wrestling / News
Winfree’s MLW Fusion (Ep. 137) Review 3.17.22
Image Credit: MLW
Loading...Alright everyone, time for more MLW action. We’re post SuperFight now and as the promotion looks forward it’s time to amp up some of the angles. I’m sure we’ll get new developments in the Alexander Hammerstone and Richard Holliday rivalry now that Hammerstone successfully defended his title against Davey Richards last week. There’s also the perpetual issue of the tag team titles, with 5150 now drawing the ire of EJ Nduka as well as the Von Erich clan. As for action this week we’ve got TJP taking on Buddy Matthews and Rok-C entering the women’s division when she battles Miranda Gordy.
We open with a title card for Scott Hall who passed away earlier this week.
A video of Richard Holliday walking through the venue from last week, he talks about the rich history of professional wrestling in the Grady Cole Center. But now instead of Ric Flair or Dusty Rhodes this building will be remembered as the venue where Richard Holliday bloodied Alex Hammerstone. He starts talking to some blood stains on the concrete, he saw Hammerstone beg and plead for him to stop, but he just did what felt right. Now he’s washed the blood from his hands, but Hammerstone’s blood will forever stain Charlotte. Not awful stuff from Holliday, but he still feels incredibly rehearsed.
A large limo pulls up to the venue, who could be in it?
Match #1: Miranda Gordy vs. Rok-C
The size difference is obvious, and Gordy pushes Rok-C into the corner with ease. They break clean then tie up again, this time Gordy goes for an arm wringer, then Rok-C counters into a side headlock but Gordy just tosses her off. Rok-C gets a rear waistlock, then Gordy slingshots her off. Gordy stalls out a couple of arm drags with sheer size and strength. Wheelbarrow headlock from Rok-C but Gordy uses a head scissors to break that. Rok-C with a bridging escape from the head scissors then she offers a handshake, but Gordy objects and tries a powerbomb only to be countered with a hurricanrana. La Mistica from Rok-C but Gordy rakes the eyes to break the hold. Clothesline from Gordy then she starts laying in strikes. Rok-C tries to fight back with chops but she’s out gunned in the firefight. Scoop slam from Gordy gets a 2 count. Rok-C starts to fight back with strikes but gets cut off with another scoop slam then a running elbow drop from Gordy for another 2 count. Rok-C fights off of the shoulders of Gordy, then avoids a corner attack and Gordy winds up posting herself. Thesz press from Rok-C and she starts firing up and we get the most awkward roll up attempt I’ve seen in a long time, then Rok-C switches to the Crossface . Gordy tries to use a pin to counter but Rok-C holds the move. Gordy fights up to her feet, Rok-C with a Sunset Flip for 2, then a jackknife for 2 as well but Gordy keeps kicking out. Finally Gordy hits a kick to the knee, then a kneeling powerbomb into a prawn hold (the Bam Bam Slam according to commentary) to get the pin.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Miranda Gordy won in 7:38
Rating: 1.5 stars
I was leaning a bit higher before a couple of the botches. This was slow, clunky, and pretty much heatless. That said they had the dynamics correct in terms of working a David vs. Goliath style of match, just issues of execution and a crowd that didn’t care too much.
Post match Gordy gets interviewed, she says she’s not a featherweight but a powerweight. All of the Barbies in this division are going to get broken.
Contra video as Mads Krugger is here to talk. He’s got a war club and says this is the only weapon he owns worthy of the Samoan Werewolf’s blood. Next week he wants a Stairway to Hell match, where he’ll finally end Jacob Fatu’s legacy for good. Krugger’s promos are better when they’re short and sweet like this, I still think the voice distortion is an odd choice.
Cesar Duran talks with a goon, and we still don’t know who’s in the limo.
A reminder that Gangrel will be on the next episode.
The limo rolls down and it holds Richard Holliday and Alicia Atout. They’re just here to celebrate what they did at SuperFight. They’ve got something planned for the audience, then invite the camera man into the limo.
5150 video, Julius Smokes makes sounds that allegedly resemble words hyping up the group.
A video from Hammerstone, he mentions that before wrestling he was in the culinary industry and was in college to pursue it but he had a voice telling him to pursue the dream of wrestling before it was too late. He grew up poor and didn’t have cable television, but if he stayed up late enough he could find the shows like Shotgun Saturday night and talks about play wrestling with his brother and his brother always taking the good wrestlers. When he started training he mentions his brother and mother being worried he was wasting his life, and how he spent years feeling like he was wasting his life but once he showed he could actually make a living at it they supported him and his brother is one of his biggest fans. Apparently his brother’s girlfriend told him that his brother cried watching him with the MLW World Title at Fight Land. He talks again about how poor he was growing up, he always wanted to play sports but his parents could never afford it, or how they couldn’t afford the rental fee for an instrument for him to join a band class in school. He always felt like he had a creative personality and tried music but once he found wrestling it really started to flourish, and he can now see all the little moments that built him up into who he is now. That was easily the best promo I’ve seen Hammerstone give, there’s a stark contrast when he’s being genuine and when he’s scripted.
Another Killer Kross vignette, he’ll be back in MLW next week.
We get a medical update on the Von Erichs, Marshall suffered a fractured ankle and will be out of action for 3-4 weeks while Ross suffered a concussion. There is no real update on Hammerstone, as Hammerstone wont comply with medical evaluations.
