Tag: mlw fusion

MLW Fusion results: Countdown to Fury Road

Posted on by Iain Oliver

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.

MLW Fusion results: Jacob Fatu vs. AKIRA, NJPW partnership revealed

Posted on by Iain Oliver

This week’s MLW Fusion was taped in Philadelphia at the famous 2300 Arena in July with Rich Bocchini and Matt Striker on the call. 

The Second Gear Crew (1 Called Manders & Matthew Justice) defeated The Calling (Delirious & Talon) and The Samoan SWAT Team (Juicy Finau & Lance Anoa’i) in a three-way to become the no. 1 contenders for the MLW Tag Team titles

Talon was debuting here but was wearing a gas mask to hide his identity. Nothing was mentioned regarding his team competing for the no. 1 contendership in their first match, but they tried to explain it by saying The Calling want to dominate the tag team scene.

Delirious and Talon took control early after initially disappearing backstage only to jump the babyfaces moment later.

Justice and Anoa’i dove to the floor early and Talon was taken out after a Michinoku Driver from Finau and a top rope splash from Anoa’i. Delirious was on the receiving end of a big Samoan drop from Finau, which led to the babyfaces squaring off.

Second Gear Crew launched Anoa’i out of the ring onto Finau, then finished off The Calling with a top rope power slam by Manders and a top rope splash by Justice to pick up the pinfall win. With that, they are now the new top contenders for the titles held by The Calling’s Rickey Shane Page & AKIRA.

– After B3CCA attacked her with a guitar last week, we learned MLW Featherweight Champion Delmi Exo will be out of action for 2-3 weeks while B3CCA will face the debuting Maki Itoh in a no. 1 contender’s match at Fury Road.

– The major announcement that has been building for several weeks was revealed to be a partnership between MLW and New Japan Pro Wrestling. The recent teaser was shown in full as the MLW and NJPW logos appeared from behind Earth with the Fury Road logo also hinting at more developments to come for that event.

– KUSHIDA had already been heavily hinted as appearing at September’s Fury Road, and it was confirmed here via the new partnership. He will be in action against Tony Deppen.

Willie Mack defeated Ken Broadway, Love Doug, Nolo Kitano and O’Shay Edwards in a scramble match

This helped build to the big Mack vs. Alex Kane MLW title match at Fury Road with Edwards being the latest member of the Bomaye Fight Club to put a target on Mack’s back.

In his MLW debut, Edwards was slated as the powerhouse and caught Kitano and Doug as they launched themselves from the ring. It wasn’t until Mack came flying at him that Edwards finally fell.

Broadway, Kitano and Doug hit each other one after the other until Edwards came in and floored them all, culminating in a big delayed suplex on Broadway. 

Kitano is called “The Concrete Samurai” with kicks and escapes to match his character. He would fit perfectly in the middleweight division. Doug is a lovable comedy character who can turn it on and fight dirty when he needs to.

The main story of the match was the dominance of Edwards. He again bullied the pack (without Mack) and had to be attacked 4-on-1 to take him out of the equation with an avalanche superplex.

With Edwards out of the picture, Mack picked up the quick pinfall victory after a top rope splash to Broadway after he had planted Kitano with a face-first slam.

MLW National Openweight Champion Jacob Fatu defeated MLW Openweight Champion AKIRA via disqualification

After going to a double disqualification last week with Rickey Shane Page, Fatu was scheduled to meet another member of The Calling here in AKIRA, but yet again The Calling were up to their usual tricks and the match ended prematurely.

AKIRA and Fatu got on the mic before the match. After security came out to temporarily block Fatu from entering the ring, AKIRA came off the top rope with a chair onto everyone.

They eventually got into the ring after a brawl on the outside with chairs. AKIRA reversed a pop-up Samoan drop attempt into a backslide for a close two count but Fatu came back with a superkick.

Some masked men from The Calling ran in for a disqualification, and the distraction allowed Page to run in with a barbed wire baseball bat which he then used to ram Fatu’s head into the ring post.

AKIRA and Page left the area as Fatu was left on the ringside floor grabbing at his face and eye. The commentary team speculated that a barb from the bat may have hit Fatu in the eye.

MLW Fusion results: Opera Cup finals, Jacob Fatu Openweight title defense

Posted on by Iain Oliver

This week’s MLW Fusion was taped in Philadelphia as part of April’s Battle Riot tapings with Rich Bocchini and Matt Striker on the call.

We opened with a recap of how we got to tonight’s main event for the Opera Cup with highlights from Davey Boy Smith Jr. defeating Calvin Tankman and Tracy Williams defeating Tony Deppen in the tournament semifinals.

MLW National Openweight Champion Jacob Fatu vs. Rickey Shane Page went to a double disqualification

In recent weeks, Page and The Calling have taken out Fatu’s bloodline of Juicy Finau and Lance Anoa’i in backstage attacks. This week, Fatu was out for revenge but also to keep his National Openweight title.

Fatu wasn’t waiting and opened this bloody fistfight with a dive through the ropes as Page was circling the ring for his entrance. A top rope senton bomb from the champion followed, as well as a triple jump springboard Arabian moonsault. Page came back with a running crossbody and, after a break, slammed Fatu onto a chair.

The brutality and gruesomeness were turned up a few notches as Page used a screwdriver to repeatedly jab into the sole of Fatu’s foot, followed by him piercing Fatu’s cheek with it and then biting Fatu’s toes. The final act broke the Philadelphia crowd into a “You sick f*ck” chant.

But the champion was not down for long. In true Samoan fashion, he no-sold a drop-toe hold onto a chair in a nice callback to the old ECW days. Fatu took out Page with another dive to the floor and came off the top again with a crossbody. Fatu’s handspring moonsault followed to continue the high flying and aerial display from the champion.

Raven distracted Fatu, which allowed Page to throw a chair at his head, but his sick idea of dropping Fatu on a sideways chair backfired as Fatu reversed and hit Page with a pop-up Samoan drop onto it instead. That looked brutal.

An “ECW” chant broke out at the sight of a table being set up in the ring. More chairs were used to set up Fatu on the table. Page then climbed to the top rope and hit a huge jumping senton, squashing both Fatu and the table, but that only got a two count.

In a match where weapons were allowed, we got a double DQ after both Page and Fatu shoved down the referee — a sensible finish for setting up their next weapons match but a confusing one given that the match had no disqualifications.

The two will square off in a Weapons of Mass Destruction match at September’s Fury Road streaming special.

– The teases we have seen in recent weeks will come to a head next week. We will see what worlds will collide, we will enter the realm and see kingdoms collide. This could be connected to a special announcement that will also take place next week.

– Matt Cardona cut a poolside promo on his Fury Road opponent Mance Warner. Cardona said he is not coming to take anyone’s spot because he already has his own at the top and the rest of the locker room can jump on his back.

MLW Featherweight Champion Delmi Exo defeated Paris Van Dale to retain

B3CCA has been desperate to get a title match against Exo. This week, she interrupted Exo’s pre-match interview with Sam Leterna but the champion shot her down, saying she needs to earn her shot and not continue this delusional dream.

