Matt Riddle’s first defense of the MLW World Heavyweight Championship has been announced.
On Monday, MLW officially confirmed that Riddle will face former champions Satoshi Kojima and Alex Kane in a triple-threat match at SuperFight 6 on Saturday, February 8, 2025. The event will take place at Center Stage in Atlanta, and air live on YouTube.
Riddle defeated Kojima to win the title on Saturday at Kings of Colosseum 2025 in Dallas. After the match, the new champion mentioned wanting to defend the title against Alex Kane, who was recently fired by MLW General Manager Eric Bischoff, in storyline.
When asked who he wants to defend the MLW World title against at SuperFight, Riddle responded:
“Well, you know, bro, I think I’m going to freestyle this one, and I know he’s recently been fired, unjustly, and he hasn’t had a world title shot in over a year. And he’s standing right here to my left…”
Kane then entered the scene and told Riddle he doesn’t deserve to hold the title.
“I’ll be honest, I strongly disagree; I’m the King of Bros,” Riddle responded to Kane. “I just did something you couldn’t do. I just beat Kojima-san, bro. And that’s why I’m the MLW Heavyweight World Champion.”
Kojima then entered the press conference and stated he wants a rematch for the title he just lost.
“I want rematch,” Kojima said repeatedly.
“I got a perfect solution, I’ll take you both on, bro, see you there,” Riddle responded.
MLW’s first free signature event of the year aired Saturday with Reload, taped earlier this month as part of the Kings of Colosseum tapings from Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena with Joe Dombrowski and Matt Striker on the call.
A “Sessions with Saint Laurent” segment featuring MLW Champion Alex Kane kicked things off. Saint Laurent tried to sign Kane to his WTF stable, even giving him a custom WTF entrance song to try to tempt the champ. Kane didn’t buy into Saint Laurent’s elaborate promises and ended up tearing up the contract presented to him.
Zayda (w/ Saint Laurent) defeated Notorious Mimi
Striker mentioned both competitors being heels and the fans not liking either, but Mimi worked as the babyface and had the fans shouting “yay” in a boo/yay strike exchange. Moments later, Zayda tried to pull a fast one and get a pin with her feet on the ropes.
Mimi hit a nice back kick for a two count and had momentum in her favor as she climbed to the top, but Zayda knocked her off and hit an Unprettier to pick up the win.
After the match, Dombrowski tried to get an interview with Zayda but Saint Laurent took over and pushed him to the side. In a long line of WTF comparisons to mid-90s WWF, we were told “The Federette” was America Online’s most downloaded person in all of 2023 before she said she wanted a Featherweight title shot.
However, that might interfere in Saint Laurent’s business dealings with Salina de la Renta, so he said he would handle it and talk to Salina.
– Mistico will take on Averno at MLW Superfight on February 3rd. Other matches announced include Alex Kane vs. Satoshi Kojima for the MLW title, Sami Callihan vs. AKIRA in a “Callihan Rules” match, Yuji Nagata vs. Jacob Fatu, and Ichiban vs. Rocky Romero for the Middleweight title in a two out of three falls match
– Minoru Suzuki was announced for Intimidation Games on February 29th from New York City.
Good Brother #3 defeated Steph De Lander (w/ Saint Laurent)
De Lander cost Mance Warner his “MLW career” when she interfered in his loser leaves MLW match against Matt Cardona. But, luckily a close friend of Warner, the masked Good Brother #3 who bears a striking resemblance to Warner, was quick to step into Warner’s shoes to try to exact some revenge for his fallen Southern friend.
De Lander offered a handshake and then kissed Warner, I mean Good Brother, before rolling him up for a sneaky fast two count. Moments later, she crashed into the ring post on the outside which let GB set up some weapons in the ring.
Inside the ring, De Lander tried to give GB a lap dance but he quickly swapped positions, got on the mic, had some music play, and began stripping down. As he was getting into it, De Lander kicked him low, rammed his face into the chair, and used another chair to crack across his skull.
De Lander speared GB through a board in the corner, but only got a two count. GB blocked a Cardona-style boot in the corner and got a two count of his own after throwing a chair at De Lander.
Another low blow slowed GB down. De Lander then got on the mic and said they shouldn’t fight but instead, they should show love. GB got on the mic and said he thought he had found the one and even proposed to her to which she said yes.
After toasting with a cold beer, GB asked for a kiss so she closed her eyes and puckered up, but when she opened them, she received an eye poke from the Eye Poke God and rolled her up to pick up the pinfall win.
– In front of their 80s-inspired green screen and neon WTF banner, Tom Lawlor and Josh Bishop took turns hyping up what each other was going to do to Matt Riddle and Alex Kane, eventually settling on “just watch.”
– A bloody AKIRA, fresh off his Taipei death match with Ricky Shane Page, told Sami Callihan he is ready for him at Superfight.
Ichiban defeated Jimmy Lloyd
In what could be seen as a clash of styles, Ichiban started with a tope con hilo but early on, Salina de la Renta and Jesus Rodriguez came out to distract their foe. Lloyd took advantage with a big neckbreaker.
Rodriguez took a cheap shot from the outside, but it only motivated Ichiban to fight back and hit Lloyd with a stunner, missile dropkick, and his custom Code Red. He tried to hit Lloyd with a dive but got caught mid-air and was dropped on his head on the floor.
Lloyd brought out two ladders but another distraction by Rodriguez cost Lloyd the match when he accidentally got knocked off the apron. That led to Ichiban hitting Lloyd with his face-first finisher after jumping from the top rope and catching Lloyd climbing a ladder in the ring.
Nao Kakuta defeated Moka Miyamoto
This was advertised as a Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling showcase match and did not disappoint in the short time it got.
Striker was doing his usual best to take away from those in the ring as after a lock up and wrist lock, he said it was nothing he hadn’t seen before.
Some differences I noticed from other featherweight division matches were the stiffer strikes, or so they seemed, and the more brutal underhanded tactics by using the hair, kicks to the head, and upper body.
Miyamoto took two attempts, but she eventually hit her big standing chop to Kakuta for a two count. However, the ever-aware Kakuta immediately tried to hook her arms and roll her up, showing she was still aware of her surroundings.
Miyamoto locked in an abdominal stretch as she began to try her comeback but Kakuta cut her off, hit her with a flatliner and then a twisting fireman’s carry into a stunner to pick up the win.
After the match, Love Doug came out to console Miyamoto and tell her she was brave and show her how brave he was by asking her out. He asked the Philadelphia crowd if they thought she should say yes. They agreed, and so did Miyamoto, so the lovebirds left together.
