Jeremy’s MLW Underground Review 5.2.23

Hello, MLW fans! It’s Tuesday night, and it’s time for the season finale MLW Underground on Reelz. I’m Jeremy Thomas, and this is the last episode of MLW we’ll have on Reelz for a little while as they potentially come back for a second season in a bit. Tonight we will see Alex Kane addresses his Battle RIOT V win and The Samoan SWAT Team defend their Tag Team Titles against The Mane Event, while Jacob Fatu battles John Hennigan for the MLW National Openweight Title. Those sound like matches with potential and the promo should be a good time, so it could be a fun show. With that said, let’s get to it.

As a reminder, the GoFundMe for Larry’s daughters is still active and if you can make a donation, that would be awesome. Thank you so much to everyone who’s done so thus far.

* We kick off with a recap of last week’s Battle RIOT as Alex Kane battles his way through 39 other people to win the match and a World Heavyweight Championship match.

This Is Our Violent Solution! (AKA Title Sequence!)

* Up first is Alex Kane and the Bomaye Fight Club making their way to the ring. Kane loves the audience reaction and says the league of MLW did him dirty at Battle RIOT. But regardless, BFC is for the people. The audience agrees and participates in a call and response of “Bomaye is for!” “The people!” Kane continues it around the crowd and they’re very much into it.

Kane asks if anyone is not for the people and mocks a guy in the back who speaks up. He gets back in the ring and says Bomaye doesn’t fight for free. He has a bag of cash that will go to whoever can go one on one with Mr. Thomas. He says Mr. Thomas is The Man and gives him the mic. He says he’s sick and tired of being overlooked and overrated, and no in the back can come out and beat him. Not Davey Boy Smith, not Jacob Fatu and not Hammerstone.

And here comes Hammerstone! Kane asks if he wanst to do this and Hammerstone comes in, laying out BFC members before Mr. Thomas attacks and the match is on!

Mr. Thomas vs. Alex Hammerstone

Thomas batters Hammerstone in the corner and nails back elbow, then rips Hammerstone’s shirt off. Big boot staggers the champ, followed by hammer blows to the back as we go to break.

We’re back from break and Thomas charges in to splash Hammerstone. Kane is on commentary as Hammerstone puts Thomas in the corner and batters him. He tosses the remnants of his shirt out of the ring and then comes after Thomas, who rakes the eyes. Clotheslines in the corner and Hammerstone turns it around, whipping Thomas into the corner and clotheslining him on the rebound. The BFC gets involved and Hammerstone knocks them off the apron. Thomas goozles Hammerstone and the champ fights out of it, suplex set up and he picks him up — Nightmare Pendulum finishes it.

Winner: Alex Hammerstone (2:30)
Rating: N/A
Thoughts: Hammerstone was injured so this was just a quick match to progress the Kane/Hammerstone feud and get the champ on the card. A squash match, not much to say about it.

After the match, Hammerstone is favoring the leg and the BFC backs off. Hammerstone gets the money bag and limps in the ring until The Calling comes out! A goon charges the ring but is punched off the apron — and here comes another for the same. Jacob Fatu’s music plays and the Samoan SWAT Team comes out to brawl with The Calling! Officials are trying to break it up to no effect and they brawl to the back.

* Earlier today, Court Bauer announced that MLW is going live on July 8th for Never Say Never on FITE+. Alex Kane will get his shot against Hammerstone at the PPV.

* We get a recap of Sam Adonis and Mance Warner eliminating each other from Battle RIOT, and then go to Mance earlier today. He says he has blood on him and welcomes MLW to Bucksnort, Tennessee. He says every day he wakes up earlier, has three cold light beers with eggs in them. He’s been cleaning up on the farm and loves it. He says he gets worked up and recently he’s been thinking about one thing: Sam Adonis. All day long he’s cleaning working and he’s been thinking, drinking, and coming up with ways to beat Sam down. And at the end of the day, you have to remember: don’t cross the Lord, and don’t cross Mancer.

* Midas Black is out here for a circus ringleader speech and welcomes the ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages to the greatest show in MLW. Blazin’ Jay Lyon is here as well to rep the Mane Event.

MLW World Tag Team Championship Match
The Samoan SWAT Team vs. The Mane Event

Black sends Lance pout of the ring to start the match, and Lyon dives through a ring out of the ropes onto the SST. Lance tries to get back in and Lyon catches him, Davis comes off the ropes and hits a hangman facebuster on Anoa’i. Cover for two. Lyon tags in as we go to break.