This was quite short, but displayed what Exo can do in a short space of time. She hit some machine gun chops, a fisherman’s suplex and, after a short comeback from Van Dale, her Delmi Driver to retain her title.

B3CCA continued her campaign, but took it to a different level as she attacked Exo with a guitar as she was leaving the ringside area.

– We saw another tease for KUSHIDA coming in. This time the dates set on the Delorean were August 17 (for this episode of Fusion), September 3 (Fury Road) and May 12, 1983 (KUSHIDA’s birthday). 

– Ahead of their MLW heavyweight title match at Fury Road on September 3rd, Alex Kane accused Willie Mack of not taking his match seriously by mocking his weight. Kane then teased a warm-up match against someone in Mexico. Kane already wrestled Delirious from the Mexico tapings two weeks ago, so will there be another warmup match for the champion before Mack gets his shot?

Davey Boy Smith Jr. (w/ Mister Saint Laurent) defeated Tracy Williams to win the 2023 Opera Cup tournament

The crowd booed Smith and taunted him with “Microman” chants as we started. Smith turned heel recently and aligned himself with MSL by attacking Microman.

Williams initially used some speed to out-wrestle Smith as well as focusing on Smith’s bandaged knee that he injured during his first round match against Tankman.

Striker’s tongue once again made him sound like a fool saying Smith’s new look of denim jeans was a tribute to Brian Pillman and Bret Hart… to which Bocchini corrected him saying it’s actually a homage to his dad, the British Bulldog.

If you ignore Striker trying to take away the focus from what is in the ring, the action was very good. It picked up with a forearm battle but the larger Smith eventually got the advantage, hitting a suplex and then an impressive top rope leg drop for a close two count.

Smith hit his Bulldog powerslam but couldn’t fully take advantage as he landed on his injured knee. Williams got a foot on the ropes to break the pinfall followed by a tilt-a-whirl Fujiwara armbar but quickly transitioned to an ankle lock. Smith powered out and snapped back into control with a quick power slam.

Smith then hit the power bomb he couldn’t land earlier. The referee counted to two and it looked like Williams just raised his shoulder off in time but it wasn’t clear. Smith quickly transitioned to a crossface and Williams tapped out. There was potentially a miscommunication at the finish, but they quickly recovered.

This was good but threatened to be ruined by Striker on commentary.

Leterna interviewed MSL and Smith on the stage as the crowd booed them both. MSL called Philadelphia a sh*thole and insulted the women of the city. They want to hold next year’s tournament in Canada but more importantly, they sent out a challenge saying they want the MLW heavyweight title

Next Week:

  • A special announcement
  • Willie Mack will take on Ken Broadway, Love Doug, Nolo Kitano and O’Shay Edwards in a scramble match

MLW Fusion results: Alex Hammerstone vs. Danny Limelight

Posted on by Iain Oliver

This week’s matches were the last taped from the MLW and AAA Super Series tapings from Tijuana in February. 

Rich Bocchini and Christian Cole were on the call.

We opened with a video package from The Calling where Raven told Jacob Fatu they were coming for him and the MLW National Openweight title.

Los Macizos (Ciclope & Miedo Extremo) defeated Anton Carrillo & Extassis, Lucha Solos (Arkangel Divino & Ultimo Maldito), and Fantastik & Rayo Star in a four-way tag match.

This was spot-to-spot non-stop chaos. Car hoods, glass, and run-ins galore.

Lucha Solos were the first to take flight in the lucha four-way tag. There was added chaos by way of a trip hazard as the canvas was not tied tightly to the ring and kept crumpling as the eight wrestlers moved around. That could have easily caused an injury.

Cooking sheets were introduced by Los Macizos, who used them to take control. They fended off some quick-fire code reds and hurricanranas to stay on top momentarily.

A car hood was placed on top of chairs on the outside but Star’s running dive slightly overshot it and he collided with Los Macizos.

On the other side of the ring, Maldito and Extassis went through a table after a destroyer from Divino’s shoulders.

A glass panel was then placed in the corner of the ring as Fantastik and Carrillo teased going through it, but interference from unnamed assailants put a halt to that for the moment. Star then took all of them out with a springboard moonsault to the floor. Divino was then powerbombed out of the ring and onto those on the floor.

Los Macizos set the glass between two chairs and powerbombed Carrillo through it from the middle rope before delivering a German suplex to pick up the win.

– One of MLW’s latest signees, Love Doug, has been enamored with B3CCA recently, and this week he had a gift for her. As B3CCA took the guitar, she contemplated giving Doug a chance, but it would not be this week. She then slammed her dressing room door in his face.

– We had a major hint that KUSHIDA is coming to MLW. In a short teaser video, we saw a Back to the Future style clock showing today’s date, the date of Fury Road (September 3rd) and KUSHIDA’s date of birth (May 12th 1983) as well as the Japanese flag.

– Ichiban will take on Tracy Williams at MLW Fury Road, along with the debut of the interview series, “Sessions by Saint Laurent.”

– We saw new friends Mance Warner and Microman have a Tijuana beer with the rest of the Second Gear Crew: Matthew Justice and One Called Manders.

– As Fusion was going off the air last week, we saw The Calling jump Lance Anoa’i and Juicy Finau. This week the Samoan Swat Team’s stablemate Jacob Fatu was on the warpath looking for AKIRA and Rickey Shane Page. Fatu warned them that “the body count is about to rise”.

– Ahead of his title challenge against Alex Kane at Fury Road in September, Willie Mack told us that he is going out to show everyone that if Alex Kane can do what he has done, Mack can do the same. He will do it for the people who have supported him throughout his career.

Alex Hammerstone defeated Danny Limelight

This was Hammerstone’s first televised appearance since losing the MLW title to Kane at Never Say Never in July, but similar to last week’s Fusion episode, the taping of this match (February 2023) played havoc with the continuity as Hammerstone was still holding the belt at that time. They got around this by inserting a video from The Calling during Hammerstone’s entrance so we would not see him entering the ring with the MLW world title belt.

Speaking of The Calling and their videos, this video had Dr. Cornwallis cook a steak with a blowtorch as AKIRA taunted the meat by calling it Lance Anoa’i.

Limelight cut a pre-match promo to rile up the Tijuana crowd, insulting the Mexican fans but also the wrestlers in the back who depend on weapons to wrestle.

Hammerstone used his size advantage early on but Limelight quickly focused on the former champion’s recently injured leg and groin. Limelight then hit a running clothesline in the corner and a tumbling senton on top of Hammerstone’s legs.

Limelight took too long showing off and got caught with a Gorilla Press into a uranage but Hammerstone’s already injured leg was hurt by the swinging motion of the move.

Limelight hit an impressive running twisting corkscrew crossbody dive from the ring to the floor and then hit a top rope frog splash for a close two count.

Hammerstone made a comeback with a hard back elbow and a spinning face first Burning Hammer for a near fall.

A deadlift Nightmare Pendulum was reversed into a single-leg Boston crab and Limelight then landed a running soccer kick.

