A vignette starring the wrestler formerly known as Enzo Amore aired during Thursday’s TNA Impact.
The vignette began with an announcement that the message had been paid for by Fourth Rope Wrestling, an independent wrestling company where Amore holds the Flyweight Championship. Amore then made several callbacks to his former WWE catchphrases.
Without explicitly stating that he would appear at next Sunday’s TNA Slammiversary pay-per-view in New York, Amore suggested that TNA should bring him in for the event.
The former Amore went on to allude to an angle shot at the NJPW and ROH event held in Madison Square Garden where he and former tag partner Big Cass attacked The Briscoes in a work that was made to look like a shoot.
Amore is a two-time former WWE Cruiserweight Champion who was fired from the promotion in January 2018 after facing sexual assault allegations and an ensuing investigation from Phoenix, Arizona police. The Phoenix PD later dropped the investigation, but Amore was not rehired.
Later in 2018, Amore disrupted the WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view at Staples Center in Los Angeles. He first sat in the crowd at ringside wearing a disguise, then stood on his seat and began shouting in plain view of the hard camera before being ejected from the venue.
Slammiversary will be held at the UBS Arena on Long Island on Sunday, July 20:
TNA Slammiversary, Sunday, July 20 on pay-per-view —
TNA World Champion Trick Williams defends against Joe Hendry and Mike Santana in a triple threat
Double title match: TNA Knockouts World Champion Masha Slamovich vs. NXT Women’s Champion (Jacy Jayne or Jordynne Grace)
Ladder match: TNA Tag Team Champions Nic Nemeth and Ryan Nemeth defend against Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy, Trey Miguel and Zachary Wentz, & AJ Francis and KC Navarro in a four-way
TNA X-Division Champion Moose defends against Leon Slater
TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions Ash by Elegance and HEather by Elegance defend against The IInspiration (Cassie Lee & Jessica McKay)
The former Enzo Amore is setting his sights high when it comes to his potential future with NJPW following his debut for the promotion this Saturday at Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena.
As part of the All-Star Junior Festival USA event, the man now known as Real1/nZo will be in a trios match alongside Jack Cartwheel & Starboy Charlie vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Rich Swann & The DKC.
Speaking on Busted Open Radio Tuesday, Real1 said if he gets the opportunity from Rocky Romero to “do what I do, I guarantee you I end up over in Japan in the Tokyo Dome in front of a hundred f**king thousand people and taking everything that I deserve that should be f**king mine.”
This won’t be Real1’s first dalliance with the promotion as he and the current Big Bill in AEW jumped over the guardrail in an angle during the April 2019 ROH/NJPW G1 Supercard at Madison Square Garden following a multi-team IWGP Tag Team title match. He and Bill never wrestled for the promotion, though.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity, honestly. Me being gracious is something you don’t hear too much…humility and humbleness when I cut promos and start talking, but I have the utmost respect for what they do in New Japan and the way that it’s done and the honor that it holds and how long they’ve been doing it. A standard of success — a precedent that has been set in the business internationally,” he said.
This week’s MLW Underground heavily hyped next week’s War Chamber match with both the opener and main event being used to build to the massive match.
This week’s action was taped in Philadelphia during February’s SuperFight TV taping with Joe Dombrowski and Matt Striker on the call.
Matthew Justice defeated Mance Warner, Microman and Real1 in a dumpster match
The story surrounding this match was with Real1 having all his recent adversaries competing, there was no way he could win and would face his comeuppance. He certainly didn’t win, but put in a good showing.
Early on, Real1 tried to get his hands on Microman but Warne and the crazy Justice took turns getting their shots in. Microman even got his own shot in with an assisted “Whazzzup!” to Real1’s lower regions.
Real1 fought back and dropped his opponents groin first on the guardrail before hitting his Razor’s Edge into the ringpost on both men, then sidestepping to send Warner crashing through a wooden board.
Justice took Real1 out with a chair and he and Microman rolled him on top of a ringside dumpster. Justice then brought a ladder into the ring, climbed it and dropped an elbow onto Real1 into a dumpster, giving him the win.
As he hit the dumpster, the ominous music of The Calling hit as Ricky Shane Page, AKIRA and their crew of masked henchmen attacked Justice and Warner, also attacking MLW Champion Alex Hammerstone in the backstage area.
– MLW Fusion will be returning and showing the upcoming Super Series.
– It was announced that the Opera Cup will be returning but the current cup “holder” Alex Kane will be banned due to his recent actions of disrespect towards the Cup.
