Tag: MLW Underground

Joe Dombrowski and Matt Striker welcomed us to the premiere episode of MLW’s new weekly series: MLW Underground on Reelz, complete with a new opening video and theme song “Enemies with Benefits” by Violent Idols.

This week’s action was filmed last October as part of the Fightland tapings at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.

Striker brought Jacob Fatu to the ring and asked when he is cashing in his guaranteed title shot at MLW Champion Alex Hammerstone. Fatu told the Philadelphia crowd he would be cashing in right here tonight, but before we could get any further, Real1 interrupted to reignite their feud.

He insulted Fatu’s family before calling him a poor man’s Rikishi. Fatu warned him he was “going to beat the f*ck out of you” but security scrambled out to drag him away. Real1 has a new annoying catchphrase where he spins around and says “Eeeeeeeeveryone” in a kid’s voice. Give him his due — he knows how to rile up a crowd.

After security dragged Fatu to the back, Real1 said he was there for a fight, but when a fight came his way in the form of Mance Warner, Real1 scuttered out of the ring to bad mouth Warner from a safe distance. He focussed on Warner’s country look before eventually getting back in, teasing a fight, and finally agreeing to start the match.

Mance Warner defeated Real1 by knockout

After all his talking, Real1 took one right hand to the jaw and was out like a light. This felt like the first step in a longer feud between the two as after we came back from a commercial. Real1 was livid, throwing debris around ringside, and it was announced later in the night that Real1 will get another chance in a street fight next week on Underground.

Alex Kane defeated The Marvelous Jafar in the Thrilla in Phila Prize Fight Challenge

Kane continued his hype towards a match with Davey Boy Smith Jr. by bringing out the Hart family’s Opera Cup they stole from 2022 winner Davey Richards. The Bomaye Fight Club brought out a Philly cheesesteak as well which Kane ended up smashing into a fan’s face at ringside.

For the Prize Fight, Kane ended up doubling the money which brought out local wrestler The Marvelous Jafar.

Striker and Dombrowski were hyping up Jafar’s training at the Monster Factory as Kane crushed him in the corner at the opening bell. Kane continued to throw the skinnier Jafar around the ring as the Fight Club counted along with the suplexes. There was blood coming from Jafar’s face as Kane suplexed him onto his head in the corner which caused the referee to call for the bell.

Kane hit another few suplexes for good measure and told the crowd he was just warming up and wanted another fight. This brought out Davey Boy Smith Jr who took out the Fight Club one after another until Myron Reed and Mr. Thomas jumped him from behind. Smith was then saved by the Billington Bulldogs, but the MLW security team came out to break up the fight which only further built the hype towards their eventual rematch.

– Another hype video ran for the returning current NJPW star Lio Rush.

– The mystery attacker made his way to Underground and Mads Krugger was their latest victim. The commentary team again said they hoped for answers soon.

MLW Champion Alex Hammerstone defeated EJ Nduka in a Last Man Standing Match to retain the title

Earlier in the night, both competitors cut passionate promos in front of the Bet Online advertising boards, but it was Nduka who took the early advantage by taking advantage of the rules and blindsiding the champion, hitting him with Nduka’s own Tag Team title belt. 

Hammerstone briefly rallied, but Nduka then took advantage of the rules again using both a kendo stick and the guardrail, then slamming Hammerstone on the ring apron.

Nduka focused his attack on the champion’s back and ribs by running him back-first into the ring post. But Hammerstone took advantage of a small opening and hit a one-footed missile dropkick from the top rope. He then got some revenge with his own kendo stick shots and smacked Nduka as he scrambled up the ramp.

Nduka again worked on Hammerstone’s back as he slammed the champion on the ramp. After a commercial break, Nduka was setting up a table between two seated chairs that he eventually drove the champion through via a spinebuster.

Nduka tried to keep Hammerstone down by chaining him to the bottom rope, but Hammerstone broke free, hulked up and sent the challenger crashing down with a big clothesline.

Hammerstone finished off with a flurry of action as he hit Nduka with a chair, speared him through a wooden table in the corner, hit his jumping pump kick, and finished Nduka off with his Nightmare Pendulum. 

To add weight while the referee counted Nduka out, Hammerstone added parts of the broken door and chairs on top of him before the ref finally counted to ten to declare Hammerstone the winning, giving him yet another successful title defense.

Next Tuesday on MLW Underground:

• Real1 vs. Mance Warner in a street fight
• Willie Mack vs. Calvin Tankman

This marked the final MLW Underground before their long hiatus that eventually saw the creation of Fusion. Next week, we return to current day as the new season begins.

The final episode saw the Extreme Horsemen put the Tag Team titles on the line against the Samoan Island Tribe.

They were still hyping the Steve Corino vs. Shane Douglas World title match that never happened. We saw highlights throughout the night of their encounter two years prior when the first-ever MLW champion was crowned. Multiple six-man tags were also built up and hyped for the next set of tapings.

Dark Fuego and Pete Wilson defeated Roderick Strong and Matt Cross

This was an excellent start to the show: an absolute spotfest but a good one and one that will surprise you and keep you on the edge of your seat.

In present day, Cross was just announced as the final MLW draft pick to return for this season, so it was fitting he and debutant Strong were featured on this final Underground.

Strong certainly went on to make a name for himself in the wrestling world and this MLW appearance in 2004 just goes to show what could have been if the company was able to stick around for a few more years. Between CM Punk, Samoa Joe, Low Ki and Bryan Danielson, Strong and his trademark backbreakers would have fit in perfectly.

Fuego (aka Jack Evans) wowed the fans with an array of high flying combined with a mysterious, dark character, but he was floored when Strong blocked a hurricanrana with a power bomb onto Strong’s own knee for a killer backbreaker. Moments later after shaking off a top rope dropkick, Strong power bombed Wilson over the top rope onto Fuego and his own partner, Cross.

They brawled through the crowd toward a balcony area where Fuego and Wilson started their comeback. Fuego and Wilson climbed the balcony and hit a pair of stereo moonsaults from what must have been at least 15 feet in the air. Back in the ring, Cross hit a swanton off the top rope, but their opponents fought back and hit a pair of stereo 450 splashes from opposite corners for the win.

Low Ki (w/ Gary Hart and Mr Woo) defeated Chad Collyer

Ki continued his run of impressive performances with another hard-hitting win against the unlucky Collyer. Ki hit hard but still needed some outside interference to get the W/

The commentary team was full of praise for Ki in the early going, saying he is so focused and always ready for a fight that he attacks and kicks the maids when they enter his Japanese hotel room.