EJ Nduka gets found by Emilio Sparks, Sparks asks about 5150 and EJ says he’s been on the up and up since he got to MLW. He’s built on faith and family, 5150 chose the wrong one to mess with. You never repay evil with evil, or insult with insult. He’s going to repay evil with good, and when he gets his hands on 5150 he’ll make it real good. Not bad stuff from EJ, he’s still finding himself on the mic.
We get confirmation of Mads Krugger vs. Jacob Fatu in a Stairway to Hell match next week.
Richard Holliday wants to start a sex tape with Alicia Atout, but Alicia gets distracted by her phone. Something on it is important and the two of them head out.
TJP comes out for the main event, he’s got a mic and calls the fans “crayon eaters” which I might have to steal. He reminds us that MLW has an open door policy, which he doesn’t like because all of your favorite indy darlings from other companies “suck balls”. And let’s face it, he’s the best thing to ever darken the doors of MLW anyway. He was raised right, taught that when you walk through a door you close it behind you, whether that’s an open door, a forbidden door, or whatever other stupid buzz word Twitter is using. Tonight TJP has to entertain us, and babysit one of the fans favorites. So let’s make this quick, because the “cruisergreat” has better things to do. Solid heel promo from TJP there.
Buddy Matthews heads to the ring, and pics up the mic that TJP had dropped. Buddy disagrees with TJP insulting the open door policy, and says he’s here. But this goes further, because Buddy is the greatest cruiserweight, and he drops the mic.
Match #2: TJP vs. Buddy Matthews
Buddy goes after an arm right away, TJP tries to counter but Buddy is a step ahead while they trade counters. Side headlock takeover from Buddy, but TJP counters into a front headlock, then Buddy counters back into a Fujiwara armbar. TJP back up and counters an arm wringer into a headscissors but Buddy slips free and they trade lateral presses then stereo kip ups for a stand off. Buddy tries a back suplex but TJP flips out but he’s shoulder blocked down by the larger Buddy. They rune the ropes before TJP catches an Octopus Stretch, but Buddy counters quickly into a brief Mir lock then they trade corner evasions but Buddy lands awkwardly and starts selling the leg. Buddy rolls out of the ring and takes a second to try and get his leg back, TJP follows him out but Buddy tosses him into the barricade. TJP charges but Buddy avoids him and TJP eats barricade again while Buddy keeps trying to recover his leg. Buddy hits a back suplex onto the ring apron, he’s unable to follow up though as his leg is still bothering him. Back in the ring TJP hits a triangle drop kick to the knee and sends Buddy out of the ring again.
TJP tells the ref to count Buddy out and the ref starts the 20 count. Buddy limps around for a bit then heads back into the ring where TJP jumps on him. Hilo from TJP connects and he starts attacking the leg of Buddy. Buddy starts fighting back with punches but TJP hits an uppercut then attacks the leg with a Tequila Sunrise snap rather than a hold. More leg work from TJP as Buddy keeps trying to fight back. Buddy lands enough punches to break a modified death lock from TJP. TJP blocks a drop toe hold and ties up a Figure 4. Buddy reaches for the ropes but can’t quite reach so instead he rolls over and flips the pressure so TJP grabs the ropes to break the hold. TJP with more stomps to the leg but Buddy is able to counter him and kicks him out of the ring. Buddy catches TJP trying a shoulder block through the ropes and drills him with a DDT and both more are down. They start trading strikes, Buddy gets the better of that before TJP avoids a knee strike and hits an enziguri. Gordbuster from Buddy, then he hits a few knees to the head of TJP and hits a suplex for a near fall. Buddy looks for Murphy’s Law but TJP counters into a Victory Roll for a near fall. TJP fights back with kicks then hits a neckbreaker. Face washes from TJP but Buddy blocks the running one. Kick from Buddy, but as he hops to the top rope TJP catches him with a gamengiri. TJP heads up top with Buddy, he looks for a superplex but Buddy blocks that and lays in strikes before trying a sunset bomb only for his leg to give out on the landing. TJP mocks him from the top rope, but Buddy catches him with a super kick to the face after stacking him in the ropes. More kicks from Buddy then a Ligerbomb for a near fall. TJP avoids a stomp, rolls up Buddy for 2 but then transitions into the Figure 4 Deathlock and Buddy reaches for the ropes but TJP transitions into an STF. Buddy counters into a small package for 2, he blocks a Detonation kick from TJP and hits a Curb Stomp but the impact hurts Buddy’s knee and it takes him just a bit too long to cover so he only gets a near fall. Murphy’s Law attempt from Buddy but TJP counters only to eat a couple of knees from Buddy. TJP avoids a powerbomb by grabbing the top rope and hanging out in the corner. Buddy follows TJP up there and TJP grabs the ref to avoid being superplexed, then sweeps the leg of Buddy and Buddy lands hard. TJP hits the Mamba Splash to the leg, then turns the kickout from Buddy into a kneebar. Buddy crawls for the ropes but he can’t quite make it there before the pain becomes too much and he has to tap.
OFFICIAL RESULT: TJP won in 20:20 (There were a couple of commercial breaks that didn’t feature any real breaks in the action, so it was probably closer to 18 minutes of actual wrestling)
Rating: 3.5 stars
Really good match, they told a great story of Buddy being a step ahead of TJP before the knee injury and TJP being opportunistic enough to capitalize on the opening he was given. Some good counters, good mat work, both men are very athletic, overall this was very good.
Cesar Duran has an announcement. There’s nothing more important to him than the health of his wrestlers, and after the beating he took last week Alex Hammerstone has not responded to his concern for his well being. For that reason, and with regret, if Hammerstone doesn’t appear in person next week he’ll have to vacate the MLW World Heavyweight title.