Limelight was showing off once too often as he went for a springboard DDT and Hammerstone caught him in mid-air and lifted him straight into the Nightmare Pendulum to pick up the win.

Next Week:

– MLW National Openweight Champion Jacob Fatu defends against Rickey Shane Page

– Davey Boy Smith Jr vs. Tracy Williams in the 2023 Opera Cup Finals

MLW Fusion results: Alex Kane vs. Delirious, lucha trios match

Posted on by Iain Oliver

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.

https://twitter.com/MLW/status/1687256534575611906

– 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.

MLW Fusion results: The fallout from Never Say Never

Posted on by Iain Oliver

This week’s MLW Fusion was taped in Philadelphia and New York earlier this year as part of the promotion’s Battle Riot and War Chamber tapings earlier. Matt Striker and Joe Dombrowski were on commentary.

The episode also included recaps and the fallout from Saturday’s Never Say Never show, including Alex Kane defeating Alex Hammerstone to win the MLW Heavyweight title, and the shocking revelation of Don King being the financial backer of Kane and the Bomaye Fight Club.

We started with a post-match press conference from the event with Kane and Mr. Thomas. A sweaty and passionate new champion called out his doubters and naysayers before listing his accomplishments and what he had to overcome, both exaggerated and true, before winning the title. He then said Hammerstone still hasn’t earned his respect and he will beat him again if he comes because this is Alex Kane’s house, kingdom, and empire.

Taya Valkyrie then told Women’s Featherweight Champion Delmi Exo she is going to prove why she is “the craziest bitch” tonight as she attempts to regain her title. Valkyrie portrays the crazy multi-persona/serial killer character really well as she cheerfully and happily mentioned that she intends on ripping Exo limb from limb tonight.

Delmi Exo defeated Taya Valkyrie (w/John Hennigan) to retain the MLW Women’s Featherweight title

During the ring entrances, highlights were shown of Valkyrie attacking Exo two weeks ago, and curb stomping her onto the title. Valkyrie was fined and given a one week suspension for her actions. 

The match started hot and escalated when Valkyrie took control by using the ring post and dropping Exo face-first onto the apron. Valkyrie hit Sheamus’ 10 Beats of the Bodhran and even added in his mannerisms as she flaunted in front of Exo, but she took too much time showing off and let the champion back into the match.

The champion hit Valkyrie with a fisherman’s suplex, a low dropkick, and a dropkick from the middle rope for a near fall. It was not long before the challenger came back and hit a pair of curb stomps with the second one going into the bottom buckle.

Exo rolled through the Road to Valhalla and elbowed her way out of a second attempt before going for her Delmi Driver, but a distraction from Hennigan stopped her. Hennigan got up on the apron and, similar to the previous title match, Valkyrie collided with him. Exo then tried a roll-up but Valkyrie kicked out.

Valkyrie tried to take advantage of the distraction but Exo hit a tilt-a-whirl head scissors takedown into a Fujiwara armbar, getting the tapout and successful title defense.

– We saw another recap of Never Say Never where Mister Saint Laurent announced the drafting of Matt Cardona, who will be the newest member of MSL’s group, joining Davey Boy Smith Jr. who turned heel by attacking Microman on last week’s Fusion.

– Another recap showed the revelation of Don King as the Bomaye Fight Club financial benefactor which was followed by interviewer Sam Leterna trying to get a word with Court Bauer who only told her to never do business with the “crook” Don King.

– O’Shay Edwards joined Kevin Blackwood and Matt Cardona as the latest draft picks. Edwards will be officially coming to MLW soon to join the Bomaye Fight Club while we have already seen Edwards in MLW this year in the Battle Riot.

Ken Broadway defeated TJ Crawford

This was really good and brought the crowd into it, especially toward the end during the nearfalls.

The “Silver Sniper” Crawford got the early advantage with a big boot and dropped Broadway hard with a suplex. The bigger Broadway came back with a strong lariat that turned Crawford inside out.

Broadway got a close near fall after a power bomb and a face-first swinging Bossman slam to the shock of the commentary team. Crawford then got a near fall after some strikes, a middle rope dropkick, and a double underhook driver. As the match started heading toward the finish, you could hear the crowd getting more into it the longer it went on.

Crawford then hit a great standing spin kick to the jaw and a springboard stunner, which normally sets up his brain buster finisher. Broadway fought out of it and hit a penalty kick and a pop-up bridging German suplex that he calls the Travis Plex (in honor of Matt Travis) to get the pin and win.

– Another Never Say Never recap showed Ricky Shane Page and AKIRA from The Calling winning the MLW Tag Team titles, making AKIRA a double champion as he also holds the Middleweight title.

– We saw the brackets for the 2023 Opera Cup which begins next week. Davey Boy Smith Jr. will face Calvin Tankman in one semifinal while Tracy Williams and Tony Deppen face off in the other.

Willie Mack defeated John Hennigan (w/ Sam Adonis) and Lio Rush in a triple threat match to become the no. 1 contender to the MLW Championship

This was a great match and a great way to end a good episode.

This was great and fast-paced throughout. You can imagine the spots Rush and Hennigan were able to do as well as having the size, power, and impressive explosive agility of Mack. They all combined brilliantly.

Mance Warner was drinking light beers on commentary. Warner was out there to continue his feud with Adonis who accompanied Hennigan to the ring. Rush was also announced as representing New Japan’s CHAOS faction.

Hennigan and Rush distracted Mack by forming an alliance on the outside, but the main reason was to let Adonis distract Mack, which let both heels jump him at the onset.

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-tinged minute of dodges, feints, and reversals. Mack re-joined the action, but promptly ate 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 poisonrana 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 dive combo through opposite sides of the ring, nearly sliding and ramming Mack into the front row in the process.

The finishing sequence saw Mack send Rush out after a missed frog splash and a stunner. Hennigan then reversed a Mack stunner. Adonis got involved and grabbed Mack’s leg from the outside, but Hennigan hit Adonis by accident, giving Mack the opportunity to roll up Hennigan for the win. 

Next week:

  • 2023 Opera Cup semifinal match: Davey Boy Smith Jr vs. Calvin Tankman

MLW TV taping spoilers from Philadelphia

Posted on by Ian Carey

MLW taped matches for future programming before and after Saturday’s Never Say Never event from Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena. 

Below are spoilers from the show courtesy of PWInsider. 

  • Mr. Thomas w/O’Shay Edwards defeated J Boujii in a Bomaye Fight Club tryout match
    • Despite the loss, Boujii was offered a spot in the faction. 
  • AKIRA of The Calling cut a promo that was interrupted by Jacob Fatu. They ended up brawling after. This may have been an official match that had no clear winner. AKIRA would win the tag titles along with Rickey Shane Page later in the night at Never Say Never, making him a double champion as he also holds the promotion’s Middleweight belt as well. 
  • B3CCA defeated Tiara James
    • Love Doug was on commentary and played the role of B3CCA’s obsessed fan. He would later do the same at Never Say Never during her musical performance. 
  • Rickey Shane Page defeated Matthew Justice
  • Ichiban defeated TJ Crawford
  • Willie Mack defeated Ken Broadway, O’Shay Edwards, Love Doug, and Nolo Kitano in a scramble match

Matches that took place after Never Say Never:

  • Snitsky w/Mister Saint Laurent defeated Yoscifer El
  • The Mane Event (Midas Black & Jay Lyon) & Microman defeated Jesus Rodriguez and The FBI (Little Guido & Ray Jaz)
  • The Second Gear Crew (1 Called Manders & Matthew Justice) defeated The Calling (Delirious & a masked wrestler) and The Samoan Swat Team (Juicy Finau & Lance Anoa’i) in a three-way match
  • MLW Featherweight & wXw Women’s Champion Delmi Exo defeated Paris Von Dale
  • Sam Adonis vs. Micro Man ended in a no-contest.
    • The Second Gear Crew made a run-in and a beer bash closed the show. 