Delmi Exo defeated Tiara James
James has still to be pinned in MLW while Exo has been flirting with the idea of joining Salina de la Renta’s Promociones Dorado after coming off two recent big defeats. Azteca henchmen stood guard at the side of the stage during the match.
Striker questioned Exo’s ability, saying something was missing as of late and even pointed out she didn’t keep an early hold on or didn’t have the ability to keep it on.
Exo went for the Delmi Driver early, but James powered out and hit a running clothesline. Exo slid out the back and quickly rolled up James to pick up a surprise win. This was a bit of a letdown since they were hyping up James’ undefeated streak throughout the short match.
Afterward, Exo called out Featherweight champion Janai Kai who obliged De la Renta and came out to the ring. Kai seemed fine with fighting Exo there and then, but Zayda and Saint Laurent then came out. A quick war of words followed but De la Renta ended up slapping Saint Laurent,
Exo took down Kai and Saint Laurent shook it off to hold Zayda back from De la Renta (who she was aiming for in the first place). As she was leaving, Exo was handed a key by the Azteca Henchmen.
Alex Kane & Matt Riddle defeated WTF (Josh Bishop & Tom Lawlor) (w/ Saint Laurent)
The two former UFC fighters (Lawlor and Riddle) started with a mat battle that ended with Lawlor hitting a side Russian leg sweep and locking in an Octopus hold. Riddle escaped and just missed a big penalty kick to the head.
Kane came in and helped Riddle moonsault on to Lawlor before unloading his array of suplexes. Bishop was in next to use his size and power to ground Kane.
WTF worked over Kane but he fought back and was close to tagging in Riddle, but Lawlor ran around the ring and pulled him off the apron. Kane then took Lawlor out with a dive to the floor which let Bishop wait and grab Kane with a big Bossman slam. Lawlor added insult by DDT’ing Kane on the floor, too.
WTF then used old-school heel tag team tactics by enraging Riddle to distract the referee so they could illegally tag each other in and out, just because they could. Lawlor hit a Bronco Buster to rile up the fans and Riddle even more. He got cocky and tried a second, but Kane moved and Lawlor went crashing where no man wants to crash.
Kane slipped out of an Outsider Edge and hot-tagged Riddle. He hit a Bro-ton splash, penalty kick and German suplex to Bishop while Kane suplexed Lawlor. Richard Holliday tried to interfere, but Kane suplexed him too. Riddle went up top and won the match for his team after a Super Bro-ton bomb from the top rope.
After the match, there was a backstage brawl between the World Titan Federation and the Second Gear Crew.
Satoshi Kojima defeated Sami Callihan
As Kojima was making his entrance, Callihan jumped him and the fight was underway.
Callihan introduced some weapons from underneath the ring and papercut the webs of Kojima’s fingers and the sides of his mouth. The bell rang for the start of the match which sprung Kojima into life with a big clothesline.
Machine gun chops followed on the outside to which Callihan responded with some hard chops of his own. Inside the ring, Callihan went after the fingers of Kojima, used his hair to move him around, and used his fingernails to scratch at his skin. He even lobbed a mouthful of spit towards the referee.
The spit followed as he lubricated his hand before chopping Kojima’s chest, but moments later, Kojima fired back and unloaded more machine gun chops.
Kojima tried to go to the top rope, but Callihan caught him and drove him to the mat with a death valley driver for a close nearfall. Callihan then tried a piledriver, but Kojima blocked it and dropped him with a DDT.
Callihan blocked a Koji Cutter and hit a backdrop driver. Kojima responded by absorbing a pair of lariats and then hit a Koji Cutter for a one count.
Callihan defiantly got in Kojima’s face and was met with a big lariat, but Callihan kicked out at two. He could not kick out of a running lariat as Kojima picked up a big win ahead of his MLW heavyweight title fight at Superfight.
After the match, Kojima told us he ate bread this morning and that he will eat some after the match. If we were not aware, he loves bread.
The show finished up with Alex Kane who dismissed Kojima’s chance at taking the title from him. Kane talked through his six successful title defenses and told Kojima he would be another of his successful defenses. He said what he will do to Kojima at Superfight will make the crowd uncomfortable.
As the show was going off the air, a quick flash of an old logo we have not seen for a long time appeared on screen: that of CONTRA Unit.
This week’s matches were taped at the famous 2300 Arena in Philadelphia last month. Joe Dombrowski and Matt Striker were on commentary.
After the shocking end to Fightland when Alex Hammerstone returned to MLW as part of the World Titan Federation, Hammerstone opened the episode by explaining that Court Bauer stopped taking his calls regarding his contract status so he aired his dirty laundry online. He said Saint Laurent did start taking his calls and ever since he started listening to him people are desperate to know what he is going to do next. He told us to wait and see.
TJ Crawford defeated Nolo Kitano
Crawford is in a storyline with Tony Deppen and Kevin Blackwood where Deppen is suspended for when he and Crawford attacked and injured Blackwood.
Kitano is without a win in MLW but has been impressive in the Middleweight division so far. This is only his second one-on-one contest.
Kitano flipped into the ring and hit a nice hurricanrana but was then distracted by a masked man who was more than likely the suspended Tony Deppen.
Crawford got the upper hand with a Codebreaker as Kitano hung over the middle rope but Nolo fought back with a shotgun dropkick, running double knees in the corner, a backbreaker and a heel kick. But when it looked like Kitano may pick up his first win in MLW, Griffin McCoy interfered which led to Crawford hitting his Silver Bullet spin kick to pick up the win.
– After the match, Crawford, McCoy and the masked man all celebrated on the ramp.
– After picking up a win at Fightland, we heard from Mascarada Dorada. He challenged Rocky Romero for the MLW Middleweight title at One Shot. Later in the night, Romero accepted.
– The leader of the World Titan Federation, Mister Saint Laurent, wished all the fans of WTF a happy Thanksgiving. He hyped up tonight’s main event and predicted that when Cardona beats Kane to win the world title at One Shot, he will christen it the WTF World Title.
– We then cut to Promotiones Dorado members Rocky Romero, Jesus Rodriguez and Janai Kai beating up Ichiban. Salina de la Renta entered and slapped Ichiban and said to him, “What did I tell you about interrupting me… bitch!”.
– The Calling (minus AKIRA after he and Ricky Shane Page split at Fightland) had a message for AKIRA saying that we all do dumb things when we are young.
Tiara James defeated Notorious Mimi
Mimi looked good here in her debut but James is on the rise and got the win after a sit-out facebuster.
