Major League Wrestling Fusion – June 22, 2018: The Classics Still Work
IMG Credit: Major League Wrestling
Fusion #10
Date: June 22, 2018
Location: Gilt Nightclub, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Rich Bocchini, Tony Schiavone
We reach double digits this week with a show that isn’t likely to be as big as last week. This week’s featured match is Brody King trying to claim the $20,000 bounty on MLW Champion Shane Strickland, who has shown a willingness to fight anyone who comes against him. The other stories are starting to take shape as well so let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
We open with a recap of Salina de la Renta issuing the bounty on Strickland and King trying to claim it by attacking him in a parking lot.
Opening sequence.
Trey Miguel vs. Danny Santiago
Actually hang on as the debuting Teddy Hart jumps Santiago and takes him down with a moonsault. Hart is taking his place.
Trey Miguel vs. Teddy Hart
They waste no time in running the ropes with Hart snapping off a powerslam. Miguel sends him outside for a springboard flip dive before tucking Hart’s head in the corner, setting up a 619. The Meteora gets two and we take a break. Back with Hart snapping off a Code Red for two and Miguel screaming a lot. The fans think it was three, even though the count wasn’t all that close.
A hammerlock DDT gets the same and Hart’s electric chair Backstabber makes me cringe. Miguel slips out of a delayed superplex and pulls Hart down into a cutter for two. Another cutter almost onto the apron (the camera shows a big gap between Hart’s head and the apron) gives Miguel two but Hart scores with Project Ciampa. A super Canadian Destroyer ends Miguel at 8:37.
Rating: C-. I’m not that big on Hart but he didn’t go insane with the flips here and that always helps him out. He used to be a bigger indy name and it helps to have someone from the Hart Family on the show. I can’t imagine him being treated like a big deal or being featured for very long so getting what you can out of him in short order is probably the best call.
Kotto Brazil says he looks up to Rich Swann and last week was a great experience. He needs to figure out how to win though.
Hart always gets heat in the back but he’s here to steal the show and make his family proud. ACH comes in and a fight is teased but Rich Swann comes in as well and things calm down a bit.
Battle Riot ad. Newly confirmed this week: Rich Swann, Jason Cade, Joey Ryan, Pierre Carl Oulette, Kevin Sullivan, ACH, Swoggle, John Morrison, Lance Anoa’i, Konnan, Sami Callihan, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Teddy Hart
Also announced for the show: ACH/Rich Swann vs. Teddy Hart/Davey Boy Smith Jr. with Brian Pillman II in their corner.
Quick look back at last week’s show.
Colonel Robert Parker has filed a complaint with the refereeing in last week’s title match, saying the Dirty Blonds were treated unfairly.
Parker hits on the interviewer and seems to make her go get a cup of coffee. They leave, so Team Filthy goes into the Stud Stable’s locker room.
Barrington Hughes vs. Paris Hakeem
A headbutt and elbow drop give Hughes the pin at 13 seconds.
Team Filthy have relieved themselves in Parker’s hat. I don’t find this funny, and neither does Parker.
Kotto Brazil vs. Vandal Ortagun
Feeling out process to start with Brazil jumping over Ortagun and superkicking him for good measure. Ortagun is right back with a neckbreaker for two and since it worked so well, another neckbreaker gets another two. An uppercut slows Ortagun down and Brazil pulls him face first into the corner for a breather. That just earns him a Backstabber (popular move around here) for two but Brazil kicks him in the face, followed by a running Sliced Bread and the pin at 5:26.
Rating: C. I like Brazil the more I watch him, but I’m not sure how much he’s going to be able to stand out in a promotion with high fliers like ACH, Fenix and Rich Swann. Giving him a win, even a low level one like this, is better than nothing though and it gives him a little higher status when he loses to other names. That’s worked for years and there’s no reason it can’t do the same now.
Salina de la Renta, while being very mean to the interviewer, is happy with the Tag Team Titles but wants Strickland taken out.
On the way to the ring, Strickland runs into Sami Callihan’s goons but Barrington Hughes fights them for him.
Shane Strickland vs. Brody King
Non-title but King, a very tattooed guy with partially green hair, might get $20,000 if he wins. Strickland goes straight at him but gets backed into the corner for some elbows to the face. Brody is sent outside for some stomps to the head but a hurricanrana is countered into a powerbomb onto the apron.
Back in with Strickland kicking away, only to get sent into the ropes for a running crotch attack to the neck. A slugout goes to Brody so Strickland snaps off a German suplex to take him down. Some running uppercuts in the corner and he kicks Brody in the back of the head for a delayed cover. King clotheslines the heck out of Strickland and it’s a giant swing of all things to put him on the floor.
Back from a break with Brody getting knocked into a chair and Shane hitting a double stomp, breaking the chair in the process. That certainly looked good. Shane’s kicks to the chest back inside just seem to tick the big man off and it’s another hard clothesline to take him down. That’s enough for King, who tries to go old school with powder. Strickland, probably noticing the powder coming out of Brody’s hand, knees him in the face instead for the pin at 12:04.
Rating: C. Brody was fine for a one off monster for Strickland to slay and that’s all this needed to be. Strickland has turned into the kind of guy that they want him to be, as he’s a bigger star than anyone on the show and there are a bunch of people I’d like to see him face. Throw in a foil like de la Renta and they have a pretty good story at the moment.
Post match Low Ki comes in to beat Strickland down and de la Renta comes in to smile. Low Ki holds up the World Title to end the show. Well so much for the big story being interesting.
Overall Rating: C. The best way to describe this show is a perfectly acceptable hour long wrestling show. I’m liking the mix of newer names with the established veterans and it never feels like a nostalgia show or one last check for a bunch of the bigger names. The show is easy to sit through and while it’s nothing revolutionary, a classically booked show is a very nice change of pace. Another fine show this week, which is the standard around here.
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