‘MLW: Fusion’ Wrestling Review (Jan 4th 2020)
Welcome to this week’s Major League Wrestling: Fusion, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have the first Fusion review of 2020. Happy F—— New Year! No ewoks! Let’s wrestle, GI-JOE!
Match #1: “Filthy” Tom Lawlor def. “Rip Von Erich”
The following is courtesy of mlw.com:
Lawlor teases a test of strength with Rip but Rip resorts into side headlock before Lawlor shoves him to the ground. Lawlor just completely owns Rip as the copycat competitor stands no chance against him. He puts on an elevated single leg crab and Rip makes it to the ropes. Rip goes for a discus punch but Tom puts him in an airplane spin. Rip still tries for the claw, but Tom puts him in his rear naked choke with a modified Claw to add salt to the wound. Rip “Van Winkles” out and the match is over.
My Opinion: 2.5 out of 5 – This was a squash, but a fun one…I think. Rip was just a jobber that was claimed to be descended from Lance Von Erich, who was the infamous fake Von Erich. This was all about Tom being a great character and ripping through the jobber like tissue paper.
Match #2: Davey Boy Smith Jr. def. Alexander Hammerstone – Opera Cup Semi-Finals (Round 2)
The following is courtesy of mlw.com:
The bell rings, and they start off with a collar-and-elbow tie-up. Davey Boy wrenches down the arm of Hammer before locking him in a surfboard stretch. Hammer tries to power out as MJF. Hammer finally escapes with a back elbow, but DB hits one of his own. Hammer gets thrown to the corner.but Hammer soon throws Davey Boy over the top rope as DB skins the cat. Holliday distracts DB and that does give Hammer the chance to send him outside. Belly to back suplex on the metal barricade. He rolls Davey back in for a two count. DB tries to headbutt his way free but Hammer finds the moment to stomp a mudhole into his opponent. DB finds himself in a rear naked choke center of the ring. Hammer hits one crisp dropkick for a near fall. Hammer hammers away at Davey with some hard punches, but DB shoots right up to wag a finger. He gives Hammer a few receipts before sending him into the turnbuckle and giving him a ten-punch in the corner. He slams Hammer down and delivers a leg drop. Another two count. Three German suplexes by Davey for another two count. Hammer shows his athleticism but flipping out of a belly-to-back and savate kicks Davey right in the mush. Hammerstone looks to go for what may be a Nightmare Pendulum, but Davey reverses it into a crossface center of the ring. This could have signified the end for Hammer but Holliday distract Davey, causing DB to release the grip. Holliday hops up on the apron and ducks a swing from Davey. He grabs Davey, letting him get ready for a strike from Hammer, but Davey moves and Hammer boots the Air Pods off of Richard. Running powerslam by Davey before he climbs the top rope. He hits a diving headbutt for the 1-2-3 and he advances!
My Opinion: 3.4 out of 5 – This was pretty good, mostly because of what DBS Jr. was doing (Hammerstone was good though). The wrestling here was nice an tight, like baby’s shiny butt. Say that five times fast. Some parts felt a bit rushed, but they were always visually arresting. Ooooooooo! I said a phrase that sounded like I knew what I was doing. Don’t worry. I’m still an idiot. Myspace! I wanted this to go longer. This should have gone longer. Whose leg do you have to hump to make this match longer? Anyway, this was some fine action from two fine fighters who fight fine fights fiercely for Fusion featuring fine fighters fiercely fighting frequently fighting finely fighting ffffffffffff f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f…f. I spun out.
Match #3: (Main Event) CONTRA (Jacob Fatu, Josef Samael & Simon Gotch) def. #Stronghearts (CIMA, Shigehiro Ire & El Lindaman)
The following is courtesy of mlw.com:
It’s main event time as #Stronghearts, El Lindaman, Shigehiro Irie & CIMA make there way to the center of The Melrose Ballroom. The OWE competitors come out to a huge reaction as Rich Bocchini drops some big news on the pro wrestling world: CIMA will be challenging Jacob Fatu for the World Title at Fightland in Philadelphia! Speaking of, The Champ enters with Gotch and Samael to face the men they ganged up on earlier. Fatu drapes the CONTRA flag over the top rope as the two groups stare one another down. CIMA and Gotch start the bout off as they both collide with clothesline. CIMA gains the advantage and do an assisted dropkick in their respective corners. El Lindaman gets a tag and goes for a suplex, but finds himself in CONTRA’s corner. Samael receives the tag and he and Lindaman trade chops before he drops Josef down with high flipping dropkick. It’s not long before Fatu gets the tag and changes the momentum with his brute force who tags in Gotch for a flipping T-Bone suplex. Gotch tags in Samael and the succinct tag work by CONTRA is in full effect. The 5’3″ Lindaman goes for a bodyslam on Fatu and gets him up, but the massive champ crashes down on top for a two count. He bites the forehead of Lindaman in the corner before tagging in Gotch. European uppercuts by Gotch, but Lindaman tags in Shigehiro Irie. He delivers an innovative splash with the help of the ropes for a very near fall. Gotch goes for the piledriver but Irie finds a way to reverse and put Samael in a piledriver on top of Gotch. Fatu and Irie face one another off and the two go for double cross bodies at once. Fatu pops right back up! Irie headbutts Fatu, but the champ does a standing spinning Uranage in one jaw-dropping feat of strength! Two count. The fight spills out onto the outside as the official tries to restore order. Irie and Fatu both trade suicide dives and #Stronghearts all set their sights on the MLW champ. All three deliver strikes to Fatu who begins to fight back. Fatu charges at Lindaman who drop-toe holds him down on the ropes for CIMA to deliver a double foot stomp. El Lindaman almost gets the three count on Fatu in just one amazing display of pure power when the 5’3″ fighter German suplexes the Champion! All CONTRA Unit members get put down and Lindaman is the last man standing who does a somersault plancha onto Samael on the outside. Irie takes out Gotch who then gets superkicked by Fatu. CIMA charges at Fatu but Fatu hits him with a pop-up Samoan Drop and gets the pinfall on his future opponent!
My Opinion: 3.6 out of 5 – This was a whole lotta fightin’ goin’ on from a buncha guys who looked like they wanted to go an hour with each other. Hey, when it’s good, it’s good and this was good. It’s cool to see CIMA getting around more often here in America. Hell, CIMA oughta be every-where by now. Fatu is really growing into the role of champion by now. There’s plenty of vibrant back-and-forth here to give you tennis neck like you wouldn’t believe. Like Lori Loughlin and her prison sentence, this match was right (take your Full House ass to the big house).
News Of The Night:
- Tom Lawlor ambushed the Von Erich brothers with The Spirit Squad and challenged the brothers to put their tag titles on the line against two of his students, next week.
- Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Alexander Hammerstone teased showing each other respect, but Richard Holliday stopped it.
- Erick Stevens is coming to Major League Wrestling.
Final Verdict: 3.4/5
This was a good show that needed some more wrestling, but what was here was enough to get some brownie points.