After an early exchange of wristlocks and armbars (to the delight of the Jericho circa ’98 inspired crowd), Ki focused on Collyer’s neck as his point of attack. But Collyer’s comeback also included a neck attack as he was able to hit a German suplex to kick start his comeback.

Out of nowhere, Ki hit a Shining Wizard, Collyer then reversed a Dragon Clutch into another German as they entered into a parade of two counts toward the finish. Ki’s mysterious assailant Mr Woo (aka Ryze) gave Collyer a cheap shot behind the referee’s back and Ki rolled him into the Dragon Clutch for a second time to pick up the win.

MLW Tag Team Champion The Extreme Horsemen (CW Anderson and Simon Diamond) defeated The Samoan Island Tribe (Mana and Samu) in a weapons match to retain

This was a wild brawl to end the show. Weapons, two bouts of interference and a big twist at the tail at the finish were used to hide the faults and accentuate the positives of this slight clash of styles.

The Tribe showed their intentions by scattering weapons around the ring before they got underway. By the time the Horsemen arrived and the ring introductions were over, the plunder was pushed aside so Mana could begin the match by repeatedly headbutting Anderson.

The weapons were brought out soon enough as Samu threw a chair into Diamond’s face as he came off the top. The ring bell was in use between Mana and Anderson on the outside.

Steve Corino interfered but accidentally knocked Diamond down with a discus lariat. Samu then looked to have the match won, but Anderson broke up the pin with a chair shot to the back.

Anderson then hit Mana with three unprotected chair shots in a row to the head which did not age well. An annoyed Corino then brought the announcers table into the ring and in a reverse of pro wrestling 101, the Horsemen actually successfully put Mana through the table they brought in with an Anderson spinebuster.

The second interference spot of the match led to the finish as JJ Dillion came to the ring and tried to hand Anderson a chair. Anderson seemingly refused the chair and pushed Dillion down who then offered Mana the chair and signaled to hit Anderson.

However, with Mana’s back turned, Dillion removed his shoe and clocked the unsuspecting Samoan in the back of the head while the Horsemen hit a double superkick into the chair from the front. That led to the all-important pinfall for the final MLW Tag Team champions for a long time.

Final Thoughts:

With this being the final episode of MLW Underground they could have shown from this era, it is a step in the right direction and could be a message of sorts that MLW now intends to return to weekly first-run shows from now on.

Who knows what the future holds, but the foreseeable future, we will have fresh new first-run programming and storylines to sink our teeth into.

Will Alex Hammerstone win the Battle Riot and finally get a shot at Jacob Fatu? Will the Von Erichs finally get their hands on “Filthy” Tom Lawlor? Will CONTRA Unit feel threatened by Cesar Duran and Azteca Underground? There are lots of questions to answer in front of a ruckus Philadelphia crowd and we start getting some answers next week.

This was the second-to-last MLW Underground ever, good timing as the company prepares for their next TV taping this Saturday. This look back at 2004 saw Bryan Danielson made his MLW debut against Teddy Hart while The Stampede Bulldogs clashed with The Havana Pitbulls in tag team action.

Los Maximos defeated Norman Smiley and Julius Smokes

Smokes put down the commentary headpiece for a week to make his in-ring debut here alongside “Black Magic.” Smiley interspersed a bit of “wiggle” comedy between some crisp offense early on. Smokes got his shots in too, including dropkicking Smiley in the back while he held a Maximo for a power slam.

The Maximos fought back and similar to their last MLW appearance, their offense was mostly ground based. The commentary team played up their recent defeats and questioned that another loss tonight would be the end of their MLW run.

As the match broke down, Smiley got the hot tag which, of course, included a big wiggle. But “the new aggressive” Los Maximos hit Smokes with a chair behind the referee’s back to help them pick up the win.

— Backstage, Teddy Hart cut a very Teddy Hart promo talking about risking his life for everyone’s entertainment. If people hate him, he hates them more, but if they love him, he loves them back. He talked about bringing in a new Hart Foundation and mentioned Bret and Owen Hart by name, saying he had Bret’s permission to use the name and his catchphrase. Hart’s character is certainly an interesting one. He has all the looks and moves of a cocky heel, but what he said, for the most part, is that of a fiery babyface.

The Stampede Bulldogs (Harry Smith and TJ Wilson) defeated The Havana Pitbulls (Rocky Romero & Ricky Reyes) in the finals of the GTC Carnival Tag Team tournament

The Pitbulls attacked the originally scheduled opponents as they were making their way to the ring to kick off the Global Tag Carnival final earlier than expected, not that anyone was complaining.

This was really good and you could tell these young wrestlers had a bright future ahead of them. The action did not slow down, was technically great, and was filled with a mix of styles. Wilson hit a great slingshot reverse DDT, Romero rocked the Bulldogs with some strong style strikes, Smith used his size and threw the Pitbulls around the ring before Reyes floored the Bulldogs with some suplexes.

The Pitbulls hit a modified Cuban Execution (substituting the knee drop for what looked like a blockbuster) for a near fall. Moments later, the Bulldogs got the upper hand and singled out Romero. They hit him with a Smith running powerslam and a Wilson top rope springboard elbow drop to pick up the tournament win.

— The much anticipated and hyped MLW Champion Steve Corino vs. Shane Douglas match was built up throughout the show with a video montage opening the episode and multiple cutaways throughout the night where the announce team talked up “one of the biggest matches in MLW history.” Interestingly they were also hyping up multiple matches that would take place at the next tapings inside a six-sided ring – a first for the USA they claimed. Those matches would ultimately not take place due to MLW shutting down.

Teddy Hart defeated Bryan Danielson

This was a technically excellent match which was only slightly confusing by the face/heel dynamic. Both characters appeared to be heels by the way they acted and how the announcers were portraying them, but Hart was wrestling as a face by getting sympathy as he was beaten down and pulling out exciting moves while firing up.

Danielson was fired up as he made his entrance, picking a fight with a fan in the front row. They started slowly exchanging holds and warming up the crowd for what would build to a raucous crescendo.

Hart’s first high-flying attempt was blocked when he came off the top looking for a hurricanrana, Danielson kept his feet firmly on the mat, but Hart also landed on his feet and swiftly floored the American Dragon with an armbar takedown, starting his relentless arm based attack.

Danielson’s strikes were stiff, echoing around the arena when his forearm connected with Hart’s chest or jaw. He later ripped off half of Hart’s baggy pants which only enraged Hart as he fired back and locked in a cross armbreaker.

