wrestling / TV Reports

Winfree’s MLW Azteca (Ep. 3) Review 1.20.22

January 20, 2022 | Posted by Robert Winfree
MLW Azteca Image Credit: MLW
6.9
The 411 Rating
Community Grade
12345678910
Your Grade
Loading...
Winfree’s MLW Azteca (Ep. 3) Review 1.20.22  

Alright people, time for more MLW action. The Azteca miniseries had a rough start, but a decent showing last week. Hopefully the upward trend continues here. Last week Richard Holliday rescued Alexander Hammerstone from some nefarious Azteca holding facility so the world champion’s presence could easily be felt. We’ve also got Bestia 666 taking on Mads Krugger, and another MLW tag team title match as 5150 defend against Aerostar and Drago.

Emilio Sparks talks with Cesar Duran, but that’s interrupted by Alexander Hammerstone walking up on Duran. Richard Holliday is able to talk Hammerstone out of attacking Duran and playing into Duran’s plan. If Hammerstone attacks Duran he’ll lose his title, a clause that Court Bauer included to protect himself from Jacob Fatu when Fatu was champion which Duran is now going to exploit. Duran tells Holliday that he can fight Pagano tonight in a Falls Count Anywhere fight, then tells Hammerstone to rest up his injured elbow because he’s defending his title next week. Hammerstone promises that Duran will get what’s coming to him, Duran: “Not tonight” which is a great response to that threat. Duran and his goons walk out while Holliday and Hammerstone look to regroup.

The tag team title match will get things going. Rivera and Boogie are carrying Puerto Rican flags, this doesn’t go over terribly well in Tijuana which is the host city. Rivera trash talks the crowd in Spanish and introduces himself and Boogie while promising to spill the blood of Aerostar and Drago. Boogie speaks English, he trash talks Tijuana before Drago and Aerostar come out.

Match #1 – MLW Tag Team Title Match: 5150 (Slice Boogie and Danny Rivera) vs. Aerostar and Drago

Rivera and Boogie jump Drago and Aerostar at the bell. Boogie and Drago square off as do Rivera and Aerostar. Aerostar sends Rivera out of the ring then double teams Boogie with Drago, eventually drop kicking him out of the ring. Rivera sends Aerostar to the apron but he flies back in with a Codebreaker then Drago drop kicks Rivera out of the ring. Drago hits a suicide dive onto Rivera and Boogie, then Aerostar heads up for a high altitude trust fall onto the pile of bodies. Back in the ring Aerostar hits a slingshot splash for a 2 count. Rivera tries to fire up with strikes, Boogie with a blind tag and now Aerostar takes a kick. Boogie with a slingshot German suplex, nice spot for a man his size. Rivera tags in, drop kicks Drago then Aeorstar takes a Vader Bomb elbow from Boogie and Rivera covers for just a 2 count. Boogie tags back in, but Aerostar flips out of a back suplex and tags out. Drago comes in with kicks but he’s cut off by Boogie who then tags in Rivera to hit a hilo. Rivera and Drago start trading strikes, Drago drop top holds Rivera into the ropes then Aerostar comes in to hit knees to his back then catches Boogie with a cutter. Rivera eats an assisted tornado DDT from Drago but Boogie catches a jumping Aerostar with a fall away slam. Drago lands some kicks to Boogie but he’s caught in a DDT into a wheelbarrow suplex from Rivera and Boogie. Aerostar fights from the apron and hits a corkscrew press from the top rope to take out Boogie. Aerostar and Rivera trade blows but Rivera hits him with an enziguri that allows Boogie to hoist him onto his shoulders. Rivera up top, the 456 Head Crack follows and Boogie pins while Rivera keeps Drago from breaking up the pin.

OFFICIAL RESULT: 5150 retained the tag team titles in 7:25

Rating: 3 stars

A little bit chaotic at times, and not quite as competitive as I’d have thought, but overall a good match.

