstone's talents.

Earlier in the interview, Bauer praised Hammerstone for emerging as a franchise player and locker room leader as he looked back on that fateful night in early 2019 when both Hammerstone and Fatu made their MLW debuts. With a lot of talents migrating to bigger promotions such as WWE and AEW, Bauer had to admittedly "reload the roster" by bringing in a whole new set of faces.

"Hammerstone and Fatu have been the bedrock of MLW," Bauer stressed. "We have built the last 4 or 5 years of MLW on the back of them."

Looking ahead, Bauer has earmarked Alex Kane, another impressive physical specimen, as the next breakout star from MLW. Kane recently won MLW Battle Riot V to earn a shot at Hammerstone's MLW World Heavyweight Championship.