Hart leapt off the top rope and spiked Danielson with a DDT before going up top again and hitting Open Hart Surgery — a twisting corkscrew senton. Upon landing, he seemed to injure his left arm but still went up to the top once more.

Hart leapt off attempting a shooting star press, Danielson moved and immediately locked in Cattle Mutilation, but Hart quickly rolled through and locked in a Fujiwara armbar to get the surprise submission victory.

After the match, Hart did his tribute to Owen Hart by celebrating on the top rope and flipping back into the ring. This only angered Danielson as he was shouting and ordering him to leave the ring. After another flip, Danielson clobbered him with a shot to the back of the head and the two brawled to the back as Underground went off the air.

Final Thoughts:

As I touched upon last week, Bauer’s vision of MLW for 2004 was pretty clear from these last few episodes. There were plenty of young, fresh and very good talent on show and a lot of them getting strong pushes as the older generation was getting slowly phased out. The Stampede Bulldogs continued their tag team dominance while we saw a win for Hart against a very strong looking Danielson.

The bigger names would still be used to pull the crowds: Funk, Douglas, Sabu, etc., but the younger exciting talent were getting a chance and being showcased on MLW’s weekly television show. Again, like last week, it’s a real shame this version of MLW didn’t get the chance to play out.

Vampiro took on Raven in a falls count anywhere main event on this week’s MLW Underground from 2004 while a fresh-faced Rocky Romero made an appearance in the GHC Carnival tag tournament.

This week’s show opened with the aftermath of the no ropes, barbed wire match between World Champion Steve Corino and Terry Funk. A victorious Corino celebrated and posed for photos with the Extreme Horsemen while officials tried to free a bloodied Funk from the wire.

Gary Hart came out and badmouthed Funk as he tried to scratch and claw his way to his feet. After a barrage of insults, Funk gave a last show of defiance by hurtling a chair in Hart’s direction, merely grazing the legendary manager. Hart then dropped the same chair across Funk’s back before leaving with his heavy who made sure to get some cheap shots in on Funk in the process.

The Havana Pitbulls (Rocky Romero & Ricky Reyes) defeated Los Maximos (Joel & Jose Maximo)

The Pitbulls booked their place in the GTC Carnival final with an upset win over the popular Maximos. Jose and Joel kept the high flying to a minimum as Reyes and Romero kept them grounded. Romero brought out some strong style chops and kicks before Joel picked up the pace as we hurtled towards the finish.

Romero blocked a double Spanish fly from the top rope and from the fallout, the Pitbulls hit the Cuban Execution: a top rope knee drop onto a backbreaker combination for the win. They join the Stampede Bulldogs (Harry Smith and T.J. Wilson) in the canine-themed team name GTC Carnival final.

— We were told that Homicide was suspended and Gary Hart fined for attacking Jerry Lynn and Court Bauer last week.

Michael Modest defeated Jerry Lynn

This was enjoyable and pretty good to see Modest in action  — a man who I have not seen much of in my 25+ years of watching wrestling. He looked a little bigger from his Beyond The Mat appearance filmed five years before this match took place and we were told he has moved to the heavyweight division. Still, he certainly seemed to have his preferred style down to a T as he ground Lynn down with powerful strikes and suplexes.

Modest was announced as from Pro Wrestling NOAH and cut a heel promo on the Florida crowd. He didn’t have ring music and he said that was because he was a wrestler, not like all these other “flippity-floppers.”

Lynn was a good adversary for Modest as he was able to fly, sell and fire up on his bigger opponent. After reversing each other’s finishers, Homicide came to ringside and hung up Lynn on the top rope which led to Modest rolling him up with a handful of tights to pick up the second upset win of the episode.

— We had a few promos for matches that never took place as this episode was taken from MLW’s second last show of the era. PJ Friedman cut a promo on Norman Smiley and said he was going to break Smiley’s neck as a message to Smiley’s friend Vampiro.

— Throughout the night, we heard that Corino had been calling out Shane Douglas and we even had JJ Dillion (via the phone) issuing the challenge to MLW’s first-ever World champ. That match was later confirmed, but never took place.

Vampiro defeated Raven in a falls count anywhere match

Raven took the mic before the match and announced this was now a falls count anywhere match and they immediately went brawling through the crowd and to the stage where Raven failed to put Vampiro through a table. They brawled up to a seated area where Raven took a back bump onto a vintage settee.

Back in the ring, Vampiro missed a corkscrew senton and Raven fired up, but a misplaced chair throw caught referee Mickie Jay in the face and knocked him out. After trying to revive him, Raven turned around and got hit with a spinning Vampiro heel kick which also knocked the same chair back into Raven’s face. Vampiro then laid on top of Raven just as Jay came to life long enough to count the pinfall.

Final Thoughts:

As we head towards the end of the 2000s run of MLW, we can see the vision Court Bauer had at the time: making new stars. Rocky Romero, Ricky Reyes and Michael Modest all picking up wins over then-MLW regulars was a real shot in the arm at trying to push some fresh faces into the product.

Last week, we saw the Stampede Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith Jr and Tyson Kidd), Teddy Hart, Jack Evans, and in later episodes, we will hopefully see Chris Hero and Bryan Danielson who also wrestled on this set of tapings. It’s such a shame that this version of MLW did not last as this new crop of talent could have really made an impact in a similar way to the formation and first shows of Ring of Honor.

In another retro episode full of MLW debuts, Low Ki faced Homicide in the main event while the Stampede Bulldogs (later Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Tyson Kidd) debuted in the opener of this week’s MLW Underground.

This was the opener of their second season, debuting in January 2004 and one of only five remaining episodes in the series.

The Stampede Bulldogs (Harry Smith and TJ Wilson) defeated Bobby Quance and Puma

The Bulldogs were very impressive here with an array of innovative double team moves. Puma (TJP under a mask) and Quance were great, too, Quance showed some brilliant suplexes while the slimmer Puma was impressive with his high flying. This was a great match to kick off the show.

The Bulldogs’ double teaming started with a History in the Making combo powerbomb. Wilson had Puma in the reverse DDT position before slingshotting Puma off the top rope and combining with Smith who hit a sit-out powerbomb. Wilson then transitioned straight to a grapevined ankle lock but Puma got the ropes.

Quance got the hot tag and came in like a house of fire with springboard dropkicks, tornado kicks, chops, and a t-bone suplex. Puma pulled out a tombstone before Quance squashed Smith with a top rope shooting star press.

But the Bulldogs fired up as the action broke down. Quance got thrown from the ring which allowed the Bulldogs to grab Puma and hit a springboard blockbuster/sit-out powerbomb combination to pick up the win.

