Winfree’s MLW: Fusion (Ep. 179) Review 8.24.23

Alright everyone, it’s Fusion time. We’ve been promised a big announcement tonight, and at least one of the promo/hype packages that have been airing indicate that we’ll get the payoff here. In addition to that we’ll have The Calling doing stuff, Willie Mack is still trying to build momentum to his title shot, Jacob Fatu will be in action, and more. At this point I think most of our matches are coming from Fusion taped stuff from Never Say Never but I will try to keep you updated on what taping set the show draws from.

The Calling is out first, specifically Delirious with a few gas mask goons.

Match #1 – Triple Threat Tag Team Match: Samoan Swat Team (Lance Anoa’i and Juicy Finau) vs. The Calling (Delirious and Dr. Cornwallis) vs. Second Gear Crew (Matthew Justice and 1 Called Manders)

Cornwallis and Delirious powder right away, and head towards the back. Lance and Juicy half follow them but then Justice dives onto them on the floor. No tagging I guess. Justice and Manders take out Juicy, but here come Delirious and Cornwallis to jump them. Delirious and Cornwallis beat down Lance for a bit but can’t find a pin. Neckbreaker from Delirious then Cornwallis with a rope walk into a rolling senton for 2. Lance starts fighting back then here’s Juicy with a double clothesline to drop both of them. Lance with a plancha onto Manders and Justice. Cornwallis with some kicks to Juicy but he gets caught on the shoulders of Juicy then Juicy with a Fire Thunder Driver, Lance follows with a Polynesian Plunge but Delirious breaks up the pin to save the match. Delirious goes after both Juicy and Lance but that goes poorly as Juicy sends him out of the ring with a Samoan drop. Manders and Justice now square off with Lance and Juicy, and we’ve got brawling as we get a cut.

We come back to Manders and Justice tossing Juicy out of the ring then avoiding a charging Lance so Lance dives onto Juicy. Cornwallis dives into a double chokeslam from Manders and Justice. Delirious saves Cornwallis from some kinds of Doomsday attack and he then knees down Justice. Manders attacks Delirious in the corner though, he hoists him up for an avalanche Hawkeye Stampede then Justice follows with a splash to get the pin.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Second Gear Crew won in 6:19

Rating: 2.5 stars
Thoughts: Fun little sprint, Manders and Justice taking on RSP and Akira could make for a decent brawl down the line.

We get a recap of the Delmi Exo and B3cca feud that’s been building.

Brief video for Nolo Kitano, he’ll be here soon.

Recap of Davey Boy Smith Jr. winning the Opera Cup for a second time last week. I’m still annoyed they botched that finish, it really put a damper on a good match.

So, time for our big announcement. MLW and New Japan Pro Wrestling have some kind of agreement now I guess, it’s actually still very vague.

Fury Road update, we are confirmed to get Kushida in MLW against Tony Deppen. That could be fun, Kushida is pretty good. That’s our only real update, the rest is a reminder of stuff we’re already aware of.

Scramble match time.

Match #2 – 5-Way Scramble Match: Willie Mack vs. O’Shay Edwards vs. Ken Broadway vs Nolo Kitano vs. Love Doug

Edwards gets attacked first with kicks from Broadway and Kitano, then Mack slaps him out of the ring. Edwards catches a jumping Broadway and slams him on the floor, the one for Kitano, then one for Doug but Mack finally hits a dive onto Edwards that works and we get a cut.

We don’t miss much and come back to Mack and Edwards in the ring. They hit the ropes and Broadway lands a back elbow. Mack gets kicked to the floor and Broadway then gets attacked by Kitano in the ring. Kitano avoids some offense from Broadway then lands a back kick and a big headscissors takedown then a spin kick. Doug in the ring now, he catches Kitano and just holds Kitano tenderly for a moment before landing a back elbow. Corner attack from Doug then a bulldog and he boots Edwards from the apron before Broadway gets back involved. Doug with a mock proposal to Broadway, and Broadway kicks him in the face. Edwards has had enough of this silliness and double clotheslines both Doug and Edwards. Broadway jumps at Edwards but Edwards catches him, hoists him up for a delayed suplex. Broadway slips off the back of Edwards then he and Kitano with some double kicks to send Edwards out of the ring. Broadway rolls up Kitano for 2. Doug and Mack are back as well and they take out Kitano and Broadway. Mack and Doug are left in the ring, then Edwards shoves Mack into Doug to send him out. Mack and Edwards trade strikes, Edwards can’t scoop Mack though and then Doug and Kitano pull Mack out of the ring and toss him into the barricade. Back in the ring Doug and Kitano are wiped out by Edwards and Broadway as Edwards uses Broadway to hit an Oklahoma Stampede, then Kitano and Doug break up the pin. Kitano and Doug attack Edwards and get him on the top rope, then both climb up to try and hit a double superplex, but Edwards is big and strong, so Mack has to come in to finish the Tower of Doom spot. Broadway then boots Mack and attacks Kitaro, hitting the Cash Flow but Mack drops onto Broadway with a top rope Splash as they’re on the mat and that gets the pin.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Willie Mack won in 9:12

Rating: 2 stars
Thoughts: A little too chaotic for my tastes, but for a 5 way this was fairly well done and everyone got to show off their stuff. Kitano in particular seemed like a good fit for cruiserweight action.

Mic time for Mack, he promises we’re in for the summer of the Mack and no one can stop him.

Main event time, here comes Akira and some gas mask goons. He walks past the table of weapons and just takes a steel chair into the ring. Akira sits on the chair and gets a mic. He plays a little with the crowd and reminds us he’s the middleweight champion. He reminds us as well that he’s hardcore, and objects to Fatu being given everything just because of who he was born to be. Well he’s not afraid to knee Fatu in the back of the head again. That does bring out Fatu. Fatu has a mic in hand and plays with the crowd before telling Akira he’s not over just because he’s got a belt. He’s only saying this one time, he can really fight and will dog walk Akira. some security goons show up to stop this, but here comes Akira with a chair assisted dive onto the pile of bodies. Yeah we’re not getting a match here. Fatu drives Akira into the barricade and we’re getting a brawl. Kicks from Akira but Fatu just throws a chair into his face. They head into the ring and fight.

Match #3: Jacob Fatu vs. Akira

Well the bell rings so we’ve got a match I guess. Fatu with a pop up Samoan drop, Akira counters into a crucifix for 2. Akira runs into a super kick, but the goons show up and eat offense from Fatu but their involvement ends the match.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Jacob Fatu won via Disqualification in :36

Rating: NR
Thoughts: I’m not rating that as a match. The overall angle is solid though.

Fatu then dives onto all three men on the outside, but here’s RSP with a barbed wire baseball bat to the back of Fatu. RSP puts the bat in front of Fatu’s face and throws him into the ring post to stand tall as the episode ends.

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

Pretty standard episode this week, not much advancement in general terms but we had a few decent matches and the Fatu vs. RSP stuff is appropriately violent. Fusion is still on the rebound in general but this was a fine enough follow up to last week.