‘MLW: Fusion’ Wrestling Review (Nov 2nd 2018)
Welcome to this week’s Major League Wrestling: Fusion review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have Andrew Cuomo tilting his mouth a little bit. Ain’t it great? Happy Halloween, Michael.
Match #1: Puma King defeated Ricky Martinez
The following is courtesy of MLW.com:
In his surprise MLW debut, Puma King picked up the victory over Promociones Dorado’s Sicario Ricky Martinez in his MLW debut. Puma King bloodied Martinez early, but Martinez got plenty of offense in on his feline foe, as well.cIn the end, it was a huge avalanche powerbomb followed by a unique rollup cradle that led to the three-count for Puma King, who was joined by Konnan in the ring for a post-match celebration. In the Konnan-Salina de la Renta war, this battle went to Konnan and Puma King.
My Take: 2.5 out of 5 – This was a quick, clunky little fire-cracker of a fight that gave Puma a fine debut. Puma looked really good here and could make a great addition to any part of the roster. Martinez did a very nice job in putting over the new guy and didn’t look too bad himself. Over-all, this was a lot of fun and a good way to start the card.
Match #2: Brody King defeated Tommy Dreamer
The following is courtesy of MLW.com:
The Innovator of Violence came from across town. The big, bad bounty hunter came from across the country. With a victory over the legendary Tommy Dreamer, Brody King picked up what may be the biggest victory of his MLW career, but it didn’t come without some controversy. As expected, it was a hard-hitting, heavy-impact match from the beginning. After trading blows, going at it outside the ring and Dreamer even introducing a cheese grater to the match, it was a low blow by King that opened the door for his victory. Dreamer, going back to his extreme roots, was looking to shred something on King with the cheese grater. But King nailed him below the belt, unbeknownst to the official. He quickly followed up with a nasty piledriver to score the pinfall over Dreamer.
My Take: 2 out of 5 – Brody looked good, but Dreamer was like a bowling ball rolling slowly down the lane and only hitting two pins. I hate saying mean $#!& about people, but Dreamer had a hard time keeping up with Brody, who looked like he was going to eat Dreamer. If Dreamer can lose a few pounds and wrestle in traditional wrestling attire (I like his look just fine, but pants and a shirt are always harder to wrestle in) then he might be able to burst through the finish line so he can eventually end his career with a bang, rather than a whimper. This was still better than almost any-thing that happened at WWE Crown Jewel, so that’s some-thing for both men to remember… wait, they don’t read my reviews.
Match #3: (Main Event) The Hart Foundation defeated ACH, Rich Swann and Marko Stunt – Six-Man Tag Team Match
The following is courtesy of MLW.com:
Since early this summer, Teddy Hart has felt disrespected by the fun-loving attitude of ACH and Rich Swann. Some combination of Hart Foundation members, whether it be Hart himself or Davey Boy Smith Jr. or Brian Pillman Jr., has been involved in either in-ring matches or backstage altercations with ACH and/or Swann for the entire summer and into the fall. There was always a disparity in the numbers, with three members of the Hart Foundation. So ACH and Swann enlisted the help of one of the hottest young stars in professional wrestling, Marko Stunt in an attempt to put their feud with the Harts to bed. But it was the Hart Foundation that walked away with their hands raised in victory.
While Mr. Fun Size has been red hot of late, his size disadvantage was an issue. The Hart Foundation was able to isolate Stunt for much of the match. Hart, Smith and Pillman all unloaded on Stunt, but the youngster showed resiliency and continued to kick out of pin attempts. Finally, Stunt was able to tag in ACH, who gave his squad some brief momentum against Pillman before eventually tagging Swann into the match. Swann hit a huge frog splash on Pillman that could have picked up the win for his team, but Hart made the save. Eventually, the teamwork of the Hart Foundation proved to be too much. With ACH and Stunt incapacitated and unable to make a save, Smith and Hart teamed up for a Blockbuster Bomb and picked up the pinfall victory.
My Take: 3.5 out of 5 – This was some wild $#!&. Marko Stunt is a bouncy-ball with an attitude and may have been the secret ingredient in this big bowl of gumbo. Now, I don’t mean secret sauce, like the kind they had at McDonald’s when they used to serve food, but ingredient, like… #@!%. I forgot what I was getting at. This was some wild $#!&. The new Hart Foundation is one of the best tandems in wrestling today and they ought to be on the fast track to becoming the head-lining tag team champions in the near future. The Hart Foundation versus the Young Bucks should happen at some point, if it’s possible. ACH and Rich Swann were all over the place too and they really delivered a big performance. If MLW wants to make a couple of extra bucks later on down the line, then putting these two teams back together for a series of matches wouldn’t be a bad place to start. Hey, it worked for Mel Brooks… Spaceballs 2: The Search For More Money. Over-all… this was some wild $#!&.
News Of The Night:
- Salina de la Renta had Pentagon Jr. and Fenix detained by ICE.
- Tom Lawlor and Sami Callihan will battle in a Chicago Street Fight Match at MLW FIGHTLAND.
- Low Ki will defend the MLW World Heavyweight Championship against Daga, next week.
- Maxwell J. Friedman’s Middleweight title will be defended in a three-way elimination match against Jimmy Yuta and Jason Cade, next week.
Final Verdict: 2.5/5
The card didn’t really get good until the main event, but the first two matches weren’t bad at all, but they were just below the standard of the wrestlers’ talent. I’ve heard that Konnan is now in charge of MLW’s Fusion tapings, so we’ll see if he does more with this weekly show than Bruce Pritchard, who was booking a bit too old-school for his own good. Over-all, as good as the main event was, it wasn’t enough to boost this card beyond the realm of average… I sound like a putz.
