Major League Wrestling Fusion – April 4, 2020: Farewell
IMG Credit: Major League Wrestling
Fusion #104
Date: April 4, 2020
Location: 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: AJ Kirsch, Rich Bocchini
This is the last show on American soil for the time being and I’m not sure what that is going to mean going forward. They have a few shows taped from Mexico but you never know how much they can draw from that one event. Hopefully this one works but this company can be all over the place. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Opening sequence.
Douglas James vs. Septimo Dragon
Feeling out process to start with Dragon flipping out of a toss attempt. That’s fine with James, who knees him in the face to send things outside. The suicide dive drops Dragon again but he’s back up with a kick to the face. A moonsault sets up a suicide dive to drop James this time around and they head back inside. Dragon hits some LOUD shots to the face and a springboard hurricanrana keeps James in trouble. James catches him in the corner though and a Codebreaker gets two. A suplex gets the same and James faceplants him into the Crossface.
Dragon slips out so it’s a hard clothesline to drop him again. Back up and they slug it out, with Dragon shouting “COME ON F*****!”. A superkick battle goes to Dragon but they kick each other in the head at the same time for a double knockdown. The fans are rather appreciative, even as the double count begins. Back up and Dragon kicks him in the face for two, followed by the Septimo Driver (almost a Dominator into a piledriver) for two. James pops back up with a Death Valley Driver into the corner and the guillotine choke finishes Dragon at 7:29.
Rating: C+. There was no reason for them to work this hard in a match and yet they pulled it off pretty well here. I wouldn’t have bet on something like this but it was nice to see two people putting in the effort and having a good match as a result. James is kind of plain but Dragon could be fine for the local luchador, which will always have a place in wrestling.
Richard Holliday is going to interfere in the empty arena match between Maxwell Jacob Friedman and Mance Warner but gets a phone call from Gino Medina. Logan Creed has done something and attention is needed.
Pagano is still coming.
In case he has to leave, here’s Mance Warner’s debut. I still like him a lot.
Warner is ready to fight and might have some friends of his own. It might be better that some people might not be there because he doesn’t want them seeing that violence. When asked his plans for dealing with the Dynasty: “F*** em.”
We look at Injustice beating down Brian Pillman Jr. last week, including the Stomp onto a cinder block.
Injustice have been fined and suspended.
The AAA/MLW Super Series is coming next week.
LA Park and his sons want Psycho Clown to find two partners for a six man tag.
The Dynasty doesn’t like an interview taking place outside of their dressing room. They get rid of the interviewer before they lose the rarefied air.
Here’s MJF’s MLW debut.
Here’s MJF winning the Middleweight Title.
Savio Vega thinks the empty arena match is dangerous but he’s picking Mance.
Here’s the Top 10:
10. Low Ki
9. King Mo
8. Mance Warner
7. Maxwell Jacob Friedman
6. Richard Holliday
5. Brian Pillman Jr.
4. Tom Lawlor
3. Davey Boy Smith Jr.
2. Myron Reed
1. Alexander Hammerstone
Switch these things to once a month as they barely ever change and a lot of these people aren’t even featured every week.
We look at Team Filthy and American Top Team cheating to beat Low Ki last week.
The Dynasty goes after Mance Warner but Savio Vega comes in to even the numbers and the fight is on.
Here’s Mance beating Jimmy Havoc in the barbed wire match.
Post break, Mance and Savio stand tall.
The Von Erichs talk about turning adversity into positives. Like with the Coronavirus, or Team Filthy cheating last week. That’s quite the jump in levels of severity no?
MJF talks about Warner not knowing much about him. When MJF was a kid, a bunch of people threw quarters at him. That was in third grade, so he went to the gym every day and on the last day of high school, he knocked the main guy out. MJF starts shouting about how he can f*** someone up so he can get nuts too. This went from zero to sixty in no time.
Killer Kross is hurt and out of action for six months. He wanted to fight in MLW again but his “Stamford employer” will not allow it.
Brian Pillman Jr. has a broken jaw and might sue Injustice.
Mance Warner vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman
In an empty arena and loser leaves town. MJF spits gum in Warner’s face so they’re on the floor in a hurry. It’s actually MJF getting the better of it and choking with a rope. Warner has to knock the bolt cutters out of his hands and a headbutt sends MJF staggering away. MJF sends him flying through some chairs for one and they fight up the empty bleachers. Some right hands have MJF in trouble and he can’t throw Warner over the balcony. Instead, Warner throws him down the bleachers (Referee: “Max are you ok?”) for two.
MJF finds a broom to choke him up against the wall but stops to punch out a cameraman. A stolen cigarette is burned on Warner’s head but hold on as MJF steals a phone to….call a taxi? Warner is back up with a chair shot for two before bending the wrist around part of the metal structure. They get back in the ring with MJF slugging away, capped off by the Bionic Elbow. A headbutt sets up the lariat to get rid of MJF at 7:47.
Rating: B. I liked this more than I expected to even though I like both guys quite a bit. Warner beat the heck out of him but MJF was showing a lot of fire. It says a lot that he was willing to put in this kind of effort in a match that was really for his secondary job rather than something in AEW. He really is that good and I’m glad to see him move up that far so fast. Warner is going to get there someday too but for now he can be a star in MLW.
Overall Rating: B-. The wrestling was quite good but there were a few too many recaps and filler segments. At the same time, the show was even shorter than usual so maybe they edited it differently or something here. We got a good show though and a big time main event. I have no idea how the Mexico shows will go, but at least they had a solid effort this time around.
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