Davey Boy Smith Jr. defeated Alex Kane in a no ropes catch wrestling match
Smith got cheered during his entrance, but would finish the match getting booed by the Philadelphia crowd for no reason other than the crowd chose Kane as their favorite. There has definitely been a mixed reaction recently to Smith and the Billington Bulldogs and a quick “kiss my ass” taunt at the end of the match showed Smith acknowledging the crowd’s choice.
Before the match, we heard a pre-taped interview with Kane who taunted Thomas Billington after he had his teeth knocked out last week at the hands of the Bomaye Fight Club.
This started as a grappling match but broke down into a suplex and striking battle towards the end.
Smith nicely bridged out of an octopus hold early on and had a nip-up to escape a leg lock. Kane went to the eyes to escape from an armbar and a German suplex exchange started as the crowd started to get behind the heel Kane.
Strikes followed and Kane hit Smith with another suplex and an Angle slam. They exchanged leg submissions as they rolled and reversed, ending in a sharpshooter by Smith. Mr. Thomas helped Kane escape (because there were no ropes to grab), but Smith kicked him off the apron.
This gave Kane a chance to go for the liquid that blinded Smith last week, but Smith ducked and locked in a rear naked choke to pick up the win to the boos of the Philadelphia crowd.
– Sam Laterna interviewed Lio Rush after he laid out Middleweight Champion Lince Dorado last week and left with his title. Rush had the title over his shoulder and said Dorado had been dodging him recently, but if Dorado wants his title back, he will need to catch him if he can.
AKIRA defeated Calvin Tankman
This called back to The Calling’s first set of attackers as Tankman was one of their first victims as well as the more recent attack on Tankman’s tag partner, EJ Nduka.
AKIRA brought a crowbar into the ring to start the big man vs. little man style match, but ended up having his chest beaten red via chops from Tankman.
Tankman got his leg stuck in the guardrail to give AKIRA an opening and he took full advantage. Back in the ring, he focused his attack on the leg and locked in a standing octopus/Manji Gatame hold. AKIRA then jumped on Tankman’s back to lock in a choke, but Tankman threw him off.
Tankman hit his pop-up spinning elbow and set AKIRA on the top rope with bad intentions. Tankman followed him up but before he could do anything, Raven took a cheap shot with a loaded pipe to Tankman’s leg after which AKIRA locked in a choke. Tankman toppled to the mat and AKIRA transitioned to a bulldog choke to get the referee stoppage finish to pick up the win.
After the match, 1 Called Manders and Matthew Justice ran out with steel chairs to get some revenge for earlier on and began to brawl with AKIRA and the masked Calling henchmen. AKIRA ended up coming off the top rope with a chair across his back to take out everyone at ringside.
Outside the building, we saw Hammerstone, Warner, Rickey Shane Page and other henchmen brawling as the announcers hyped up next week’s War Chamber match.
Next week:
Alex Hammerstone and Second Gear Crew (Mance Warner, 1 Called Manders & Matthew Justice) vs. The Calling (Raven, AKIRA & Rickey Shane Page)
A day after it was reported that MLW had released Real1, the former Enzo Amore fired back at the company in a series of videos Saturday where he clarified his stance and took aim at some recent creative direction he was given.
Real1 said that he was never under contract to MLW and has always been a free agent working in good faith. He said he told MLW owner Court Bauer on his first day that he never wanted to wrestle for the company’s main title so it was “false advertising” when they recently announced a title match between he and Alexander Hammerstone for this upcoming weekend.
He said at the last MLW taping, he was given a stack of posters to sign with the match advertised and when he questioned it to Bauer, he said he was told that it was an oversight that slipped through the cracks and that Bauer was wearing too many hats.
“You forgot, bro? I was born at night, but not last night,” he said.
While he thanked the staff and wrestlers and said he had a great time in his two years there, Real1 said it was “bad business” and a “low blow” on Bauer’s behalf that he put out a story during WrestleMania weekend about him being fired and “trying to squeeze out a headline.”
He also claimed Bauer gave him creative directions “to bury a guy who just beat cancer” which would be Richard Holliday who completed chemotherapy treatments in February. If true, it’s assumed that was a storyline/feud MLW wanted to go with at some point this year when Holliday returns.
“I do a lot of things on the microphone and I say a lot of sh*t, but that ain’t one of them. Sorry, cancer is a sensitive subject,” he said, later adding, “I didn’t want to bury a guy who just beat cancer. There was nothing left for me to do in MLW.”