James is wracking up some wins in the Featherweight division and could soon be placed among the top contenders to Janai Kai. Speaking of Kai, the commentators mentioned the upcoming women’s matches at One Shot: Miyu Yamashita vs. Delmi Exo, and Janai Kai vs. Maki Itoh.
James hit an early middle rope dropkick but Mimi soon got the heat by drapping James’ arm over the top rope. Mimi focused her attack on James’ arm but missed a crossbody which let James back into the match.
James made her comeback with an over-the-shoulder gut buster and an X-factor facebuster to pick up the pinfall win.
– After the match, Sam Laterna interviewed James and talked about her rise up the rankings. She asked the crowd how a title shot sounded, so it looks like she is being lined up for one.
– We saw a recap of the Love Doug and B3CCA storyline where B3CCA had continuously knocked back Doug’s attempts to woo her. That was until a few weeks ago when Doug received a paper invitation for a date on Thanksgiving night. Later in the show, Doug was ready for his date, he entered the room but was met by Brett Ryan Gosling who told Doug he was B3CCA’s boyfriend before jumping him with a crowbar.
– Saint Laurent was then questioned on Hammerstone’s contract status, and he said there was no tampering in the negotiations and told us to wait and see what is next.
– Saint Laurent then bumped into Manders and tried to sweeten him up with a hotdog and a handshake before offering him Japan “Hansen money” as well as some Japanese girls in exchange for joining the WTF. Manders didn’t say yes or no, only left saying he is not a hotdog and handshake guy… interesting.
– Satoshi Kojima will return to MLW when he faces “Filthy” Tom Lawlor at One Shot.
– Sam Laterna interviewed Alex Kane who said he can’t wait to get his hands on the WTF and called it Suplex Season.
– After losing a Loser Leaves MLW match to Matt Cardona at Fightland, Mance Warner had his big farewell by having a parking lot beer with 1 Called Manders. He said the Second Gear Crew helped build MLW but now that Manders and Matthew Justice have the tag titles (they won them at Fightland) they don’t need Warner, they showed what they can do, and no one can stand up to them in a fight. Warner said that Cardona and Saint Laurent will get what is coming to them and also said that his friend “Masked good brother #3” is coming and will get on fine with Manders and Justice.
The World Titan Federation (Matt Cardona & Tom Lawlor w/ Saint Laurent) defeated The Bomaye Fight Club (Alex Kane & Mr. Thomas w/ J Boujii)
Alex Kane was on fire early on hitting Germans to both Cardona and Lawlor but unfortunately, Kane was storyline injured during a suplex and the referee held up the “X” sign.
The match continued with Thomas fighting 1-on-2 on behalf of the Bomaye Fight Club. Lawlor flaunted his team’s dominance given the numbers advantage by elaborately removing his shorts to reveal his skin-tight denim shorts as he taunted Thomas and flexed in front of him.
Lawlor dropkicked Thomas’ knee and Cardona pummelled him in the corner but Thomas fought back and after he hit a suplex, that was the call for Alex Kane to make a triumphant return and give his opponents some more suplexes.
It looked like Kane injured himself again as he rolled out of the ring. Behind the referee’s back, Lawlor hit him with a chair as Cardona hit Radio Silence to Thomas in the ring to pick up the win for their team.
This week’s matches were taped in October at the famous 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. Joe Dombrowski and Matt Striker announced the matches.
– Dombrowski and Striker announced that The Calling (Ricky Shane Page & AKIRA) will defend the tag titles against The Second Gear Crew (1 Called Manders & Matthew Justice) in a tag team ladder match at Fightland. These two teams ended last week’s episode brawling all over ringside, a brawl that led to this rematch being announced.
Griffin McCoy defeated Tracy Williams
McCoy got his MLW career off to a winning start against the 2023 Opera Cup competitor. Williams started strong keeping McCoy on the mat and hitting a variety of suplexes, but the debutant eased his way into the mat with some kicks and strikes.
McCoy hit one strike too many as it inspired Williams’ comeback, which consisted of a hard slap, suplex, a face-first drop onto the top turnbuckle, and an STF.
McCoy fought back and went for his Sunset Kick (springboard kick) but Williams caught it into an ankle lock. Williams went for a piledriver but McCoy accidentally kicked the referee.
With the official down, McCoy hit Williams with a low blow, a half-and-half suplex, and his Sunset Kick to pick up the shock win.
– Last week Jacob Fatu stole Matt Cardona’s new car while Alex Kane was confronting him, a car gifted to him by the World Titan Federation leader Mister Saint Laurent. This week Saint Laurent delivered a “State of the Fed” address where he unveiled the new WTF logo and gave his vision of sports entertainment.
MLW Featherweight Champion Janai Kai w/Salina de la Renta defeated Riley Krowe
Another debutee Riley Krowe came up against a tough challenge in Janai Kai. Kai recently defeated Delmi Exo at Slaughterhouse and took no time to take out Krowe here. Straight from the bell Kai ran and hit a strong big boot to knock her out and win via KO.
After the match, Salina took the mic from Sam Laterna and hyped up Kai on the stage while the champion simply stared at the camera and said…“Kick Demon”.
– We then heard from The Calling where they again teased some tension between Ricky Shane Page and AKIRA. Joe Dombrowski and Matt Striker suggested the same which brought out Page to confront the commentary duo, but that brought out Manders and Justice from SGC for an impromptu brawl.
– We heard that if Cardona loses his Loser Leaves MLW match with Mance Warner at Fightland on November 18 then another “superstar” from the World Titan Federation will get the guaranteed title shot at One Shot in December.
– Sam Laterna then interviewed Rocky Romero who talked about his Fightland opponents Mascarada Dorada and Ichiban, calling Dorada a credible challenger but playing down the skills of Ichiban.
– Don King then quickly hyped up the Kane vs. Fatu title fight saying that Bomaye is for the people.
– Ricky Shane Page vs. Jimmy Lloyd for the National Openweight title was signed for One Shot in New York City on December 7.
– “Filthy” Tom Lawlor then announced that he and Cardona will take on Kane and Mr. Thomas in two weeks on Thanksgiving Night Fusion.
The Bomaye Fight Club (Mr. Thomas & O’Shay Edwards) defeated The Mane Events (Jay Lyon & Midas Black)
This was quick and was used to give Thomas and Edwards a strong win on their way up the tag team ranks.
Edwards and Lyon started by taking turns with running shoulder blocks. This developed into a taunt exchange followed by Lyon leaping through his circus hoop with a swift rolling senton to the floor.
The Mane Event’s upperhand did not last long. Edwards tagged in Thomas who hit a big Bossman slam on Lyon and put Black away with a powerbomb.