Next up for MLW is Fury Road on September 3. The show will also take place from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA. 

Upcoming MLW shows on FITE+

  • MLW Fury Road 2023, September 3
  • MLW Slaughterhouse , October 14
  • MLW Fightland 2023, November 18
  • MLW One Shot 2023, December 7

MLW Fusion results: Tag Team & Middleweight title defenses

Posted on by Iain Oliver

This week’s MLW Fusion was taped in Philadelphia as part of their Battle Riot tapings earlier this year with Matt Striker & Joe Dombrowski on commentary.

Mister Saint Laurent and Microman opened the show by introducing us to Microman’s new theme song which had MSL singing along and orchestrating the crowd to do the same.

This brought out Davey Boy Smith Jr. who has been receiving some mixed reactions since returning to MLW. Smith shook Microman’s hand, but then hit him with a big boot and a running powerslam.

During the attack, MSL feigned shock and horror. However, when Smith grabbed MSL by the neck, Smith and MSL’s faces both turned to grins as they revealed the ruse and their new evil partnership. Smith gorilla pressed Microman out of the ring and onto The Mane Event, who had come out to try and save their friend. MSL and DBS shook hands again and left together.

MLW Middleweight Champion AKIRA defeated Lince Dorado to retain the title

This was a decent match that had a very innovative finishing sequence involving Dorado losing his mask. This was AKIRA’s first defense of the Middleweight belt as he only won it a few weeks ago from Dorado in a triple-threat match which also included Lio Rush.

Dorado had an urgency in the early going and hit fluid ushigoroshis before showing off some great high-flying action with a running no-touch dive over the top rope to the floor and a torneo from the top rope when back in the ring.

AKIRA came back into the match when he crotched Dorado in a Tree of Woe and hit a running dropkick. He later dropped Dorado on his knee with a backbreaker. 

Dorado hit a flipping DDT and moonsaults from two of the ropes, but AKIRA got his boot up to Dorado’s jaw on the third attempt.

AKIRA hit a German suplex, which he missed earlier, and got a close two count. As the back-and-forth action continued, AKIRA hit some running boots in the corner. Dorado came back with a handspring stunner and a brainbuster, but AKIRA grabbed and removed his mask while Dorado was attempting another handspring. 

Instead of leading immediately to the finish, they were able to pull off some near falls and spots while Dorado was covering his face. Dorado kicked out of a running knee and then countered a piledriver into a hurricanrana, all while keeping his face hidden behind his arm.

Dorado eventually reached for his mask, but this gave AKIRA an opening to hit his Death Penalty elevated reverse DDT and pick up the pinfall win to retain his title.

– After last week’s “expose” exposing those that are not the financial backer of Alex Kane’s Bomaye Fight Club, this week’s second installment had the final four suspects: Conrad Thompson, Jim Cornette, Queen Latifah, and Dixie Carter. Similar to last week, all four were confirmed as not being the financial backer, but we will find out who is this Saturday at Never Say Never.

– In the gym, the Second Gear Crew were talking tactics ahead of their title match later tonight, which included a table drawn on a whiteboard, Hindu squats, and plenty of beers.

– After last week’s attack on Featherweight Champion Delmi Exo, Taya Valkyrie has been fined and suspended for one week. This led the commentary team to question whether Exo will be fit for her title vs. title match this Saturday against wXw Women’s Champion Ava Everett.

Mandy Leon defeated Billie Starkz

Leon continued her winning ways in MLW against the impressive Starkz. Leon has joined forces with Raven, AKIRA, and Ricky Shane Page as part of the main heel faction The Calling, and had to call upon her stablemate henchmen to get the win.

Before Leon’s entrance, a video featuring The Calling was shown. Page challenged Jacob Fatu for his National Openweight title and it was mentioned that Leon is gunning for the Featherweight title.

This match was only a few minutes long, but they put a lot of effort into their time. A German suplex and an Unprettier on the apron had Leon in control. Starkz came back with suplexes on the outside and inside, but the masked Calling henchmen distracted the referee and pushed Starkz off the top rope to give Leon the win.

– Ahead of their MLW title match at Never Say Never, Alex Kane and the champion Alex Hammerstone cut promos backstage. Hammerstone took offense at being called a placeholder by showing how he has bettered Kane at every step during their similar paths in MLW. Kane’s promo was more straight to the point as he again called Hammerstone “roid boy” and guaranteed a win Saturday.

MLW Tag Team Champions The Samoan SWAT Team (Juicy Finau and Lance Anoa’i) defeated The Second Gear Crew (1 Called Manders & Mance Warner) to retain in a hardcore match

The build for this match was one week long and emerged from a friendly sharing of beers backstage last week. That was all these four needed to sign on for a hardcore match, which says a lot about the crazy characters involved here. The match was a callback to the old ECW classics involving The Gangstas where weapons were sprawled all around the ring.

We were straight into the action as all four threw chairs at each other before the outside brawling began. Finau’s head became a weapon against Warner before the “Southern Psycho” decided to go for the eyepoke to get some non-head-related offense in.

Manders threw a chair at Finau on the outside, but it spun off and hit a security guard and tumbled into the front row as the chaos continued. Tables were brought into the ring and set up for a splash from off a ladder.

Warner exploded into life with chair shots to the tag champs followed by Anoa’i taking a big bump off the top of the ladder and through another ladder that was resting in the corner.

Finau squashed Warner with a powerslam, but immediately ate more chair shots from Manders.

Manders then found himself on a table after more chair shots and brawling. Finau went to the middle rope, but was caught by Warner and more chair shots. Warner then ended up on Finau’s back, but the huge tag champ only used this extra weight to continue and crush Manders with a middle rope splash through the table leading to a pinfall victory and the champions retaining their titles.

After the match, and for the sixth time this episode, The Calling’s music hit as AKIRA, Page, Delirious and gas-masked henchmen jumped the SST and Second Gear Crew, all as Raven and Leon watched on.

But unlike most other Calling attacks, the SST got the upper hand and sent The Calling up the ramp as they brawled with Warner and Manders, all after Finau had launched a ladder over the top onto Page, who only saw it coming at the last minute.

