November 2nd, 2018
The opening video package recaps Strickland/Lawlor, and the events afterward with Low-Ki, followed by the Sami Callihan attack in Chicago.
Tony Schiavone and Matt Striker welcome us to the show. Tonight’s main event sees The Hart Foundation take on ACH, Rich Swann, and Marko Stunt. Also, Tommy Dreamer will be in action against Brody King. We’re then sent to the ring where Konnan enters the ring.
Konnan tells everybody that Pentagon and Fenix wanted to be here tonight, but someone prevented that… Which leads Salina De La Renta to come out. Salina hopes everything is going well after ICE sent the Lucha Bros packing back to Mexico. Konnan then brings up Ricky Martinez, insults him a bit, which leads to a match, as Konnan brings out Puma King!
Puma King w/Konnan vs. Ricky Martinez w/Salina De La Renta
This was a really solid match, with an invested crowd for Puma King, and it continued the Konnan/Salina angle. Puma King looked a bit rough at times, but he’s been getting more and more US bookings, which is awesome to see. Ricky Martinez hasn’t really matched up against any big names, so this was a good test for him, but in the end he got rolled up and took the L. A fun match to kick off the show, and seeing Puma King in MLW was a fun surprise.
Winner: Puma King
Match Rating: **3/4
Tommy Dreamer speaks on his match tonight, Dreamer talks about Brody’s tattoos, but he says he has scars to prove what he went through. Dreamer has been through so much more than Brody, and he’ll prove that tonight.
This Thursday in Chicago, Stokley Hathaway returns to MLW!
Next week “MLW goes to Titletown” where Low Ki defends the World Title against Daga, and MJF defends against Jason Cade and Jimmy Yuta. To hype the Middleweight Title match, Jason Cade calls MLW bias, Yuta is excited to hold the title with pride, and MJF can’t wait to sit back and watch Cade and Yuta kill each other.
Brody King vs. Tommy Dreamer
This was a fine match, but it was slow, and everything you’d expect from a Tommy Dreamer match in 2018. Brody King is a great big man, and while he started out being presented as “The Bounty Hunter”, this was his first win on Fusion. It’s a real shame that Brody King lost to Shane Strickland, Jimmy Havoc, had a double DQ with PCO, and now he can’t even beat Tommy Dreamer clean. While not a bad match, there just wasn’t much here, and I wasn’t a fan of King needing to distract the ref and hit a low blow to get the win. Hopefully, Brody King can be a future title contender and a dominant force moving forward.
Winner: Brody King
Match Rating: **1/2
Interview time with Tom Lawlor. Lawlor has been beaten down for the past few weeks, but it’s only because Salina is worried about the gold, and they sent Callihan to attack Lawlor. Everyone knows that Lawlor wants the belt, but now that Callihan got in the way, he’s going to be the first treasure on Lawlor’s way to gold.
Back to the Fightland Control Center, where they hype up the same matches, adding in Simon Gotch’s Prizefight Challenge, and the Flag Match between MJF and Puma King.
Rush debuts THIS THURSDAY!
Sami Callihan has a message for Tom Lawlor, calling him stupid for talking trash, because Callihan isn’t scared of an MMA fighter, who can’t defend themselves from a baseball bat or being hit with a car. This Thursday, Callihan is going to end Tom Lawlor.
ACH, Marko Stunt, and Rich Swann vs. The Hart Foundation
This was a really great Trios match, with The Hart Foundation continuing to shine, and they stay undefeated as a unit. The babyface team of ACH, Stunt, and Swann was a great combination, and with ACH and Swann having history with The Hart’s, this ended up being really great. I always enjoy Matt Striker on commentary, but I feel he was very repetitive in this match, constantly going back to the fact that Swann got a concussion in this city, blah blah. That aside, the only other weak part here was the hot tag, as Marko getting beat down was a ton of fun, but the hot tag was random and didn’t have a ton of heat to it. Speaking of heat, no matter how much MLW wants The Hart Foundation to be pushed as heels, the crowd loves them, and that’s that. It only makes sense that they’ll take the titles off the Lucha Bros, which should be a great match. Good stuff to close the show here.
Winners: The Hart Foundation
Match Rating: ***1/2
Final Thoughts:
This was a solid week of MLW Fusion, as they set up matches for next week, had two average matches, and a good main event. Tom Lawlor keeps getting heated up before his Title match in February, and the feud with Callihan is a great thing to fill time with. Konnan and Salina’s feud continues, and this week it introduced Puma King to MLW. Brody King FINALLY got a win on Fusion, and hopefully he can beat PCO in Chicago, which would get him right back into the title picture. Speaking of Chicago, the Fightland card is STACKED, and if the crowd is lively, and the matches get time, we should be in for a couple of great weeks of Fusion moving forward. Nothing must see this week, but the Trios main event was fun, and The Hart Foundation continues to dominate.
Final Rating: 6.7/10