By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Major League Wrestling Fusion (Episode 85)
Taped November 9, 2019 in Orlando, Florida at GILT Nightclub
Streamed November 28 on the MLW YouTube Page
The show opened with an old Thanksgiving video that was interrupted by Contra Unit. The faction stood in front of their flag and Josef Samael said Thanksgiving is unapologetically arrogant. Samael told viewers to say goodbye to Ross Von Erich… The Fusion opening aired… Rich Bocchini and AJ Kirsch were on commentary. Bocchini hyped the main event and King Mo’s debut…
“Injustice” Myron Reed, Kotto Brazil, and Jordan Oliver came to the ring for the opening match. Oliver wished his partners a happy Thanksgiving. Oliver said he normally doesn’t like the holiday, but this year they are hungry for justice. Zenshi and Gringo Loco made their entrance…
1. Kotto Brazil and Jordan Oliver vs. Zenshi and Gringo Loco in a Survivor Elimination tag team match. The referee didn’t let Reed remain at ringside. Zenshi sent the heels to ringside and teased a dive, then sat down. Loco performed a flip dive onto the Injustice duo instead. Later, Zenshi had an impressive run of offense on both men that concluded with a running shooting star press. Injustice rallied. Brazil hit his By Any means finisher on Zenshi and pinned him to eliminate him from the match. Zenshi was eliminated.
Gringo checked back into the match. He quickly performed a tombstone piledriver on Brazil and pinned him. Kotto Brazil was eliminated.
The match came down to Oliver and Gringo. Oliver went for a move and then feigned an injury to distract the referee. Meanwhile, Myron Reed returned to ringside and punched Gringo, then Reed performed a a cutter from the middle rope and scored the pin…
Jordan Oliver and Kotto Brazil beat Gringo Loco and Zenshi in a Survivor Elimination match.
Powell’s POV: A solid tag team elimination match with the usual Injustice heel tactics at the end.
Still shots aired of Kerry Von Erich beating Ric Flair to win the NWA Championship in May 1984…
Powell’s POV: Kerry beating Flair was a great moment that was held at the David Von Erich Memorial Event at Texas Stadium. Von Erich won with a backslide and then embarked on a whopping 18-day title reign. Long story short, the NWA gave Kerry and World Class Championship Wrestling the big moment at the stadium show, but they couldn’t get the belt back on Flair quickly enough. I was a 12 year-old fan at the time and was thrilled to see Von Erich win the title and then shocked when he lost it so quickly.
King Mo stood backstage in front of an MLW Fusion backdrop. He said the King has arrived in MLW, but he’s not happy about wrestling on Thanksgiving or facing Ricky Martinez…
Backstage, Kaci Lennox said Pricilla Kelly told her to meet her. Lennox looked around for her and was about to give up when Kelly attacked her from behind and applied a Mandible Claw. Kelly grabbed the cameraman and ran him into a garage door before turning her focus back to Lennox…
Powell’s POV: A good attack to put heat on Kelly, who debuted as the unmasked Spider Lady last week. Lennox has done straight forward backstage interviews and I don’t recall seeing her get involved physically before, so this caught me off guard.
A King Mo video aired with footage from his Bellator MMA fights…
2. King Mo vs. Ricky Martinez. Martinez jawed at Mo and then hit him before performing a leaping neckbreaker. The broadcast team noted that Salina de la Renta was missing. Mo came back by rolling Martinez into a leg hold, which Martinez broke by reaching the ropes. Martinez clotheslined Mo via the top rope. Martinez went to the middle rope and leapt at Mo, who speared him. Mo followed up with a running splash in the corner and a gut wrench powerbomb and then applied a leg lock submission hold for the win…
King Mo beat Ricky Martinez.
Powell’s POV: A decent debut for Mo. It was hard to get a real feel for where he’s at in his development as a pro wrestler, but the live crowd was receptive to him going over.
