This week’s Kings of Colosseum edition of MLW Fusion opened with a video package hyping up tonight’s main event and the steps leading to the clash between the former Dynasty partners.
That included the growth of the Dynasty stable (which also included AEW’s MJF) to Holliday being drawn as an alternate in the Battle Riot that Hammerstone won to Hammerstone beating Jacob Fatu for the title all the way to Holliday’s betrayal earlier this year in Dallas and the vicious and bloody attack at MLW SuperFight that left Holliday’s pure white suit covered in the champion’s blood.
Joe Dombrowski and Rich Bocchini welcomed us to the famous 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.
Brittany Blake defeated Zoey Skye
The commentary team talked this up as a top contender’s match in the women’s featherweight division.
Blake was making her return to MLW after debuting last year while Skye has a Liv Morgan feel to her look and character as she started off the match coming off the top rope with a missile dropkick and continued moments later with a crossbody from the top as well.
Blake came back and kicked Skye off the apron and hit her with a 619 to the face while Skye was on the floor. A tornado DDT followed and Blake then put Skye away with an arm-trapped seated Texas cloverleaf.
This was a good opener, but I would have liked to see these two get a little more time. It did serve its purpose in pushing Blake further up the rankings and showcasing what Skye can do in the ring.
– Backstage, EJ Nduka added some hints to a future potential heel turn. He was asked about the main event tonight and with a serious face, he started questioning why he was not in the main event getting a shot at the title… only for him to laugh it off and pretend he was joking. Do you believe him? Look for this story to develop in the coming weeks.
– MLW’s new t-shirt partnership with Hot Topic was announced.
https://twitter.com/MLW/status/1547782190179618820
– Richard Holliday was then interviewed about his title challenge tonight. He told Hammerstone to reminisce about their time in the Dynasty, but he wants him to know all those memories didn’t mean anything to him. Money, winning, and championships are the only things that matter to him.
Matt Cross defeated ACH
Despite putting in solid performances every time he is in the ring, Cross seems to have lost more matches in MLW than he has won, so this was a great victory for him to get back some momentum.
This is an example of a match that is nearly impossible to recap move-for-move. The action was great, crisp and evident these two are fantastic performers with years of experience. However, we were also told that this was, amazingly, the first time they had ever faced off with each other.
The story seemed to be whoever could bring out something new that their opponent hadn’t seen before may have the best chance of winning.
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Cross used his springboard crossbody and double foot stomp from the top, while ACH brought out his slingshot crossbody to the floor, enzuigiri and a suplex as both struggled to get the advantage.
The end of the match saw Cross land on his feet as he jumped out of a German suplex attempt followed by him hitting a springboard cutter and finishing ACH off with a top rope shooting star press. This was a great match by two great performers and an example of it being absolutely fine to put on a great wrestling match with no need for a backstory or angle leading into it.
– We heard from Alex Hammerstone who said Holliday is finally getting the match he wanted. He talked up the nerves Holliday would be feeling and called himself the consequence for Holliday’s actions.
– After turning his back on his training partner Davey Richards last week, we heard from the newest member of the Bomaye Fight Club: Middleweight Champion Myron Reed. He said that Richards is no longer a big dog and is past his best. National Openweight Champion Alex Kane was also present and it seems like their feud will also continue before Richards gets his shot at Reed.
MLW World Champion Alex Hammerstone defeated Richard Holliday (w/ Alicia Atout) to retain the title
Earlier in the night, we saw a hooded figure enter Holliday’s locker room in what the commentators thought may be a crooked referee given Holliday’s history. This would play out during the match, but it still would not be enough to dethrone the champion.
The self-proclaimed sole proprietor of The Dynasty came out with the same jacket that was bloodied at SuperFight when he busted Hammerstone open after his title defense against Davey Richards. Holliday’s new maniac villain character suits him perfectly and the jacket topped it off.
The action went to the outside early where Holliday used Atout to distract Hammerstone and hit him with a side Russian leg sweep.
After the commercial break, Hammerstone was throwing Holliday around, but the challenger caught the champion with a spinebuster to take back control. A neckbreaker, some Garvin stomps and a pedigree followed.
Holliday’s stomps aggravated Hammerstone’s ankle, an injury the champion suffered recently. The champion continued the next portion of the match hobbling on one foot, but he was still able to hit a German suplex.
Atout got on the apron and distracted the referee while Holliday used one of her shoes — in a flashback to a few weeks ago where Holliday pinned Hammerstone in a multi-man match — but he only got a two count here.
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More referee shenanigans followed as the ref got knocked out of the ring and Hammerstone had a visual pinfall on Holliday. Cesar Duran then came out with a replacement masked referee as the deck started to get stacked against the champion.
Holliday then used a steel chair as the referee turned a blind eye to the blatant cheating. Holliday hit his 2008 twisting suplex finisher, but as the Azteca henchman referee started counting, MLW referee Frank Gastineau pulled the crooked referee out and knocked him to the floor.
Back in the ring, Hammerstone caught Holliday’s chair and started hulking up. Holliday’s punches were of no use. Hammerstone hit some clotheslines, knocked the henchman ref down, and slammed Holliday to the mat. Hammerstone then picked up Holliday and hit the Nightmare Pendulum to get the pin, overcoming the odds and retaining his title.
As Kings of Colosseum went off the air, we saw a vignette for the reincarnation of Mads Krugger. We did not see his face, but it looks like Krugger has lost his mask and has found someone willing to help him.
