Winfree’s MLW: Fusion (Ep. 188) Review 10.26.23

Well everyone, it’s MLW time again. This week Salina de la Renta is kayfabe in charge so that’ll be something. All the taping material from Never Say Never and Fury Road have been aired, so we’re pretty much using Slaughterhouse stuff now but if I find a match from a different set of tapings I’ll let you know. We’re getting a replay of a match from CMLL back in June between Rocky Romero and Volador Jr. which I haven’t seen yet but has a pretty good reputation.

Jesus Rodriguez introduces Salina de la Renta on the entrance stage. Salina and her Bulma hair get the mic and she welcomes us to her show. She puts herself over, and then gets cut off by Ichiban and his translator. Ichiban’s mouthpiece wants a title shot for him against Rocky Romero. Salina declines his offer, and instead says he’ll wrestle Jesus Rodriguez right now.

Match #1: Ichiban vs. Jesus Rodriguez w/ Salina de la Renta

Ichiban with a quick dropkick, then he avoids a suplex and kicks Rodriguez. Salina fails to powder the eyes of Ichiban but that does allow Rodriguez to land some strikes and take over. Suplex from Rodriguez then a rest hold. Kick from Rodriguez then he runs into a back elbow but hits a Polish hammer to cut off Ichiban and prevent him from building momentum. A cheap shot from Salina but Rodriguez takes too long following up and Ichiban drop toe holds him into the corner. Kick from Ichiban then a flying chop and a Stunner. Handspring back elbow from Ichiban then a dropkick. Rodriguez counters an Ichi Bankai with a uranage then a superkick all for a 2 count. Rodriguez eats canvas trying a second rope moonsault then Ichiban hits an wheelbarrow bulldog and the Ichi Bankai for the win.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Ichiban won in 4:28

Rating: 2 stars
Thoughts: Passable but a bit too short and frankly Ichiban probably should have controlled or had more of an offensive profile here if he’s the one being built up. But that’s more a booking/layout gripe, the action was pretty well done apart from maybe Salina’s powder spot and if they had to cover for that flub they did so very well.

Rocky Romero and Janai Kai run down and jump Ichiban while Rodriguez starts fishing under the ring for something and finds a chair. Romero gets the chair and they set it up in the ring then Romero hits a suplex onto the chair.

Brief recap of Rocky Romero winning the middleweight title.

Salina talks again in the back, but she’s interrupted by the Bomaye Fight Club while trying to announce some CMLL matches. Salina being annoyed by that stupid chant is a borderline babyface move.

Match #2 – CMLL World Historic Welterweight Title Match: (c) Rocky Romero vs. Volador Jr.

Original date for this match is June 30, 2023 from CMLL’s NJPW Fantastica Mania Mexico event. This is just highlights, but I’ll include the full runtime in the result. Volador hits a dropkick before the bell then follows up with a suicide dive. Back in the ring Rocky with some corner clothesline then a backslide. Volador slides out of the ring but Rocky dives onto him. Running Shiranui from Rocky gets a 2 count. Volador tries a flying nothing and eats a powerbomb. Rocky with Pentagon’s Sacrifice armbreaker. Superkick and Backstabber from Volador. Romero hits a Code Red. Some fighting on the top rope leads to Volador in the tree of woe then a double stomp from Romero. Volador with a dive but then Romero whips him over the barricade. Rocky with a hurricanrana on the floor that sends Volador to the ring post. Rocky tries a Sliced Rocky but gets posted by Volador. We see them trading strikes in the ring for a bit. Powerbomb from Volador gets 2. Rocky hits a belly to back piledriver but can’t keep Volador down. They trade German suplexes for a bit then Rocky throws Volador into the corner. On the floor Rocky gets sent into the crowd then Volador suplexes on the floor. Springboard splash from Volador back in the ring. Both men up top and Rocky hits an avalanche hurricanrana. Go To Sleep from Rocky, Volador then hits a superkick and they trade Canadian Destroyers but Rocky has to put a foot on the rope to avoid a pin. Back up top Rocky with a Diablo Armbar off the top rope, looks like Volador taps but the ref doesn’t acknowledge it so Rocky transitions to a triangle choke, Volador tries to powerbomb him but Rocky switches back to the Diablo Armbar and gets the tap. I wonder if the ref didn’t screw that up and they had to improvise to cover.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Rocky Romero retained the title in 22:02

Rating: NR
Thoughts: I’m not rating highlights, but the match in question holds 4.5 stars from the WON and the highlights we did get were quite good. I might have to find the full match now.

Salina still plans on making an announcement about Fightland.

We get a recap of the Second Gear Crew winning at Slaughterhouse, plus Janai Kai winning the women’s title.

In the back Salina complains at the cameraman then introduces Janai Kai. Kai calls herself the kick demon. Salina promises there are more surprises still to come. OK then.

Some highlights for Janai Kai follow.

Fightland stuff next, Ichiban and Mascara Dorado 2.0 will take on Rocky Romero and Barbaro Cavernario. More Fightland announcements will come in the following weeks.

Salina is on the phone in the back, then Delmi Exo comes up and they two trade barbs before Salina walks off and finds Mr. Saint Laurent. MSL hands her a folder of blackmail material, in exchange for that MSL gets to the be promoter of record for the upcoming one shot card in NYC, and he gets a title shot for one of his guys anywhere and any time he chooses. Salina agrees and they exchange folders.

Next week the Second Gear Crew will get a title shot against The Calling in a tables match.

In the parking lot Mance Warner and 1 Called Manders drink beer and talk. They talk about the tables match next week, then Salina walks up and calls Mance a goat fucker, then accuses him of breeding alpaca’s as well. Mance doesn’t know what an alpaca is, but warns Salina that the last time she came after him he put down every man she brought. He invites her to hit him, and when she tries Jacob Fatu grabs her arm and stops her, then Fatu asks why she’s so mad. They want to go to Mexico and talk about fighting and alcohol, Fatu vs. Mistico is suggested and they drink together while Salina walks off.

Turns out B3cca is banned from wrestling by her record label until she finishes an album. OK then.

Another reminder that Miyu Yamashita is coming to MLW.

Salina heads back to the entrance stage to talk more. She has an announcement for the world champion, so here comes Alex Kane. Kane with some compliments to Salina, but they’re not here to talk about that. He says the reality show Salina finished filming must be called Hoe Island. Salina counters that Kane is the hoe here, and Mr. Thomas is his pimp. Good grief this is bad. Kane asks what Salina wants with him, she makes his title defense at Fightland against Jacob Fatu. Fatu and Kane go face to face as we cut away.

To close we get a Calling video, Rickey Shane Page says his calling is getting stronger, his title reign will last forever and the end of the Second Gear Crew is nigh. Losing Raven really hurt that group, RSP doesn’t have nearly the gravitas or aura that Raven does. Anyway that ends the episode.

4.8

The final score: review Poor

The 411

Not great stuff this week, only one real match to be seen and a ton of talking with most of it being redundant with stuff said on the broadcast already. Fatu vs. Kane is fine enough I guess, but Fatu's lost a lot lately and Kane still feels kind of like a lame duck. That promo between Kane and Salina was just bad. Totally skippable episode this week.