October 19th, 2018
A nice little video package is shown, hyping up tonight’s main event between “Filthy” Tom Lawlor and Shane “Swerve” Strickland.
Tony Schiavone and Matt Striker welcome us to the show, live from New York. They hype up tonight’s main event some more, but before that we go to the ring for some action!
Hijo De LA Park w/Salina De La Renta vs. Sammy Guevara
This was a fun match to kick off the show. While they didn’t get a ton of time to work, they made the most of it, and Guevara looked great in his return match to the company. Hijo de LA Park needed a rebound win from last week (which he shouldn’t have lost in the first place), and this was the perfect place to get a win. Salina fired Sammy a few weeks ago, so it makes sense for him to lose and prove that he didn’t deserve to be with Salina. Overall, the crowd loved the high spots, and there were lots of flips and dives, if that’s what you’re into. Good stuff.
Winner: Hijo de LA Park
Match Rating: ***
Tom Lawlor is interviewed about tonight’s main event. He says everyone already knows what they’ll get out of Tom Lawlor, and that’s the best. But what will we get out of Shane Strickland?
Rush’s MLW is hyped some more.
Konnan cuts a promo, he props Salina on her actions last week (which didn’t make the YouTube version), but says it’ll be the last time she’s on top, because The Lucha Bros will defeat Hijo De and LA Park when the time comes.
Samoan Island Tribe (Samu and Lance Anoa’i) vs. Smash N Dash Connection (Kotto Brazil and Barrington Hughes)
This was a basic tag match, that had your typical tag match formula, but without an invested crowd. While the match was only 7 minutes, Barrington Hughes was in the ring for a grand total of 1:13, way to carry the workload, Kotto Brazil! Samu’s involvement was limited, which is for the best. Props to MLW for actually having a tag match on the show that didn’t involve The Hart Foundations or the Lucha Brothers, because I feel like it’s been ages since we saw The Dirty Blondes. Anyways, Lance worked down Kotto for most of the match until Hughes got the hot tag and Smash N Dash Connection picked up the win. Kotto keeps on improving, and these two would be fun challengers for the Tag Titles. Also, Lance looked good, and I’d love some singles action from him in the future.
Winners: Smash N Dash Connection
Match Rating: **1/4
Sami Callihan cuts a promo on his match with Jimmy Havoc next week. They used to be friends, but that all came to an end once Callihan realized how much of a phony Jimmy Havoc is. Havoc isn’t the most violent wrestler in professional wrestling, because you’re looking at him.
Stokely Hathaway is returning soon!
Shane Strickland is interviewed, pretty much confirming that he’s confident and ready for a fight, because this is Swerve’s House.
We head to the Fightland Control Center, where they announce PCO vs. Brody King in a No DQ Match. Already on the card is Lucha Bros vs. Los Parks, Low Ki vs. Shane Strickland, Rush vs. Sammy Guevara, Ace Romero vs. Marko Stunt, The Dirty Blondes (THEY’RE BACK!) vs. Size Matters (Swoggle and Joey Ryan)
Promo time with Salina De La Renta, and she didn’t expect Konnan would be able to bring Fenix and Pentagon back to America. Salina sees a very bright future, which is the MLW Tag Titles.
Tom Lawlor warms up with Simon Gotch before the big main event, which is NEXT!
Low Ki joins commentary for the main event!
Next week is “Fright Night” featuring Sami Callihan vs. Jimmy Havoc in the “Spin the Wheel Make the Deal Match”. This leads to a promo from Jimmy Havoc, and he says it doesn’t matter what stipulation is chosen, because it’ll always end in Jimmy Havoc’s favor. Callihan will regret starting this, because next week he won’t be able to run away.
Shane Strickland vs. Tom Lawlor
This match has been hyped up for weeks and weeks, and while this was a good match, I feel like it didn’t live up to the expectations I had for it (maybe those were too high). I understand the Low Ki involvement, but feel like it was stupid when this match kept being hyped on “Deciding the Franchise of MLW”. You can’t decide the Franchise when there’s outside interference, but it led to an interesting story, which I’m all for. Tom Lawlor has become a great babyface, and I know he’ll kill it as champion when the time is right. As for Shane Strickland, they seem to be planting seeds for a heel turn, which makes a ton of sense. Strickland has been on a downfall since losing the MLW Title, and needed a big rebound win here before getting his MLW World Title rematch in Chicago. Low Ki left the commentary table to help Strickland defeat Lawlor, but in the end it wasn’t enough, and Strickland suffered his third loss in a row. I liked the finish, as Lawlor could only use one arm to secure the RNC, but it also made Strickland look a bit weak. Overall, this was a good match, just not epic like I had pictured.
Winner: Tom Lawlor
Match Rating: ***1/2
Tom Lawlor is interviewed after his win, and is asked when he’s cashing in his World Title shot (that he earned by winning Battle Riot). Lawlor says he’ll challenge for the World Title at MLW: Super Fight on February 2nd!
Final Thoughts:
Overall this was a solid show, with one weak match out of the three. The show kicked off with a fun, high flying, and energetic match to get Hijo de LA Park a win, as well as reintroducing Sammy Guevara to MLW. The build keeps continuing for Havoc/Callihan which is happening NEXT WEEK! I loved the interviews and hype videos for Lawlor/Strickland throughout the entire show, as they really pushed this match to be a huge deal. Kotto Brazil and Barrington Hughes debuted as a team, and they had a fine outing, but the match was totally skippable. After that was the long part of the show where it’s video package after video package, but the main event was solid, just not as great as I hoped for. Next week seems loaded, so let’s see if MLW can knock it out of the park.
Final Rating: 6.5/10