MLW returns for two Northeast U.S. events this upcoming weekend.
Allow me to beat the hell out the Dead horse. Enjoy wrestlemania, cause this is the last thing anybody should give af about pic.twitter.com/0Ux6sKSMDE
Real1, the former Enzo Amore and nZo, has been released by MLW, according to Dave Meltzer.
Details were initially light as to why, but Fightful reported Saturday afternoon that Real1 “declined much of the upcoming creative and wasn’t interested in working with some top talent in the company.” and that “those we spoke to said there were also issues with him putting over other talent at upcoming shows.”
Just over a week ago, he was announced as challenging current MLW Champion Alex Hammerstone for the title at next Saturday’s Battle Riot V in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was also scheduled for their War Chamber TV taping this Thursday against Willie Mack.
As of this writing, Real1, nor MLW, has posted anything about the release. He is in Los Angeles for WrestleCon where he said on Twitter he would be appearing Saturday.
On last week’s MLW Underground, he was defeated in two minutes by Microman. As of now, his only unaired MLW match is a four-way dumpster match with Mance Warner, Microman and Matthew Justice.
The former WWE star debuted with the company in late-2011 and was a regular, working feuds with Jacob Fatu, KC Navarro and recently, Warner.
This week’s MLW Underground was taped in Philadelphia during January’s Blood & Thunder TV taping with both Joe Dombrowski and Matt Striker on the call.
Microman defeated Real1
This played into the ongoing storyline between Real1 and Mance Warner. Both had previously knocked each other out in matches but then Warner increased the aggression by running Real1 over with his truck. Then two weeks ago, Real1 defied the laws of modern medicine by miraculously recovering, rising from his wheelchair to cause Warner to lose to Ricky Shane Page in a hardcore match. Warner has recently taken Microman under his wing and has been watching out for him.
Mister Saint Laurent emphatically introduced his superhero client before Real1 entered and smack talked Microman, focusing on his height and size. He even called back to his WWE days by spelling out the one word he wanted to use to describe Microman: “D-W-A-R-F.”
The match itself was more of an angle with Real1 bringing a chair into the ring early on, only to be planted face-first into it after mocking Microman by using him as Simba from the Lion King. Warner then gave Microman a cane to use on a knocked out Real1 behind the referee’s back, followed by him standing on top of his fallen mouthy opponent to get the win.
– After being attacked last week by Raven, Ricky Shane Page and AKIRA (aka The Calling), MLW Champion Alex Hammerstone came out to say he wants revenge and wants The Calling in a War Chamber match. Later in the night, it was announced that the challenge was accepted and it will be on Reelz in three weeks.
At the end of the episode, Hammerstone recruited The Second Gear Crew (Mance Warner, 1 Called Manders & Matthew Justice) to be his partners in the match.
– Ahead of tonight’s main event, we saw a video package on the history of the Opera Cup. It focused on more recent events where Alex Kane stole the Cup from Davey Richards and continues to disrespect both the Cup and its history. Davey Boy Smith Jr. hyped up his match with Kane while warming up backstage. During Smith’s promo, we had a cut-in from The Calling. After the Chamber, could he be next on their hit list?
AKIRA defeated Mike Law
Similar to Page’s debut in his hardcore match with Warner, AKIRA had a choice of blood-stained weapons to choose from as he walked to the ring. He wasted no time in trying to use a sickle he chose before dropping Law with an elevated reverse DDT in a quick match.
– Numerous members of the MLW roster were announced for Battle Riot V that will air on Reelz on April 25th.
– Kane had his chance to hype up the main event with the rest of the Bomaye Fight Club alongside him.
– Where is Cesar Duran? A few weeks ago, he was supposedly kidnapped by his own henchmen, put under a hood and taken away. This week, we again heard from MLW Featherweight Champion Taya Valkyrie and MLW Openweight Champion John Hennigan in a tongue-in-cheek plea to help find Duran by calling their 1-900-LUCHA number.
– 1 Called Manders from the Second Gear Crew said he loves to fight and drink beers and wants to add MLW gold to his belt buckle. He will face Page next week in a hardcore match as part of the hype for the War Chamber match.
– Before the bell for the main event, we cut backstage to see The Calling attacking EJ Nduka. Could this be the last time we see Nduka in MLW? The commentary team played up The Calling attacks being out of control.
Alex Kane (w/ Mr. Thomas & Myron Reed) defeated Davey Boy Smith Jr. (w/ Mark & Thomas Billington)
Reed joined the commentary team and said the only Bomaye game plan he was willing to disclose was to “win, win, win.”
