LaBron Kozone on Becoming Major League Wrestling’s Future

In 2023, LaBron Kozone was ready to walk away. He wasn’t even 30, but he had already made peace with a quieter future as a full-time wrestling coach in Greensboro, North Carolina. Some of his students were drawing interest from WWE, and he figured his real gift might be building other people’s dreams.

Three years later, Major League Wrestling is calling him the future of the company.

Kozone told that story to host Paige B on Black America Web’s Tap Out Tea. He didn’t tell it like a man who got lucky. He told it like a man who refused to stay invisible.

A Decade Under the Table

Kozone started training in 2008. He did not come from a famous wrestling school, and no legends were vouching for him. For his first 10 years, he survived on whatever he could find.

“A lot of things I had to scratch and crawl and pick up crumbs from underneath the big major tables,” he said.

That meant chasing every booking and every lesson he could get. Kozone understood early that knowledge is power in this business, and he wanted power. He also had to be honest about his body. He spent his early years as a high flyer working a lucha style. By 2016, he admitted the problem with a laugh: “I realized that I was a big boy and nobody was catching me.”

So he kept it grounded. He sharpened his technical wrestling and found his calling card along the way. Nobody throws a clothesline like him.

The Deadlock Turning Point

Deadlock Pro Wrestling changed everything. Just as Kozone was leaning toward teaching, the promoters there believed in him. One of them was actually training under him and saw his potential up close.

The crowd confirmed it. In the ring with Tom Lawlor, Trevor Lee, Timothy Thatcher, Speedball Mike Bailey, and Calvin Tankman, Kozone learned that what he brought was different and needed. He took his act to Japan and Germany, and international fans responded. He became the longest-reigning DPW National Champion and defended that title overseas more than once.

“To this day,” he said, “I’ve never doubted myself as a competitor ever since.”

Why MLW, and Why Now

Earlier this year, Kozone signed a multi-year deal with MLW. The choice was strategic. He looked across the wrestling landscape and asked a direct question: where would he do the most good?

His answer was a company that has been around since 2002, has strong international ties, and is selling out shows. For MLW, signing him is a bet on a homegrown, self-made talent who can carry a brand. Kozone takes that label calmly. “I’m not about talk,” he said. His goal is for his work to beat every expectation placed on him.

Teddy Long and the Weight of Culture

Kozone’s MLW debut came with a co-sign from Teddy Long. The storyline began when Joe Coffey and the Glasgow Boys attacked the legend, which pulled Kozone into a feud with Coffey.

For Kozone, the moment meant much more than the angle. He grew up watching Long. He also knows what Long represents: a generation of Black wrestlers and executives who faced adversity so younger talent could thrive.

“Teddy Long represents culture of wrestling, especially in our community that had to crawl and struggle just so we can thrive,” Kozone said.

Long did not have to be in that building. He chose to be. That choice says plenty about who believes in Kozone.

Ball Game and the Muay Thai Edge

MLW lists Kozone’s style as technical. His most feared weapon is pure impact. “Ball Game” is his lariat, and he believes it is the most devastating one in wrestling today. The name explains itself: lights out, game over, match done. He has even refined it with Satoshi Kojima, one of the great lariat throwers of all time.

He has also spent the past year training Muay Thai three days a week at Conquer Muay Thai in Greensboro. He calls himself a student who is still learning, but the striking already shows up in his matches.

The Top of the Mountain

Kozone’s goal is clear: the MLW Heavyweight Championship. His dream opponent is Killer Kross. Meanwhile, his school, Firestar Pro Wrestling, keeps producing rising stars back home in Greensboro. WWE superstars Je’Von Evans and Jackson Drake are among the many students that Kozone taught over the years. Now, it’s his time to shine.

The crumbs are gone. Kozone has a seat at the table now, and he plans to take the whole thing.