Taped recently in Charlotte, North Carolina, MLW SuperFight 2022 was headlined by three scheduled title matches and a grudge match between nZo and KC Navarro.
Emilio Sparks caught up with Alicia Atout and Richard Holliday as they teased interfering in tonight’s Hammerstone vs. Davey Richards MLW World title match. They also said they have business with Cesar Duran to take care of.
MLW National Openweight Champion Alex Kane (w/ Mr. Thomas) defeated Calvin Tankman and ACH in a three-way to retain the title
Kane and Tankman continued their feud which also included ACH who had a brief backstage pull-apart with Kane last week which inserted him into this match. Tankman had his knee heavily taped after last week’s attack by Kane and his bodyguard Mr. Thomas during their championship singles match.
Having ACH in the match brought out the high flying aspect of things as Kane and Tankman brought the power and strength.
Kane rammed Tankman head first into the ring post multiple times before he suplexed ACH all over the ring as he took firm control in his title defense.
ACH fought back and hit a deadlift German on Kane, but then missed a plancha to the floor. To make matters worse, he also ate a spinning back fist by a recovered Tankman. Kane ducked Tankman’s big elbow to the back of the head and suplexed his opponent using his injured knee.
Tankman caught ACH coming off the top rope and squashed Kane in the corner with a buckle bomb, but ACH quickly shook it off and hit a suicide dive to Kane on the floor.
In the ring, ACH took out Tankman’s knee but Kane got back in to interrupt a Texas cloverleaf, hitting ACH with a superkick and a leg trap suplex to pick up the win to retain his title.
– Backstage, Emilio Sparks met with EJ Nduka who said he is watching the title matches tonight, hinting that he will be challenging for either the Openweight or World titles in the future, not mentioning (and seemingly overlooking) the tag titles.
– Backstage, Tag Team Champions 5150 attacked the Von Erichs’ ankles with steel chairs putting their tag title match in jeopardy. It was later confirmed that the Von Erichs were indeed injured and the title match was off. I did suspect something like this would happen as the usual MLW format is three matches over a one-hour show.
Moments later, 5150 cut a promo on the Von Erichs, shouting about everyone with a famous name getting “a free pass” to challenge them and wanted the best tag teams to step up. There was a nice tease at the future direction as Slice Boogie wanted to challenge the biggest in the locker room with Julius Smokes adding “there will be justice.” I immediately thought of “The Judge” EJ Nduka and, later in the night, they attacked Nduka during a meet and greet with the fans.
– TJP is back in MLW and wants to add the MLW Middleweight title to his impressive list of junior and cruiserweight title honors. He called out champion Myron Reed and told him to watch out.
nZo defeated KC Navarro
Shortly after his debut, nZo jumped Navarro and injured him by buckle bombing him into the ring post, putting Navarro out of action for months. This was supposed to be Navarro’s revenge, but nZo jumped him during his entrance, whipped him into the guardrail, and buckle bombed him into the ring post again.
nZo rolled a lifeless Navarro into the ring and asked him via the mic if he still wanted to fight. Navarro valiantly shouted, “How you doing, bitch?” and the referee rang the bell.
nZo continued the attack on the neck with backstabbers, rope-assisted guillotines, and slamming him hard on the floor.
In the ring, Navarro had a last attempt by grabbing the ropes during a pin, but nZo just pulled his lifeless body up and hit Eat The Feet finisher for the win.
nZo got on the mic after the match and lectured Navarro about using your special abilities and about how you respond to getting your ass kicked. nZo said Navarro had heart, and after having the crowd in the palm of his hands cheering and clapping, he extended his hand in a show of tough love and respect.
But, of course, all was not as it seemed as nZo showed his true colors and quickly knocked Navarro down and hit his finisher once more.
MLW World Champion Alex Hammerstone defeated Davey Richards to retain the title
Richards became the number one contender after winning the 2021 Opera Cup and we were promised a classic title match when the hype video for this match closed last week’s Fusion episode.
The aforementioned Holliday and Atout bought some front row seats from fans. If the lady behind Holliday was not a plant, she played along excellently as she furiously stared a hole in the back of Holliday’s head as he flaunted his cash and disgust at the other fans around him.
Putting things in place for the exciting ending to the match, Hammerstone and Richards teased their finishers early as the champion escaped the ankle Lock and Richards wriggled out of the Nightmare Pendulum.
The main story of the match unfolded as Richards focused on Hammerstone’s previously injured ankle by draping it over the guardrail and running all his weight into it. Inside the ring, he continued with locks and holds putting pressure on the ankle as he looked to set up for his ankle lock finisher.
A figure four had Hammerstone in pain and Richards transitioned into the Trailer Hitch, but Hammerstone somehow powered to the ropes to break.
Hammerstone blocked a suplex attempt while playing into the big vs. small story they were also telling throughout the match.
Hammerstone sat up like The Undertaker after a running soccer kick to the chest and shook off more attempts to chop him down as Richards went to the legs, knees and ankles some more. Hammerstone caught Richards in a gorilla press and dropped him with a swinging uranage.
The match was delicately balanced as Richards caught Hammerstone’s leg and hit a dragon screw to turn it back in his favor. But, he then missed a double foot stomp and ate an exploder suplex into the corner.
The back and forth continued as Richards again had Hammerstone on the apron with his leg draped over the ropes. Richards came off the top with a foot stomp and as Hammerstone rolled into the ring, Richard went up again, hitting another double foot stomp for a two count.
Richards immediately rolled into his ankle lock. Hammerstone rolled and pushed him out, but Richards bounced off the ropes with a soccer punt. Richards got him up but Hammerstone reversed a suplex into the Nightmare Pendulum. Richards instinctively rolled to the outside to avoid the pin.
A small package fired Richards up but Hammerstone ran over him with a clothesline. A Burning Hammer couldn’t keep Richards down but a second Nightmare Pendulum did the job as Hammerstone retained his title in this hard-fought victory.
After the match, Hammerstone confronted Holliday at ringside but Atout sprayed pepper spray into his eyes and Holliday busted him open by ramming him into the steel ring post. Holliday was wearing a white shirt and suit, ending the show with a great visual as after putting boots to him the blood-soaked Holliday was held back by security as the injured champion lay on the ground.
Next week:
- TJP vs. the debuting Buddy Matthews
- The debuting Rok-C vs. the debuting Miranda Gordy
- A medical update on EJ Nduka and the Von Erichs
