Pretty big episode here as MLW does a LIVE TV show on beINSports. Thankfully, they added the show the next day on YouTube for the rest of us to see. In honor of this occasion, I'm just playing the episode live and calling what I see like I would most major events. You earned it MLW for going live...
Let's do this!
- The show starts off immediately with Salina's group taking out Team Filthy in the backstage area. A guy gets Rey Mysterio'd into the side of a production truck. ( Overhead Lawn-Dart Throw, if you are too young or unaware to what WCW did awesomely back in the day.)
Salina: "Tom Lawlor, are you ready? Because we are LIVE."
- And Tony Schiavone is calling live wrestling on cable once again!!! Awesome! Tony announces Tom Lawlor is getting his hand checked out and will be at the event tonight. RUSH vs. Rich Swann and Dragon Lee vs. DJZ will be tonight.
Match #1- MLW Middleweight Championship
Four Way Ladder Match
Gringo Loco vs. Hijo de LA PARK vs. Koto Brazil vs. Dezmond Xavier....
IT'S TEDDY HART!!!!
He beats down on Desmond Xavier. Arabian Moonsault to Xavier in the floor. Koto Brazil flies over the top onto Hart. Hijo hits Koto with a chair shot and smashes Koto's leg over and over again with a steel chair while the leg was wrapped in a ladder. What the hell is going on here? Gringo and Hijo are going at it in the ring now. Xavier is back in the ring and gets some nice moves in, including a hurricanrana and Tilt-a-Whirl DDT. So much going on... Hijo gets a hurricanrana of his own. Apparently, Koto Brazil is out and Teddy Hart is in for him.
Hijo grabs Xavier and POWERBOMBS HIM ON THE HARD CONCRETE FLOOR! Hart and Hijo are in the ring. Nice exchange between the two with Hart and Hijo going back and forth. Code Red by Hart gets nothing as there is no 3 count in this. Superkick by Hijo to Hart. A DOUBLE SUPERKICK TO HART leads to him taking a Canadian Destroyer from Hijo. Bodies are flying everywhere as we go to our first commercial break.
We come back to see bodies all over the place. Apparently, we missed some big spots over the break, but Teddy Hart makes up for it by hitting a SPRINGBOARD MOONSAULT TO THE OTHER THREE MEN ON THE FLOOR AND LANDS ON HIS FEET! That is freaking awesome! The ladder is finally coming into the equation again as Hart puts the ladder into the ring. The four men are fighting each other to keep the others from going in as Hijo and Hart trade blows on the floor. Teddy gets in the ring and opens the ladder. Salina is back at ringside managing Hijo. Teddy and Gringo are fighting on the ladder. Gringo hits a Springboard Backwards Cutter on Xavier. DDT by Hart on Gringo. Hijo stops Hart from climbing back up and pushes the ladder down. Desmond climbs the ladder, but another one is brought in by Gringo. Gringo gets tossed off Xavier's ladder, but Hijo sets up another ladder attached to it and the ropes. (Xavier was waiting for a while for Hijo to get that ladder set up and could have logically won the match here. So a bit of a mistimed spot there.) A BIG SPLASH ON XAVIER BY HIJO. KOTO BRAZIL IS COMING BACK AS TEDDY HITS A MOONSAULT ON THE LADDER! Koto Brazil smacks everyone and anyone with a steel chair to get revenge, especially Hijo. Koto gets knocked off the ladder by Teddy Hart. LUNGBLOWER BY TEDDY HART TO KOTO BRAZIL! Teddy climbs the ladder and gets the belt!
Winner: Teddy Hart (NEW MLW Middleweight Champion)
Match Grade: B+. Very good opening match here with Teddy Hart and Hijo looking awesome in this. This was the kind of organized chaos that opens a show hot. Good work by all four men in starting the show off right. The camera guys missed a couple things during the match, but that's a production error.
Tom Lawlor isn't talking. He's looking for Low Ki.
Rush and LA PARK will collide in NYC on April 4th and almost came to blows earlier this week.