Time to hear from the Bomaye Fight Club. Emilio Sparks walks up to talk with them, Alex Kane says beating Aerostar earned them a new sponsor. Said sponsor is Crybaby Calvin, Kane and Mr. Thomas mock Calvin Tankman, promising that 1% of sales from their new t-shirt will go to help Tankman with his legal problems. But when Tankman steps to the champ Kane will end him and walk out with the title.

A quick little highlight for Bestia 666 to hype up his Street Fight with Mads Krugger tonight.

We see a static riddled TV and a picture of an hourglass running out of sand. That could reference several different people, but it seems someone new is coming to MLW.

Alex Hammerstone and Alicia Atout watch Richard Holliday walking around psyching himself out of a fight with Pagano. Alicia tries to calm him down, then Hammerstone reminds him of all of his accomplishments. This is just another match for someone of his caliber, it doesn’t matter if Pagano has chairs, spikes, barbed wire, maybe a gun, chains, knives, chainsaws etc. Holliday is worried about this, he gives Alicia his air pods for safe keeping. Hammerstone tries again, telling Holliday that he’s got enough in his heart. Holliday disagrees, he needs a weapon. Neither Hammerstone nor Alicia has a weapon for him, he wants to use Hammerstone’s title belt and Hammerstone declines. A goon shows up to get Holliday for the match, Hammerstone pauses Holliday and tries to give him shark testosterone (a present from the Tijuana pharmacy), but Holliday acknowledges it wont kick in for a month and he needs something right now.

Match #2: Toto vs. Proximo

This is a match featuring just The Crash talent, the promotion MLW is co-promoting with for this event. Toto is The Crash junior champion, though I believe this is non-title. Proximo sends Toto out of the ring but he’s back in and drop kicks Proximo out of the ring. Toto follows that up with a suicide dive. Back into the ring the cover from Toto gets 2. They run the ropes for a bit before Toto lands a German suplex to drop Proximo. Several springboards from Toto then he hits an arm drag and sends Proximo out of the ring. Proximo takes his time getting back into the ring then he hits the ropes again and we get the usual lucha rope running spots before Proximo hits a head scissors take over. Proximo with an arm drag that sends Toto out of the ring then misses a dive as Toto avoids him before hitting a Canadian Destroyer on the floor. Back into the ring a cover from Toto gets a near fall. They run the ropes again but Toto hits a spear for another near fall. Toto hits an avalanche in the corner, but Proximo avoids a second one then hits a hurricanrana off the second rope. Leg kick from Proximo drops Toto, then he hits a drop kick to send Toto out of the ring. Proximo with a dive onto Toto, and he actually lands over the barricade and in the crowd after the impact, nice spot there. Toto lands a kick as they get back in the ring, hits a Wasteland slam and climbs the ropes but Proximo is up and meets him there. Proximo follows Toto up to the top rope and hits a Spanish Fly, then while the ref is positioning for the count Proximo gets a foot on the ropes for leverage and pins to win.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Proximo won in 6:10

Rating: 3 stars

A few awkward spots drop this down from the 3.5 I was considering, but for the lucha style this was still good.

Time to hear from the Von Eric boys, they’ve got a message for Konnan and 5150. It’s going to be hard to talk as much as they do when the Von Eric boys lock in the Iron Claw. They’re coming in Dallas and they’re taking back the titles.

We hear from Jacob Fatu next, it’s his first time talking since the fall of Contra Unit. Fatu talks about his past, his parents and siblings giving him nothing but love. He didn’t want to wrestle growing up, until he got arrested and every dorm in the jail had a TV and he saw his brothers, Jimmy and Jey Uso. That’s when he made his mind up to follow this path. He used to visit his uncle Rikishi every summer, and talks about learning to flip on Rikishi’s wrestling ring and trampoline. When he got out of jail he went to Rikishi’s wrestling school and his wife told him if he kept screwing up he’d lose his kids. He talks about no respecting the business because he grew up in it and around it, he’s seen the good, the bad, and the ugly that comes with wrestling and he decided to give it a shot. I’m not really sure what they’re going for with this, Fatu didn’t come across badly but he’s not a long form speaker and the lack of direction for this segment was a problem.

