Major League Wrestling Fusion – Texas Fighting In Wisconsin
IMG Credit: Major League Wrestling
Fusion #63
Date: June 22, 2019
Location: Waukesha County Expo Center, Waukesha, Wisconsin
Commentators: Jim Cornette, Rich Bocchini
It’s time for a big match with Contra getting in a rare six man tag against Tom Lawlor and the Von Erichs. You would think that this would make more sense in Dallas but Lawlor vs. Contra has been built up for months now and hopefully things go well. Other than that, we’re building to Kings of Colosseum later in the summer. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
We open with Jimmy Havoc narrating a funeral for Sami Callihan, who even has a tombstone. Salina de la Renta says rest in peace you warthog.
Opening sequence.
Teddy Hart vs. Richard Holliday
Non-title. Maxwell Jacob Friedman is on commentary and gets in some rather nice jabs at Wisconsin and Hart, occasionally at the same time. Teddy hands Rich his big necklace and stares Friedman down, sending him behind Cornette in the process. Cue Holliday to jump Hart from behind and the beatdown is on. A belt shot leaves Teddy laying and Friedman steals one of the Tag Team Title belts. No match.
We recap Salina de la Renta setting up Sami Callihan vs. Mance Warner in last week’s Loser Leaves MLW match where Warner got rid of Callihan.
Earlier today, Warner was by the river and drinking some beers. He promises to come for every member of Promociones Dorado with lariats, including taking off LA Park’s ten pound head. As usual, Warner has the very wordy version of everything he says.
Jordan Oliver vs. Isaiah Velasquez
Standby match after the previous one didn’t happen. See how easy it is to make it seem like the show isn’t that scripted? Oliver has a bandanna tied at the side and seems rather annoying. Oh and he has been told to watch out for crooked referees and calls himself the Sauce God. Do I need to explain this guy much more? Isaiah ducks a charge to start and grabs an early rollup for two. Oliver misses a big boot and gets headscissored down. Isaiah sends him outside for a running kick from the apron but tosses Oliver right back in.
Something close to a crotching sets up a springboard DDT (which didn’t come close to connecting, to the point where Rich said it was a cutter (close enough)). Some forearms in the corner have Isaiah in more trouble but he comes back with a few of his own. They trade kicks to the face as we see Myron Reed in the back with a JUSTICE sign. Velasquez hits a middle rope spinning crossbody for two but has to roll out of a top rope double stomp. Oliver is right back with a Stunner and middle rope cutter for the pin at 4:33.
Rating: D. This one really didn’t work and a lot of that was due to Oliver not being all that great. His wrestling wasn’t the strongest (rather sloppy would be a good way of putting it) and his gimmick/look felt like they belonged on the indy circuit about fifteen years ago. Not a very good match, but it could have been a lot worse.
Video on the Von Erichs, who are a pretty cool signing for the company.
Some big shows are coming up.
We look at Flamita beating Rey Horus last week. Salina may be interested in him.
We recap the opening match not taking place and the ensuing beatdown of Teddy Hart. The Hart Dynasty have decided that they want revenge in the ring.
A video shows Alexander Hammerstone’s car leaving the arena.
Low Ki vs. Tom Coffey
Running forearm knocks Coffey out in nine seconds.
Post match, Low Ki wants Contra. The Pandora’s Box that they opened is coming their way.
Contra talks about all the violence they’ve spread over MLW and all the people they’ve hurt. Tonight, it’s a massacre in Milwaukee.
Dr. Wagner Jr. is coming.
We look at the Teddy Hart attack again.
Kings of Colosseum Control Center, focusing entirely on Lawlor vs. Fatu for the World Title.
We recap Lawlor vs. Contra, with Lawlor bringing in the Von Erichs to even things up.
Contra vs. Tom Lawlor/Marshall Von Erich/Ross Von Erich
Tornado tag rules (meaning No DQ) and this is the brothers’ in-ring debut. Hold on though as Simon Gotch needs to go nose to nose with a fan before we’re ready to go. Lawlor comes through the crowd to jump Fatu before the bell with Marshall and Ross joining in a few seconds later. House is cleaned early on and it’s stereo claws to Gotch and Samael. Fatu shrugs off a chair shot from Lawlor though and breaks up Ross’ claw.
Marshall, the bigger Von Erich, takes Fatu down with a clothesline and the brawl is on. Contra takes over and gets Marshall alone in the ring with Fatu hitting a superkick. Lawlor is in with a rear naked choke on Fatu as the Von Erichs are already back up. The crowd cringes at something we can’t see as Marshall suplexes Samael. Ross dropkicks a chair into Fatu’s head and a double dropkick has Fatu on the floor. Lawlor unloads on Fatu with kicks to the chest as Samael takes over on Ross.
Fatu is back with a belly to back suplex onto the apron but Samael gets smart by taping Lawler to the post. That leaves the Brothers to get beaten down with a chair but the referee finds a knife to cut Lawlor free. Hold on though as Lawlor runs up the aisle, leaving Fatu to crush both of them with the moonsault. Lawlor comes back with a board, which he breaks over Fatu’s head to no avail. A low blow works a bit better as the Brothers are back up to help clean house. The Brothers hit a double claw slam for the pin on Gotch at 7:18.
Rating: B-. That was a lot of fun and I had a good time with it. The Von Erichs looked rather good in there and that’s all they needed to do. Lawlor vs. Fatu can be the hoss fight title match and that’s rather appealing. Fatu looked like a monster here and Gotch is the weak link of the team in the ring anyway so this was exactly what it should have been.
Post match the brawl continues with everyone using the broken wood. Eventually referees and agents break it up but some of them are taken out in the process. As he’s helped up, Contra comes back down to beat him up even more. The Von Erichs make the save as Fatu knocks out the ring announcer. Lawlor runs back out with another piece of wood as the fans are rather into this whole thing.
We’re still not done though as a referee gets powerbombed through a table and hit with a chair. They even come up to the commentary booth to mess with stuff as Lawlor and the Brothers pose in the ring to end the show. The brawl was a bit too long but rather entertaining, which is all that matters.
Overall Rating: C. The main event and post match brawl helped a lot but there was only so much that could be done to save the earlier part of the show. It wasn’t the best show in the world but the ending helped a lot and now we should be ready for the big showdown at the Chicago show. The energy was here, though they could have done something a lot better than that first match. As usual, the majority was good but it still needs some tweaking.
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Didn’t think much of this week’s show to be honest.
The Hart/Dynasty angle was good. It’s a shame MJF is on borrowed time, but better use him while he’s still there.
Warner going after Havoc is fine to possibly write him out also, although not looking forward to another Havoc hardcore match.
So I guess Jordan is a delusional former prison inmate who believes Reed and Swann? I don’t know, he just screamed “generic indy cocky guy” and the match was nothing to write home about.
About a billion recaps later and a two-second squash to put over Ki’s forearm shot as a move of doom, we have the trios match and while the idea was good in theory, I do think they kinda flubbed it here and there. The brawl was fairly entertaining, but quite a few times, you had wrestlers standing there watching the action while one of their partners was getting beat up by the others. That spot with the board by the end was particularly bad in that regard.
The post-match felt more chaotic than the actual match, but what irked the most is a minor detail. While Contra were beating up whoever was in their path, we see Samael leaving with Lawlor in the background, supposedly to do horrible things to him and the Von Erichs… do nothing and just pose endlessly in the ring. Samael comes back without Lawlor (again, who knows what he did to him) and still nothing. It took them quite a while to stop Contra from beating up officials for fun, then Lawlor just came back like nothing happened anyway.