By Jason Powell, Prowrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Major League Wrestling TV (Episode 19)
Taped in Orlando, Florida at GILT Nightclub
Aired August 24, 2018 on beIN Sports
The show opened with a video package recapping last week’s cage fight between Tom Lawlor and Mike Parrow… A Tom Lawlor promo aired from his Twitter page. He said Jake Hager is going to the glue factory once he gets his hands on the Stud Stable member…
The MLW opening aired… Tony Schiavone introduced the show. He was joined later on commentary by Rich Bocchini…
1. Simon Gotch and Fred Yehi (w/Tom Lawlor) vs. The Dirty Blondes (w/Col. Rob Parker, Mike Parrow). The Blondes isolated Gotch and double suplexed him. Lawlor hit one of the Blondes with a chair from the floor. Gotch had the Blonde pinned, but Parrow distracted the referee from the floor. The referee eventually turned around and counted the pin…
Simon Gotch and Fred Yehi defeated The Dirty Blondes.
Powell’s POV: Was this a botched finish? It seemed like it was going to be a visual pinfall spot, but given how long Gotch had the Blonde pinned it left me wondering if something was off. You just normally don’t see a wrestler pinned that long.
Footage aired from “earlier today” of ACH and Rich Swann talking about how hot it was outside and discussing their tag title match… [C]
The War Games control center segment aired and was narrated by Matt Striker. A Tommy Dreamer promo aired. He spoke about seeing his idol Dusty Rhodes as a nine year-old. He said he knew at that moment what he had to do with his life. Dreamer spoke about teaming with Rhodes and headlining the Fort Lauderdale War Memorial. He said returning there for the War Games is special and the match is special to him. Dreamer spoke of having issues with Sami Callihan in other promotions. Dreamer said Rhodes would have the greatest seat in the house and this would be his first War Games match…
2. Ricky Martinez (w/Salina de la Renta) vs. Danny Santiago. Marintez dominated the brief match. He picked up Santiago by the back of his pants, which exposed his ass in the process. Martinez slammed Santiago down face first and then pinned him. Salina gave him an OK sign from ringside…
Ricky Martinez defeated Danny Santiago.
Schiavone hyped the main event… [C]
Powell’s POV: A squash win for Martinez. It would have been nice to have heard from him before the match just to get a sense of his personality. It is nice that MLW addressed the confusion with Salina managing a mix of babyfaces and heels by moving the Lucha Brothers to Konnan. At least now we know that newcomers who are paired with her are meant to be heels.
Footage aired of Low Ki beating John Hennigan to retain the MLW Championship… Low Ki delivered a promo following the match and spoke about how he and Salina run things now. He said he will reign supreme and is accepting challenges from all over. “It don’t matter if you think you’re part of a club,” Low Ki said. “It don’t matter if you think you’re part of an underground. I’m the comfort zone destroyer”…
Footage aired from last week of Sami Callihan’s team attacking Shane Strickland, John Hennigan, Kotto Brazil, and Barrington Hughes until Tommy Dreamer ran them off… A brief Sami Callihan promo aired. He showed a cut on the back of Sawyer Fulton’s back and blamed it on Tommy Dreamer… An Abyss promo aired. He said he would bring the pain, suffering, and crying to War Games…
Konnan was shown talking backstage with Pentagon Jr. and Rey Fenix. Schiavone said the tag title match was up next… [C]
Footage aired of Mike Parrow arguing with the Dirty Blondes following the opening match… Tom Lawlor cut a promo and said he wants Jake Hager in the ring next week… Schiavone announced Lawlor vs. Hager as next week’s main event…
Backstage, Vanessa Craft interviewed Low Ki and Salina. She asked Salina about the lawsuit filed against her. She called it frivolous. Low Ki said he would make quick work of Rey Fenix. He said he would have a very little title reign and no one would cut that short…
Powell’s POV: MLW has done a nice job of building toward the Lawlor vs. Hager match over the last couple of weeks, so it feels like a big television main event.
Ring entrances for the tag title match took place…
3. Pentagon Jr. and Rey Fenix (w/Konnan) vs. ACH and Rich Swann for the MLW Tag Titles. The champions isolated ACH early on. Schiavone plugged War Games during the match. ACH came back with a nice sequence on Fenix and then dove onto Pentagon on the floor. ACH and Swann performed stereo sit-out powerbombs for a near fall.
Later, the teams exchanged a series of chops. Fenix and Swann went for handspring cutters at the same time. Pentagon and Swann took one another out. In the end, Pentagon held up Swann in piledriver position and then Fenix double stomped Swann’s back into the Pentagon Driver. Pentagon pinned Swann…
Pentagon Jr. and Rey Fenix defeated ACH and Rich Swann to retain the MLW Tag Titles.
Schiavone hyped Lawlor vs. Swagger for next week and hyped Pentagon Jr. vs. LA Park in a Mexican Massacre for War Games. Konnan cut a promo about LA Park, saying he gets a perverse pleasure out of inflicting pain. He noted that he put plenty of guys on the concussion list…
Powell’s POV: A really fun tag match. I threw out the idea of recapping everything they did and simply sat back and enjoyed the roughly 20-minute match. It’s worth going out of your way to see. This was really good. Meanwhile, MLW is going all out to hype their War Games show in Fort Lauderdale, which looks like a strong show on paper. Overall, the main event cemented this is as good show and I like the way they built up the Lawlor vs. Hager match for next week.
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