July 6th, 2018
We get an opening video hyping tonight’s main event, which is the boiler room brawl between Sami Callihan and MVP.
You know the drill, Rich Bocchini and Tony Schiavone welcome us to the show. They mention how tonight’s Boiler Room Brawl is the first time the match is going down in 20 years. The new top ten is also released tonight. Along with that, we will hear from Shane Strickland tonight. Battle Riot is hyped, and then they announce ACH and Rich Swann will take on Tom Lawlor and Simon Gotch, NEXT!
Team Filthy vs. ACH and Rich Swann
This was a fine little tag match, with Swann and ACH being super over before getting a victory. Team Filthy continued their feud with the Stud Stable, as the Dirty Blondes distracted them late in the match, but Jake Hager came out to finish the job. Pretty much ACH and Swann just played the hits, but they looked great as a team. They are definitely welcome in the tag division, no matter how long they stay. Perfectly solid opener, with an angle advanced and a new team getting some momentum.
Winners: ACH and Rich Swann
Match Rating: **1/2
Salina De La Renta enters the arena, and is quickly interviewed. She is asked what’s going on with the bounty, but Salina isn’t telling her anything. Vanessa, the interviewer, chases her down and asks if bounties are even legal, which Salina responds “this is America, I don’t know the law”.
The boiler room is shown, as we get closer to tonight’s main event.
Col. Robert Parker says Tom Lawlor will never violate anybody again, because they will make him pay for it.
Battle Riot is hyped, Aerostar, MJF, Leo Brien, Michael Patrick, Rey Fenix, Vandal Ortagun, Simon Gotch, and Drago are all announced for the match. Shane Strickland vs. Sami Callihan is confirmed, along with Pentagon and Fenix vs. Drago and Aerostar, Jimmy Havoc vs. Brody King, and PCO vs. Homicide.
Salina De La Renta fires Sammy Guevara over the phone, while sitting in her hot tub. Good choice…
Tom Lawlor vs. Jake Hager is confirmed for next week. Tom Lawlor is interviewed, saying he’s the top ranked fighter, and the Stud Stable doesn’t have what it takes to get it done.
Low-Ki vs. Ricky Martinez
This was Low-Ki absolutely running through Ricky Martinez, who we’ll probably never see again. The dude didn’t even get a single punch in, he just took everything like a beast. Low-Ki continues to gain momentum ahead of his $60,000 Bounty match against Shane Strickland. Fine squash here, I’m assuming we’ll hear from Strickland next.
Winner: Low-Ki
Match Rating: NA
Low-Ki is asked about the Bounty that is still on Strickland’s head. Now that Salina raised the stakes, she got the right man to get the job done. What Low-Ki just did to Ricky is only a fraction of what he’ll do to Shane. The interviewer does an unneeded/awkward sigh as Low-Ki walks off.
Barrington Hughes calls out one of Callihan’s heavies, as they have a match coming up soon, this promo was seriously ten seconds… Nice.
MLW Top Ten:
10. Barrington Hughes (This dude beats up a guy for ten seconds but makes the list over Kotto Brazil’s huge win two weeks ago?)
9. Teddy Hart
8. Jimmy Havoc (Havoc makes the list after being gone from Fusion in forever. He said a few words a week back, but that beats Rich Swann’s impressive performances and team with ACH?)
7. MJF
6. ACH
5. Rey Fenix
4. Sami Callihan (Why is Callihan getting a title shot at Battle Riot if he’s ranked 4th?)
3. Low-Ki
2. Pentagon Jr.
1. Tom Lawlor (Lawlor has done absolutely nothing to deserve this spot…)
There’s a nicely well done video package for Shane Strickland. They recap everything that’s going on with Shane Strickland, as he hypes his match with Low-Ki at the upcoming TV Tapings on July 12th.
Boiler Room Brawl: Sami Callihan vs. MVP
To say I was disappointed would probably be an understatement. To advertise “the first boiler room brawl in two decades” and give us maybe five minutes of some useless brawling was quite underwhelming. It never even felt like we were in a boiler room, rather just some backstage area. Callihan’s heavies got involved, but were taken out SO EASILY. What’s the point of that? Then we come out to the live crowd, where things picked up a little… But there was absolutely no reaction from the crowd. It’s like these two randomly came out at a certain time during the TV taping so they could film this, and no one had a clue as to what was going on. Anyways, they used a chair and bat, tried to do a close fall spot for MVP, but there was no reaction at all. Sami picked up the win with a bat shot that came off poorly, and commentary didn’t even say anything about it. this win was pretty obvious, as Callihan has a title match coming up, and MLW has now parted ways with MVP. Overall, if you add up the useless brawling in the back, the “boiler room”, no crowd reaction and a flat finish, you get quite the match. If you’re thinking “Oh it’s the first boiler room in two decades, I need to check it out!” don’t waste your time on it…
Winner: Sami Callihan
Match Rating: *
Final Thoughts:
I appreciate MLW for going out of their way and try something new, bringing back the Boiler Room Brawl… But if you’re going to do it, at least do it right. What we got was something I never care to go back and relive again, which is quite sad. They had all the hype in the world for this match, but gave us nothing in return. Anyways, the show had a fine opener, which gave ACH and Swann a big win as they climb the ranks in the ever so stacked (did you catch the sarcasm?) tag division. Next weeks main event is set, which will be Tom Lawlor taking on Jake Hager, and I’m assuming we’ll also get Barrington Hughes vs. Leon Scott next week as well. Along with that, we got a great squash for Low-Ki, as he keeps picking up momentum ahead of his match with Strickland. Speaking of the champ, he had a nice little video package as he plans to stomp Low-Ki out of MLW. Everything up until the main event was solid, as usual, but the main event was underwhelming, disappointing, a let down, and maybe the worst thing MLW has ever done. Yikes.
Show Rating: 4.2/10