This Saturday’s card for MLW Never Say Never live on FITE+:

  • MLW Champion Alex Hammerstone defends against Alex Kane
  • MLW Featherweight Champion Delmi Exo defends against wXw Women’s Champion Ava Everett in a title vs. title match
  • MLW National Openweight Champion Jacob Fatu defends against Calvin Tankman
  • MLW Tag Team Champions The Samoan SWAT Team (Juicy Finau and Lance Anoa’i) defend against The Calling (Ricky Shane Page & AKIRA)
  • Timothy Thatcher vs. Tracy Williams
  • Mance Warner vs. Sam Adonis in a Country Whipping match
  • The Bomaye Fight Club benefactor is revealed

MLW Fusion results: Mance Warner vs. Sam Adonis leather strap match

Posted on by Iain Oliver

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

MLW Fusion live results: Jacob Fatu wins National Openweight title

Posted on by Josh Nason

This week’s MLW Fusion was taped during April’s War Chamber event from New York City’s Melrose Ballroom with Joe Dombrowski & Matt Striker on commentary.

The show featured two title matches and one title change as former MLW Champion Jacob Fatu defeated John Hennigan to take home his first Openweight Championship. 

MLW Tag Team Champions Samoan SWAT Team defeated The Mane Event and The FBI in a three-way to retain the titles

The Main Event (the masked Jay Lyon & Midas Black) are Northeast indie regulars and are very good with an entertaining act and some good combo work. One of those moves includes Black holding a hoop up through the second rope for Lyon to do a tope through.

That move was part of a sequence where all six men ended up on the outside of the ring via a variety of dives punctuated by SST’s Lance Anoa’i doing his own tope. The FBI’s Little Guido and Ray Jaz tried their best overcome the size of SST’s Juicy Finau to little effect.

https://twitter.com/MLW/status/1672033476101525505

The SST picked up the win and title defense with a Anoa’i frog splash (Samoan plunge) on Lyon for the win. This was an entertaining quick match.

– A well-done vignette for new MLW Middleweight Champion AKIRA and his Calling factionmates ran. They are calling out the Samons and said, among other things, that the Usos aren’t coming to help them.

– MSL confronted someone backstage about how royalties for Microman should go directly to him and not Microman. Davey Boy Smith Jr. then walked by and MSL chased after him.

https://twitter.com/MLW/status/1672034482684305408

– Footage aired of an irate Taya Valkyrie backstage after last week’s Featherweight title loss to Delmi Exo. Since this match was taped, she has competed for the AEW TBS title twice and had six total AEW matches.

– John Hennigan and Sam Adonis were each fined $2500 after their attack on Mance Warner last week. Warner then did a promo saying he wants Adonis in a leather strap match where he will bring Adonis to death’s door. That is set for next week.

Microman (w/ MSL) defeated Beastman (w/ Kim Chee)

This was a comedy match due to the sheer size difference. I have some long-standing questions about who owns the Kim Chee IP that I may need to do research on. I also didn’t realize Beastman was that active on the indie scene in the Mid-Atlantic/Ohio area. The things you learn on the Internet.

https://twitter.com/MLW/status/1672036999203803136

Beastman got distracted by accidentally knocking Kim Chee off the ropes and Microman then hit him low with Kim Chee’s stick which led to a very slow running spinning DDT that got him the win. This was awful.

– Davey Boy Smith Jr. was announced as the first entrant for the 2023 Opera Cup tourney but Alex Kane was banned due to him stealing the Cup earlier this year. Later, Kane couldn’t believe he was banned from the Oprah Cup (!), saying it was a conspiracy. He’s going to get revenge with next week’s Big Apple Grapple II: The Search for More Hoes (seriously!) and hopes his Never Say Never opponent — MLW Champion Alex Hammerstone will be there to watch. Kane is a pretty good talker.

https://twitter.com/MLW/status/1672038760748580865

– New for the Never Say Never event on July 8th: MLW Featherweight Champion Delmi Exo will defend her title in against wXw Women’s Champion Ava Everett in a title vs. title match; MLW Tag Team Champions Samoan SWAT Team face The Calling’s AKIRA & Rickey Shane Page in a fans bring the weapons match; Timothy Thatcher vs. Tracy Williams and a live musical performance by B3CCA.

Jacob Fatu defeated John Hennigan (w/ Taya Valkyrie) to win the MLW National Openweight title

Adonis was on with commentary and did a really good job. He is also a very good talker and has a career doing it after his in-ring days are done.

This one went nearly 18 minutes and was slow going in the early stages. Valkyrie got involved several times, including in the ring early in front of the referee as a distraction, which gave her man the advantage. I do agree with Bryan Alvarez that companies should get away from doing that unless it’s going to be a DQ.

Hennigan (fka John Morrison) was doing his best to avoid Fatu’s power which didn’t go so well at the midway point in an extended beatdown around the outside of the ring. Hennigan eventually regained the advantage using his kicks and rest holds on the former MLW Champion.

Fatu was relentless, hitting a big tope to the outside, a big splash from the top, and his signature running handspring moonsault for a nearfall. 

Then, things got wild.

Hennigan rallied and missed Starship Pain which brought Adonis to ringside. He distracted Fatu and Hennigan brought in a chair. As the ref took care of that, Valkyrie nailed Fatu with the title belt followed by a roll-up for a close nearfall.

https://twitter.com/MLW/status/1672042535697502209

That brought out Delmi Exo to offset Valkyrie while Warner attacked Adonis at the broadcast booth. The Calling were then shown brawling with Lance Anoa’i backstage and meanwhile, Fatu hit his moonsault for a nearfall thanks to Valkyrie pulling out the referee. Again, something that should be a DQ.

https://twitter.com/MLW/status/1672042787305340930

Juicy Finau then showed up to ringside to aid Exo who couldn’t handle Valkyrie on her own (but she just won the title so…). Back inside the ring, Hennigan nailed Fatu with a big kick to reset things. CHAOTIC, I SAY.

Hennigan unloaded his arsenal and hit Starship Pain for another nearfall which stunned him. 

Fatu rallied yet again and hit his Alley Use Samoan Drop followed by his finishing (and impressive) double spring moonsault to win the title. This turned out to be pretty entertaining when it was all said and done. He becomes the first MLW wrestler to hold both the main and Openweight titles.

Fatu then took the mic and said on behalf of the bloodline, he wanted to thank the fans. They are REALLY leaning into the WWE stuff.

Next Week:

  • Alex Kane’s Big Apple Grapple II
  • Mance Warner vs. Sam Adonis leather strap match

MLW Fusion results: Two title matches

Posted on by Iain Oliver

This week’s MLW Fusion was taped in New York City as part of MLW’s War Chamber tapings earlier this year. Matt Striker and Joe Dombrowski were on the call.

AKIRA (w/Raven) defeated Lince Dorado (c) and Lio Rush to win the MLW Middleweight title in a three-way

There were a lot of interlocking storylines going on here. Rush had previously stolen Dorado’s title as he claimed himself to be the real Middleweight champion while Dorado was on the end of a recent Calling attack, setting up this intriguing triple threat match.

AKIRA jumped Dorado during his entrance, dropping him with a hard suplex on the floor and taking him out of the opening of the match.