– Backstage we saw Mance Warner and 1 Called Manders talking tactics ahead of the Second Gear Crew’s ladder match with The Calling. Warner called for gold and violence followed by busting AKIRA open and hitting the pay window for the tag titles. Their tactic talk was interrupted by AKIRA and Ricky Shane Page for another backstage brawl.
Alex Kane vs. Jacob Fatu contract signing for Fightland
Court Bauer attempted to host the contract signing but as soon as both appeared the insults started and they had to be pulled apart. Saint Laurent and Cardona appeared and got in between the pair which only escalated the tension in the room. Fatu and Kane began swinging at each other and again had to be pulled apart. Fatu broke free and got a few more shots in as officials and Bomaye Fight Club members were only semi-successful in keeping them apart. The camera caught Saint Laurent laughing from the side of the room as his plan worked out perfectly.
This week’s episode was taped in October at the famous 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. Joe Dombrowski and Matt Striker announced the matches.
– Ahead of the main event, we opened with a long video package highlighting The Second Gear Crew vs The Calling feud, followed by Saint Laurent announcing that the winner of the upcoming Alex Kane vs Jacob Fatu title match at Fightland on November 18th will face Matt Cardona at MLW One Shot on December 7th. I guess the outcome of the Loser Leaves MLW match on November 18th between Cardona and Mance Warner that was announced earlier in the week has been spoiled?
– On the topic of spoilers, just moments later they showed a graphic for One Shot advertising Kane vs. Cardona as the title match!
– Continuity was all over the place as next the commentators announced that a Fatu vs Mr. Thomas match was happening “Next”, just before Talon made his way to the ring for his match with Mance Warner…
Mance Warner defeated Talon
Another chapter in The Second Gear Crew vs The Calling feud here and it was a decisive win for Warner ahead of his Loser Leaves MLW match with Cardona at Fightland on November 18th.
Warner shook off Talon’s early offense, hit a Bionic Elbow, hard lariat, and a Knee Pad-up, Knee Pad-down running knee to pick up a quick straight forward victory.
– Tony Deppen is currently serving a suspension for not paying a fine for attacking Kevin Blackwood. This week we heard that his suspension has been extended after he took his frustrations to Twitter.
– In the parking lot Saint Laurent met with Cardona to let him know he is the next contender for the world title. He also presented him with a new beautiful BMW car.
– The same Fatu vs Mr. Thomas graphic was shown again as being “Next”.
– Kane then told Fatu that Kane is the new generation before he was interrupted and told to run to the parking lot where Mr. Thomas was lying in a heap of cardboard boxes after being on the end of a mystery attack. The commentary team said they were scrambling to change the card as apparently, Mr Thomas is unable to compete now.
– We saw a highlight package of all the accomplishments of the latest World Titan Federation member “Filthy” Tom Lawlor before we cut to live footage from Saint Laurent’s office where he and Lawlor talked up Filthy’s 5-star podcasting abilities, phenomenal singing skills, and set Lawlor as the new figurehead who will lead the charge for the WTF.
– The Calling then told us that The Second Gear Crew and the weak will be made examples of.
– Sam Laterna met with Fatu in a pre-taped conversation. They mentioned Salina de la Renta who booked his world title match with Kane but also put Fatu on notice for his previous runnings with Salina and Promociones Dorado. Saint Laurent interrupted, failed to befriend Fatu, and unintentionally told Fatu that Cardona has a new car in the parking lot… Fatu’s wheels started moving in his head as he conjured up a plan involving Cardona and the car.
– Sam Laterna then switched to a live interview with Matt Cardona. Cardona thanked Saint Laurent for bringing him to MLW and bigged himself up saying no one else has come back as many times as he and he promised to win the world title at One Shot in his hometown New York.
– Matt Cardona vs Mance Warner in their Loser Leaves MLW match was officially announced for Fightland on November 18th.
Brett Ryan Gosselin defeated J Boujii w/O’Shay Edwards
This was advertised as the replacement for the Fatu vs Thomas match that can no longer take place due to the attack on Thomas.
Gosselin was making his MLW debut and has a very cocky character. He made a quick start after jumping Boujii as he was taking his shirt off.
Gosselin looked quite good as we heard he was trained by Matt Taven and Mike Bennett but was on the receiving end of a German suplex and a running neckbreaker for a close two count.
Boujii looked to be in control until Gosselin held onto the ropes during a Boujii sunset flip and picked up a shocking and underhanded victory in his debut match.
– Outside of the 2300 Arena Love Doug was camped out in a tent waiting for B3CCA. He mistakenly jumped out at a passerby and was slapped for scaring her. Enter Minoru Suzuki who took one look at Doug and gave him another slap for his trouble.
– Backstage an irate Kane was on the lookout for who attacked Thomas. A backstage worker told Kane he had footage showing it was Fatu, so Kane stormed away looking for Fatu. Seconds later Saint Laurent appeared and paid the backstage worker for giving Kane that incorrect information.
– Last week Salina de la Renta hosted the episode of Fusion and during the episode, she exchanged papers with Saint Laurent that supposedly exposed some secrets from when MSL was an MLW Executive. This week Salina announced that Janai Kai will be in action next week.
– After being fed the wrong information, we saw the inevitable confrontation between Kane and Fatu, only to be corrected by a Bomaye Fight Club member who correctly identified Cardona and Lawlor as Thomas’ attackers. Kane again stormed off to “beat these hoes’ asses”.
The Calling (AKIRA & Ricky Shane Page) vs The Second Gear Crew (1 Called Manders & Matthew Justice) went to a no contest in a tag team title tables match.
The second Calling vs SGC match of the night ended in a no-contest as both AKIRA and Justice crashed through tables at the same time.
AKIRA was hinting at dissension within The Calling from the beginning as he looked disinterested in choosing a weapon from The Calling’s selection they have available for every match.
The other Calling masked goons attacked SGC as they made their way to the ring, but as quickly as they attacked they were pushed to the side for Manders and Justice to focus on the main players in Raven’s heel stable.
Later once The Calling were in control Page grabbed AKIRA’s face to tell him something, but you could tell from the way AKIRA stared at Page that he was not too impressed with the way Page grabbed him. Again later they argued over where a table should be placed and had some miscommunication throwing chairs at their opponents.
Cannonball entered the action and squashed The SGC in the corner. Page nearly took Justice’s head off when he threw a chair at him. Manders and Page then ended up going through tables in quick succession.
In the ring AKIRA went to the top rope, Justice joined him but AKIRA locked in an Octopus hold and both fell off the top and went through a table at the same time. The referee called the match a draw and no contest due to both going through at the same time.
Cannonball re-joined the match and the brawl continued after the match. Mance Warner joined in too which brought out security to try and keep these two teams from destroying each other.