We’re back from break as Black and Lyon knock Lance down and Lyon with a moonsault of Davis’ back for a two-count. Lyon picks Lance up for a chop, Black tags in and whips Lyon into a splash, Lance whipped into a back elbow for two. Lyon tags in and Lance fights them both off. Superkick to Lyon who is whipped into Black but he goes up the back and pulls Davis into a spear! Lyon covers but Juicy breaks it up. Senton off the ropes onto Lyon to break up another pin attempt.

Juicy goes for a double clothesline but Mane Event dodge and hit a double superkick. He doesn’t go down and comes off the ropes for a double crossbody! Juicy grabs Lyon and sends him into Black in the corner, Lance whips Juicy into a huge avalanche. Black sent into the corner, he tries to go up and over but Lance with a savate kick. Lyon into the ropes, Juicy picks him up, Toko Driver and a splash off the top for three.

Winner: Samoan SWAT Team (3:39)
Rating: ** 1/4
Thoughts: Another squash match, this one to give SST their first Tag Title defense on TV. It was fine for what it was meant to do.

* The Opera Cup returns this summer on MLW Fusion. We get a history package on the Opera Cup.

* The Calling vignette feature Raven saying it’s the woke era, and he woke up to it. It’s a disease: deadly, dark, carefully constructed. Designed for people like him. Trust in Raven.

* B3cca cuts a promo before her match saying she has her party hat and wants to know who’s ready to have a good time. She does her pop star thing and it gets boos from the crowd. She then goes to do an acoustic take and yeah, this is cringeworthy. Which, of course, is the point.

Brittany Blake vs. B3cca

Lockup to start, Blake with a wristlock. B3cca flips out but gets put right back in it, B3cca escapes and gets knocked down. Blake with a clothesline, B3cca dodges and hits a thrust kick. Blake to the outside, B3cca dives through the ropes and gets decked. Blacke back in the ring and hits a 619 through the bottom two ropes to B3cca.

Back in the ring, Blake batters B3cca and snapmares her, kick to the back. B3cca fights back, she gets sent into the corner but turns it around and chops Blake. B3cca charges in for a Euro uppercut, she backs up for a big front kick and snapmare. B3cca to the middle turnbuckle for a front dropkick, Blake falls to the outside. B3cca with a somersault senton and then rolls Blake back into the ring. Up top, high crossbody, cover for two.

B3cca picks Blake up but Blake slides off, enzuigiri and a knee strike for two. Back up, B3cca with a shot and a German suplex. She climbs up top, 450 finishes it.

Winner: B3cca (3:33)
Rating: ** 1/4
Thoughts: Another competant squash match. I hate that gimmick, but she’s solid in the ring and matched up pretty well with Blake.

* We get a vignette for Delmi Exo, who signed with MLW. Sam Laterna is with Delmi and asks her about her return as a singles competitor. Delmi says she’s arrived at MLW after a long time away and she has one goal in mind: become Women’s World Featherweight Champion.

* We get a replay of the final four of MLW Battle RIOT V between Alex Kane, John Hennigan, Davey Boy Smith and Shigehiro Irie, which you can see here in full. It ends with Davey Boy Smith tapping to Kane. The replay was 5:13 including the celebration, longer by a non-insignificant amount than any of the new matches tonight so far. I’m guessing they were running low on new material from the taping.

* During the break, the SST and the FBI are brawling in the back.

MLW National Openweight Championship Match
John Hennigan vs. Jacob Fatu

The Calling attack Jacob Fatu as he comes out and The Calling surround him. A chair gets thrown into his head and they stomp him down, with AKIRA hitting a running knee to the back of his head. Raven looks over Fatu and The Calling leave as officials tend to Fatu. No match, as that’s where we leave off.

We get a hype video for MLW Fusion’s return, and we’re done for the night!

4.5

The final score: review Poor

The 411

I want to give MLW a little bit of slack here, since it seems like they were simply at a dearth of material from their last couple of tapings and things had to be changed due to both Hammerstone's injury at War Chamber and Real1's release before Battle RIOT. But for a season finale, this was a very skippable episode of Underground. We had a few squash matches, a main event that never took place, and a replay of part of last week's match that ran longer than any of the new matches. It simply wasn't a particularly fun show outside of the Alex Kane promo, which started us off on a good note and then things went downhill from there. All in all though, MLW Underground as a series had a solid first season that they can hopefully build on when Fusion returns, and I do hope the show gets a second season.