Major League Wrestling Fusion – September 28, 2018: Fusiony Goodness
IMG Credit: Major League Wrestling
Fusion #24
Date: September 28, 2018
Location: War Memorial Auditorium, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Commentators: Rich Bocchini, Tony Schiavone
We’re getting closer to Fury Road and that means things are starting to pick up. It also means that we’ll be getting something entertaining tonight with MLW World Champion Low Ki defending against Fenix. In other words, taking two talented guys and letting them have a long match should work fine. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Opening recap.
Sami Callihan and Jimmy Havoc have started fighting in the back before their scheduled match tonight. Both guys go for the eyes and seem to be heading towards the arena.
Opening sequence.
Jason Cade vs. Myron Reed
Cade has Rhett Giddins in his corner. Reed is nice enough to let the referee check him for weapons and Cade dropkicks him in the corner for his efforts. A sunset flip gets Reed out of trouble and a dropkick puts Cade on the floor. Giddins offers a distraction so Cade can take over again as the beating continues. We hit the chinlock and go split screen to see Havoc and Callihan still fighting.
Back to full screen and Reed hurricanranas his way out of a powerbomb attempt, followed by a nip up into an enziguri. Reed scores with a running forearm in the corner and another enziguri, followed by the top rope seated senton for two. Cade knees him in the face for the same, only to be kicked in the face for his efforts. A superkick rocks Cade again but he’s fine enough to elbow Reed in the face.
Reed gets buckle bombed so he pops right back up with a reverse hurricanrana to plant Cade again. Cade scores with another superkick but Reed springboards into a cutter for two. Something like a Cradle Shock (which Tony calls a sitout powerbomb) gives Cade two more so he takes Reed over to the other ring, only to have Reed reverse a suplex into a Stunner.
Just to show off, Reed gets a running start and dives over both ropes for a cutter to wreck Cade. Another diving cutter over the top rope drops Cade onto Giddins but Giddins is fine enough to crotch Reed on top. A backslide driver (that’s a new one) of all things finishes Reed at 9:54.
Rating: C+. Reed looked like a star here, even if he used that cutter once or twice too often. That running cutter looked awesome and I was hoping to see Reed win here, which I didn’t expect coming in. Cade is fine for a midcard heel and having the bigger Giddins as an enforcer is a classic story that will work fine here. This was a very nice surprise.
Post match Cade grabs the mic but Jimmy Yuta runs in and dropkicks him down.
Post break, Yuta promises to play dirty along with Cade.
Fury Road rundown, including Maxwell Jacob Friedman defending the Middleweight Title against Cade and Yuta. Makes sense.
Brody King is ready to face Tommy Dreamer and show him some real violence at Fury Road.
Callihan and Havoc are still fighting with Havoc being choked down until a wet floor sign to the head gets him out of trouble. They fight into the men’s room with Callihan getting a face full of soap. After a break, Havoc can’t find Callihan.
Shane Strickland is ready to prove that he’s still the ace when he faces Tom Lawlor.
Friedman and Aria Blake try to get in to see Salina de la Renta but get shut down.
Cade isn’t happy with Yuta for interfering in his match and swears vengeance.
Court Bauer makes Callihan vs. Havoc: Spin the Wheel Make the Deal for Fury Road. I’m down.
Lawlor is ready to beat up Strickland and prove that he’s the present and the future. He wants to prove that this is a filthy world, not Shane’s house.
Video on Salina de la Renta vs. Konnan in a battle over talent and power.
MLW World Title: Low Ki vs. Rey Fenix
Fenix is challenging and we get the Big Match Intros. They stare each other down to start without much happening in the first minute. Fenix starts speeding things up and hits his springboard armdrag to send Low Ki outside, meaning the big flip suicide dive to drive him into the barricade. The loud superkick has Low Ki in even more trouble and a standing moonsault gets two back inside.
Low Ki dropkicks him down though and Fenix invites the champ to kick him in the chest. One heck of a chop on the floor sends Fenix over the barricade and the pace stays slow. Back inside and we hit the neck crank with Low Ki going after the mask. A double stomp gets two and they head outside again, this time with Fenix being catapulted face first into the post (DING!) to draw some blood.
Fenix gets chopped even more and can barely stand as the referee starts checking on him to make sure this can keep going. Of course Fenix gets up and screams before losing a chop off. Fenix does an Undertaker situp but can’t do much more after that, despite the fans loudly cheering for him. So he really is like Undertaker. One heck of a chop slows Low Ki down so he kicks Fenix into the corner again.
Low Ki grabs him by the hands and goes up top, only to have Fenix grab a double springboard into a hurricanrana. A rolling cutter gets a delayed two on the champ and the Ki Crusher is blocked. Instead Ki kicks him out of the corner for two and the top rope double stomp gets the same.
The big kick is countered into a rollup for two more and they both head up top. Fenix gets the better of it with a springboard Spanish Fly and the kickout shocks them both. A reverse hurricanrana drops Ki on his head but Salina takes Fenix’s mask off, setting up a great looking top double stomp to the back to retain the title at 14:28.
Rating: B. These two beat the heck out of each other and they got somewhere with the idea of Fenix fighting from behind. Those near falls were awesome and Fenix is someone easy to cheer for, making this quite the match. They can save Pentagon vs. Ki for later on or whenever Ki gets a partner for the big tag war. Very fun brawl here and they beat each other up as you would have wanted to see them do.
Salina yells in Spanish and poses with Low Ki.
In the back, Havoc and Callihan are still fighting as they go outside. Callihan gets knocked down some steps and calls Havoc crazy. Havoc: “I know it!” Callihan runs away from Havoc’s kendo stick to end the show.
Overall Rating: B+. It’s a good sign when you have two matches on a show and both of them are either good or quite good. Throw in the whole Havoc vs. Callihan thing that set up a big gimmick match for the special show and this was a heck of a night. I want to see Fury Road and that’s a good sign going forward. Really strong show this week and one of the better Fusions to date.
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