On the mic, Warner set up Justice to challenge The Calling to a match with the belts hanging above the ring. They didn’t mention a ladder match but I can only imagine it will be a TLC match of sorts.
– Backstage in the parking lot Matt Cardona was not too pleased to see his new car being stolen by Jacob Fatu as Fusion went off the air.
Next week:
MLW World Featherweight champion Janai Kai will be in action.
Don King will speak on the Alex Kane vs Jacob Fatu match.
MLW has revealed the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Alex Kane.
Kane will put his championship on the line against Jacob Fatu at MLW Fightland on Saturday, November 18. The show is taking place from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia and will air live on Fite+.
Fatu is looking to become the first person to hold the MLW World Heavyweight Championship twice. His first reign with the title lasted from July 2019 to October 2021.
Fatu is also a former MLW National Openweight Champion.
This July, Kane defeated Alex Hammerstone to become MLW World Heavyweight Champion. He’s made title defenses against Willie Mack and Tom Lawlor since then. The latter title defense was originally supposed to be Davey Boy Smith Jr. challenging Kane, but Smith had to withdraw from the match. Smith underwent emergency surgery to remove part of his appendix and colon.
Kane vs. Fatu will be the main event of Fightland. MLW has also announced that the show will feature a tag team match with Rocky Romero & Barbaro Cavernario facing Mascara Dorada 2.0 & Ichiban.
At MLW Slaughterhouse this Saturday night, Davey Boy Smith Jr. was supposed to challenge Alex Kane for the MLW World Heavyweight Championship. But MLW announced today that Smith “has withdrawn from the bout and has been placed on the emergency injured reserved list.” Lawlor will be replacing Smith in the title match.
This will be the first time Lawlor has wrestled for MLW in two years. He’s a former MLW World Heavyweight Champion, holding the title for five months in 2019.
Kane won the MLW World Heavyweight Championship from Alex Hammerstone this July.
Slaughterhouse is taking place from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia this Saturday and will air live on Fite+. Here’s the updated card for the show:
MLW World Heavyweight Champion Alex Kane defends against Tom Lawlor
Minoru Suzuki vs. Jacob Fatu
Title vs. title match: NWA World Historic Welterweight Champion Rocky Romero vs. MLW Middleweight Champion AKIRA
Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal match: MLW National Openweight Champion Rickey Shane Page defends against 1 Called Manders
MLW Women’s Featherweight Champion Delmi Exo defends against a mystery challenger
Chamber of Horrors match: Second Gear Crew (Mance Warner & Matthew Justice) vs. The Calling (Cannonball & Talon) vs. Matt Cardona and a mystery partner
This week’s MLW Fusion was taped in Philadelphia at the famous 2300 Arena earlier this month with Joe Dombrowski and Matt Striker on the call.
The Second Gear Crew (1 Called Manders & Matthew Justice) w/ Mance Warner defeated The Calling (Cannonball & Talon) in a Texas Tornado match
This week’s continuation of the SGC vs. Calling feud was a tag team weapons-filled brawl. The Calling had chairs thrown at their unprotected heads in the early going, and the chairs had a strong presence throughout the opening.
The SGC came back into the match when Talon went crashing through a seated chair with a missed senton. Manders then powerslammed Talon into Cannonball, squashing him in the corner.
The massive Cannonball broke up a double pin by splashing and crushing everyone, coming after Justice and Manders had taken Talon out with a spear and clothesline at the same time.
Cannonball dropped Manders on his head with an underhook piledriver. Justice then took out Cannonball with a senton dive to the floor followed by Manders flooring Talon with a clothesline. Justice got the win after a top rope splash.
– Love, Doug continued his quest to win the heart of featherweight title no. 1 contender B3CCA this week by practicing singing her a song backstage.
– TJ Crawford and Tony Deppen both attacked and injured MLW newbie Kevin Blackwood last week. This week, Deppen said he is only here for money, but he saw a younger version of himself in Crawford and they are both there to take over MLW.
– After being on the end of an “expose” last week that hinted at him breaking away from MLW to form his own organization, Mr. Saint Laurent responded by calling it slander and preposterous.
Shane Strickland defeated Ricochet (2017)
– We had a special match from October 2017 when MLW returned with MLW One Shot where Strickland defeated Ricochet. There was a video package that introduced a “This Week in MLW” segment where we saw MJF, Darby Allin, MVP, Sami Callihan, and others perform on the show. But it was Strickland and Ricochet that had their main event match shown in its entirety. Tony Schiavone helped call the action, which was really good as you would imagine.
The match, perhaps surprisingly, started slow and involved Ricochet playing heel while mat wrestling Strickland to the ground, but they were pacing themselves as they ended up going over 30 minutes with crisp great action. They incorporated some strong strikes in between a great showing of athleticism and innovative feints and dodges.
Ricochet burst out a poisonrana, a rolling Northern Lights suplex into a brainbuster, and a springboard 450 splash but it was Strickland who got the submission win with an armbar. I would highly recommend checking this out.
– We heard from MLW Champion Alex Kane who called his mystery opponent tonight a ho, saying he will send him to Ho Island because it doesn’t matter who it is.
– After announcing Rocky Romero as part of her stable last week, Salina de la Renta strongly hinted this week that she is behind the new CMLL partnership. She said the deal would come at a price and that she would see us at Slaughterhouse.
– AKIRA responded to the announcement of his match vs. Rocky Romero at Slaughterhouse. He said Romero will need his eyepatch for real after he is finished with him.
MLW World Champion Alex Kane defeated Snisky in a non-title match
Saint Laurent’s mystery opponent for Kane was the muscle man from his World Titan Federation, Snisky. The former WWE wrestler brought out a gurney with him, but it played no part in the match.
The commentators questioned how Kane would be able to suplex Snisky given the size difference between the two, but we found out almost immediately as Kane hit him with a normal suplex and then two Germans.
Snisky slowed it down with a big boot, a series of elbow drops, and a body slam, but when he went up to the top rope, you knew it would be trouble. Snisky missed a somersault senton which gave Kane the opening to take his back, lock in the rear naked choke, and pick up the submission victory to close the show.
Davey Boy Smith Jr. is getting a World Heavyweight Championship shot at MLW Slaughterhouse.
It was announced today that Smith will challenge Alex Kane for the MLW World Heavyweight Championship at next month’s Slaughterhouse event. The show is taking place at Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena on Saturday, October 14. It will air live on Fite+.
Earlier this year, Smith was crowned as the winner of the 2023 Opera Cup tournament in MLW. Smith, who also won the tournament in 2019, is a two-time Opera Cup holder.
