Major League Wrestling – September 14, 2018: Gentlemen, We’re At War(Games)
IMG Credit: Major League Wrestling
Fusion #22
Date: September 14, 2018
Location: War Memorial Auditorium, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Rich Bocchini
And then, WarGames. I’ll give MLW a lot of points for not wasting time in getting to something like this. They’ve built up some characters and a feud so they’re hitting the ground running with what they have. That’s better than wasting time on matches that people don’t want to see when you can do something big like this to make an impact. Or it’s wasting a huge match early on. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
The ten people involved tonight all talk about being ready for war. Sami Callihan says his team is going to hurt Shane Strickland and his team because this isn’t about wrestling anymore.
Shane says his team is ready to be the angels to Sami’s demons. John Hennigan says they seem like douchebags instead of demons. The rest of the team is better too, with Tommy Dreamer citing Martin Luther King of all people. I really don’t think he’s like WarGames Tommy.
Opening sequence.
The double cage is being constructed. That never gets old.
Salina de la Renta and Low Ki yell at reporters in Spanish and don’t seem impressed when they run into Dreamer.
We look at the Hart Foundation attacking Kevin Sullivan two weeks back.
The Hart Foundation knows they won’t be suspended because that’s MLW is a bunch of cowards. You can’t stop them and the fans are already talking. The family has taken a lot over the years and they’re not going to take it anymore. They’ve been fined lately, but they’re ready to make more money to pay it off. Brian Pillman Jr. talks about the media lying to you because the Hart Foundation is now the cash cow. Pillman’s smile is perfect.
Fury Road rundown.
The construction continues and there are weapons included inside. You really don’t need those in WarGames. There is also no roof, which isn’t the worst thing in the world.
Team Callihan vs. Team Strickland
Shane Strickland, Tommy Dreamer, John Hennigan, Barrington Hughes, Kotto Brazil
Sami Callihan, Sawyer Fulton, Leon Scott, Abyss, Jimmy Havoc
WarGames, featuring the classic rules. One wrestler from each team will fight for five minutes. After that there is a coin toss with the winning team getting to send in its second man for two minutes. When those two minutes are up, the team that lost even things up. Two more minutes go by and the team that won the toss goes up 3-2. You alternate every two minutes until all ten are in and then it’s first submission wins.
Brazil and Fulton start as apparently Team Strickland won the coin toss. Um, what? The heels are always supposed to win that thing. They better have a good idea of how to get out of this. Brazil is tired of waiting and dropkicks Fulton through the door and through a table to get things going but Fulton catches him coming off the top once they get inside. Some running elbows in the corner have Fulton in some trouble until he throws Kotto into the cage.
Kotto gets LAUNCHED from one ring to the other and there’s a missile dropkick to rock him again. With the pain increasing, Brazil spits in his face and gets tossed into the cage wall for his efforts. Kotto gets his face rubbed against the cage with Fulton talking trash about how no one is going to save him. They manage to get the timing right (almost no one can pull that off) and it’s Hennigan in to make it 2-1.
A standoff lets Hennigan forearm Fulton in the face and Brazil gets up to really start the double teaming. Brazil gets thrown into the corner but Hennigan dives onto Fulton to take over again. Jimmy Havoc (with Hawk face paint0 is in fourth to tie things up and he goes straight to the paper cut on both of Hennigan’s hands. Brazil’s face gets cut and this is actually far main painful than it might sound. Havoc holds up a sign so Fulton can throw him face first into it and there’s a stop sign to Hennigan’s back.
Strickland is in next but Callihan attacks him from behind and tosses him onto (not through) a table. Callihan slams the cage door on Hennigan’s head and gets in the cage to make it 3-2, giving us the way around the coin toss. Kind of an unnecessary detail but not the worst idea. Hennigan gets sent through a table and Fulton drops Callihan onto him for bad measure. A running Razor’s Edge into the cage makes things even worse for Brazil and it’s Dreamer in next, of course complete with a trashcan full of weapons.
Dreamer cleans house and the TOMMY DREAMER chants start up, which make sense in a town ECW ran back in the day. Hennigan is back up to slug away at Fulton and Havoc is busted open (well duh). Now it’s Scott coming in to “even” things up and the weapons have Team Strickland in even more trouble. Hennigan gets caught in a trashcan and pummeled with sticks but Brazil suplexes Havoc as Hughes is in for Team Strickland. He can barely make it through the ropes before getting into a fight with Scott.
Havoc hits Hughes in the head with a wet floor sign and gets glared at for his efforts. Callihan’s stop sign to the head works a lot better as we’re told that Strickland is done for the night. The other good guys get up and take over with Brazil even having time to enjoy some water. Abyss finishes Team Callihan and the Match Beyond begins, meaning submissions are now legal. The monster cleans house until Dreamer hammers away with the Flip Flop and Fly, earning himself a Black Hole Slam.
Hughes and Abyss have the big staredown until everyone gets up for the big brawl. Brazil gets up top for the BIG corkscrew dive, though the camera cuts to a wide shot for some reason. They show a regular version on the replay so I’m not sure I get that one. Havoc takes a Canadian Destroyer and Brazil cranks on a reverse Rings of Saturn, leading to a double Human Centipede of submissions.
That’s broken up as well and it’s Hughes splashing Abyss in the corner. Abyss is right back with a clothesline to knock Hughes down for the first time ever. Scott sends himself through a table (CRUNCH) but Hennigan gets dropped by a Rainmaker. Callihan tells Abyss to get the tacks but Brazil bites his hand to escape a chokeslam.
An Asai DDT (a running Salida Del Sol) sends Abyss into the tacks instead, leaving Callihan to accidentally take a Rainmaker. Dreamer adds a cutter and it’s barbed wire time. Brazil and Dreamer wrap barbed wire around Hughes and I don’t see this ending well. The splash “hits” Fulton’s back and a regular splash makes things worse. Hughes and Brazil wrap the wire around Fulton’s face for the tap at 30:45.
Rating: B. This was about all you could ask for in a WarGames match and I’m assuming Strickland was actually injured or it’s a good angle to keep things going for a future match. They came up with a good way to use Hughes here as there’s not much someone his size can do. The rest of the guys did fine and the right person took the fall, so there isn’t much to complain about here. They had a good level of violence and nothing really dragged, though having the captain out did lower the stakes a good deal.
The winners leave and Callihan and company blame Havoc for the loss. A big beatdown ends the show.
Overall Rating: B+. The angle at the end and the recaps from earlier in the night helped this a bit and the show was a lot of fun overall. There’s something about WarGames that makes it feel that much more special and that’s exactly what we got here. Good show with the one match being all that mattered, which is pretty hard to pull off actually.
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Thoughts on Schiavone’s commentary in 2018?
Perfectly fine. It’s clear that he’s allowed to be himself more and the voice is still great. That being said, I’m having a REALLY hard time wrapping my head around Tony Schiavone talking about people like Pentagon, Sami Callihan and Abyss.