September 7th, 2018
Matt Striker welcomes us to the show, and tonight’s main event will see the MLW Tag Championships on the line as the Lucha Bros take on Drago and Rey Horus. Also tonight is PCO vs. Homicide, but first we have a member of Team Filthy in action, that being Fred Yehi taking on the debuting Richard Holiday.
Richard Holiday vs. Fred Yehi w/Team Filthy
This was a pretty short match, but got the job done to showcase Fred Yehi. Richard Holiday got a bit in, and seemed like he has potential. I was skeptical about Fred Yehi joining Team Filthy, but they’ve protected him so far, but finally he’s gotten to have a singles match to showcase his skills. Yehi is one of the best technical wrestlers in the US, and I could see him as a great Middleweight Champion in the future. This was a fine match to open the show, and it served its purpose.
Winner: Fred Yehi
Match Rating: **1/4
Next week, IT”S HAPPENING! Team Strickland vs. Team Callihan in a special WARGAMES edition of MLW Fusion.
They recap Brian Pillman Jr. and the Heart Foundation attacking Kevin Sullivan from last week. This leads us into a interview with Pillman, who says he doesn’t need anymore nightmares about Kevin Sullivan. Pillman mocks Sullivan, saying he has loyalty to the Heart Foundation. “A leopard never changes it’s spots”, and Pillman sees that with Sullivan, who stood in the face of his father way back when.
Homicide vs. PCO
PCO has been the comeback story of 2018, so MLW had to capitalize by booking him on the Battle Riot event. Pairing him against someone like Homicide was a good move, as both have been in the game forever, and they delivered a good hoss battle. While they lost the crowd a bit in the middle, PCO was the fan favorite and did everything in his power to put on a show for the fans. This man is 50 years old, but continues to hit suicide dives, moonsaults, and frog splashes. Sadly Homicide kicked out of all three, but it only took one clothesline to finish the job. Besides the flat finish, this was an enjoyable match. What was Salina De La Renta doing at ringside?
Winner: PCO
Match Rating: ***
Footage from the Cade/Yuta match last week is shown. Jason Cade is interviewed about his “controversial” match, but Cade says he used his brain and outsmarted Yuta, beating him all on his own. Cade can now move on, as he has his sights on winning the MLW Middleweight Championship.
The October show begins to be hyped up, which is called “Fury Road”. Announced so far is PCO vs. LA Park, Low Ki defending the MLW World Heavyweight Championship (is this a spoiler that he beats Fenix?), and many more will be in action. This is their next TV taping which takes place in New York on October 4th.
They preview how the WarGames match came to be, all starting when Sami Callihan attacked Shane Strickland in the parking lot. This escalated to Strickland losing the MLW Championship, Barrington Hughes attacking Callihan’s heavies, Kotto Brazil coming to the side of Barrington and Strickland, Tommy Dreamer fighting off Callihan and his heavies, along with Abyss and Jimmy Havoc joining Team Callihan. It airs on Fusion NEXT WEEK!
MLW World Tag Team Championships: Lucha Bros (c) vs. Drago and Rey Horus
This was a very good tag match, as the Lucha Bros continue to roll as Tag Champions. Originally this was supposed to be Drago and Aerostar vs. Pentagon and Fenix, however Aerostar had to pull out. Rey Horus was a great replacement, as this was a super fun tag match, letting all four shine. They played to the crowd, had tons of flips and kicks, exactly what you’d expect from these four. While it was a bit short for my liking, this was an amazing main event, and exactly the reason I decided to tune into MLW once they got a TV deal.
Winners: Lucha Bros
Match Rating: ***1/2
Final Thoughts:
This was a great week of Fusion. Everything made sense, they didn’t mess around, and I would argue there was absolutely zero filler on this show. It was just three matches thrown together in order to fill time until WarGames next week, but this was a really solid show. Fred Yehi got to shine in singles competition, which is something MLW needs to continue doing with Yehi in the future. Brian Pillman Jr. explained his actions from last week, which is something that needed to be followed up on. PCO and Homicide had a fun singles match, but in the long run won’t mean much. It’s just great to see PCO on Fusion, and he’ll be back for more. The main event was a really good match, exactly the type of Lucha things you’d expect from the four involve. The Lucha Bros have been killing it as Tag Champs, and should hold those titles for a long time to come. Finally there was quite a bit of hype for WarGames, which is expected since it’s finally happening next week. Everyone should tune into MLW Fusion next week, because WarGames will be epic.
Final Rating: 7.2/10