Manila Wrestling Federation (MWF) was an independentprofessional wrestling promotion based in the Philippines. MWF was founded in late 2014, and relaunched in 2018. It shut down on May 25, 2024.
MWF promotes itself as the home of "Aksyonovela" – a portmanteau of the Filipino word for "action" and the suffix of telenovela – representing the mix of athletic wrestling action and timely, relatable storytelling that the promotion presents.[1]
History
MWF's beginnings came on the heels of another Philippine pro wrestling promotion, Philippine Wrestling Revolution (PWR). Some of MWF's founders – like Mike Shannon, Robin Sane, Mr. Lucha, Tarek El Tayech, and William Elvin – had worked with PWR, but internal issues led to their departure from that company in late 2014.[2] They then started laying the foundations of MWF along with co-founder Tala Haliya, recruited wrestlers and talents, and started wrestling training.[3][4]
MWF informally launched at History Channel's HistoryCon event in August 2016, staging wrestling matches across three days of the convention. MWF wrestlers were joined by wrestlers from Singapore Pro Wrestling (SPW), like The Eurasian Dragon, "The Statement" Andruew Tang, Alexis Lee, and The Thaibarrian.[5]
In April 2017, MWF produced its debut show, MWF Live, at the Makati Square Arena.[6][7] After 4 more shows, MWF did a relaunch of its product in February 2018 at MWF Open House: Level UP, at the University of the Philippines Diliman.[8][9]
Starting MWF 1: Kasaysayan, all of MWF's shows are numbered sequentially.[10][11][12][13][14]
MWF also produces an online weekly wrestling show, Aksyonovela TV, on its YouTube channel. Its first episode aired on October 23, 2019. In November 2019, MWF started to tape episodes in front of a live audience.[15]
On May 25, 2024, on a Facebook post, Manila Wrestling Federation announced its abrupt closure.
On June 27, 2024, one month after the closure of MWF, PUSO Wrestling was on the soft launch featuring most of the MWF wrestlers as its current roster. It is officially launched in August 2024.
Championships
Championship
Last champion(s)
Reign
Date won
Days held
Notes
MWF Championship
Jake De Leon
2
December 3, 2023
355+
Oro Plata Mata defeated MWF All-Stars; thus Fabio Makisig no longer being the champion. JDL Defeated Main Maxx in a Matira Matibay Rules at MWF: Noche Buena
MWF Championship
Established in 2018. Redesigned in 2019 and is now known as the “Jeepney belt”, which contains Filipino themed symbols like perlas "pearls", araw "sun", tambo "reed/bulrush", manok "chicken", pula at bughaw na strap "red and blue strap", and Jeepney main plate.[16]
Key
No.
Overall reign number
Reign
Reign number for the specific champion
Days
Number of days held
No.
Champion
Championship change
Reign statistics
Notes
Ref.
Date
Event
Location
Reign
Days
1
Robin Sane
December 1, 2018
MWF Noche Buena
Quezon City
1
237
Defeated Fabio Makisig to become the inaugural champion.
The championship was vacated due to inactivity per pandemic. Initially, it wasn't supposed to be vacated as MWF Commissioner Sonny Go declared that Ho Ho Lun was still the champion, and the MWF wrestlers would compete in a series of matches and face Ho Ho Lun in the future. The title was quietly vacated, and the wrestlers who topped the rankings will fight for the MWF Championship.
Oro Plata Mata defeated MWF All-Stars; thus Fabio Makisig no longer being the champion. JDL Defeated Main Maxx in a Matira Matibay Rules at MWF: Noche Buena
—
Deactivated
May 25, 2024
n/a
n/a
—
—
The championship was deactivated due to MWF closing.
