wrestling / TV Reports
Winfree’s MLW Anthology – CONTRA Unit Review 6.28.20
Loading...Hey there everyone, Robert Winfree back for another edition of MLW’s Anthology series that they’re using to fill time and hopefully get some ad revenue out of while most of the world is still shut down. Up tonight is a contemporary subject, CONTRA Unit.
The opening bit is a quick introduction to the group that leads us into our first match.
Match #1 – Six Man Tag Team Match: CONTRA Unit (Simon Gotch, Jacob Fatu, and Josef Samael) vs. The Stronghearts (CIMA, El Lindaman, and Shigehiro Irie) (January 2020)
CIMA starts with Gotch. They trade blows then Gotch takes things to the mat quickly. CIMA escapes with a snapmare and a drop kick. Gotch is held in the corner and CIMA drop kicks him into the corner then tags Lindaman. They double team Gotch then Gotch gets into the ropes and elbows Lindaman. Gotch isolates Lindaman and tags in Samael. He lays into Lindaman with chops, Lindaman returns them. Drop kick from Lindaman but Samael tosses him into the corner and tags in Fatu. Fatu beats down Lindaman for a bit, the crowd does seem to really hate him so there’s that.
Gotch tagged in and they double team Lindaman before taking him down with an exploder suplex. Samael back in, and CIMA has to break up a pin attempt. Fatu with a superkick to Lindaman. The heat has gone on long enough apparently, Lindaman fights back on Fatu. He tries a body slam but Fatu is too heavy and he pancakes Lindaman for a near fall. Lindaman is back in the corner of CONTRA and still getting beat down. Lindaman finally makes the hot tag to Irie. Irie runs wild on Gotch for a bit but Gotch cuts him off with kicks. Gotch tries the piledriver, Irie counters then cuts off Samael who interferes and piledrives Samael onto Gotch for a near fall. Fatu in now and runs wild but he and Irie wind up trading lariats but neither man really goes down, then they collide on cross bodies. Fatu back up immediately, his mass was superior I guess. Irie runs into a Black Hole Slam, Fatu with a springboard back hand spring splash for a 2 count but CIMA tosses him out of the ring.
Things are broken down in the ringside area. Everyone’s brawling around the ring. Irie winds up diving onto Fatu, Fatu returns the dive with one of his own. All three men attack Fatu now as Gotch and Samael are down. They chop Fatu up but Fatu fights back with punches of his own. Fatu is isolated for some triple team action that ends with a bridging German suplex from Lindaman to Fatu but Gotch breaks up the pin. Lindaman dives onto Samael on the outside, Fatu super kicks Irie, CIMA runs into the elevated Samoan drop then Fatu’s moonsault ends things.
OFFICIAL RESULT: CONTRA Unit defeated The Stronghearts (Fatu pinned Cima) at 11:00
Rating: 3 Stars
Fairly fast paced, and a little on the short side but all men worked well and they did about as much as you can with that many people in that amount of time. The promotion seems like they’re really behind Fatu as he got to look like a total monster.
We get the announcement that next week the latest generation of the Von Erich clan (Ross and Marshall) will be getting the Anthology treatment.
Match #2 – No DQ MLW World Title Bout: (c) Jacob Fatu w/Josef Samael vs. LA PARK w/Selina De La Renta(November 2019)
Some dueling chants from the crowd. PARK and Fatu trade strikes early. Neither man can find a real advantage, they trade German suplexes then PARK takes Fatu down with a lariat and a running knee strike. Dive from PARK takes Fatu down on the outside. Some brawling on the outside but Samael winds up punching PARK with some foreign object I think. Back in the ring and PARK is on the wrong end of strikes. Fatu working headbutts now, PARK is taking a lot of offense. Fatu tears at the mask of PARK, and Samael comes in to spike PARK several times. I imagine blood is going to be flowing now. Yep, PARK is bleeding and his mask is torn. More offense from Fatu, PARK rolls out to try and regain himself. Fatu follows him and they brawl around the ringside area.
Fatu is just manhandling PARK around the barricade area. Back in the ring now, Fatu is still beating PARK. More punches from Fatu. PARK fires back, they trade blows in the corner then PARK hits Fatu with a snap power slam for a two count. Fatu hits a super kick then a handspring moonsault for his own two count. PARK is placed on the top rope and Fatu comes up with him. PARK hits a headbutt to drop Fatu then he hits the springboard top rope corkscrew senton for a near fall. Fatu is tossed outside, PARK gets a plastic table and brains Fatu with it. PARK gets a chair and starts laying into Fatu with it. PARK gets the ring bell now and breaks it over the head of Fatu. Fatu is bleeding now and PARK is beating him around the ringside area. Back into the ring now and PARK resumes attacking Fatu. PARK with headbutts, shame on Fatu for selling those you cant headbutt a Samoan. PARK takes off his belt and whips Fatu with it a few times. More headbutts but Fatu with his own springboard corkscrew senton to PARK but that only gets two.
PARK rolls to the outside but Fatu with a massive plancha over the top rope. Genuinely impressive there. Fatu gets a table from under the ring as Samael puts the boots to PARK. The table is set up in the corner, Samael rolls PARK back into the ring. Spinning uranage from Fatu, he tries the moonsault but PARK rolls out of the way. PARK goes for a pin, Samael shows up and fireballs the ref though. Selina in the ring now, Samael gets slapped and stumbles away from Selina, leading to PARK accidentally spearing Selina through the table.
Fatu back up, super kick, elevated Samoan drop, double hop moonsault and we’re done.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Jacob Fatu pinned LA PARK at 20:00
Rating: 3.5 Stars
They maximized the no DQ stuff and gave us a bloody brawl. Monster vs. monster matches are very hit or miss, thankfully these two pulled out a hit with PARK showing fire and Fatu persevering through the adversity the wily veteran brought to him.
That’ll wrap up this episode, thanks for reading along.
