Major League Wrestling Fusion – August 24, 2019: The Small Guys Are Taking Over
IMG Credit: Major League Wrestling
Fusion #72
Date: August 24, 2019
Location: Melrose Ballroom, New York City, New York
Commentators: Rich Bocchini, Tony Schiavone
We’re on the road to Dallas and War Chamber, meaning things should start picking up around here. That being said, it’s picking up at some odd spots as the World Champion is in the big team gimmick match and everything else has been the focus of the show. It has made for a different direction around here and that’s not exactly a great thing. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Mance Warner has been arrested on unspecified charges. More later.
Opening sequence.
Promociones Dorado may know something about Warner being arrested so we’ll be hearing from them later.
Hijo de LA Park vs. Zenshi
Salina de la Renta is at the police station giving her statement on Warner (who was arrested for aggravated assault over last week’s chainsaw incident) so Park is on his own here. Zenshi is from Chile and we’ve seen him before. Park starts with the hip swivel so Zenshi flips over him and it’s time for an exchange of evading. Zenshi slides to the floor and gets caught with the suicide dive for the first major contact. The 619 on the apron doesn’t have much effect on Hijo, who sends him into the barricade and gets in a powerbomb onto the apron.
Back in and a release German suplex gives Park two but Zenshi sends him hard into the corner. That means a diagonal Coast to Coast (that’s a new one, albeit in a smaller ring), which made me think “there’s no way he’s doing that” and then he did it). Hijo is right back with a Code Red Canadian Destroyer for his own two and a pop up powerbomb for the same. Back up and Zenshi hits an awkward looking running flip cutter (think a running headscissors but with a cutter) for the pin at 5:58.
Rating: C-. Zenshi has talent but needs some more experience and a little bit more time to get established. That Coast to Coast looked awesome and the spinning cutter could work as a finisher, but he needs to hit it faster and snappier. It’s always cool to see some fresh stars though and with the AEW crew leaving sooner rather than later, this is what they need to be doing.
Post match Park hits him with a chair ala his dad.
The Hart Foundation is ready for Maxwell Jacob Friedman tonight.
Buy MLW gear! How did it take that long to get to something like this?
There will be an MLW/The Crash show in October. Nothing wrong with that.
Video on Low Ki’s run of knockout wins.
Low Ki, now a middleweight, wants a shot at Teddy Hart and the Middleweight Title. As for Contra, they’re about to be introduced to his professional presence.
Contra warns Tom Lawlor about coming after Fatu again. Fatu says this isn’t a podcast or the octagon, so the beating is coming. The Von Erichs haven’t been forgotten either and will get what is coming to them in the War Chamber. Maybe after that we can do something with the title again, because the thing has almost been forgotten since Fatu won it.
Saturday Night Super Fight is coming.
Salina de la Renta and Jimmy Havoc (I guess last week wasn’t Loser Leaves MLW) don’t want to talk about Mance Warner but they’ll be waiting for him when he comes back.
War Chamber Control Center with nothing new. They might want to add some more stuff as the show is in less than two weeks.
The Von Erichs and Tom Lawlor are ready for War Chamber but won’t reveal their fourth member. Is there really any secret about it being Low Ki at this point?
Lawlor is ready for his rematch next week because Fatu stole his title. He didn’t steal Lawlor’s warrior heart though so Lawlor is ready for another fight.
Alexander Hammerstone won a match in Japan.
The Dynasty is happy with all of their gold and Holiday has made a pillow saying “Life If Beauty Full”. They talk about the people they don’t like (fat people, ugly people and Brian Pillman Jr.) and are ready for their matches with the Harts. Hammerstone is ready to conquer Germany and they put their fists together.
Some big shows are coming up.
Austin Aries is coming for the Middleweight Title. That’s becoming the hot division and that’s how you do it: have people talk about wanting the belt. Tonight alone, we’ve heard Low Ki, Austin and MJF talk about wanting the title, plus a middleweight match. That’s how it works and it works here too.
Middleweight Title: Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Teddy Hart
Hart is defending and Aria Blake is with Friedman (whose belt is HUGE). Before the match, MJF has a mic but we need to stop for a lot of booing. He talks about being smarter than everyone and being better than Bret Hart, because he never lost the Middleweight Title. That’s enough to bring out Teddy (with Mr. Velvet of course) and we’re ready to go. Well after a pose off with the fans being quite a bit more behind Teddy.
They shake hands and hug but a quick spank is too much for MJF. Hart is a bit friendlier with Project Ciampa as the announcers compare the history of the two stables. Back up and Teddy snaps the arm around the ropes, setting up the Dungeon DDT for two. Aria gets up for a distraction so Teddy literally kicks her to the floor. Serves her right, though she might have just wanted some information on buying a cat.
With MJF on the floor, Hart loads up the Asai moonsault but Blake gets in the way. That earns her a seat in a chair but Hart walks into a superkick to put the champ in trouble. MJF tosses him into the post before it’s time to go back inside. This time Hart gets in a shot to the knee but gets sent into the buckle to slow things right back down. The chinlock goes on for a bit, followed by a belly to belly into the corner for two on the champ. Hart is back up with Code Red for two and a running Canadian Destroyer rocks MJF again.
The springboard Arabian moonsault to the floor drops MJF again, followed by a rather nice top rope DDT. The moonsault elbow gets two but a lower version hits raised knees and they’re both down again. MJF hits something like a curb stomp onto the turnbuckle and, say it with me, puts on the Sharpshooter. With that broken up, MJF hits the Heat Seeking Driver for two and can’t believe the kickout. Blake throws in a shoe (honestly) and the distraction lets her get in a low blow but the referee ejects her before a cover. That’s enough of a distraction for Hart to hit the super Canadian Destroyer to retain at 12:00.
Rating: B-. This was almost every Hart match you’re going to find: a lot of flips and rather exciting, but very little in the way of selling, storytelling or anything associated. That being said, why would you want something like that in a Hart match? The point here was to have Hart do his thing and MJF cheat a lot but come up short. Hart won’t hold the title forever and whoever beats him is going to get quite the rub.
Overall Rating: C-. The main event was good but I wasn’t feeling this one for the most part. The World Title situation continues to be a sore spot as there is nothing going on with the title and it is starting to show. Instead, the Middleweight Title is what matters most these days and while that is fine, it feels like a step down from the World Title. It’s like the Harts vs. the Dynasty and Salina vs. Konnan are all that matters around here and if that’s the case, they’re going to be in trouble sooner rather than later.
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This NYC taping cycle has been a huge miss for me. Feels like everything has been on the hamster wheel since Kings of Colosseum, but it’s very obvious now.
I hope they keep Lawlor/Von Erichs and Fatu/Contra away from each other after War Chamber. Fatu has a few challengers lined up and I’d be okay with Lawlor leaving for a few months frankly. It’s also time for Dynasty (well, whatever will be left of) and the Hart Foundation to move on to something else after WC (again, such a missed oportunity that this isn’t the War Chamber match proper). Also less “cartoon character” Mance Warner, less whatever they’ve been doing with Hammerstone, more credible younger guys in the middleweight division, and give some time to your undercard storylines (Painfully Thin Trio, Air Wolf vs. Ace Austin and I guess Zenshi vs. Hijo now).
But yes, War Chamber will be a pretty big turning point with AEW looming over and even the NWA to a much lesser degree.