Major League Wrestling Fusion – January 27, 2021: Not This Again

Fusion #119
Date: January 27, 2021
Location: Gilt Nightclub, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Jared St. Laurent, Rich Bocchini

It’s kind of a title match night as Richard Holliday is defending the Caribbean Title against Savio Vega despite not really being champion and it not being a real title. To be fair, it’s working for Moose over in Impact Wrestling at the moment so why not try it here too? Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

We open with a recap of the Caribbean Title match, which is over a year in the making. It’s also a Caribbean strap match and Vega is providing the strap, which is the same one he used against Steve Austin.

Opening sequence.

Contra isn’t happy with Injustice for attacking them last week. It’s cool though because they have soldiers.

AAA Cruiserweight Title: Laredo Kid vs. Zenshi

Zenshi is challenging and after a quick handshake, they’re already off to the rolling around. Zenshi drives him into the corner and grabs a wristlock, allowing Kid to flip away a lot. They’re already up to a standoff and follow it with a second to keep things even. A tilt-a-whirl faceplant drops Kid and a handspring kick to the face knocks him hard to the floor. Kid is ready to avoid the charge so Zenshi does a handstand on the apron, followed by a shooting star to the floor.

Back in and a seated abdominal stretch keeps Kid in trouble, followed by an elbow to the face. Kid manages an enziguri though and Zenshi gets sent outside. The Michinoku driver plants Zenshi on the floor and there’s the 450 off the apron to make it worse. Back in and a middle rope moonsault only hits Zenshi’s raised knees to put them both down.

Zenshi is back up with a middle rope flip dive to a standing Kid for two so it’s time to slug it out. Kid nails a hard kick to the head for a delayed two so he goes up top, only to get kicked in the head again. A super snapmare of all things gives Zenshi two more but kid is right back with a super Spanish Fly to retain at 10:01.

Rating: C+. Take two guys and let them fly all over the place, which is what they did here. It was a rather nice sprint and it was nice to see Kid actually wrestling after being hyped up by MLW so often. This is the kind of thing that MLW knows how to mix in to have some fun and that’s what they did here.

Post match Kid says he wants to be a double champion, meaning he wants Lio Rush.

We look at Injustice attacking Contra.

Myron Reed says Contra started this and thanks them for realizing that it is time for war.

Here’s the Top Ten:

10. ACH

9. Daivari

8. Myron Reed

7. Mil Muertes

6. Richard Holliday

5. Mads Krugger

4. Lio Rush

3. Low Ki

2. Tom Lawlor

1. Alex Hammerstone

LA Park is specifically left out because he is focusing on the Tag Team Titles.

The Von Erichs, with their father Kevin, talk about working hard to get the Tag Team Titles back. They want to deal with Tom Lawlor too.

Los Parks are ready for whomever comes for the titles.

Filthy Island is still coming.

Gino Medina showed up unscheduled but he wanted to see Richard Holliday get whipped by the strap.

Mads Krugger promises to destroy Alex Hammerstone in next week’s Baklei Brawl.

Tom Lawlor did not cheat anyone out of anything, including ACH or the Von Erichs.

Apparently Filthy Island has lost its sponsors because of the referee scandal. I swear if this is another Fyre Fest joke, my head is going to….ok not explode but hurt a good bit.

Violence Is Forever vs. Bu Ku Dao/TJP

Dominic Garrini throws Dao into the corner to start and they go to the mat with Garrini easily taking over. Dao stays in and gets pulled into a triangle choke, allowing the tag to Kevin Ku. That’s fine with Dao, who snaps off a hurricanrana into a front facelock. TJP comes in to Regal Roll Dao into Ku and a crucifix gets two. It’s back to Dao, who is dropped down onto Ku for two more but Garrini is back in as well. That means an uppercut into a German suplex for two as Dao is in trouble all over again.

The villains start taking turns on Dao’s arm, with TJP even offering Dao the tag to TJP like a true villain should. We hit the chinlock but Dao grabs a crucifix bomb for no cover. Instead the hot tag brings in TJP to start picking up the pace and some rolling front chancery suplexes have Ku in trouble.

Garrini gets in a cheap shot though and TJP Is down again. Everything breaks down and Violence is caught in stereo submissions, with Garrini driving TJP into Dao for the double save. Dao is up first with a dropkick to Ku, followed by Garrini kneeing TJP in the head. TJP takes Garrini down though and a high crossbody finishes Ku for the pin and the title shot at 10:02.

Rating: C. It wasn’t the most thrilling match but at least they have a fresh team going for the titles. TJP is still one of the smoothest guys you’ll find in the ring today and it’s great to see him doing his thing on various stages. Violence Is Forever isn’t quite the same without Lawlor but they did well enough here to get by.

King Mo is at a hospital to talk about how he has injured Low Ki’s head badly enough that Low Ki should never wrestle again. Certainly not against Mo for sure.

Richard Holliday is ready to whip Savio Vega. He even watched the match with Steve Austin so he can know how to cause even more pain. Holliday: “You will never out Caribbean me. You will never out champion me.”

Caribbean Heavyweight Title: Richard Holliday vs. Savio Vega

Vega is challenging in a Caribbean strap match, meaning you have to get all four buckles to win. Holliday is smart enough to go for the two buckles to start but Savio pulls him back and chokes away. An elbow to the face lets Holliday stomp away before they trade some whip shots. Vega sends him outside, meaning he can’t reach the turnbuckles in a not that smart move.

Back in and Holliday goes to the throat to get in a few buckles, only to get turned inside out with a clothesline. Vega ties the feet up for three buckles but gets kicked down. A clothesline lets Holliday cover him before realizing that they’re not doing that kind of a match. Holliday gets in a few buckles but it’s a double clothesline for a double knockdown. They get back up and walk around for three buckles each….and the referee won’t get out of Vega’s way. Vega goes to get him out of the way, allowing Holliday to dive over and hit the last buckle to retain at 8:32.

Rating: D. This has rarely been a good idea for a gimmick and then they do another screwy referee finish for the second time this month. That isn’t exactly a good formula and when you throw in the fact that it’s Savio Vega fighting over an unofficial title, I’m not sure what else they expected. This made me groan more than anything else and that’s not a good sign for your main event.

Post match Holliday brags and Vega chases them off to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. They definitely took a step back this week as the star power was really lacking. Above all else, there was nothing that felt noteworthy here and the whole show just kind of existed. I did appreciate the mixture of styles though, which is exactly the point of this show. The referee screwiness doesn’t fill me with confidence though and I’m worried about where it is going.

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1 Response

  1. Mike M. says:

    Another lackluster show. The referee was former disgraced NBA ref, Tim Donaghy. He bet on games and was accused of calling games to reflect his bets. This came out in 2007. Between this and the Fyre Fest/ Filthy Island deal, even Jerry Lawler thinks their references are outdated. MLW has been a huge miss since their relaunch. It feels like the pandemic has affected them more then other promotion that’s currently putting on televised content.

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