But the champion got back into it with springboards and a top rope twisting dive to the floor. He and Rush then took turns hitting handspring cutters and stunners to take AKIRA out temporarily.

Dorado momentarily got his own torturous revenge by locking AKIRA in an armbar, but Rush quickly broke it up with a frog splash. Rush then hit a dive to the floor but was taken out when he missed another frog splash.

AKIRA capitalized with Rush out of the ring to hit his Death Penalty (lifting reverse DDT) to pick up the pinfall victory and the MLW Middleweight title win — his first in MLW.

– We heard from Jacob Fatu who is set to return to action next week against John Hennigan. We last saw Fatu being attacked by Raven, AKIRA, and Ricky Shane Page. The Samoan Werewolf is out for revenge. He said his Openweight title shot against John Hennigan – that he lost due to The Calling’s attack- will take place next week.

Raven and The Calling then brought Mandy Leon to life in an ominous pre-taped video package. Leon was motionless wrapped in a plastic sheet, but after a kiss to her forehead, Leon’s eyes popped open.

https://twitter.com/MLW/status/1669501670571515905

Sam Adonis (w/ John Hennigan) defeated Willie Mack

After being part of the party that screwed Mack out of an Openweight title win against Hennigan last week, Adonis faced the revenge-minded Mack this week.

Adonis got on the mic before the match to rile up the New York crowd, but Mack had his own words for Adonis and Hennigan, promising to put his boot up both their asses.

Mack moves very impressively for his size. In the early going, he worked up the speed to hit a flying kick to Adonis in the face and vault to the floor. After catching his leg on Adonis’ head during a leapfrog, Mack hit another jumping kick to stay in control.

After a break, Mack pulled Adonis off the top rope as Adonis tried to bring some of his AAA moves into the match. Mack again caught Adonis off guard and rammed his fist into Adonis’ gut as the Azteca Lucha member came off the top.

Mack was selling the earlier leapfrog collision as he could not complete his usual kip-up, struggling to hit his standing moonsault.

Hennigan got knocked off the apron after tripping Mack’s leg behind the referee’s back. But with Mack momentarily distracted, Adonis hit a Death Valley Driver/Air Raid Crash slam and a 450 splash from the top rope to pick up the tainted distraction win. 

After the match, Sam Leterna brought out Mance Warner for an interview on the stage, but Adonis and Hennigan quickly interrupted and jumped him. Adonis used a leather strap to choke Warner out over the top rope.

– Ahead of his MLW title match against Alex Hammerstone at Never Say Never, Alex Kane again promised to reveal the money man behind the Bomaye Fight Club at the event. Before that, he also mentioned a cash prize being up for grabs in a “Big Apple Grapple” open challenge.

– Before the main event and after a few failed attempts to cut a promo on Delmi Exo due to technical difficulties, Taya Valkyrie stormed off saying she is leaving MLW because of issues like this.

Delmi Exo defeated Taya Valkyrie (w/ John Hennigan) to win the MLW Women’s Featherweight title

Valkyrie had been playing politics recently to delay this eventual title match, but the ending did not disappoint with Exo picking up the win and the title to end Taya’s one year reign as champion.

Earlier in the night, Exo said there was only one way she wanted to win the title and that was with the Delmi Driver, and she did just that after Hennigan’s constant distractions came back to haunt him and Valkyrie.

After a slow-building start, Valkyrie dropped Exo face-first on the apron and Hennigan added a few sneaky shots as Valkyrie distracted the referee. She slowed the match down again and kept in control as she double foot stomped Exo in the gut.

They exchanged close near falls when Exo hit a cross-legged fisherman suplex and a Pedigree for close calls, followed by Valkyrie hitting a Blue Thunder Bomb for one as well. Similar to the earlier match with Adonis, Hennigan grabbed Exo’s foot from the outside, causing the challenger to switch her focus to him. 

The champion then went for a rollup, but Exo countered with her own pinning combination. Exo had Valkyrie pinned, but the referee was distracted by Hennigan on the ring apron. 

Valkyrie and Hennigan then accidentally collided on the apron which distracted the champion enough to give Exo the opening to hit her Delmi Driver to win both the match and the Featherweight title.

Next week:

  • MLW National Openweight Champion John Hennigan defends against Jacob Fatu

MLW Fusion results: John Hennigan vs. Willie Mack National Openweight title match

Posted on by Iain Oliver

This week’s MLW Fusion was taped in Philadelphia as part of the SuperFight and Battle Riot tapings earlier this year.

After Christian Cole called the Super Series the last two weeks, Matt Striker returned to join the ever-present Joe Dombrowski at the announcers’ table.

The Azteca Lucha faction (John Hennigan, Sam Adonis and Taya Valkyrie) cut a backstage promo. Adonis called out Mance Warner after he eliminated him from the Battle Riot match while Valkyrie laughed at the thought of Delmi Exo coming for her and her Featherweight title. They will face off next week.

Delmi Exo defeated B3CCA

Ahead of the title match next week, B3CCA must have read the writing on the wall as she came out of the blocks early with a combination of dropkicks, strikes and extravagant taunting. She even went as far as to cartwheel handspring into a simple slap which only seemed to fire Exo up.

She kicked B3CCA in the head and dropped her headfirst with a sit-out fisherman’s buster. B3CCA hit a springboard stunner for a close two count and got her in the Muta Lock and a single crab.

However, the number one contender used her smarts to roll and cause B3CCA to miss a top rope moonsault. This gave Exo the opening she needed for her Delmi Driver package piledriver to pick up the win before her big title shot next week. 

This was a good short match and another nice showcase for the women’s division.

– The Mane Event (Jay Lyon & Midas Black) cut a heartfelt, feel-good interview where they spoke out of character about their inspirations (House of Glory and Amazing Red) while we saw true backstage moments from their MLW debut. This felt different and was a very nice package to give the impression they will be in for a strong push soon.

– Sam Leterna interviewed Willie Mack who wasn’t willing to give up any secrets ahead of his Openweight title shot against John Hennigan.

1 Called Manders defeated Yoscifer El

El is an interesting character. Billed from “three to five thousand years ago,” he is a berzerker crossed with a White Walker crossed with Bruiser Brody crossed with a Genghis Khan character. Manders’ character is a bit more straightforward: a country-tough man of the Midwest.

This was a great big hoss fight filled with hard shots and slams with both men using their bodies to ram into each other. As good as it was, it was short-lived as Manders hit El with a big lariat to get the win.

– Ahead of his MLW title match with Alex Hammerstone at Never Say Never on July 8th, Alex Kane was eager to explain of all the injustices he has suffered: being number one in the Battle Riot, his National Openweight championship loss, and being left out of the Opera Cup tournament. He turned it on Court Bauer and told him the Bomaye Fight Club is for the people and he will bring a revolution to wrestling.

At the end of the show, the cameras caught up with Hammerstone who said Kane is talking like he is looking for an excuse and an easy escape for their title match. He thinks Kane is looking for either a cheap cash in or an injury to grant him the win because there is no way he will be a man and step up to a fair one-on-one contest.