Kane and Smith were the final two wrestlers in this year’s MLW Battle Riot match. Kane won the Battle Riot and later defeated Alex Hammerstone to win the MLW World Heavyweight Championship. Kane has been champion since July.
The Kane vs. Smith match is part of a double main event at Slaughterhouse. In the other top match on the show, Minoru Suzuki faces off against Jacob Fatu. The match is Suzuki’s MLW debut.
These are the first two matches that have been confirmed for Slaughterhouse.
MLW announced a partnership with New Japan Pro Wrestling at the end of August. KUSHIDA wrestling on last night’s show kickstarted talent-sharing between the two companies. KUSHIDA defeated Tony Deppen in his first MLW match at Fury Road.
Salina de la Renta is back in MLW. She was revealed as the mystery guest during Sessions By Saint Laurent on Saturday’s show. The 26-year-old has been gone from the promotion since May 2021 after being written off television in an angle with Dario Cueto. Her Promociones Dorado stable will be starting back up as well.
“Salina de La Renta is the founder of Promociones Dorado, an organization that acts as a pipeline to the stars of Latin America for sports leagues, TV and film in the United States and abroad,” reads an MLW press release.
“In 2021, Salina brokered a deal with Cesar Duran. One which costs her dearly. For the past 2 years her whereabouts have been uncertain, but many believe “El Jefe” had something to do with it… until he himself was ruthlessly removed from power by an unknown assailant. Was it Salina? Only time will tell.”
A title change kicked off MLW Fury Road 2023 as well. Rickey Shane Page is the new MLW National Openweight Champion after defeating Jacob Fatu for the belt. RSP becomes the sixth wrestler to win the title since its inception in 2019. Fatu’s reign comes to an end after two successful defenses and 150 days spent with the title.
Also on the show, Matt Cardona won his promotional debut against Mance Warner. B3CCA has earned a shot at Delmi Exo’s World Featherweight Championship after she defeated Maki Itoh. In Saturday’s main event, the Bomaye Fight Club’s Alex Kane retained his MLW World Heavyweight Championship against Willie Mack.
MLW Fury Road 2023 results:
Rickey Shane Page defeated Jacob Fatu to win the MLW National Openweight Championship
B3CCA defeated Maki Itoh to become the #1 Contender to the MLW Featherweight Championship
Matt Cardona w/Mister Saint Laurent defeated Mance Warner
Ichiban defeated Tracy Williams
KUSHIDA defeated Tony Deppen
MLW World Heavyweight Champion Alex Kane w/Mr. Thomas defeated Willie Mack to retain his title
MLW held Fusion tapings following the show. Spoilers for the show are below, via Cagematch.net.
The Second Gear Crew (Matthew Justice & 1 Called Manders) defeated The Calling (Talon & Cannonball)
Love Doug defeated Little Guido
MLW Middleweight Champion AKIRA defeated Jimmy Lloyd in a street fight to retain his title
Matt Cardona defeated 1 Called Manders
Ichiban defeated Nolo Kitana
Alex Kane defeated Snitsky
Tiara James defeated Zayda Steel
TJ Crawford defeated Alec Price and Kevin Blackwood in a triple-threat match
Bomaye Fight Club (J Boujii & Mr. Thomas) defeated The Mane Event (Jay Lyon & Midas Black)
This episode was in memory of Terry Funk and Windham Rotunda.
Fusion this week was a special preview episode for the upcoming Alex Kane vs. Willie Mack match at Fury Road. We had two previously aired matches plus special all-access looks into both challenger and champion. Rich Bocchini and Matt Striker announced the matches.
– The main take-home message from the countdown vignettes was the contrasting styles between Mack and Kane. The champion was training at the famous Big Bear gym in California and enjoyed private dining at his favorite restaurant, while the challenger was talking about his past struggles in and out of the ring.
– With three weeks to go until Fury Road, Kane told us about the previous trainers at the Big Bear Gym, including Mike Tyson and Oscar de la Hoya, and about how his win will be all about Bomaye. Mack took us around South Central Los Angeles and talked us through his upbringing and going into foster care.
Alex Kane defeated Alex Hammerstone to win the MLW World Heavyweight title (taped and aired in July at Never Say Never)
This was the main event of the last live MLW special event, and if we get a main event as good as it this weekend we will be in for a special night.
The story that developed was Kane had the mat game advantage over the larger champion and also had the growing crowd support, even though he had been presented as a heel in the build. Hammerstone had the power advantage when it came to brute strength.
Kane brought out an array of suplexes here and continued to try to lock in his choke finisher but his early attempts were refuted by the champion. Later, Kane brought out his brawling side and had good momentum building after a splash on the apron and some running strikes, but went back to his suplex roots to edge his way toward the title.
Hammerstone brought his own suplexes and displays of power by dropping Kane hard on the ring apron. He also fired up with his own Hogan-style comeback but turned it up more than usual to counteract the boos from the Philadelphia crowd. They especially loved Kane kicking out of Hammerstone’s Burning Hammer signature move.
Kane again went to a reverse choke to stop the champion, but Hammerstone eventually clawed himself to the ropes.
In the closing moments, they exchanged high-impact moves: Hammerstone hit a chokeslam, Kane hit his Kane Maker Angle slam, Hammerstone hit a superplex but Kane used the momentum to hit his own release suplex.
Hammerstone eventually hit the Nightmare Pendulum but Kane still had the wherewithal to roll to the outside. On returning to the ring, Kane kicked the ropes which hit Hammerstone low. Kane then hit a gut-wrench suplex from the top rope for a close two-count.
Hammerstone reversed another choke attempt with some German suplexes and a powerbomb. Mr. Thomas distracted Hammerstone briefly but we saw the go-to MLW spot where Kane accidentally collided with his partner on the apron.
Instead of this leading to the demise of the colliding partners, Kane reversed a Nightmare Pendulum and locked in another choke. Kane fell to his back and the champion had nowhere to go and had to tap out before he passed out.
– With two weeks to go until Fury Road, we saw Alex Kane and Mr. Thomas eating in an empty private restaurant thanks to the Bomaye Fight Club money man Don King. He taunted Mack about his weight, saying he is still eating the same garbage while Kane only eats the best.
– Mack responded by listing out how Kane has been handed everything and has a lot of people helping him along, such as his team and Don King especially.
– Don King’s associate gifted Kane a watch to keep up his championship lifestyle while Mack told us he trains by chasing his cats around the house but is a naturally gifted athlete.
Willie Mack defeated John Hennigan (w/ Sam Adonis) and Lio Rush in a triple threat match to become the number one contender to the MLW World Heavyweight title (Taped in April, aired in July)
This was great and fast-paced throughout.
