September 21st, 2018
No show intro, we get right down to business. Konnan is with the Lucha Bros in the ring, and he calls out Salina De La Renta. Konnan doesn’t like the way she does business, but it doesn’t matter because Konnan is always one step ahead of her. Salina then makes her way out to the ring with Ricky Martinez. Salina says that Pentagon and Fenix were granted an early release, and they didn’t rip up their contracts. She’s here to give them one last chance, as Ricky Martinez hands over two new contracts. Salina tells Konnan to step aside, since she already did the hard work to make the Lucha Bros great here in MLW. This new contract will make Fenix and Pentagon huge stars, and Ricky hands the two pens to make things official (once again). Fenix grabs the mic from Salina, but then Pentagon speaks some Spanish as the Lucha Bros RIP UP THE CONTRACTS! Konnan makes sure Salina knows never to stick her nose in his business again. Major props to MLW for having such a great usage of managers. It’s just not something you see utilized these days.
Tonight we’ll see MJF and Aria Blake vs. Joey Ryan and Taya, along with Brody King vs. PCO. But first is a “hurricane six man tag team match”.
Hurricane Tag: The Stud Stable w/Col. Robert Parker vs. The Hart Foundation
A “Hurricane Tag” is just a tornado tag match, where all men are legal at once. This was a fun match, but didn’t have the time to be much better than good. Pretty much it was here to remind us that The Stud Stable are still around, and it gave The Hart Foundation another win. I’m loving The Hart Foundation, as it’s a really interesting trio that has tons of potential. They should be the ones to take the Tag Titles off of the Lucha Bros, and then adapt Freebird rules. Anyways, this was an all action tag, filled with some cool moves, and Teddy Hart doing Teddy Hart things.
Winners: The Hart Foundation
Match Rating: **3/4
After the match, The Dirty Blondes attack Parrow.
They recap WarGames from last week, which leads us to a promo from Jimmy Havoc. Havoc understands that Callihan was upset, but he shouldn’t be angry at him, because Jimmy Havoc wasn’t the one that tapped out. Havoc is ready to fight Callihan, and Callihan better be ready as well (they announced a “Spin the Wheel, Make a Deal” match between these two for the October show on social media a few days ago).
MJF and Aria Blake are backstage, as they plan for their mixed tag match which happens after the commercial break.
Aria Blake and MJF vs. Taya Valkyrie and Joey Ryan
Taya and Joey had matching furry boots, which had to make John Hennigan/Mundo/Morrison/IMPACT jealous. Anyways, this was your typical Joey Ryan match, which was boring the first 5 or so minutes, but then picked up, and turned out to be a solid match. If we kept away from the shenanigans at the start and just focused on the action, it could’ve been better. MJF and Joey haven’t touched each other since Battle Riot, and this match really never needed to happen in the first place. Taya looked good, and hopefully they can get her to appear more often. The finish saw Aria hit a low blow on Joey, but we all know how that works out.. So Aria “broke her arm”, but MJF rolled up Joey to pick up the win. In reality, the post match angle was pretty much the only thing that mattered here.
Winners: MJF and Aria Blake
Match Rating: **1/2
After the match, Aria Blake pulls an Alexa Bliss to show off her “broken arm”. MJF then gets a mic and says he finally took the sleaze out of MLW, and he also took the Bad Boy out of MLW. This allows for Joey Janela to come out and attack MJF, only for MJF to hit him with a low blow. Why couldn’t this have been Janela and Penelope Ford vs. MJF and Aria Blake in the first place?
Fury Road announcements are here, and we get Tom Lawlor vs. Shane Strickland confirmed , along with the World Title being defended, ACH, Swann, and Stunt vs. The Hart Foundation, PCO vs. LA Park, and many more in action.
Promo time with Sami Callihan. He has known Jimmy Havoc for years, but that doesn’t matter because he’s throwing that all aside. He expected better out of Jimmy at WarGames and he was the reason they lost. Callihan called him a garbage deathmatch wrestler. Callihan doesn’t even have to think about Havoc’s challenge, he accepts, and says Havoc isn’t even in his league. Callihan will beat Havoc, and take him out like he’s done with everyone else.
PCO vs. Brody King
This was an interesting main event… One that was going well, could’ve used more time, and the finish came off as forced. Things started off hot, and there were a lot of big boy moves, but it was too short and probably shouldn’t have main evented the show. PCO couldn’t lose here, as he has a big match with LA Park coming up at the October show. MLW has been weird with booking Brody King. They set him up as the big Bounty Hunter, but he’s lost every match since and desperately needs a few wins. The finish saw both men shove the referee down, and then the ref called the match off. Odd choice, but I guess they’re saving more for a rematch?
Winner: No Contest
Match Rating: **1/2
They announce Jimmy Havoc vs. Sami Callihan and Low-Ki defending against Fenix for next week, as PCO hits a huge moonsault onto the outside, taking out Brody King and a few referees.
Final Thoughts:
If you’ve followed my MLW reviews for long enough, you know that I’ve been very harsh on the crowd in the past. The Orlando crowd isn’t too great, and they’re mostly dead, which takes away from the action. Thankfully MLW is branching out, and I think they’ve found a great spot in Fort Lauderdale. It’s a nice venue, holds a good chunk of people, and the crowd has been invested into each match so far, which is refreshing, and a must have for everything to go well. As for this week, there was nothing that stood out in-ring wise, but quite a lot happened. Feuds between Konnan/Salina, Janela/MJF, Callihan/Havoc all continued, Col. Robert Parker fired Parrow from The Stud Stable, PCO and Brody King had a wild brawl, and they announced a huge match for the October show, that being Tom Lawlor vs. Shane Strickland. This was a shorter episode this week (just under 50 minutes), but everything was done well, and nothing bad was on the show. MLW has been doing pretty well lately, and I really hope they keep this up.
Final Rating: 6.5/10