– Taya Valkyrie again laughed off Delmi Exo’s chances of beating her next week, making fun of her name and saying she has beaten people all over USA and Mexico and it will be the same next week.

– Timothy Thatcher vs. Tracy Williams was announced for Never Say Never.

MLW National Openweight Champion John Hennigan (w/ Taya Valkyrie) defeated Willie Mack to retain the title

Mack got his shot after he disclosed that he may know the whereabouts of Cesar Duran, blackmailing his way into the match.

Mack put a stop to Hennigan’s early efforts with a massive pounce. Hennigan had to get dirty to get the real advantage where he could then use his array of kicks and strikes to slow Mack down.

After a slap to the face and trying to use Valkyrie as a human shield, Hennigan was on the end of a rampaging Mack who chopped his way into an advantage. But the resourceful Hennigan hit a desperation jawbreaker and a springboard kick to get right back into the match.

Hennigan hit his swinging neckbreaker Moonlight Drive for a close two count as Sam Adonis (at the announcers’ table) speculated that Duran will return in no time and make everything great again in MLW.

Hennigan went to the top rope, but took too long which allowed Mack to crotch him. Mack then joined Hennigan, but the crafty Hennigan was again able to trip him and make him crash to the mat.

The confidence was growing in Hennigan but that came crashing down as well when Mack dodged Starship Pain. Mack then exploded into a comeback with strikes and a red-hot pendulum slam. He then hoisted Hennigan up with ease for a Samoan drop, a kip-up and a standing moonsault for a crowd erupting close two count.

Hennigan slipped behind and struck him with a forearm to the back of the head, but Mack came back with a big pop-up forearm of his own.

Mack had a visual three count after his running step-up kick, but Valkyrie distracted the referee. Hennigan then accidentally kicked Valkyrie off the apron, distracting the referee again. It looked like Adonis was going to interfere and knock Mack out with the belt, but the challenger thwarted the heels’ antics and stunnered Adonis out of the ring.

Mack then hit a pop-up sit-out power bomb for a close two count that got a “this is awesome” chant from the crowd.

The heels still had one trick left up their sleeve. Hennigan kept his title belt in the ring and after a sunset flip, he made the referee get rid of it. As the referee’s back was turned, Valkyrie hit Mack in the back of his head with her title belt to give her man the tainted win and successful title defense.

Next week:

  • MLW Featherweight Champion Taya Valkyrie defends against Delmi Exo
  • MLW Middleweight Champion Lince Dorado defends against AKIRA and Lio Rush in a three-way
  • An update on Jacob Fatu’s injury status and news on his return

MLW Fusion results: El Hijo del Vikingo in trios action

Posted on by Iain Oliver

This week’s MLW Fusion was taped in Tijuana, Mexico, as part of the MLW and AAA Super Series tapings featuring Joe Dombrowski and Christian Cole were on the call.

We saw what The Second Gear Crew had been getting up to in Tijuana. In a hotel room, Mance Warner, 1 Called Manders and Matthew Justice woke up from a heavy night south of the border. Microman emerged from a mountain of blankets and female underwear. They left the room on the search for cervezas and a route to the border.

La Rebellion (Bestia 666 & Mecha Wolf) defeated Taurus & Abismo Negro Jr

This was good non-stop action and the first of two matches like this in the episode.

It broke down into the more traditional lucha style tag matches where double teams and flexing of the more traditional tag rules were in play. The action was nonstop with all hitting high-impact moves throughout.

Abismo came out spraying fire via an air canister. During the match, he hit a power bomb and a middle rope dropkick to the groin on Bestia 666.

Taurus was brilliant here. For the MLW fans, he was compared to Jacob Fatu as having the larger frame but being able to keep up with the athleticism of the traditional lucha libre style wrestling.

Mecha Wolf and Bestia were on form as their tag experience showed early with stereo suicide dives followed by stereo beers from the Tijuana crowd. Later on, Bestia took out his opponents with a slingshot headscissors as part of the non-stop action.

The first nearfall came from Abismo after a Styles Clash. Taurus was thrown to the floor which left Abismo alone with La Rebellion. He eventually fell to a double team power bomb/backstabber combination called the Mark of the Beast for the pin and win. This was a great way to open the show.

– During the match, it was announced that the originally scheduled match between MLW Featherweight Champion Taya Valkyrie vs. Delmi Exo has been postponed. Later, Sam Leterna interviewed Exo and got word during the interview that Court Bauer had rebooked the match for two weeks.

– Willie Mack was having issues as he had supposedly had some news of the whereabouts of Cesar Duran. When Sam Adonis, John Hennigan and Valkyrie saw him trying to sell some of Duran’s belongings at the merchandise stand, they confronted Mack who ended up getting an Openweight title shot from Hennigan at the promise of disclosing what he knows.

– Jacob Fatu cut a promo following his recent beatdown by The Calling. He said that the attack only woke him up. He has been at war with CONTRA Unit before, and The Calling are no different. He also called out Hennigan as a reminder he still has a shot at the Openweight title when he is back in action.

– Ricky Shane Page & AKIRA vs. Juicy Finau & Lance Anoa’i was booked for July’s Never Say Never as well as the return of Timothy Thatcher. 

https://twitter.com/MLW/status/1664572060860039169

– Ahead of his MLW title match with Alex Hammerstone at Never Say Never, Alex Kane said fans will find out who has been bankrolling the Bomaye Fight Club that same night.

– After picking up a win in her debut match a few weeks ago against Brittany Blake, the self-proclaimed “international pop star” B3CCA will be in action next week and a poll will determine if she will sing live at Never Say Never.

El Hijo del Vikingo, Psycho Clown & Rey Horus defeated Sam Adonis, John Hennigan & Gringo Loco in a no DQ match

This was 15 minutes of spots and competitive non-stop action. It was understandably hard to keep up with the action, but it was filled with continuous high-flying, impact moves and good heat for the American team representing MLW.

The ongoing AAA feud between Adonis and Clown continued as they started brawling with weapons on the outside. We were told they are partners in an upcoming AAA tag team tournament where the losing pair will compete in a mask vs. hair match with Clown wanting to take Adonis’ hair.

The USA team took control early, triple teaming their opponents one at a time and even bringing in the corrupt referee to put boots to Clown. Hennigan hit Starship Pain, but Horus made the save.

As the heels beat down Clown and Horus, Vikingo saved his teammates by launching himself from one corner to halfway down the ropes, then springboarding to the opposite side to flip onto the top rope, bounce back, and armdrag both Gringo and Hennigan. That’s the best way I can describe it. It was a typical incredible Vikingo spot. The three faces then hit stereo dives onto the fallen heels.

https://twitter.com/MLW/status/1664432138811310080

The faces then took control. Horus battered Hennigan with a chair on the outside, Clown hit Adonis with a steel drum in the ring and Vikingo slammed Gringo on the stage. Hennigan was doused in beer at ringside that caused the ring announcer to warn fans to stop.

Adonis was then isolated on the top rope, ate a lung blower and then powerslam from Clown while Horus and Vikingo hit stereo Spanish Flies for a triple nearfall.