Footage aired of last week’s falls count anywhere craziness with Mance Warner vs. Jimmy Havoc…
Warner delivered a selfie style promo. Warner recalled Havoc attacking him afterward. He said it was another day at work, but he doesn’t forgive anyone. Warner said it will be an eye for an eye…
A video package aired on MLW Champion Jacob Fatu… Bocchini hyped the main event heading into a break… An ad aired for the MLW’s upcoming events on December 5 in New York, January 11 in Dallas, and February 1 in Philadelphia…
Bocchini hyped a battle royal for next week’s Fusion…
Salina de la Renta’s return was announced for next week. Bocchini said he’d heard she was working on something big during her absence…
The latest Lifestyles of the Rich and Dynastic aired. MJF spoke to the duo by FaceTime and spoke about their holiday dinner. Holliday said it was odd to have Thanksgiving dinner with MJF via FaceTime, then told Alex Hammerstone that he’s always welcome at his father/lawyer’s house for Thanksgiving. Hammerstone finally unveiled his gift for the other Dynasty members. It was a giant bald guy named Grogan. Holliday said he wishes Hammerstone would have wrapped him since that’s normally what you do with a gift. Hammerstone said there’s not enough wrapping paper in the world. Hammerstone said he entered Grogan into next week’s battle royal…
Powell’s POV: Grogan is a massive dude who dwarfed over Holliday and Hammerstone. I love the idea of giving Dynasty a heater.
Backstage, Tom Lawlor pumped up Ross Von Erich for his title match. Lawlor recalled the Von Erichs saying they would always have his back and said he would be there for Von Erich as he goes for the gold… The championship roll call video aired that featured MLW Champions past and present…
3. Jacob Fatu (w/Josef Samael) vs. Ross Von Erich (w/Tom Lawlor) for the MLW Championship. Fatu used his strength early Ross came back and used his quickness and a dropkick to get the better of Fatu briefly, but Fatu cut him off with a big punch. Von Erich avoided a senton and a corner splash, then performed a cannonball in the corner on Fatu and covered him. Fatu kicked out at two and that sent Ross to ringside.
Fatu applied a nerve hold to the neck of Ross. Ross got free and went for a cross body block, but Fatu caught him awkwardly and saved it by countering into a powerbomb. Fatu and Ross performed a simultaneous cross body block. Ross threw two dropkicks and followed up with two sling blade clotheslines. Ross went up top and performed a missile dropkick. Fatu ended up at ringside. Ross performed a suicide dive. Lawlor tried to fire up Ross at ringside.
Back inside the ring, Fatu set up for a powerbomb, but Ross applied the Iron Claw. Fatu went to the ropes and they both tumbled to ringside. Fatu got his feet first, barked at the fans to move, and then threw Ross face first into some chairs. Fatu went for a chop, but Ross moved, causing Fatu to chop the ring post. Both men returned to the ring where Fatu threw a knee at Von Erich, which sent him crashing into the referee. REF BUMP!!!
Fatu suplexed Von Erich into the corner. Von Erich came up holding his knee. Fatu attacked the referee and performed a cannonball in the corner. Fatu performed an elevated Samoan Drop on Von Erich and then followed up with a moonsault and got a visual pinfall while the referee was down. Fatu went for a splash, but Von Erich moved and Fatu’s head hit the ring post. Ross went up top and performed a cross body block.
Samael entered the ring with a chair, but Von Erich dropkicked him. Lawlor entered the ring and picked up the chair. Fatu got to his feet, but Lawlor hit Von Erich with the chair (poorly). “F— Contra, f— the Von Erichs,” Lawlor said. Fatu performed a top rope moonsault on Von Erich and the referee miraculously recovered and counted the pin…
Jacob Fatu defeated Ross Von Erich to retain the MLW Championship.
Powell’s POV: The holidays are not a good time for the Von Erich family. The Freebirds turned on the Von Erichs to start their legendary feud on Christmas night in 1982, and now Lawlor turned on Von Erich on a show that aired on Thanksgiving. And while I don’t expect this feud to have the same impact, I really like the Lawlor heel turn. As I noted last week, you could see the turn coming, but it’s not a negative, as it created an “I knew it” type of moment for viewers that didn’t make the Von Erichs look like dopes.
The actual match was rough, as Ross seemed a step off several times and that chair shot from Lawlor was really soft, though I’ll take that over seeing Ross blasted with a chairshot to the head. The Von Erichs are a fun act, but they are far from polished in the ring and it will be interesting to see what Lawlor can get out of them in singles matches. Bocchini did a good job on commentary of showing outrage with the actions of Lawlor. John Moore will be by with his audio review at some point over the holiday weekend.
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