By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Major League Wrestling Fusion (Episode 165)
Taped October 30, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at 2300 Arena
Streamed February 2, 2023 on Pro Wrestling TV
Fusion opened with Alex Hammerstone’s boner pill commercial (insert your own joke here about The Hammer popping hammer pills)… The Fusion opening aired… The broadcast team was Joe Dombrowski and Matt Striker…
The “Samoan Swat Team” duo of Juicy Finau and Lance Anoa’i made their entrance for the opening match. Finau delivered a brief in-ring promo and said they want the tag team gold. Anoa’i called for EJ Nduka, who is one half of the MLW Tag Team Champions. Little Guido and Ray Jaz came out instead. Guido spoke about winning gold in the same venue twenty years ago, and said that he and Jaz would win gold again…
1. “Samoan Swat Team” Juicy Finau and Lance Anoa’i vs. “The FBI” Little Guido and Ray Jaz. Finau headbutted Guido after he delivered his line to start the match. Dombrowski said Guido is Jaz’s godfather. The FBI got some brief offense, which included a double elbow drop on Anoa’i. A short time later, Finau hoisted up both opponents and hit them with a Death Valley Driver, and then Anoa’i performed a Polynesian Plunge (top rope splash) on Jaz and pinned him…
“Samoan Swat Team” Juicy Finau and Lance Anoa’i defeated “The FBI” Little Guido and Ray Jaz.
Powell’s POV: I wonder how long it will take for Jaz to get a call if NXT creative is looking for a new member of Tony D’Angelo’s crew. Anyway, there wasn’t much to the match, as it was just a quick showcase for the SST as they continue to be built up for an eventual tag team title match. By the way, whatever happened to Lance and Marshall Von Erich in MLW? They haven’t worked for MLW since May and have only worked the Ric Flair’s Last Match event since then.
Footage aired of Alex Hammerstone and EJ Nduka, while Striker hyped their Last Man Standing match for the MLW Heavyweight Championship for Tuesday’s MLW Underground premiere on Reelz…
EJ Nduka delivered a promo in front of the MLW backdrop about challenging for the title. He said he didn’t have a silver spoon or anyone coaching him when he came to MLW. Nduka said his muscles are not just decoration. “This is real life,” Nduka said while flexing. He said there was no more talking and he will be the next world champion…
Striker hyped the match again for Tuesday on Reelz at 9CT/10ET. He also hyped Davey Boy Smith Jr. and the Billington Bulldogs appearing after a commercial break… [C] Striker touted MLW’s online gambling website sponsor…
Davey Boy Smith Jr. was shown the Billington Brothers how to apply a double wrist lock in a small gym. They turned their attention to the camera. Smith said the human body is a submission hold waiting to happen. He spoke about the Bomaye Fight Club. One of the Billington brothers said they are ready…
Striker hyped Alex Kane’s Peach State Prize Fight for Tuesday’s MLW Underground…
2. Doctor Dax vs. Vinny Pacifico. Both entrances were televised. The camera showed one woman who was really excited to see Pacifico, who had super generic entrance music. Dombrowski noted that this was the first time he can remember seeing Dax unsupervised (without his various sidekicks). An onscreen graphic advertised the Reelz premiere.
Dax put Pacifico down with a clothesline and then followed up with a splash. Pacifico avoided a charging Dax in the corner and then hit him with a couple of running uppercuts. Pacifico dropkicked Dax into the corner and then played to the crowd. Dax came right back with a popup Saito Suplex and scored the pin…
Doctor Dax beat Vinny Pacifico.
Powell’s POV: Dax doesn’t do much for me. I believe this match was the opener of the Fightland show and Dax still didn’t get much of a reaction. Dax has good size, but his gimmick is terrible and his look isn’t major league. Hopefully he’ll get more reps and ditch the bad masked attire, which I don’t believe he uses consistently outside MLW, but I could be mistaken.