Hennigan hit Horus with a splash mountain power bomb for a nearfall, but Horus returned with a top rope springboard DDT. Clown then came in to use chairs to attack Adonis’ groin before he took his belt off to get his shots in on his opponents and the crooked official too.

Vikingo and Gringo Loco were next up to go one-on-one in the ring. Vikingo popped up onto Loco’s shoulders and dropped down into a headscissors. He then leapt from the top rope to cartwheel off the other top rope and hit a hurricanrana. Next, he leapt from the ring, over the top rope to bounce off the middle rope and hit another hurricanrana on the floor.

https://twitter.com/MLW/status/1664433900649676806https://twitter.com/MLW/status/1664434151972564992

In the ring, Horus hit his satellite DDT and then launched himself straight out of the ring over the top to the floor onto Hennigan.

The finish of this incredible match came from Clown and Adonis. Adonis missed a senton off the top and Clown hit a Code Red to pick up the pinfall win.

After just two weeks, this seems to be the end of the Super Series. It was a very enjoyable couple of shows with this week being the clear standout in terms of action.

Next week:

  • MLW Openweight Champion John Hennigan defends against Willie Mack
  • B3CCA in action

In two weeks:

  • MLW Featherweight Champion Taya Valkyrie defends against Delmi Exo

MLW Fusion results: Taya Valkyrie defends two championships

Posted on by Iain Oliver

MLW has returned with a new season of Fusion on beIN Sports, following the recent Underground season that concluded on Reelz.

To catch you up, Alex Kane won the 2023 Battle Riot match to earn an MLW title shot against Alex Hammerstone at July’s Never Say Never streaming special on FITE.tv. The season also included the debut of new heel faction The Calling who most recently attacked and injured the ever popular former champion Jacob Fatu.

This week’s show was taped in Tijuana, Mexico, as part of the MLW and AAA Super Series tapings with Joe Dombrowski and Christian Cole on the call.

The episode opened with highlights of Kane’s Battle Riot victory where he went the distance to win from the no. 1 spot before we were treated to a new opening video and music package for the new season.

Juicy Finau defeated Crazy Frank and Damian 666 in a triple threat Tijuana street fight

With the size and abilities of each competitor, this was a slow-moving but hard-hitting weapons match that saw the MLW Tag Team champion get the victory.

They listed off Damian’s previous deathmatch/hardcore opponents and it is quite an impressive list: the original Sheik, Onita, Sabu, Masato Tanaka and Mike Awesome among others.

Damian stapled some pesos to Finau’s shoulder before he and Frank sent him over the barrier with some cookie sheet shots. Frank used a cheese grater on Finau, followed by Damian driving skewers into Frank’s forehead. Finau then set Frank on a chair, placed an HD plasma TV on his lap, and crushed both man and TV into the barrier.

Inside the ring, we had a run-in from Frank’s stablemates who suplexed Damian from the top rope onto a car hood. However, they were soon on the end of an avalanche splash by Finau and kendo stick shots from Damian.

The action stumbled to the stage where Finau threw Damian off the stage and through a table. Frank joined them with another cookie sheet and dragged Finau back to ringside and sent him through the TV.

Inside the ring, Frank’s stablemates set up some plexiglass using chairs but ended up going through them via a double chokeslam. Finau then hit a Samoan drop and a middle rope moonsault onto Frank to pick up the pinfall victory. 

– They announced that Jacob Fatu will be out due to injury for three weeks while he recovers from his attack from The Calling. However, his MLW Openweight title shot against John Hennigan that he did not get due to the attack was still valid and he will get it in the future.

– MLW Champion Alex Hammerstone said Danny Limelight (his next opponent) and Alex Kane will suffer the same fate, and that The Calling will get theirs soon enough as well.

– Delmi Exo told Taya Valkyrie that her time is up as MLW Featherweight Champion, firmly supplanting herself as her next challenger if she can retain tonight.

– Sam Leterna interviewed Willie Mack who said he has gold on his mind and Hennigan in his sights.

– Mister Saint Laurent was backstage on his cellphone setting up a deal with “the best wrestler to come out of your country” when he bumped into Mance Warner, 1 Called Manders and Matthew Justice having a beer. MSL warned them to stay away from his “meal ticket” Microman but after MSL left, Microman was happy to receive and share a post-bathroom beer. 

– In a press conference, Alex Kane answered a string of questions:

  • Mr. Thomas is in Tijuana training for his next big fight.
  • Kane will not cash in his title shot during the Super Series.
  • He will have another Prize Fight before his title shot.
  • We will find out who is behind the Bomaye Fight Club, a group he said is the lifeblood of MLW and that he will be the next MLW Champion.

    Taya Valkyrie defeated La Hiedra, Dalys and Sexy Star in a four-way match to retain both the MLW Women’s Featherweight and AAA’s Reina de Reinas titles

    Hiedra got ganged up on in the early going, but this quickly broke down into a series of one-on-one mini matches as all four took turns in the ring as the other two rested on the outside.

    Star came close with a lungblower but Valkyrie returned with a suplex, only to be interrupted by Dalys who hit a big suplex on the double champion.

    All four were knocked down, but Dalys and Hiedra got to their feet and exchanged strikes. The two both ended up on the wrong end of a double roll-up from Star and Taya before they then were left alone in the ring to renew their rivalry.

    Valkyrie and Star exchanged strikes and near falls after Star hit a German and Valkyrie hit a hard clothesline.

    Star impressively powered the champion up onto her shoulders and dropped her with a driver for another close two count. But after another strike exchange, Valkyrie hit her Road to Valhalla to pick up the victory and retain both titles.

    As Fusion was going off the air, a vignette aired for The Calling who said Jacob Fatu will be the first victim.

    Next week:

    • Sam Adonis, John Hennigan & Gringo Loco vs. El Hijo del Vikingo, Psycho Clown & Rey Horus in a no DQ trios match

    MLW notes: Fusion return date & network, Reelz statement on Underground

    Posted on by Josh Nason

    After several months away, new MLW content will return to beIN Sports and YouTube next month.

    On a graphic displayed on Tuesday’s season finale of MLW Underground on Reelz, it was announced that Fusion will return to its former broadcast homes on Thursday, May 25th.

    Several weeks ago, MLW announced Fusion would return but didn’t provide any details at the time. After MLW Underground debuted on Reelz earlier this year, new episodes of Fusion, Fusion: Alpha and MLW Azteca ceased on beIN and YouTube in February without any mention as to why.

    Reelz releases statement on MLW future

    Speaking of Reelz, the network released a statement to PWInsider Wednesday regarding their future with MLW that didn’t give any real idea as to what their future together may hold.

    A spokesperson said, “Season 1 has ended and we are continuing talks for season 2.”

    MLW content on Reelz has to be blacked out when airing on Peacock due to WWE’s exclusive partnership with the NBCUniversal-owned streaming service — something that was mentioned in MLW’s revamped ongoing lawsuit against WWE.

    In March, there was confusion as to the future of the MLW/Reelz relationship following a statement released to Variety that indicated MLW would be done airing there after this month. Both MLW and Reelz denied releasing the statement.