This match was part of an ongoing tag tournament with the Bulldogs now receiving a Tag Team title shot against Simon Diamond and CW Anderson as part of a three-way tag.

— Backstage and now under a hood, PJ Friedman cut a promo saying he was back and has his sights set on Vampiro.

MLW Junior Heavyweight Champion Sonjay Dutt defeated Jack Evans (w/ Teddy Hart) to retain

Current AEW wrestler Evans was announced as the best high flyer in the world today (then 2004) by Hart who joined the commentary team. However, Evans didn’t really show a lot of his potential here as it was mostly Dutt in control before he eventually put Evans away.

The action started quite slowly given who was involved, but Dutt took early control and hit a nice hurricanrana and fast jumping heel kick. Dutt then hit a huge top rope double jump elbow drop, but Evans kicked out.

Evans moved from a Hindu Press attempt and connected with a superkick. Dutt then tried to roll Evans up, but the referee stopped the count as Evans’ shoulder was up. That seemed to anger Dutt as it felt like that was the planned finish. After displaying his frustrations, Dutt finished Evans off with a standing shooting star press seconds later.

After the match, Hart jumped Dutt and he and Evans continued the beatdown, setting up a future Hart vs. Dutt match that would never happen.

After a break, Dutt was backstage pissed off because of the attack, but was confronted by Los Maximos. This set up a future six-man tag with Dutt and two partners vs. Los Maximos and a partner of their choosing.

Homicide defeated Low Ki

This was great and crisp action from start to finish. The memorable ending of Court Bauer being hit in the head with a broomstick by Homicide was such that the commentary has made its way to the current day Fusion TV opening titles. The hot crowd in Orlando also helped this match as they ate up the action and were loud throughout.

Ki hit a crossbody and took control. He hit a nice butterfly suplex and a handspring overhead kick to the back of the head. Homicide fought back after taking one stiff chop too many and flew out the ring with a tope, ending up over the barrier and into the crowd.

Homicide then took over with suplexes of his own and a surfboard submission. He dropped Ki on the top of his head with a hurricanrana off the top rope, but Ki still kicked out at two. Homicide then missed a diving headbutt which gave Ki the chance to fire up. He hit a barrage of chops, a clothesline, and kicks to the chest followed by soccer kicks to the head. He slipped out of the Cop Killer and hit a rolling kick to the back of Homicide’s head. He then deadlifted Homicide up and planted him on his head with a German suplex, but Homicide got his foot on the rope to break the count.

Homicide caught Ki springboarding off the ropes and hit a dragon screw followed by another one off the top rope. He locked on an STF but let go when he thought Ki tapped out. Ki then slipped out the back and locked in a dragon sleeper, but Homicide again got to the ropes.

Ki’s leg gave out on a suplex attempt, but he was able to come back with a kick to the head. Homicide fought back with a big clothesline, but Ki again slipped out of the Cop Killer, but struggled to lock in the dragon sleeper once again. Homicide fought and fought and in the scramble and rolled Ki onto his shoulders just long enough for the ref to count to three and get the win.

Jerry Lynn jumped Homicide after the match, but Ki saved his teacher from a beatdown which brought out the debuting Gary Hart, the legendary manager.

He instructed both Homicide and Low Ki to make an example of Lynn. They pummelled him and put the boots to him before a fan started badmouthing Hart at ringside, so he instructed Low Ki to confront him. Hart had a mystery man with him and he was (maybe strategically) blocking the camera’s view of Low Ki and the fan, but we did see a drink get smashed and then Low Ki trying to drag the fan over the guardrail.

Chaos ensued as Homicide also got involved. The fan tried to run, but Low Ki chased him and clobbered him with a right hand. A security guard tried to shield the fan but it took road agents and staff (including Court Bauer) to separate them. Hart was still on the mic and got in Bauer’s face, but the MLW founder was blindsided by Homicide and shoved to the ground.

Hart sarcastically thanked Bauer for bringing him to MLW and promised to end Terry Funk’s career the next night. The situation looked to be calmed, but as Bauer was getting to his knees, he was hit over the head with a broomstick by Homicide.

Final Thoughts:

This was another great night of in-ring action, although a bit disappointing we did not see more from Jack Evans. It was brilliant to see so many young faces who are still in action or around the business today: Smith, Wilson, TJP, Evans, Dutt, Homicide, Low Ki, and, of course, Bauer.

The main event went over 15 minutes which gave them enough time to put on a great match. Both the opening tag and the main event really bookended this episode well as they were the first and final matches of the first night of TV tapings.

The aftermath of the main event was chaotic and a great way to get people talking and intrigued for the second night of tapings that would follow the next day.

The Halloween 2003 episode of MLW Underground featured Sonjay Dutt winning the first-ever MLW Global Junior Heavyweight title by defeating Christopher Daniels in the finals of the Super J-Cup tournament.

MLW is airing Underground once again as it prepares for its July 10th TV taping and new season in Philadelphia.

Methodically worked over for most of the match by the heelish Daniels and Mikey Whipwreck at ringside, Dutt mounted a comeback late which included an unbelievable looking somersault dive to the outside that was preceded by Dutt bouncing off several sections of ring ropes over two rings. 

Daniels got in all of his key spots after working a slow, methodical style early, dismissively covering Dutt with his knee. After Dutt got a visual pin on Daniels that was negated due to Whipwreck, Dutt took out the ECW star with a pescado dive before hitting the Hindu press on Daniels for the pin and win.

The show took place in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, on the same night as their WarGames match, hence the two rings.

Dutt would only defend the title one more time before the company went into mothballs for thirteen years. The title wasn’t brought back when the company rebooted. This would be Daniels’ final MLW appearance after nine matches over 2002-03.

In other action:

The aforementioned Whipwreck picked up a win over Norman Smiley following the Whippersnapper (stunner off the top rope). This was Whipwreck’s final MLW appearance after four matches.

In a bit of a mess, the Samoan Island Tribe (Samu and Ekmo, later Umaga) and Mana defeated the debuting Matt Martel (Matt Striker) and Rich Criado in a handicap, falls count anywhere match. Originally, it was Martel and Criado against Mana in a handicap match, but the SIT and Monsta Mack of The Hit Squad appeared and started brawling at ringside and the match was changed. However, Mack wasn’t announced as part of the chance even though he remained involved the entire time. Got that?

If there’s an example of the difference between pro wrestling safety in 2003 to 2021, it’s here. There were a slew of unprotected chair shots to the head and the match itself had this dangerous feel but not in a good way.

