The Big Takeaways:
In his first match in MLW, Leo Rush defeated Myron Reed to win the Middleweight title while The Von Erichs and Alex Hammerstone both retained their respective championships. Also, Daivari debuted as the newest member of CONTRA Unit.
Show Recap:
MLW Tag Team Champions The Von Erichs (Marshall and Ross) defeated The Dirty Blondes (Leo Brien and Michael Patrick w/ Aria Blake) in a tornado tag bunkhouse match
Before they face Los Parks (once again aligned with Salina de la Renta), the Von Erichs had a sprinted arena-wide brawl with Col. Robert Parker’s Stud Stable members. The Blondes had their cowbell involved early on and a minute later, all four were outside the arena having a fistfight.
Parker had supposedly been petitioning for a title shot for a while, so he won’t be happy at how quickly his boys were put away as this lasted just four minutes. Back in the ring, after shaking off Blake’s interference, the Von Erichs hit Patrick with a Claw-assisted back suplex for the win. After the match, the brothers told us they had signed an open contract to face any team in MLW.
— 2020 Opera Cup winner Filthy Tom Lawlor said we will be going to Lawlor’s “Filthy Island” very soon.
— The Pro Wrestling Illustrated MLW Top 10: 10. Mads Krugger, 9. Calvin Tankman, 8. Laredo Kid, 7. ACH, 6. Richard Holliday, 5. Myron Reed, 4. LA Park, 3. Low Ki, 2. Tom Lawlor, 1. Alex Hammerstone.
Jordan Oliver vs. Simon Gotch was postponed
Earlier in the night, the seeds of doubt were planted as questions began coming out about Gotch’s whereabouts. Before the Middleweight title match, the postponement was confirmed.
Lio Rush defeated Myron Reed (w/ Jordan Oliver) to win the MLW Middleweight title (14:19)
These two have been trash talking each other ever since the November restart episode of Fusion with the hype for their match starting shortly after. After weeks of build, this one didn’t disappoint.
“The Moneyweight” said that there was nobody hotter than “the man of the hour: and that Reed might be a good champ, but he’s no champ of the hour. In the early going, Reed showed he was every bit the champion as he kept up with Rush’s quickness and signature escapes and dodges.
Reed hit a big slingshot legdrop for an early two count but moments later, Rush flew through the middle and bottom ropes with a low suicide dive. Earlier in the night, Reed said his swag was superior but when Rush started to grind down Reed around the seven minute mark, the tide seemed to be turning in the challenger’s favor.
Reed hit a springboard codebreaker and a big crossbody from the ring to the floor. A springboard uppercut back into the ring followed as the champ fought back. They traded half nelson suplexes with Reed getting the upper hand. Reed was about to put Rush away, but the challenger wisely rolled out the ring and was able to hit a bottom rope Asai moonsault.
Inside, Rush hit a twisting facebuster but Reed kicked out. Reed then reversed a suplex with a stunner of his own. They had a strike and block battle that ended with a Reed enzuigiri and a running inside out cutter from the apron to the floor. Rush moved out the way of a springboard 450 splash inside the ring, hit a bounceback stunner, and a frog splash to pick up the win and the Middleweight title.
— Salina de la Renta interrupted Rich Bocchini and JSL to announce that her executive producer episode next week will be headlined by Los Parks challenging The Von Erichs for the MLW Tag Team Titles with “Filthy” Tom Lawlor as the special guest referee.
— Reed was doing a promo backstage with Oliver when Jacob Fatu, Gotch and the debuting Daivari attacked as Gotch’s disappearance was revealed to be a big setup.
MLW National Openweight Champion Alex Hammerstone and Mads Krugger went to a double countout (6:20)
Josef Samael had promised two New Year’s gifts: a new member of CONTRA and Krugger taking out Hammerstone. They delivered one with the debut of Daivari, but Hammerstone was still fighting as Kings of Colosseum went off the air.
Hammerstone hit Krugger with his title belt before the bell, but it didn’t make too much of a difference as Krugger slammed the champion off the top rope as the bell rang to start the main event. Hammerstone said he wouldn’t be distracted by Krugger as he eyed up Fatu’s world title, but the huge CONTRA member had Hammerstone beaten down for large parts of this match.
Hammerstone hit a big pump handle slam, but Krugger kicked out at one. Hammerstone hit numerous bicycle kicks that still didn’t keep the big man down. He couldn’t even hit his Nightmare Pendulum as Krugger was able to block the champion’s finishing move.
The two battled around ringside as the referee counted them both out, but neither cared. They brawled up to the entranceway where Krugger tried to choke Hammerstone out, but the champion rallied and hammered Krugger with more right hands as MLW Kings of Colosseum went off the air.
- Next week: MLW Tag Team Champions The Von Erichs vs. Los Parks
- In two weeks: MLW Champion Jacob Fatu vs. ACH
