War Chamber (2019)

Major League Wrestling previously held two WarGames events featuring the namesake WarGames match. However, in 2018, WWE acquired the rights to the WarGames name from MLW for its NXT TakeOver events, which led to MLW stopping the usage of WarGames name.[4]

On June 2, 2019, MLW.com reported that MLW would be holding an event in Dallas, Texas for the first time later in the year.[5] The following day, it was reported that the event which would be titled War Chamber would be taking place on September 7 at the NYTEX Sports Centre.[6] It was later revealed that the War Chamber match would headline the event, which was a variation of the WarGames match, with the only difference being that the ring would be locked by a carbon steel chamber and barbed wire would be placed on the top of the chamber and victory could be attained by pinfall or submission.[7] It was announced that the War Chamber event would air on television as a special episode of Fusion on beIN Sports on September 14.[8]

The card consisted of matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches, with results predetermined by MLW's writers. Storylines were played out on MLW's television program Fusion.[9]

The Contra Unit trio of Simon Gotch, Jacob Fatu and Josef Samael debuted in MLW at Intimidation Games by attacking Tom Lawlor after Lawlor had successfully defended the MLW World Heavyweight Championship against Low Ki in a steel cage match.[10] The group attacked Lawlor numerous times,[11][12][13] leading to a title match between Lawlor and Fatu at Kings of Colosseum, which Fatu won thus winning the World Heavyweight Championship.[14] On the June 22 episode of Fusion, Ross Von Erich and Marshall Von Erich, the sons of Von Erich family member Kevin Von Erich made their MLW debut alongside Lawlor to defeat Contra Unit in a six-man tag team match, thus becoming Lawlor's allies in the rivalry.[15] On the August 3 episode of Fusion, Ikuro Kwon made his MLW debut as the newest Contra Unit member by spraying mist into Marshall Von Erich's eyes after the Von Erichs defeated The Spirit Squad.[16][17] On August 4, MLW.com reported that Lawlor and the Von Erichs challenged Contra Unit to the namesake match at the War Chamber event,[18] which was made official on August 7.[19] On the August 10 episode of Fusion, Kwon was added to the War Chamber as the fourth member of the Contra Unit.[20][21] On August 20, it was announced that Kevin Von Erich would be the cornerman for Lawlor and Von Erichs at War Chamber.[22] On the August 31 episode of Fusion, Lawlor received his rematch against Fatu for the World Heavyweight Championship, which Fatu retained with the help of Contra Unit. Contra Unit attacked Lawlor and the Von Erichs after the match until Low Ki made the save for them.[23] On September 3, it was announced that Ki would be joining Lawlor and the Von Erichs as the fourth member on their team in the War Chamber, stemming from a previous attack by Contra Unit on Low Ki on the May 25 episode of Fusion.[24][25]