October 26th, 2018
From Chicago, Low Ki is walking in the hall but is confronted by Tom Lawlor. Sami Callihan attacks Lawlor from behind with a baseball bat as Low Ki holds the MLW World Title in-front of the face of Lawlor.
A new spooky intro runs down the card for tonight, and then Tony Schiavone and Matt Striker are all dressed up for Fright Night! Tonight we see the Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal match between Sami Callihan and Jimmy Havoc, as well as a match between LA Park and PCO!
Richard Holliday vs. Joey Ryan
Nothing special here, as Joey just played the hits, and Holliday was solid for what he got in. We haven’t seen a ton from Richard Holliday just yet, but putting him in matches with stars like Joey is a good call. Joey hasn’t done much in MLW, but keeps getting booked, and the crowd loves him. We’ll see where Holiday goes from here, as he could be a solid challenger for the Middleweight title down the line.
Winner: Joey Ryan
Match Rating: **
Konnan meets with Sammy Guevara, who Salina recently fired. Konnan begins to recruit Guevara, but is quickly confronted by Low Ki and crew. Low Ki says it doesn’t matter who Konnan throws at him, because the ending will always be the same. The build has started for Low Ki vs. Daga!
Rush is coming to MLW, November 8th in Chicago!
Jimmy Havoc “won the coin toss backstage” which means he gets to spin the wheel. Havoc arrives, as Callihan watches on. Havoc gives the wheel a weak spin, and it lands on “Spinners Choice”. Havoc says there’s nothing that really sticks out to him, so he tells MLW to bring out everything they got, because he chooses ALL THE STIPULATIONS. Honestly a bit disappointing, but the match should be brutal.
PCO vs. LA Park w/Salina de la Renta
PCO is 50, and LA Park is 52… These two just put on an awesome match, filled with so many big dives and bumps that these two shouldn’t be taking! PCO doing a swanton to the apron, but missing and landing AWFUL was brutal, and then you have LA Park doing HUGE dives and suicide dives, which a 52 year old should not be able to do. While it was slow at times, you have to expect that from these two. They gave it their all, and even though the finish felt flat, this was still an amazing match to see in 2018.
Prediction: LA Park
Match Rating: ***1/2
After his win, LA Park thanks everyone as Salina translates for him. LA Park then calls out Konnan, and wants to team up with his Hijo (son) against Pentagon and Fenix for the Tag Titles! Salina lets The Lucha Brothers know that they have no idea what they started. The fans throw money into the ring, and Salina thanks them all for their disgusting money. They could’ve accomplished this all in a minute, but this promo definitely went too long, the crowd just didn’t care either.
Sami Callihan is interviewed, but Callihan takes the mic and tells the interviewer to go. Callihan thinks it’s bull that he wasn’t apart of when the wheel was spun. Callihan will do whatever it takes to beat Havoc, Die Jimmy Die!
We go to the Fightland control center, where they confirm the Chicago Street Fight between Tom Lawlor and Sami Callihan. Also on the card is the Lucha Bros defending against Los Parks, Shane Strickland getting his rematch for the MLW World Title against Low Ki, Rush vs. Sammy Guevara, PCO vs. Brody King in a No DQ match, Ace Romero vs. Marko Stunt, The Dirty Blondes vs. Size Matters, Brian Pillman Jr. vs. Tommy Dreamer, Kotto Brazil vs. Trey Miguel, and Stokely Hathaway returns to MLW!
TMZ Sports has an interview with Stokely Hathaway about him being kidnapped. Hathaway says whoever kidnapped him was a moron, because they didn’t keep him locked up. November 8th, “The king will be back”.
ALL THE STIPULATIONS: Sami Callihan vs. Jimmy Havoc
This was a good match, brutal, as expected, but just not great like I had hoped for. They tried to throw so much into it, the match was all over the place, and the finish was pretty flat. The crowd loved the violence, but died down for some parts, especially the ending. Havoc used a staple gun, urn, body bag, dog collar, and they tried to fit in as many of the stipulations as possible, which may have been the downfall. Even if you just chose a street fight, things could have been more interesting. Most of Havoc’s hardcore matches end up being the same, and this was a case of that. They had some very creative spots, and Callihan wrestled most of the match barefoot. I enjoyed the piledriver to Havoc who had on the bodybag, but this needed more near falls and drama to be great. Definitely disappointing, but not terrible.
Winner: Sami Callihan
Match Rating: ***1/4
Final Thoughts:
This was a solid episode of Fusion, with the opener being the only weak thing on the show. If they have plans for Holliday moving forward, he should’ve picked up the win, but instead we get another Joey Ryan victory. The build to Low Ki vs. Daga began, and I can’t wait for that one. We also saw Callihan/Lawlor begin their feud, as Low Ki and Salina have seemingly paid off Callihan to beat down Lawlor before his World Title match in February. Park/PCO was a really fun match, and seeing what those two can do at their ages is really insane. The main event was yet another disappointing MLW main event. It was good, but not great like it should’ve been with all the hype behind it. Not a bad episode, and it was cool seeing them change some things up for “Fright Night”.
Final Rating: 7.0/10