Next week we’ll see a AAA Mega Championship match when champion El Hijo del Vikingo defends against Aramis.

We cut to the external set up from last week, and Cesar Duran introduces Richard Holliday. There’s no fans, we’re going full “cinematic” match for this one.

Match #3 – Barrio Brawl: Richard Holliday vs. Pagano

Pagano jumps Holliday with a chair, there’s not even a ring here, this is just a brawl. Holliday avoids a chair shot and lays in punches before using the chair on Pagano. A few chair shots from Holliday, who’s in street clothes. Pagano fights back and they trade punches. A striking combination from Pagano then he and Holliday fight out of frame and we get a cut in the match.

We come back as they’re fighting up on a balcony, they fight out of the pin and up onto ground level. More brawling from both men, and both men are trash talking each other. Holliday bounces Pagano off of a metal door then gets a chair but he’s distracted by Duran and the ref who’s one of Duran’s goons starts choking him out. Pagano lays out Holliday with a rip cord right hand then pin shim on the concrete.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Pagano won

Rating: 1.5 stars

I’m more forgiving than most of the cinematic style of match, but this didn’t quite work for me. If you want to try and present this as a fight it needed to feel more real than it did, and some of the cuts in the editing process hurt the presentation.

Match #4 – Tijuana Street Fight: Mads Krugger vs. Bestia 666

Krugger is much larger than Bestia. Bestia tries to stick and move early, he lays in chops but Krugger slams him down by the hair. Body shots from Krugger then he tosses Bestia into the corner. Bestia fights back with body shots but gets clubbed down by Krugger. An avalanche in the corner from Krugger and Bestia rolls to the apron. Bestia avoids a big boot over the rope then drop kicks Krugger out of the ring. Bestia tries to dive onto Krugger but Krugger catches him by the neck and tries a chokeslam but Bestia lands on his feet on the apron and lands a super kick then a head scissors takedown. Krugger walks around the ringside area, Bestia gets a chair from the fans and lays into Krugger with it, but Krugger no sells a head shot and whacks Bestia with the chair. Krugger is in charge now as he back suplexes Bestia onto the apron. Bestia winds up draped on the apron, Krugger then hits a leg drop. Krugger grabs a trash can and sends it into the ring. Bestia runs into a big boot as Krugger returns to the ring and Krugger gets a cookie tray then smashes it over Bestia’s head. A cheese grater is next, but Bestia fights back with the cookie sheet and batters Krugger’s head with it then grabs the chees grater and drags it along the chest and back of Krugger. Krugger fights back with a chokebreaker and we get a break in the match.

We come back as Krugger tries to dive onto Bestia on the outside but Bestia intercepts him with a chair shot. Bestia with more chair shots then wraps the chair around Krugger’s neck and drives it into the ring post. They move back into the ring where Bestia runs into a back elbow then Krugger heads up top and Bestia clobbers him with the cookie sheet. Another grater spot from Bestia as Krugger sits on the top rope, then Bestia tries the Muscle Buster but Krugger is too big and fights him off. They wind up on the top rope and Krugger tries a choke slam but Bestia counters with a hurricanrana and both men are down in the ring. Bestia covers for a 2 count, then gets the chair and sets it up. Tray shots from Bestia then he hits a running knee strike to Krugger. Krugger eggs him on, then hits Bestia with the full nelson facebuster onto the chair which leads to the pin.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Mads Krugger won in 10:15

Rating: 2.5 stars

This suffered a lot from the longer run time, to say nothing of what might have been cut out. It was a bit too plodding in the early going, and I’m still not totally sold on Krugger in general. The closing stretch was fine but it took way too long to get there.

Next week Alexander Hammerstone will defend the MLW heavyweight title against Octagon Jr.

6.9
The final score: review Average
The 411
A strong start to this week but a slightly weaker finish. I appreciate the furthering of the Dynasty and Duran issues, and there's some genuinely nice comedic timing and chemistry between Hammerstone and Holliday, but a fairly bad cinematic match followed by a kind of weak street fight main event drag this down a notch.
legend

article topics :

MLW Azteca, Robert Winfree