2) Dragon Lee vs. DJZ
The bell rings. Handshake. The two trade a few attempted headlocks rolling back and forth before breaking. More even-steven wrestling here. Now the forearms and blows come out and DJZ knocks Lee to the floor. A Running Somersault over the top onto Lee on the floor. DJZ takes advantage in the ring. Dragon Lee does the Slingshot Single Leg Dropkick (ala Naito) in the corner. Lee continues to press the advantage against DJZ. They start trading heavy shots. A Snap German Suplex by Lee is met with a Rolling DDT by DJZ a second later. Both men are on the top of the corner now. DJZ slips and GETS DOUBLE STOMPED ON THE TOP ROPE SENDING BOTH MEN FALLING TO THE FLOOR! Lee only gets a 2 count back in the ring. CANADIAN DESTROYER BY DJZ gets a 2 count as Lee gets the ropes in time. (MLW must be the Canadian Destroyer promotion.) Suplex Dragon Driver by Lee ALMOST gets a 3. KNEE to the face of DJZ. Suplex Dragon Driver gets the 3 on the second time.
Winner: Dragon Lee
Match Grade: B-. Good match here between the two. DJZ didn't get to show off too much of what he can do. Lee did however. Fun show thus far.
Salina and her group are going to go party, but Tom Lawlor attacks them. Salina and Low Ki drive off as LA Park and Ricky fight Lawlor.
We get a preview for a new Hart Foundation TV series on the MLW YouTube series.
Next Week: No Ropes, No Holds Barred Match between Lawlor and Gotch. Gotch cuts a promo from some nice location.
3) Rich Swann vs. Rush
The bell rings. The crowd seems to be solidly behind Rush who takes the fight directly to Swann, punishing him with splashes into the corner and a big dropkick to the back of Swann. On the floor now, Rush throws Swann into the guard rail. Rush throws a STEEL TRASH CAN into the face of Swann. Swann gets tossed onto the stage by Rush. Rush breaks the count and continues going after Swann. Rush continues to assault Swann in the ring. Tranquilo Pose by Rush now. Swann fires back with overhand chops to Rush, but Rush just swats him off. Rush continues to play to the crowd. (Rush has a lot of charisma.)
Springboard into a Cutter by Swann. Swann now jabs at Rush. A ton of kicks and strikes by Swann now. Rush is on the floor and gets kicked by Swann. Big running apron dive by Swann. Swann dives over the top rope onto Rush, sending Rush back head first into the steps coming down the stage. Ouch! Back in the ring, FROG SPLASH BY SWANN only gets a 2. Swann gets tossed overhead belly-to-belly into the turnbuckles by Rush. Spinning Superkick and a Rolling DDT by Swann get a close 2 count. Swann climbs up the top of the corner, but Rush stops him with openhand chops. SUPERPLEX by Rush gets a 2 count. Big spinning kick by Swann is met with a headbutt by Rush sending both men to the mat.
Rush is now attacking Swann violently in the corner. He misses a low corner dropkick. Swann climbs up and 450s into the knees of Rush. Double Underhook Piledriver by Rush ends it!
Winner: RUSH
Match Grade: B. Good match here again. Swann continues to impress me more and more in his post-WWE career. I'm glad for him. As for Rush, he's not the greatest thing since sliced bread or anything. But I see the appeal. The guy clearly has a lot of charisma and can connect with an audience regardless of the language barrier that may exist. This is a good get for MLW as having a guy with his reputation associated with a stable that many American fans now are familiar with (thanks to the LIJ stable in NJPW) only adds to the depth of your roster and television programming.
LA PARK comes out after the match and motions to Rush. Rush and Park are going at it now at ringside as security and referees are breaking them up to "LET THEM FIGHT" chants.
Low Ki gets into the ring. Low Ki tells the crowd that live TV means anything can happen. He can keep trying, but Lawlor will always fail. Lawlor jumps Low Ki from behind. And now, THEY ARE FIGHTING ON THE FLOOR. The suit of Low Ki is getting torn apart as Lawlor continues to attack Low Ki. Back Suplex Drop on the Apron by Lawlor. Lawlor is bleeding from the nose. They continue to fight and brawl as Tony gives us the classic "WE ARE OUT OF TIME!!!!" (By the way, the logic of referees and security NOT breaking this up is that they're too busy keeping Rush from LA PARK.)
Overall, I thought this was another very good episode of MLW Fusion. While I still put the overall episode of 12/7/18 above this one, this was a home run for a small company to have a live TV show. There were very few big stumbles from the production (mostly confined to the Ladder Match). This company just gets how to promote their talent and put them over. They do a great job building up to matches weeks or months in advance and setting up that anticipation. And none of their talent is overexposed at any point. This is how a 1 hour live wrestling show should be done. Hats off to all involved.
Until next time, take care of yourselves. Spread some awesomeness.
**If you want to check out the episode, here it is from YouTube:
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