MLW Featherweight Champion Taya Valkyrie delivered a backstage promo and boasted about beating Trish Adora. She said it was hot and called for someone to turn up the AC. She said it was about to get real hot in MLW because someone is coming real soon…
Striker said that those were strong words from Valkyrie (what?) and then set up a video package that featured previously used footage of Alex Hammerstone talking about his title match with EJ Nduka… Striker hyped the title match again for Reelz and then touted the Fusion main event as something completely different that could only be seen in MLW… [C]
A teaser aired for Lio Rush returning to MLW… Dombrowski played up the mystery of the calling card attacker… The upcoming fights graphic was shown. MLW will be in Tijuana, Mexico on February 10, War Chamber will be held on April 6 in New York, and they will be in Philadelphia on April 8… Striker hyped the Hammerstone vs. Nduka match for Tuesday…
Alex Hammerstone delivered a promo about the match while standing in front of the MLW backdrop. Hammerstone said that Nduka should have put half as much time learning a wrist lock as he’s put into his catchphrases. Hammerstone said Nduka couldn’t cut it in football or in bodybuilding, and he would prove that he can’t cut it in the wrestling business. Hammerstone said he doesn’t respect Nduka. He said that’s not the frame of mind that Nduka should want him to be in heading into a Last Man Standing match…
A graphic listed Real1 shooting on the Reelz premiere… Striker hyped the tag team main event again… [C] Hammerstone’s boner pill commercial was shown again… An MLW merch ad aired…
Alex Kane and Mr. Thomas delivered a promo in front of the MLW backdrop. Kane said the people are with the Bomaye Fight Club rather than Davey Boy Smith Jr. because Bomaye is for the people. Kane said the UK is trash and nobody cool ever came out of the UK. He said nobody from the UK has been over in the United States in fifty years. Yes, he yelled Bomaye a bunch of times…
Striker recapped footage of Sam Adonis winning his MLW debut last week and spoke about him being part of Cesar Duran’s “growing army”…
Sam Adonis delivered a promo in front of the MLW backdrop. He said the difference between him and everyone else is that he doesn’t care about going viral or being famous. He said he wants to be the best in the world at what he does. He said he’s with Azteca Lucha. Adonis said a genius is crazy before he is rich, and thanks to Cesar Duran he is just about a genius…
Ring announcer Tim Barr introduced Azteca Lucha. Cesar Duran was accompanied by a henchman and led Delirious and Mini Abismo Negro to the ring for the main event. The henchman was billed as Azteca 31. La Estrella and Lince Dorado made their entrance followed by Microman.
3. Lince Dorado, La Estrella, and Microman vs. Delirious, Mini Abismo Negro, and Azteca 31 (w/Cesar Duran). They cut to a break early in the match. [C] Dorado and Estrella performed stereo dives onto Negro and Azteca 31. Microman fired up the crowd and then acted like he was going to perform a dive, but Delirious cut him off with a kick.
Delirious and Azteca took turns chopping Microman, who then came back and threw a series of chops on both men before slamming their heads onto the mat. Dorado and Estrella performed stereo crossbody blocks for a two count. Delirious shoved Dorado into Estrella, who didn’t see what Delirious did. Estrella shoved Dorado and left the ring. Duran followed and could be seen talking to Estrella before he went backstage.
Dorado was isolated by the heels. He eventually made the hot tag to Microman, who performed his usual spots on Negro. Microman dodged Delirious and then stomped on both of his feet, which caused Delirious to fall into a seated position. Microman headbutted Delirious’s balls. Microman put Azteca 31 down with a kick and ended up performing a DDT on him.
Dorado placed Microman on the top rope and then Microman dove onto Delirious and Negro. Dorado went up top and performed a shooting star press on Azteca 31 and then pinned him to win the match…
Lince Dorado, La Estrella, and Microman defeated Delirious Mini Abismo Negro, and Azteca 31.
Dorado and Microman celebrated. Duran and Delirious had words afterward, but they ended up heading to the back… A teaser aired for MLW Underground premiering on Reelz on Tuesday night…
Powell’s POV: A solid match with Microman entering late after the other wrestlers did the heavy lifting. The live crowd enjoyed Microman’s antics and were chanting for him at different points. Delirious did a good job with Microman, but I was happy to see him bickering with Duran afterward. If Delirious is sticking around MLW, then I think it makes more sense to use him in the babyface role that he’s played so well over the years.
Overall, it felt like MLW dug deep to fill out this and last week’s Fusion. As I mentioned last week, it’s presumably due to moving some of the footage they had planned to run on Fusion to use for the Underground debut on Reelz. On the bright side, they’ve used most of the footage they had in the can from past tapings, so it should lead to a quicker turnaround time coming out of this week’s MLW SuperFight tapings.
No one can say accuse the company of not doing a good job of hyping the premiere of MLW Underground throughout this episode of Fusion. If you played a drinking game that required you to drink whenever the Reelz debut was promoted during this episode, you’d be hospitalized at the very least. I will be by later today with my weekly MLW Fusion audio review for Dot Net Members (including our Patreon patrons).
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