Mack went for a headbutt/shoulderblock version of the Van Terminator on Samu that looked terrible as he barely made it to the other side of the ring and the trash can was placed at Samu’s side. Earlier, the SIT put Criado in a wheelchair on the stage and rolled him off it in an ugly looking crash.

Francine came down to ringside during the match as she was said to be scouting. She disappeared and reappeared several times, but never factored into the match.

The match ended when Ekmo hit a splash on Martel who was laid out on a table to the floor, leading to a ref stoppage. Martel did a great job selling the impact.

Other stuff:

• Joey Styles wore various lucha masks through his on-camera segments because it was Halloween.
• The Samoan Island Tribe were announced as getting a Tag Team title shot against the Extreme Horsemen (CW Anderson and Simon Diamond) at the November ’03 King of Kings show.
• Coming out of WarGames, the Extreme Horsemen’s Barry Windham was announced as taking on Sabu which should be something to see.
• Even though he was in an angle with CM Punk and Raven, Vampiro apparently had left MLW but Styles said Punk vs. Raven was coming up soon.

This week’s MLW Underground brought us back to 2003 with the semifinals of the J-Cup USA Junior heavyweight title tournament that set up a can’t miss final.

Sonjay Dutt defeated Eddie Colon in a J-Cup USA semifinal match

A young Primo Colon and the excellently exciting Dutt started this episode with the first semifinal J-Cup match. Colon defeated Jerry Lynn in the first round while we saw Dutt put away Tony Mamaluke two weeks ago.

It didn’t take long for Dutt to take to the sky as he hit a slingshot corkscrew plancha to the floor followed by a slingshot dropkick. Colon looked good here without ever posing a credible threat. Dutt has been so impressive on these shows recently that it would have been crazy to halt his hot streak here.

Colon hit an impressive sunset flip from the top rope, but when he went for his own slingshot dropkick, Dutt caught him with a power bomb and put the future WWE matador and vacation salesman away.

— Kevin Kelly debuted as the latest member of the broadcasting team, announcing the lineup for the next set of tapings that included NOSAWA and Vampiro vs. CM Punk and a mystery partner.

— Samoa Joe cut a great and intense 90-second promo talking about coming to MLW to wrestle and not having to resort to any hardcore gimmicks, taking a shot at Mike Awesome. This was exactly what he needed to get back on track after his loss to Awesome last week.

Los Maximos (Joel and Jose) defeated Juventud Guerrera and Super Dragon

Guerrera and the SAT worked well together, pulling out a lot of headscissors, arm drags, feints and reversals. They made good use of the two rings that were used for the WarGames match (this tag match actually opened the WarGames set of tapings).

Los Maximos stacked Guerrera on top of Dragon and locked in a boston crab /camel clutch combo submission before Guerrera came back and hit a pair of Juvi Drivers. However, he got dumped out the ring for his trouble.

Joel got the lucky winning pinfall and the win over Dragon after a series of impressive back-and-forth pin attempts.

— Backstage, Punk verbally retaliated to Vampiro, reminding everyone that he is straight edge and their upcoming tag match is his time to show the world why he is better both he and NOSAWA.

Christopher Daniels (w/ Mikey Whipwreck) defeated Jimmy Yang in a J-Cup USA semifinal match

Daniels did well slowing the action down so Whipwreck could interfere. Daniels focused his attention on Yang’s ribs to try and ground the WWE-bound high flier. This was quite smart as similar to last week’s match with Guerrera, Yang did not take too many aerial risks in this match in preparation for his big money move.

Instead, it was Daniels who took to the sky but Yang’s timing was on point as he connected with a spinning heel kick as Daniels came off the top.

Yang popped up from a picture-perfect corner assisted tilt-a-whirl DDT, hitting Daniels with a heel kick and a standing moonsault.

Yang then went to the top and hit his Yang Time corkscrew. Daniels kicked out and Yang went to hit it for a second time. Whipwreck then crotched him on the top rope and he fell into the ring, straight into the Last Rights (Cross Rhodes) which put him away.

This sets up Daniels vs. Dutt for the MLW Junior Heavyweight title and the J-Cup USA crown next week.

Final Thoughts:

I’m looking forward to the  final next week. Dutt has been so spectacular in this MLW run and Daniels has been a step above everyone he has been in the ring. This should really be something special.

I would like to see more of Punk in the MLW ring from this time. By my calculations, he has been in action once during this Underground run, so hopefully, we get to see the well-hyped up tag match and the big reveal of his mystery opponent.

Still in their hiatus before July’s live TV taping, MLW took another turn back to 2003 this week featuring a debuting Samoa Joe against former MLW World Champion Mike Awesome while Super Dragon debuted in the main event against Christopher Daniels.

Terry Funk opened the show and continued his feud with Steve Corino and build to their upcoming MLW title match. Footage was shown of Funk jumping Corino at the merchandise stand as the fans were entering the arena before tonight’s show, busting Corino open with barbed wire before the other Horsemen eventually saved their leader.

Jimmy Yang defeated Juventud Guerrera in a J-Cup USA first round match

JOey Styles let us know that Yang had signed his WWE contract by the time this episode aired and mentioned if he won the tournament, he would still have to return to MLW every 30 days to defend or he would be stripped of the J-Cup crown.

After a smooth opening sequence of reversals and feints, the action picked up but stayed relatively grounded — much more than you would imagine going into it. Maybe Yang’s upcoming move to WWE was on his mind and he was not ready to take too many risks.

Gurrera hit a pair of tilt-a-whirls and spinning heel kicks and dropped Yang on his face with a power bomb dominator. Hard shots and chops back and forth followed, but a Juvi driver and a twisting fisherman’s buster couldn’t put Yang away.

Yang caught Guerrera with a dropkick out of nowhere and hit a Yang Time twisting splash off the top, his only high flying move of the match, for the win.

— Backstage. Dr. Death Steve Williams hyped up his upcoming taped fist match with PJ Walker (Justin Credible), calling him a thorn in his side before Walker blindsided him with a superkick.

Mike Awesome defeated Samoa Joe

Earlier in the night, Awesome promised to power bomb Joe through a table over the top rope and smash a chair over his head. He got his chair shot in, but the table that was set up remained unbroken.

To keep up with the junior heavyweights, Awesome hit a suicide dive over the top rope landing on his feet. He later hit his slingshot shoulderblock to continue his heavyweight high flying. Joe hit some of his now signature moves: the uranage out of the corner, stiff front kicks and chops, an array of suplexes, and his jackknife pin into an STF.

