August 24th, 2018
A psycho Tom Lawlor is talking about the attack last week, and plans on ending things with the Stud Stable. It all begins tonight, where Simon Gotch and Fred Yehi will take out the Dirty Blondes.
The Dirty Blondes w/Stud Stable vs. Simon Gotch and Fred Yehi w/Tom Lawlor
Not much of a match here, more of Team Filthy getting redemption, and “being filthy” to do so. Lawlor used a chair to allow the roll up, which secures Team Filthy a win… Only for nothing to happen after the match. No Jake Hager run out, no Dirty Blondes beatdown, it was a bit confusing. The feud will continue for a bit longer yet, and we’ll see how long it takes to get the final Hager/Lawlor match.
Winners: Team Filthy
Match Rating: NR
ACH and Rich Swann are interviewed, saying it’s hot outside, and that’s exactly how they’re match will go tonight.
Tommy Dreamer is in the back, talking about WarGames. He runs down the old ECW days, speaking about the history of Fort Lauderdale War Memorial. This is Tommy Dreamer’s first time ever being in WarGames, and it’s only fitting because how much he’s bled and fought in the building. When it’s all set and done, Tommy Dreamer will still be the innovator of violence, as Dusty Rhodes watches from above.
The WarGames event is hyped some more, as they talk about Team Strickland vs. Team Callihan (again running over the rules), Low Ki vs. Fenix for the MLW World Heavyweight Championship, Pentagon Jr. vs. LA Park in a Mexican Massacre Match, and PCO vs. Brody King. It’s a beautiful looking card, let’s see if they pull it off, unlike the rather underwhelming Battle Riot event. Matt Striker sends it to the ring, where Salina De La Renta has a new acquisition.
Ricky Martinez w/Salina De La Renta vs. Hammond Edgar
Martinez didn’t get to show off much, as this was a short squash. Salina recently lost Fenix and Pentagon to Konnan, so bringing in someone new is a good call. Eventually, Ricky will probably get to work with Fenix and Pentagon, which will be a big test. For now, he seems solid, but only time will tell.
Winner: Ricky Martinez
Match Rating: NR
They recap John Hennigan being attacked before his World Title match, and highlights from Hennigan/Low-Ki are shown. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, because Low-Ki will accept any challengers. He told John Hennigan exactly what would happen, and he delivered.
Sami Callihan doesn’t care what Dreamer did, because it’s only motivated him more. We then cut to Abyss, who hypes his debut. At WarGames, MLW will be hit with a title-wave like it’s never seen before. Abyss doesn’t care about Dreamer, he doesn’t care about Strickland, and he can’t wait to bring the pain, suffering, and carnage.
Tom Lawlor doesn’t care who he has to go to, but he wants a match with Jake Hager. It’s made official, and it’ll be Lawlor/Hager 2 in the main event next week.
Salina De La Renta is interviewed, asked about the lawsuit put against her. She says that Fenix is playing intimidation games, but the World Champion isn’t easily intimidated. Low-Ki plans on making short work of Fenix, and he will hold onto the MLW World Heavyweight Championship for a very long time.
MLW World Tag Team Championships: Lucha Bros (c) vs. ACH and Rich Swann
This was an absolutely AWESOME match, and a perfect example of MLW at its best. With a hot crowd, four dudes just doing their thing, and no one being held back, you get some amazing stuff in the ring. While ACH and Swann weren’t deserving of this shot in the first place, I’m not complaining because everyone knew this would deliver, and it sure did. Pentagon and Fenix have been amazing tag champions so far, and it doesn’t seem like there’s any great teams deserving to beat them. Overall, an absolutely great match here, and you could argue the best MLW has put on. Lately MLW has been delivering in the main event spot, first it being Hennigan/Hart, and now this. Keep it up MLW!
Winners: Lucha Bros
Match Rating: ****
Final Thoughts:
The first 30 minutes of this show was nothing special, and actually quite boring. We had two short, squash matches. One continued a feud, the other introduced a new talent, which is totally acceptable. Otherwise, there were so many video packages, it was just too much. I feel like MLW spends too much of their hour “filling time” with the video packages. Whether it’s short interviews or recap videos that we’ve seen before, they’re usually never too entertaining. However, they do the job of advancing feuds/angles, and setting up matches for future episodes. In the end, we got a GREAT main event, one you should definitely check out if you want to get into MLW. There has been so much hype for WarGames, with tons of video packages here. That show seems phenomenal on paper, now it’s time for MLW to go out there and deliver.
Final Rating: 6.5/10