Hennigan and Rush distracted Mack by forming an alliance on the outside, but the main reason was to let Sam Adonis distract Mack, which let both the heels jump him to start us off.
Their alliance lasted all of 30 seconds as Rush tried a sneaky roll-up once Mack was disposed of. Rush and Hennigan then had a parkour minute of dodges, feints, and reversals before Mack re-joined only to eat a springboard kick to the face from Hennigan. Mack then hit a Samoan drop to slow the frantic opening minutes down.
Rush hit a great poison-rana after reversing a gorilla press by Mack, but Mack came back with a pop-up forearm to the jaw. Later on, Rush hit his low dives through opposite sides of the ring, nearly sliding and ramming Mack into the front row in the process.
The finishing sequence had Mack send Rush out after a missed frog splash and a stunner. Hennigan then reversed a Mack stunner, Adonis interfered and grabbed the leg of Mack but Hennigan hit Adonis by accident which let Mack roll up Hennigan for the win and crown himself the new number one contender.
Looking back at how this kickstarted Mack’s push, Hennigan and Rush did really well to make him shine.
This week’s MLW Fusion was taped in Tijuana, Mexico, as part of the MLW and AAA Super Series tapings in February.
We opened with a Sam Leterna interview with Willie Mack from earlier in the day. Alex Kane interrupted, but Mack ended up flooring the MLW Champion with a slap. Mack will challenge Kane for the title at the upcoming Fury Road event on September 3rd.
MLW Heavyweight Champion Alex Kane defeated Delirious in a non-title match
The graphic correctly named him the MLW Champion and Kane came out with a title belt of some sort around his waist, but the full belt was never fully visible on camera. The reason: because of the timeline of these tapings, Kane had not yet defeated Alex Hammerstone to win the title which happened in July.
Delirious came out to The Calling’s music as he is still loosely affiliated with the heel group, but he played babyface here as recent crowd favorite Kane was leaning into the Mexico vs. USA/AAA vs MLW Super Series competition to get heel heat from the Tijuana crowd. All in all, the delay between taping this match and making it make sense on screen didn’t do it any favors.
With that being said, the action inside the ring was good. Delirious had the champion’s number in the early going, dropping him with a missile dropkick and later confusing Kane by running each side of the ropes (without hitting the opposite side) before connecting with a jumping clothesline.
Kane always went back to his suplexes when he could. He got an extended heat segment after capitalizing on Delirious’ bare feet with a foot stomp.
Delirious caught Kane with a headbutt to the midsection, followed by his running knee Panic Attack in the corner and his top rope Shadows Over Hell frog splash for a close nearfall.
In a spot we have seen a lot in more recent tapings, a Bomaye Fight Club member got on the apron to distract Delirious, Kane went for the cheap shot, Delirious moved, Kane collided with his ally and Delirious schoolboyed Kane…but the champion kicked out.
Kane then hit his Angle slam-esque finisher The Kane Maker, but Delirious kicked out to trade near falls as they made their way toward the finish.
Delirious hit a combination of strikes, but Kane caught him with a big boot which gave him the opening to hit a release suplex to pick up the win.
– We saw a recap of the events leading up to the Matt Cardona vs. Mance Warner match at Fury Road which is now a Kiss My Foot match. Cardona cut a promo from his home, saying Warner would be lucky to kiss his well-preened foot. He is coming to MLW not to pass the torch, but to light a new one and carry it to new heights with MSL by his side.
– In an All-Access look into Willie Mack’s past, we heard about him growing up with a foster family, pursuing his dream, passing a WWE tryout but being told not to report to developmental, feeling like he let everyone down, becoming homeless, and then being offered a second chance by MLW.
– We had a tease of something coming soon which a graphics package showing clips from space with the text “Fury Ignites Within,” “Kingdoms Clash,” “Worlds Collide” and “Enter the Realm.”
– We had another in-depth look at a current star in Women’s Featherweight Champion Delmi Exo. We heard about her upbringing with her sister Ashley Vox, joining wrestling training at the same time as she did, and an emotional story of her being torn between chasing her dream of training in Japan and being with her father who had Stage 4 lung cancer. She also talked about post-pandemic wrestling and there not being a lot of opportunities but being passionate to join MLW with people like Willow Nightingale and Brittany Blake, and eventually winning the Featherweight title.
– Backstage, B3CCA wanted a shot at Exo and was not happy to learn that Exo was not in the building. But we did hear that B3CCA will be facing Maki Itoh in her debut at Fury Road in a number one contender’s match.
– The next round of MLW Draft gave us Ichiban as the latest signee.
Willie Mack, Jack Cartwheel & Myzteziz Jr. defeated Dinamico, Genio del Aire & Skalibur
This had great crowd heat and amazing athleticism from all involved. The faces really shone here but they needed equally good heels to help them shine.
Mack had the crowd in the palm of his hand as he danced and grinded during an impromptu musical interlude that went through a commercial break. Mack busted out a worm, and even an inverted worm, but the heels jumped him to bring us back to the wrestling.
Backstage, John Hennigan was attacked, abducted, and dragged out of the building.
Back inside the ring, the usual lucha libre trios tag rules were in place with everyone in the ring which led to no tags, non-stop action, and far too much to keep up with in a match writeup.
Cartwheel is very good at what he does. He is athletic, has a gymnast’s build and has great fluidity. He reminds me of PAC with the way he is always in full control of his high flying.
Mack looked to be in his element in front of the Tijuana crowd, especially after he got them going with his dancing earlier. The babyfaces, or tecnicos, took control of the early going with Mack hitting a cannonball in the corner, Cartwheel landing a Space Flying Tiger Drop, and Myzteziz connecting on a middle rope moonsault to the floor.
Dinamico was facing a 3-on-1 problem against the faces and ate some hard chops, a pop-up forearm, a superkick and a German suplex. Thankfully, his partners were not far behind to break up the pin.
Skalibur got squashed with an Avalanche by Mack, a middle rope hurricanrana by Myzteziz, and a pair of standing moonsaults by Cartwheel and Mack.
The rapid pace kept up with Dinamico hitting a victory roll driver from the top rope, but had a temper tantrum when he didn’t get the three count on Myzteziz.
We had a simultaneous triple nearfall when Mack hit a pop-up power bomb and both Myzteziz and Cartwheel hit top rope shooting star presses, all landing on the mat at the same time.
