‘MLW: Fusion’ Wrestling Review (April 25th 2020)
Welcome to this week’s Major League Wrestling: Fusion review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and my banana hammock is more like a tooth-pick in a hanky. We’ve got only two matches this week. Did you know I moon-light as Megan Fox on the weekends, except I don’t look anything like her and my name is MacGarnagle, decrepit detective. Well MacGarnagle, Billy’s dead… It’s MLW time.
Match #1: Richard Holliday def. Chessman – Caribbean Championship Match
The following is courtesy of mlw.com:
Before the bell rings, Holliday takes a pause to sanitize his hands and then takes a moment to pieface Chessman. Chessman has had plenty and slugs away at Rich before double dropkicking him out of the ring. Chessman’s chair comes into play onto the outside and Richard uses it to his advantage. Holliday soon goes for a pin attempt in the ring and the referee takes his sweet time in administering the count, so much that Holliday doesn’t even let him do so. Holliday stays on the offensive, but Chessman uses the ring to outwit the Air Pod God and kicks him to the outside once more before doing a suicide dive, sending Rich right into the guardrail. Chessman hits Holliday hard with a chair. He rolls him in the ring and gets a two count. The two trade punches before the two have a physical chess match, outwitting one another before a double clothesline sends the two competitors crashing to the mat. The ref counts both men down but a kick out washes the count clean. A superkick by Holliday before he hits Chessman with 2008 but gets a very methodical count, allowing Chessman to get a shoulder up. A single leg drop kick followed by a moonsault gets Chessman a pin attempt good for two as well. Chessman climbs up once more for a corkscrew splash but Richard rolls out of the way and lays a picture perfect Market Crash for the (still slow) three count and “title retain.”
My Opinion: 3.1 out of 5 – Chessman is a bit chunkier than he used to be, but he can still wrestle. Holliday made the older yet still talented Chessman look good in a match that delivered about enough action to make Ed Asner cream his wrinkled dinky. This was not the most energetic match, but it was consistent and easy to watch. This match was so wonderfully average, it’s a shame that there wasn’t more in here, but for the length of time this went, the bout in question was a hearty bowl of meat and potato soup with a dash of Monosodium Glutamate (which got stuck with a bad reputation by a white guy with a headache in the 1960s). This was a good opener.
Match #2: (Main Event) The Hart Foundation (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Brian Pillman Jr.) def. Los Mercenarios (Texano Jr. & Rey Escorpion Jr.)
The following is courtesy of mlw.com:
The two teams exchange some word before the match begins but it’s Texano Jr. and Pillman starting things off. Brian cools himself down and begins with a wristlock. Pillman rolls himself around to escape the clutches of Texano and a well placed kick does so. Pillman is really in his element. Los Mercenarios take an opportunity to double team Brian as the official is tied up with DB because of a foot on the ropes. Hart Foundation soon show their chemistry as they lift Texano up for a double suplex that turns into a Davey Boy signature stall. He slams Texano down and goes for the pin, but there is yet another deliberate slow count by the referee. Rich Bocchini questions the possibility that perhaps CONTRA has some spies loose in the arena which cause AJ Kirsch to ponder such a valuable point. Davey tags in Brian and who comes out but Injustice to distract. It works and the Los Mercenarios begin to work on Davey, showing their tag team prowess. Texano catches Brian in a fireman’s carry and flips it into a backbreaker. Not even a two count. Texano and Scorpion work on Pillman as the ref is tied up with Davey Boy once more. DB’s rightfully getting heated with the official. Scorpion is wearing out Brian with some wrist suplexes, but begins fighting back. This gets some shots from Scorpion and he eventually pulls Pillman down by the hair. Scorpion continues to work on Brian as Texano soon slingshot sentons onto Brian for a near fall. Davey tries to keep his cool as the referee keeps interacting with him. This allows Brian to take a Texano bullrope to the knee. El Scorpion hits a powerbomb, but Davey breaks it up, still very frustrated. A dropkick frees Brian up and gets the tag in to DB, but the ref didn’t see the tag and sends him back to the corner. Brian fights his way back and tags DB in. This time the ref see and DB gets to work on his magic. He eventually double clotheslines both out of the ring. This opens up Brian to do a somersault plancha to the outside and lands on his feet. Davey Boy boosts Texano up for Brian to hit an Air Pillman from the top rope. Davey flips over for a jacknife pin and the win. MLW leads the Super Series 4-2!
My Opinion: 3.2 out of 5 – As main events go, this was a footnote in the history of them, but a good footnote regardless. DB and Texano were a good pairing within this match, but that wasn’t a surprise either. There’s nothing in here that isn’t worth seeing at least once, but the match as a whole isn’t likely to be on anybody’s top matches list. The spots are good and the whole thing moved well from move to move. All in all, don’t be sad, ‘cuz two out of three ain’t bad.
News Of The Night:
- CONTRA Unit is still a bunch of ass-holes.
- Low Ki may call a “King” or a “God to help him fight American Top Team.
- Courtesy of MLW: Col. Robert Parker has been allegedly promoting unsanctioned wrestling contests on barges and those events have happened to be shut down by the U.S. Coast Guard. Parker has since denied partaking or promoting in any outlaw barge shows, but Parker does promise a big 2020.
- Alexander Hammerstone and Mance Warner are still feuding over the National Openweight Title.
- Douglas James can’t wrestle for 180 days due to injury.
Final Verdict: 3/5
The angles they ran kept the show going for future episodes and the wrestling was decent, so this was not bad, but it could have been more, even if that simply meant that the matches each got an extra five minutes.