Joe put up a good fight and kicked out of a sit-out Awesome Bomb but couldn’t kick out after a top rope splash with a chair placed on his chest.

— Vampiro was backstage with NOSAWA who announced himself as a Juggalo as he aligned with Vampiro. Later, CM Punk caught us up with the action we did not see. He said someone spiked NOSAWA’s drink which caused him to lose a match to Raven. Vampiro then returned to MLW to save NOSAWA after the match, so a future Vampiro vs. Punk or a three-way with Raven should all be on the card soon.

— The Extreme Horsemen, complete with new members Barry Windham and PJ Walker, cut a backstage promo announcing their expansion. We learned the Samoan Island Tribe will be facing Horsemen members CW Anderson and Simon Diamond soon for the Tag Team titles.

Christopher Daniels defeated Super Dragon in a J-Cup USA first round match

Dragon made his MLW debut and similar to the earlier J-Cup USA match, this started with some slick chain and mat wrestling before the action picked up with Dragon hitting a headscissors takeover from the top rope and a somersault suicide dive to the floor.

Daniels came back with a nice running jumping neckbreaker and a rolling neck snap. He stayed on top with a smooth slingshot legdrop from the apron. But he took too long on the top rope which gave Dragon time to run up and hit an armdrag from the top.

Daniels rolled through a Fujiwara armbar during Dragon’s comeback. Dragon then locked in a cross armbreaker as he continued his focus on the arm, but Daniels stopped all momentum with a uranage out of the corner.

The finish came as Daniels had to grab the referee to block a German suplex. With him distracted, Daniels kicked back with a low blow. He then quickly hit his Last Rights (a rolling reverse DDT) to pick up the win to advance.

Final Thoughts:

In what is becoming a regular and good occurrence on these shows, the junior heavyweight matches were fast, explosive, exciting and full of great technical moves that would still hold up in today’s wrestling landscape — very similar to the style of the early WCW Nitro episodes.

Daniels, Super Dragon, Guerrera and Yang all deserve credit for their showings. The matches weren’t as high-flying as Sonjay Dutt vs, Yang for example, but still good action.

It was also great and really interesting to see a young blonde Samoa Joe sharpening his teeth before he was let loose in ROH and TNA a few years later.

The advertised Raven vs. NOSAWA match that CM Punk announced last week didn’t air, but we were informed of the storyline progression involving Punk, Raven and Vampiro which was intriguing, to say the least.

In an aptly timed episode, MLW presented WarGames as Steve Corino and the Extreme Horsemen took on Terry Funk’s Funkin’ Army. This was one of two WarGames matches (2018 was the other) MLW ran before WWE acquired the rights in 2019. After that, it became War Chamber.

The Extreme Horsemen graced the Florida crowd with an insult-laden promo directed at their WarGames opponents, the local crowd and (ironically) WWE.

Similar to their other promos in weeks prior, Corino questioned Funk’s team’s cohesiveness and pointed out there are four of the Horsemen (including the masked mystery man from the aftermath of the Lawler/Funk match) but only three for Funk’s team (Funk, Sandman and “Dr. Death” Steve Williams). He suggested WWE (Vince McMahon and Jim Ross in particular) pulled the originally scheduled Jerry Lawler from the match because they were scared of the competition and scared of Lawler losing.

The mystery masked man was unmasked and unveiled as Justin Credible, the renamed PJ Walker, who was officially added to the Horsemen team. Corino wasn’t done as he called out “the original Extreme Horseman” Barry Windham to also join their team and make the numbers 5-on-3 going into the match.

J-Cup USA First Round: Sonjay Dutt defeated Tony Mamaluke to advance

Weighing in at an announced 2,476 liquid ounces, Mamaluke took on Dutt in a first-round match in the J-Cup USA tournament. Dutt was coming off an impressive, but losing, effort to Jimmy Yang two weeks ago in the 2003 timeline.

This was really great and followed up on perfectly from the aforementioned Dutt/Yang match. These matches have a real early X-Division feel to them with some spectacular and impressive moves throughout. For example, Dutt leapt from the apron and landed with a split leg on the top rope, using his legs to scissor Mamaluke over the top rope to the floor. Mamaluke then squashed Dutt on the concrete with a very brave somersault senton from the top rope to the floor.

The fast-paced high flying action continued back in the ring and Dutt had the crowd rocking with a muscle buster neckbreaker where he dropped to his knees, jarring Mamaluke’s back. He had them at a fever pitch with a spectacular reverse 450 splash from the top to pick up the win.

The Funkin’ Army (Terry Funk, Sandman, “Dr. Death” Steve Williams, Sabu & Bill Alfonso) defeated The Extreme Horsemen (Steve Corino, Barry Windham, CW Anderson, Simon Diamond, PJ Walker) in a WarGames match

A few times throughout the night, Joey Styles mentioned that this was the match that “the evil empire” tried to stop, pointing the finger at WWE for nearly ruining it by pulling Lawler from being able to appear.

Anderson and Sandman were first out for their respecive teams and we got the full Metallica Sandman entrance which was a delight to see and hear unedited. In a smart piece of booking, we not only got to see that full entrance at his own pace but the entrants were only two minutes apart so the action never lagged and no one was exposed in the ring for too long.

The Horsemen won the pre-match coin toss so the MLW Champion Corino was third out and interestingly announced as “The King of Kings” which sounds awfully familiar. Corino had barbed wire wrapped around his fist and, of course, he took the wire to Sandman’s forehead, busting him open more than his Budweiser did during his entrance. They harkened back to ECW with a caning spot as Anderson held Sandman and draped him between the two rings.

Funk was out next to even the sides, throwing a chair into the ring from the elevated entrance stage and immediately going straight for Corino to continue their ongoing war. We were told Funk had an upcoming title shot at Corino and chose a dog collar match for the stipulation. Funk dragged Corino from one ring to the other, dropping him with a piledriver.

The Horsemen got the upper hand when Diamond entered to make it 3-2 in their favor. With both Global Tag Team Champions now in the ring, Diamond took a chair to Funk while Anderson ran Sandman’s face against the steel cage.

Williams was next out to even the score as we were told this was the last advertised member of Funk’s team. He had also supposedly agreed to take the match even though they were two men short with Windham being recently added to the Horsemen’s team.

Walker (Justin Credible) brought a ladder out with him as he gave the Horsemen a 4-3 advantage. He and Anderson whipped Sandman into the ladder as Funk see-sawed between the ropes as Corino fired off right hands. Moments later, the crazy Funk did his signature airplane spin ladder spot, taking out some of the Horsemen in the process.