After a string of dives to the floor, Dinamico was distracted by Rayo Star and Fantastic, part of the Tijuana wrestlers currently feuding with Dinamico and his Mexicali group. Cartwheel then hit The Jack Attack (rolling fireman’s carry) and the Jack Arrow (corkscrew shooting star press) from the top rope to pick up the win for his team in this highly entertaining match.
– We ended the episode of Fusion with a backstage attack. As former Tag Team champions Lance Anoa’i and Juicy Finau were leaving the building, they were jumped by The Calling’s masked henchmen. Anoa’i was hit with a lead pipe and Finau could do nothing but watch as he was locked inside the building.
New MLW World Heavyweight Champion Alex Kane is set to make his first title defense.
MLW has announced that Kane will defend his World title against Willie Mack at Fury Road on Sunday, September 3. The show is taking place at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia and will air live on Fite+.
At MLW Never Say Never earlier this month, Kane defeated Alex Hammerstone to become the new MLW World Heavyweight Champion. Hammerstone had held the title for nearly two years before dropping it to Kane.
After defeating Hammerstone, Kane tweeted out a list of goals he wants to accomplish as MLW World Heavyweight Champion:
The most recent episode of MLW Fusion saw Willie Mack defeat John Hennigan and Lio Rush in a triple threat match to become the number one contender to Kane’s title.
This week’s MLW Fusion was taped in both New York City and Philadelphia as part of MLW’s War Chamber and Battle Riot tapings earlier this year. Matt Striker and Joe Dombrowski were on commentary.
Mandy Leon (w/ Raven) defeated Clara Carreras
This was advertised as “The Calling unleashing Mandy Leon on the Featherweight division” and it did not disappoint in delivering Leon into title contention.
Leon was recently unveiled as the latest member of Raven’s group of rogues and here, she wasted no time in planting her spot at the top of the featherweight division. She is surely in line as one of champion Delmi Exo’s first challengers if she can survive wXw Women’s Champion Ava Everett in their title vs. title match at Never Say Never.
Carreras managed to get some offense in, including a cannonball in the corner and a nearfall from a frog splash, but Leon took most of the match. She rag dolled her opponent and put her away with Astro Projection and a Raven-inspired Evenflow DDT.
– Earlier today ahead of his leather strap match, Mance Warner and the Second Gear Crew caught up with MLW Tag Team Champions The Samoan SWAT Team. They ended up agreeing on a friendly tag team match in the future between the beer-loving and beer-sharing fan favorites.
– Microman and Willie Mack were sharing some Dunkin’ Donuts in the parking lot but Mister Saint Laurent was quick to jump in and remove his Micro-money maker from the situation.
– After winning the MLW National Openweight title last week, a jubilant Jacob Fatu said he and the Samoan SWAT Team, who joined him for a championship celebration last week, were now going full gear in MLW.
Sam Adonis defeated Mance Warner in a strap match
After coming to blows and eliminating each other in the Battle Riot match, but more recently being on the end of a reckless and brutal hanging two weeks ago, Warner was set for revenge tonight against the men (Adonis and John Hennigan) who were fined $2500 last week for their actions.
The four corner touch rule was in effect here. Adonis came out early trying to touch each turnbuckle multiple times. He was also quick to use the strap to his advantage. It culminated in a top rope blockbuster neckbreaker by the lucha-loving AAA member Adonis. As impressive as Adonis’ neckbreaker was, it still received a “you still suck” chant from the fans, which was a nice comedic touch from the Philly faithful.
Of course, the tough-as-leather Warner fought back and hit a neckbreaker on the floor followed by multiple chops and whippings from the strap.
The finish of the match involved the rules coming into play. The referee told the fans that during the back-and-forth brawling, both fighters made it to 3-3 on the corner touching but via different paths. However, a tug-of-war ensued that led to both crashing into a wooden board in the corner. As Adonis went in back first, his hand reached up first and as a consequence, he hit the buckle before Warner thus giving Adonis the win.
Warner got the last word after smacking a broken board over Adonis’ head, but it was the Azteca Lucha member who walked away with the win.
Later, Warner called out Adonis for a Country Whipping match to bring their feud to a conclusion. This was booked for Never Say Never.
– In a segment that took us no further forward in the search for the Bomaye Fight Club money man behind the enterprise, Dan Lambert, Shane Taylor and Wale were all named as potential leaders of the number one contenders fight club. However, they were quickly told that none of them were, in fact, the person we are looking for, and that person will be named at Never Say Never. Other than name dropping, this seemed a bit pointless but it did give Dave Meltzer a showing as he was pictured alongside Wale.
– Jacob Fatu will defend his newly won Openweight title against Calvin Tankman at Never Say Never.
– Sam Leterna interviewed the aforementioned Exo, but she was quickly attacked by former champion Taya Valkyrie. Valkyrie gave her a curb stomp on top of her newly-won title belt before explaining Exo has to have a rematch with her in the next 30 days due to her contract.
– Everett then cut a promo before her title vs. title match with Exo and said that Exo was in her first-ever professional match. She also promised to walk away with both titles.
Alex Kane defeated Shigehiro Irie
Ahead of his MLW Championship challenge of Alex Hammerstone at Never Say Never, Kane put up some of his Bomaye Fight Club cash in what was advertised as “The Big Apple Grapple II: The Search For More Hoes.” They are still going with this name.
Irie’s slingshot splash is innovative and impressive which gave him a very early nearfall in this 10-minute hard-hitting battle. A ringside brawl concluded with Kane having the advantage inside the ring after a commercial break.
Irie caught Kane off guard and slammed him with a nice suplex as the commentators talked up his latest wXw 16 Carat tournament win. Irie then ran over and slammed into Kane with a running back elbow through the ropes as Kane was sitting on the ring apron, which was the first time I have seen that.
A strike exchange then followed before a hard-hitting back-and-forth exchange of suplexes led to Kane raking the eyes and hitting The Mark of Kane finisher for the win. This was a good hard-hitting bout.
After the match, Kane called out Hammerstone who gladly obliged but was initially held back by officials so they could throw insults at each other. Kane had a few good straight-to-the-point ones: “Hulk Hogan,” “Old Warrior,” and “Roid Boy” but ended with a good line while Hammerstone stood behind three referees and a stagehand in a black hoodie. He said, “You lift all these weights and you can’t break through that line?” before Fusion eventually went off the air with Kane milking in the crowd adulation.
Next week:
MLW Tag Team Champions Samoan Swat Team (Juicy Finau & Lance Anoa’i) defend against The Second Gear Crew (Mance Warner & 1 Called Manders)
New for Never Say Never (July 8th):
Mance Warner vs. Sam Adonis in a Country Whipping match
MLW Openweight Champion Jacob Fatu defends against Calvin Tankman
