Major League Wrestling Fusion – September 21, 2018: That Human Is Not Human
IMG Credit: Major League Wrestling
Fusion #23
Date: September 21, 2018
Location: War Memorial Auditorium, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Commentators: Rich Bocchini, Tony Schiavone
We’re still down in Florida and that’s not the worst thing in the world. The arena looked rather good last week for WarGames and had a very close knit vibe to it, making the show feel more intimate than most. Well as intimate as two teams inside a double cage is going to get. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Here are Konnan with Fenix and Pentagon Jr. for an opening chat. Konnan is fired up to be back home and the CERO MIEDO chants start up. He wants to talk about Salina de la Renta and while he doesn’t have a problem with ambition, he has an issue with her methods. Those contracts for Pentagon and Fenix were so one sided and a good example of why wrestling contracts get bad names.
Cue Salina with Ricky Martinez, the latter of whom is carrying a contract. Salina makes it clear that Pentagon and Fenix were granted early release and didn’t walk away. She offers them new contracts, which were negotiated with “Hunter”, who is offering them English classes and a little rebranding. Ricky holds out a pen and the fans are already starting the NO chants. If they sign, they can get out of having to face LA Park and Low Ki. That’s a big no though, as Spanish is shouted and the contracts are ripped up. MLW has these two signed up for a long time and teasing the WWE signing is an interesting idea.
Opening sequence.
Stud Stable vs. Hart Foundation
Dirty Blonds/Parrow for the Stable here and this is under hurricane (tornado) rules. Pillman wearing a smoking jacket to the ring is a perfect touch and he’s looking more like his dad every day. Smith starts the beating early as Pillman slips to the floor to trip Parrow. The Foundation cleans house but Pillman charges into a boot in the corner. That’s not cool with Smith, who fires off kicks to Parrow’s chest.
Hart hits the big moonsault to the floor and the fans are way into him all over again. Back in and Smith suplexes Brien, leaving Hart to hit a slow motion sunset bomb out of the corner. Pillman takes forever coming off the top with a high crossbody but Parrow is right there to throw him into the corner. The Blonds are back up and beat Hart down, much to the fans’ annoyance. Not that it matters as Pillman knocks Brien to the floor, leaving Parrow to take the running powerslam for the pin at 4:26.
Rating: C-. I don’t disagree with the idea of the Harts winning here, as they are almost destined to be a major force around here. However, the Stable hasn’t won anything of note in what feels like months and you can’t do that much longer without the wins not meaning anything anymore. Pillman was clearly being protected in one of his first matches back from injury and there’s nothing wrong with that. Good win for the Harts.
Post match the Harts leave as Colonel Parker yells at Parrow. The Blonds beat Parrow down to kick him out of the Stable.
Video on WarGames, including Sami Callihan blaming Jimmy Havoc for the loss.
Havoc isn’t pleased with what Sami did and thinks the anger is misdirected. One of Sami’s kids tapped out but that’s not the point. They’re going to fight and Havoc likes that Sami is angry.
Aria Blake and Maxwell Jacob Friedman are in the back with MJF not getting the women’s wrestling thing. Or women’s voting for that matter, but that’s a different story. Blake wants to snatch Taya Valkyrie bald but Friedman would rather talk about his abs.
Aria Blake/Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Taya Valkyrie/Joey Ryan
This is Taya’s debut. Hang on though as Ryan needs a lollipop and some oil. The bell rings and Friedman WILL NOT touch Ryan’s….yeah. Ryan: “If you’re not going to touch it, maybe SHE’LL touch it!” Bocchini on what we’re seeing: “I don’t know how to explain this on national television. Google it.” That’s as good as you can do in that situation. Blake rips at Ryan’s chest hair instead and actually gets a near fall as it’s back to MJF for a failed atomic drop attempt.
Taya comes in for a drop toehold onto Joey’s crotch, which MJF sells like death for two. Back up and MJF refuses to hit a woman so Taya slaps him instead. A shake of the chest and a shot to the face gets two before it’s back to Ryan. Blake offers a cheap shot from the apron and it’s MJF taking over by ripping at Ryan’s face. With Ryan in trouble, Blake comes back in for some spanks and a spinning neckbreaker for two.
It’s back to MJF for a chinlock until Ryan suplexes his way to freedom. That’s enough for a double tag to the women with Taya easily getting the better of it, including some running knees in the corner. A surfboard stomp gives Taya two and she seems….mildly annoyed at best. Aria gets in a kick to the head though and it’s back to the men. Ryan slugs away and puts the lollipop in MJF’s mouth, freaking him out as you might have expected. The superkick hits Taya by mistake though, allowing Aria to hit Ryan low. As she tends to her likely broken arm, MJF gets a rollup with trunks to pin Ryan at 8:37.
Rating: D+. That really needs to be it for this feud as MJF has beaten Ryan every time. There’s enough of a roster around to allow Friedman to have multiple opponents and it’s time to switch things up a bit. Ryan wasn’t as over the top here outside of signature stuff and mostly wrestled the match straight, which is the right call in something like this.
Post match Aria has her elbow out of socket ala Alexa Bliss for a great touch. MJF brags about getting rid of Ryan and Joey Janela, so here’s Janela to jump him from behind. A low blow gets MJF out of trouble.
Fury Road Control Center. Announced for the show: Tom Lawlor vs. Shane Strickland. I’m good with that.
Callihan accepts Havoc’s challenge and blames the WarGames loss on his former friend.
Brody King vs. PCO
King wastes no time in stomping PCO down in the corner and dropping a backsplash for an early two. PCO is fine enough to knock King to the floor and hit a suicide dive, which is rather impressive given how huge he is. They slug it out with PCO’s shouting adding a lot to the impacts.
A pop up powerbomb drops King back inside and PCO gets annoyed at the referee for not counting fast enough. King gets two of his own off a running clothesline and a suplex is good for the same. PCO is right back with a DDT but King backdrops him into the corner for a scary looking crash. We get the required slugout until they go for each others eyes. The referee gets shoved down and it’s a double DQ at 5:19.
Rating: C. There is something so much fun about having two big guys hit each other really hard for a few minutes. The ending here is fine as they can have a street fight or something to really get violent and that’s where the story needs to go anyway. PCO has grown a lot on me in a short while and I’m getting into the idea of the character.
Post match King piledrives PCO and hammers away at his unconscious body. Referees get Brody out and PCO MOONSAULTS ONTO EVERYONE (Freaking sweet!) to end the show.
Overall Rating: C+. This is a show where the matches don’t add up to the overall total. They’re packing in a lot of good stuff onto the show and I’m liking the characters and motivations more every week. Above all else though, they’re giving you a reason to tune in next week and that’s not something that even WWE knows how to do a lot of the time. It’s a good sign for the future and something a lot of companies take years to understand.
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