This was described as a catch wrestling vs. grappling match, but Kane hit a dive through the ropes early on before hitting a hard German suplex to the mats on the outside.
Kane followed up with a splash on the apron as the commentary team played up the focused attack on Smith’s neck. Kane continued to slowly beat down Smith with a combination of suplexes and strikes.
Smith’s first comeback consisted of hulking up and popping up from a German suplex. This started a battle of German suplexes from both until Smith finally got the upper hand and kept Kane on the mat. After a strike exchange, a powerslam, a neckbreaker, and a leg drop followed as Smith took advantage.
Smith took to the sky to hit a top rope leg drop for a close nearfall. Kane briefly came back with a flatliner, but when he went to the top rope, he was caught by Smith who planted him with his powerslam finisher.
Smith looked to have had the match won, but Thomas got on the apron to distract the referee and sneak some liquid into the ring. Kane threw the liquid into Smith’s eyes and again suplexed him on his neck to pick up the tainted pinfall win.
After the match, Smith had to clean his eyes as Sam Laterna caught Kane on the stage to question what he did. The Bomaye Fight Club blew off the question and instead turned it into a “Bomaye” chant.
Next week:
Lio Rush in action
1 Called Manders vs. Ricky Shane Page in a hardcore match
MLW Underground (April 18th):
MLW Champion Alex Hammerstone & The Second Gear Crew vs. The Calling in a War Chamber match
Alexander Hammerstone will look to continue his lengthy run as MLW Champion as he defends against Real1 at next month’s Battle Riot V.
The event is set for Saturday, April 8th at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA, and will air later in the month on Reelz.
This will be their first-ever match.
Real1 (the former Enzo Amore) will be looking for his first MLW title reign of any kind while Hammerstone is gunning for his 16th title defense dating back to January 2022.
Real1 has had mixed results in his short MLW run, feuding with both Jacob Fatu and Mance Warner. Conversely, Hammerstone hasn’t been defeated in MLW since December 2019 (Davey Boy Smith Jr.).
The show is headlined by the company’s annual Battle Riot match — a 40-person battle royal where wrestlers can be eliminated by pin, submission or over the top rope. The winner earns a future MLW Championship shot.
Here’s the current card:
MLW Champion Alexander Hammerstone defends against Real1
Joe Dombrowski and Matt Striker were back to call the action on the second episode of MLW Underground on Reelz.
Mance Warner kicked things off by cutting his usual passionate promo — this week at the back of the arena next to a dumpster. Warner had his light beers ready to drink as he warned Real1 he was going to kick his ass because he represented not only the south (in this north vs. south match) but everyone across the world.
Before the opening contest, Sam Laterna spoke to Jacob Fatu and Juicy Finau of the Samoan SWAT Team as Lance Anoa’i was held up and not there. After addressing that, Fatu hyped up his MLW title match against Alex Hammerstone at Superfight. Later in the night, it was shown that EJ Nduka had jumped Anoa’i in the parking lot as he was angry at Fatu for getting the next shot at Hammerstone.
Calvin Tankman defeated Willie Mack
Tankman is still half of the MLW Tag Team champions with Nduka, but with Nduka now a firm heel and Tankman a face, the future of their reign seems in doubt. Striker was full of compliments for these two, describing them as hybrid wrestlers who may be good all around, but not excellent at anything. Way to go to hype up your roster, Matt.
The two larger-than-life wrestlers took turns hitting running shoulder tackles as the crowd chanted “slap that meat.” Both ate up the crowd’s involvement and urged each other to go harder and harder.
Mack then busted out some high flying with a running hurricanrana, a dropkick and then a tope con giro to the floor. Instead of marveling at a man of Mack’s size doing what cruiserweights usually do, Striker criticized him by questioning why he would momentarily celebrate with the crowd, letting Tankman roll back into the ring. Striker said it could be a turning point in the match. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t.
An exchange of nipple twists followed, which is a sentence debut for me. Mack knocked Tankman down with a jumping kick to the head and then rocked him moments later with a thundering clothesline that shook the camera. I don’t know if that was on purpose or not, but it was a great shot that amplified the mass and power in the ring.
Back from a break, Tankman was in control, hitting a big pop-up back elbow. Mack hit a hook kick and showed great power by lifting the huge Tankman onto his shoulders and dropping him with a Samoan drop. Mack’s standing moonsault followed for a close near fall.
