August 17th. 2018
A recap from last week’s main event is shown, hyping up tonight’s MLW Title match with John Hennigan challenging Low-Ki. This leads us to Tony Schiavone and Matt Striker, who hype up War Games, and tonight’s Dojo Fight.
ACH and Rich Swann are interviewed, but get interrupted by The Hart Foundation, this leads us to our opening match.
The Hart Foundation (Teddy Hart and Davey Boy Smith Jr.) w/Brian Pillman Jr. vs. ACH and Rich Swann
This was alright, definitely not the type of debut match The Hart Foundation should have had. ACH and Rich Swann are in line for a Tag Title shot next week, yet they lost to the debuting Hart Foundation. The decision making in MLW is quite confusing at times. There are so many ways to debut The Hart Foundation, but you decide to put them over the #1 Contenders, by cheating and making for a pretty boring match. There was nothing special in this one, and it made ACH and Swann look like some weak challengers for next week.
Winners: The Hart Foundation
Match Rating: **1/4
Matt Striker hypes up WarGames, going over the rules for anyone that wasn’t already aware. Also signed for WarGames is Low-Ki/Hennigan vs. Fenix for the World Title, Brody King vs. PCO, and much more.
Shane Strickland and his team are interivewed, as it’s announced that Abyss will be the 5th member of Sami Calllihan’s team. Callihan’s heavies come to attack Strickland and crew, only for Tommy Dreamer to make the save.
Konnan is with Pentagon and Fenix, saying that Salina played herself by trying to put his boys under some stupid contract. Fenix is excited because The Lucha Bros are finally free!
Tom Lawlor is training inside the cage, as Col. Robert Parker is outside with The Stud Stable, and has a referee with him. Jake Hager enters the cage with everyone else, seems ready to fight, but The Stud Stable puts Parrow in there with Lawlor.
Dojo Fight: Parrow vs. Tom Lawlor
This was definitely different, and props to MLW for doing unique angles like this to advance storylines. While it wasn’t anything special, you won’t be seeing matches like this on any other promotion. Tom Lawlor used his strengths, focusing on his past in MMA, but decides to throw out a hurricanrana, definitely something you’ll never see in a cage again. Parrow tapped from a kimura, as Tom Lawlor wouldn’t let go. Lawlor yells at Jake Hager on the outside, as they continue to build for another match between the two.
Winner: Tom Lawlor
Match Rating: NR
The Stud Stable attacks Seth Petruzelli after their loss, and later they give an update that Seth was taken to a local medical facility.
A scared interviewer interviews Salina De La Renta and Low-Ki. Salina somehow gets “pollo” out of Henningan’s name, and calls him chicken. This is Low-Ki’s town, and he plans on making his first successful title defense here tonight.
MLW World Heavyweight Championship: Low-Ki (c) vs. John Hennigan
This was a very flat and disappointing main event. I’ve said it before, but you’ll either get a great main event from MLW, full of action, with an invested crowd, or you’ll get this. Knowing what both men are capable of, this was terribly disappointing, and the crowd didn’t care. Hennigan had his ribs wrapped up, so they decided to keep this one on the mat, which was a terrible decision. There only a few near falls for Hennigan, but the crowd never bought into them, and they were relatively silent the entire match. Low-Ki hit the big double stomp, but Hennigan kicked out to a few people clapping in the crowd, only for Low-Ki to hit the big kick, but the ending is always flat after he nails the kick. Disappointing stuff, but not terrible.
Winner: Low-Ki
Match Rating: **3/4
Final Thoughts:
This was a totally average week of Fusion, with nothing really standing out or being special. We had the big debut of the Hart Foundation, but that could’ve been ten times better. We found out the fifth member of each team for WarGames, which should be a fun match. Pentagon and Fenix are now alligned with Konnan, which puts them up against Salina and crew. The Dojo Fight was very interesting, but didn’t stand out a ton, and only continued a feud. Props to MLW for doing something like that. Then we got the disappointing main event, with an expected successful title defense for Low-Ki, and a completely silent crowd. After a few good weeks, MLW is back to being average, and doesn’t have a ton you need to go out of your way to see.
Final Rating: 6.0/10