Windham was supposed to come in next, but Sabu surprisingly returned and ran wild, evening the odds and bringing Funk’s team back into the match. Sabu’s left arm was heavily taped up from his bicep tear and still did not look fully healed.

Windham was out next and the Horsemen’s bounty hunter took out all members of the Funk’s team. However, Alfonso, who came out with Sabu, got on the mic and declared the uneven teams were bullsh*t, so he climbed in and became the fifth member of Funk’s team.

Sabu came off the top rope and put Walker through a table with a legdrop. Funk brought a flaming branding iron into the ring, branding Corino across the back and then spitting the branding iron fire into Corino’s eyes. Funk then locked in his famous spinning toehold to make Corino give up and win the match for his team.

Final Thoughts:

There was a lot of in-ring action and not a lot of promo time — necessary given the length of the WarGames match. The match itself never lagged and each entrant kept the action fresh and exciting with the weapons they brought in. The Dutt/Mamaluke match was fantastic, if a little short, but is worth watching. The upcoming Funk vs. Corino match should be a bloodbath and I’m hoping we get to see it before we return to current-day programming in July.

Next week’s show features Raven vs. NOSAWA as CM Punk’s feud with Raven continues.

As they take a break ahead of their new season starting in July, MLW began another turn back to 2003 with another Underground show, headlined by a spike match between then-rival Sabu and Christopher Daniels.

We are on the road to War Games where the Extreme Horsemen (Steve Corino, CW Anderson and Simon Diamond) are taking on The Funkin’ Army (Terry Funk, Steve Williams, Sandman, and Jerry Lawler.) Sabu and Bill Alfonso would later replace Lawler on Funk’s team, while Barry Windham and PJ Walker joined the Horsemen team. The episode opened with a recap from the last episode where Funk took on Lawler and the twisting tale when Lawler and Funk united to fight off the interfering Horsemen.

We then heard from the Horsemen who hyped up the match in typical Horsemen fashion, talking down the legends and saying they will put them out to pasture.

Funk and Lawler (flanked by Sandman and Williams) retaliated with a pre-taped promo after their bloody battle the week before. Lawler pointed out Funk’s blood on the floor, saying it was still wet from their fight but they are already talking about teaming up in War Games. Lawler said he is willing to put 20 years of problems behind him for one night. A bloodied Funk said he will never forget “the eye” but that when going to war, you need “a pervert, a crazy son of a bitch, a thief, and a liar” but doesn’t think they have any of them. What they do have are four mean “son of bitches” that will get the job done.

The Samoan Island Tribe (Ekmo & Samu) defeated Monsta Mack & B-Boy

Ekmo is the late Umaga of WWE fame.

This was supposed to be a falls count anywhere match between Da Hit Squad (Mack and Mafia) and the S.I.T., but the story was that Mafia was attacked in the parking lot by the S.I.T. B-Boy was his replacement for the night, so there were no doubt as to who was taking the pinfall.

They quickly started brawling through the crowd where Ekmo and Samu dominated. Back in the ring, Ekmo sent Mack face first into a chair and hit a twisting slam. Mack and B-Boy used low blows to get back into it, but only for a brief moment. Samu hit B-Boy with a chair and Ekmo caught Mack coming off the ladder. Samu then set B-Boy on a table at ringside, leading to Ekmo splashing poor B-Boy from the top rope all the way through the table to the floor to pick up the dominant win.

— Sabu and Alfonso spoke ahead of their match with Daniels. They showed Sabu’s Daniels-inflicted injuries, but called Sabu the spike master with some foreboding threatening to spike Daniels’ eye out.

— CM Punk taunted Raven about joining WWE with his gimmick and having mediocre matches with all his merchandise. He called WWE a circus and took a dig at a certain 350-pound guy named something only a comedy writer would laugh at. He said he then slipped back into his old ways of drinking, drugs and “rats,” lost that job and ended up in MLW. Punk then revealed NOSAWA as the new man in Punk’s straight edge society and would face Raven at War Games. Raven verbally retaliated later on, promising to beat “Punk’s flunkie” like he did with Stevie Richards and the Blue Meanie in ECW.

Homicide defeated Jerry Lynn (w/ Sinister Minister)

Homicide already had a win over Lynn and this was the second match in the young lion’s series: someone without an MLW contract (the young lion) had to beat an established MLW employee in a best of three series to win a contract.

Earlier, the Minister said Homicide got lucky against Lynn the first time they faced each other, adding the old lion will brutalize and kill the young lion and establish him as the king of the jungle. Lynn then got serious with a low grumbling voice and said Homicide was about to set foot in his dark domain. A pent-up Homicide later shouted there were no more young lions and tonight will be the rise and destruction of all his opponents before punching his own locker.

We came back from an early break and were reminded of no disqualifications in MLW as Homicide bulldogged Lynn into the timekeeper’s bell. Homicide was busted open (no idea how) and was on the receiving end of a TKO. Moments later, Homicide rolled Lynn up with a half nelson and got the quick win out of nowhere. Afterward, Lynn hit a cradle piledriver and came off the middle rope, driving the bell into Homicide’s neck.

Backstage, Sonjay Dutt said he was entering the junior heavyweight tournament as the number 1 junior heavyweight in the world.

Sabu (w/ Bill Alfonso) defeated Christopher Daniels (w/ Sinister Minister) in a spike match

This match came before their loser must leave MLW for 60 days match. Marilyn Manson’s “Fight Song” introduced Daniels before an injured Sabu came out with a cast on his left arm, but showed no sign of letting that get in the way between he and Daniels.

The rules of the spike match: pinfall or submission with either combatant being able to use a spike that was hammered into a table in the aisle. Alfonso said Sabu was suffering from a torn bicep and 27 stitches under his cast.

We came back from an early break with Daniels hitting two triple jump moonsaults before the spike was brought into action. They teased using it, but Daniels locked Sabu in a head and neck submission with his leg. It was clear Sabu was limited with his arm injury as Daniels was flying all over trying to cover for Sabu’s limitations.

Daniels took his time on the top rope which let Sabu knock him into the ring, followed by a Sabu suicide leg drop, all with only one arm. With Alfonso’s help, an Arabian face crusher (chair assisted suicide leg drop) through a table followed.

Whipwreck interfered and tried to light the fire paper used a few weeks ago (in the 2003 timeline), but Alfonso doused him in water before he could light it. Sabu then used the spike on Daniels’ forehead four times before getting him in the camel clutch and forcing the spike into Daniels’ eye which caused him to quit.