Mack went to the top rope, but rolled through a missed splash. Tankman floored him with a pounce as Mack sold a knee injury. Tankman then hit his ripcord elbow to the back of the head followed by the Tankman Driver for the win.
– Backstage in a music video style package, Real1 talked down to Mance Warner, insulting his parents and family the only way Real1 can.
– MLW Champion Hammerstone talked up his match with Fatu. He said they were destined to do this forever because Fatu is doing what he did to win the title: win the Battle Riot and cash in the title shot. He questioned whether he got lucky or not when he won the title from Fatu but is coming to prove he didn’t.
The champion had a major height advantage and floored the challenger early with a DDT and used the ring post for a standing curb stomp on the outside.
Skye rallied after the break but Valkyrie quickly reversed and tied up Skye for another curb stomp. Skye kept coming and hit a lung blower, springboard dropkick, and a top rope crossbody for a near fall.
Valkyrie dodged another top rope attack, hit a push kick and finished Skye off his her Road to Valhalla face-first Glam Slam for the win.
After the match, Laterna interviewed the division’s newest signee, Billie Starkz, on the stage but Valkyrie walked past, took a shot at her age, and sent her to the back to take the spotlight for herself.
– The build for the feud between the Bomaye Fight Club and Davey Boy Smith & the Billington Bulldogs continued. Alex Kane is still taunting the Bulldogs about having the Opera Cup, but Smith is out for revenge and told Kane to tap before he naps in their upcoming match.
– NJPW’s Lio Rush made his MLW return and said that a lot of people think they are on top, but now, it’s time for everyone to find out that he is at the top.
Real1 defeated Mance Warner in a street fight
More trash talking took place before the match with Real1 calling Warner and the females in his family “bitches.” He also brought out his slightly annoying “Eeeeeeeeverybody knows” catchphrase which made the trash can shots and kendo stick shots from Warner more enjoyable.
Before we got to the weapons, Real1 jumped Warner right from the bell, knocking him off his game with a big dropkick. The eye poke god came back with a running eye poke before he was dropped groin-first on the guardrail.
The comedy spots ended with Real1 hitting his Razor’s Edge into the ring post. Back inside, he hit Warner with a kendo stick but took too much time and eventually missed his last swing.
Warner came back into the match with his trademark jabs. Striker asked out loud if Warner wanted to bring them into the match as he was punching, so I guess he does, Matt. Warner then got revenge with kendo stick shots of his own and some lariats.
Real1 rallied and came off the top rope, but went face-first into a trash can tossed by Warner. However, after the referee got pulled in front of Real1 for a moment of protection, Real1 slipped on some brass knuckles and blindsided Warner with a right hand. In a measure for revenge for last week, he picked up the win after that loaded punch.
Next week:
MLW Champion Alex Hammerstone defends against YAMATO
Two matches have been added to the lineup for MLW SuperFight.
The promotion revealed on Thursday that a dumpster match involving Real1, Microman, Mance Warner, and a “wildcard entrant” will take place on the show. Lio Rush vs. Davey Richards has been scheduled for the event as well.
This will be the third singles match between Richards and Rush. Richards defeated Rush on a DEFY show in 2017 and Rush defeated him at PWG It’s A Long Way To The Top on November 21, 2021.
MLW.com wrote the following on the match:
Training hard in St. Louis at the Team Ambition gym, Richards vows to hold nothing back as he battles the brilliant and braggadocios Rush.
With immense momentum on his side, the “Man of the Hour” Lio Rush enters the big fight fresh off an extraordinary global tour, competing in high-profile bouts from Japan to Europe.
Now, the two will collide in what promises to be a world class showcase of combat excellence as they step into the MLW ring and hope to punch their ticket to a world title fight.
Real1 has been involved in a rivalry with both Warner and Microman as of late. He faced Microman earlier this month at Blood & Thunder and had a street fight with Warner in October at Fightland. Both match have yet to air on MLW programming.
MLW SuperFight takes place Saturday, February 4, 2023, from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. It will be the third straight event MLW has held in the venue.
The announced lineup is as follows:
MLW Champion Alexander Hammerstone defends against Jacob Fatu
Real1 vs. Microman vs. Mance Warner vs. TBA in a Dumpster Match
Lio Rush vs. Davey Richards
Rickey Shane Page vs. 1 Called Manders in a hardcore match
MLW Featherweight Champion Taya Valkyrie defends against Delmi Exo
Dragon Gate Open the Gate Tag Team Champions Natural Vibes defend against TBA