Final Thoughts:

Originally airing the same night he had his last tag match with Frankie Kazarian in AEW, Daniels showed how good of a wrestler he is (and was in 2003) by dragging Sabu to an exciting match when Sabu was clearly limited. He flew around on offense to keep the crowd happy and set himself up perfectly for Sabu’s trademark spots. He even ran full force at Sabu to take the spikes to the forehead before the finish. Now that is dedication.

I would have liked to have seen more of the heavily edited Lynn vs. Homicide match, but the opening tag match was a great chaotic way to open the show.

Speaking of that opening, we didn’t get the best Terry Funk promo he ever cut, but it was one to remind us of how crazy he could be (as if we needed reminding). On the contrary, Punk’s promo on Raven was intelligently thought out, personal and to the point. If you were jumping into this episode, you would immediately know and understand the beef between he and Raven.

The Big Takeaways:

Homicide defeated Jerry Lynn in a very good match while The Sandman helped he and Steve Williams earn a tag team title shot against the Extreme Horsemen.

Show Review:

Extreme Horsemen members and Tag Team Champions Simon Diamond and CW Anderson opened this week, talking about their ongoing storyline with “Dr. Death” Steve Williams and The Sandman. Diamond said Sandman had dodged him in ECW because he knows his technical wrestling can beat his hardcore wrestling.

Joey Styles then said Terry Funk will be facing World Champion Steve Corino’s latest bounty hunter, Jerry “The King” Lawler, who was hired to injure Funk so he can’t make it to his upcoming title match with Corino. 

Simon Diamond defeated The Sandman (03:21)

The full Sandman entrance is always great to see. He refused a left handed handshake from Diamond but ended up eating a superkick to start things off. After a less than stellar armdrag (which is where the match’s technical wrestling started and ended), the action spilled to the outside where Sandman took Diamond around ringside, chopping him in front of the same fans that got a taste of his beer moments before.

Diamond begged for a timeout back in the ring, but ended up taking a top rope guillotine leg drop and a top rope hurricanrana (or “Sandmanarana” or “Rolling Rock” as Styles called it). CW Anderson ran in and superkicked Sandman behind the referee’s back and Diamond hit the Gem Cutter (reverse DDT) to pick up the quick win.

Williams ran in to chase off the Extreme Horsemen after the bell but with the win, it meant that Sandman and Dr. Death’s tag title shot was no more.

— The storyline between CM Punk and Raven continued. Punk told us that we need to understand straight edge before we can learn the rules of their upcoming “straight edge” match. He said straight edge means no alcohol, no drugs, and no one night stands. He said the ending of their feud can either be fast or slow and the answer is up to Raven.

— Da Hit Squad said they were happy with their impact and debut last week against the Samoan Island Tribe. The teams will meet again in a no DQ, falls count anywhere match at the next tapings. Mafia said he has an addiction for Samoan blood and wants to find out if the East Coast or the West Coast are tougher.

Later in the night, the Samoan Island Tribe replied by saying, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” and that Samoans “don’t die, we multiply”. Samu told them to get ready for a teabag and went to eat his burrito before Ekmo (Umaga) threw them a towel “to wipe their mouth”.

— Corino gloated about bringing prestige to MLW by touring with the World title, but said that Funk only gets one more shot at it before he starts defending it against everyone else. Corino promised that he is taking Funk down. 

Homicide defeated Jerry Lynn (15:03 televised)

This was easily one of the longest matches we have seen during these historical MLW episodes and also easily one of the best. This was 15 minutes of very good action and some nice storytelling. Lynn worked Homicide’s jaw throughout the match, but was caught by a clever finish to keep up his losing streak storyline.

Lynn took the mic before the match and said Paul London had awoken hate, anger, and disgust in him. He shot down an “RVD” chant (in WWE at that time) before Homicide stormed to the ring to answer the open challenge.

Homicide started like a ball of fire by launching Lynn to the outside with a headscissors. Lynn tried to slow things down, but Homicide thwarted him by matching him technically and out-wrestling him by dodging, blocking, and reversing Lynn’s advances.

The match switched gears when Lynn caught Homicide on a baseball slide and launched him jaw first into the guardrail. He then smashed Homicide’s face into the guardrail before slamming him face first into a steel chair and the ring bell.

After an ad break, Lynn was in complete control. He continued his face-based offense by dropping Homicide face first onto his knee, locking in a chin lock, and a front face lock.

Homicide fought back and hit a t-bone suplex and a pop-up dropkick. He then motioned to the crowd to move before he launched himself through the ropes with a cannonball that took both men into the guardrail. He then came close to winning by coming off the top with a tornado DDT.

The Sinister Minister caused a distraction, allowing Lynn to land a low blow and hit a running sit out powerbomb out of the corner. Homicide then kicked out of a twirling face first slam and reversed Lynn’s cradle piledriver, but could not reverse a big TKO which he just barely kicked out of.

Homicide reversed a tombstone and Lynn reversed a Cop Killa but ate a big boot as the action kicked into a new gear as we made our way to the finish. Lynn crotched Homicide on the top rope and hit a hurricanrana, but Homicide rolled through, got Lynn’s shoulders on the mat and picked up the flash pin to the delight of the crowd.

Afterward, the cameras caught up with Lynn, Sinister Minister, and Mikey Whipwreck. Lynn was complaining that MLW never give him the opponents they advertise, but Whipwreck told them both “don’t worry, be evil” which caused them all to change their tune and laugh hysterically as we jumped to Homicide’s locker room. Homicide said he stepped in while London stepped out. He said he is going to beat Lynn for a second time and Lynn isn’t the evil f’n show anymore as he is “The Show” now.

— From their locker room, Bill Alfonso and Sabu warned Christopher Daniels that they will spike him in the eye during their upcoming match at the next tapings.

— Styles was closing out the show when he was told they were cutting to the ring for an impromptu match.

The Sandman and “Dr. Death” Steve Williams defeated Tag Team Champions CW Anderson, Simon Diamond and Steve Corino (01:59) in a no DQ match to earn a future title shot

We were told Sandman had challenged the Horsemen and said if they don’t win, they would leave MLW forever. However, a win would get them their tag title shot back. Corino was out there as well, so the no disqualification match was 3-on-2.

Anderson hit Williams with a spinebuster before Sandman ate a triple superkick. Funk then appeared at ringside and hit all three Horsemen with stunners before Sandman hit Diamond with a senton from the top rope to pick up the quick win and title shot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-uEGIx3cJM