By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Major League Wrestling Fusion (Episode 188)
Taped October 14, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at 2300 Arena
Streamed October 26, 2023 on the MLW YouTube Page and FITE.TV
The show opened with multiple photos of Salina de la Renta and the Promociones Dorado logo…
Jesus Rodriguez (f/k/a Ricardo Rodriguez) stood on the stage and introduced Salina, who was listed as the producer of this episode. She welcomed viewers to “my show.” She said the ratings go through the roof when she produces the show. She spoke about lucha libre and something she had in mind for MLW Champion Alex Kane.
Ichiban and his translator interrupted. The translator worked in a bunch of “number one” references while saying that Ichiban should get a shot at Rocky Romero’s title. Salina took offense to being interrupted and then booked Ichiban against Rodriguez, who showed confidence while loosening his tie… [C]
Powell’s POV: Booking Ichiban against the guest ring announcer is somehow a punishment for Ichiban?
A Salina video aired… Joe Dombrowski and Matt Striker checked in on commentary. Ichiban was shown lacing up his boots. A past CMLL match featuring Volador Jr. vs. Rocky Romero was listed for later in the show… Entrances for the opening match took place…
1. Ichiban vs. Jesus Rodriguez (w/Salina de la Renta). Rodriguez worked in actual gear rather than in his ring announcer attire. Salina stood at ringside and tried to throw powder at Ichiban, but it didn’t even come close to his face. Doh! She choked Ichiban over the ropes while Rodriguez distracted the referee a short time later.
Ichiban took offensive control and performed a missile dropkick, but Rodriguez came right back with a uranage slam that led to a two count. Rodriguez attempted a middle rope moonsault that Ichiban avoided. Ichiban bulldogged Rodriguez and then hit him with a Flatliner that led to the pin.
Ichiban defeated Jesus Rodriguez.
After the match, Rocky Romero and Janai Kai ran out and put the boots to Ichiban. Rodriguez passed a chair to Romero. Kai set up the chair in the ring and then Romero slammed Ichiban onto the chair’s seat…
Powell’s POV: I guess I missed it when Rodriguez went from being a pushover non-wrestling ring announcer to being positioned as a legitimate wrestler. The match was nothing special, but at least the post match angle put some heat on the heels while making Ichiban look sympathetic.
An ad aired for the MLW Fightland premium live event that will stream live on FITE.TV on Saturday, November 18 from Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena… [C]
Footage aired of Rocky Romero beating Akira to win the MLW Middleweight Championship…
Salina spoke backstage and was annoyed by people yelling “Bomaye.” She said she signed a lucha tag match for MLW Fightland. The match will be Rocky Romero and Barbaro Cavernario vs. Mascara Dorada 2.0 and Ichiban. She was distracted by another Bomaye chant. A graphic listed Volador Jr. vs. Rocky Romero and was listed as being courtesy of CMLL. Salina said she was giving viewers an exclusive look at the match and then she snapped when the Bomaye chants fired up again…
Highlights of Rocky Romero beating Volador Jr. from the June 30 CMLL and NJPW Fantastica Mania Mexico show was shown with new commentary from Dombrowski. They aired roughly eight minutes of the 22-minute match… [C]
Powell’s POV: Clips from a dated match from another promotion. At this point, I’m waiting for MLW to announce its own Team Challenge Series.
Highlights aired of Mance Warner and Matthew Justice beating The Calling’s scrubs in a War Chamber match, and Janai Kai beating Delmi Exo to win the MLW Featherweight Championship from MLW Slaughterhouse…
Salina and Janai Kai stood in front of the MLW backdrop. Salina said Kai is the only woman impressive enough to be represented by Promociones Dorado. “Kick Demon,” Kai said. Salina said that this is only one of the many surprises she has planned… A Janai Kai video aired…
The MLW Fightland control center segment aired. Dombrowski recapped Salina’s tag team match announcement from earlier in the show. Even though Salina announced the match earlier, Dombrowski made it seem like Ichiban had just selected Mascara Dorada 2.0 as his partner…
Salina was shown yelling on the phone when she was interrupted by Delmi Exo, who wants her rematch with Kai. Salina said Exo should have let her be her manager when she reached out to her last summer. Salina left the room and was approached by Mister Saint Laurent, who offered to give her 101 stolen documents from his time as MLW vice president. In exchange, Salina named him the promoter for the MLW One Shot event. MSL said he wanted a title shot for one of his men at any time of his choosing, which she agreed to. MSL gave her the documents while Dombrowski wondered what she got her hands on…
Rickey Shane Page and Akira vs. 1 Called Manders and Matthew Justice in a tables match for the MLW Tag Team Titles was announced for next week’s show…
Mance Warner and 1 Called Manders stood outside drinking beer in front of a pickup truck. Warner mentioned the tables match. Salina showed up. Warner recalled that none of the men she brought in were able to put him in the dirt. Warner dared Salina to hit him. Salina would up to slap Warner, but Jacob Fatu showed up and grabbed her arm to stop her. Warner brought up the idea of Fatu vs. Mistico and said the match would make “money, money, money.” Salina told them to be careful what they wish for and then stormed off. Fatu had Warner and Manders give him a beer…
Dombrowski narrated a brief video package on B3cca and Love, Doug… Dombrowski hyped Salina’s Fightland announcement… [C] A video listed Miyu Yamashita as coming to MLW…
Salina walked onto the stage to claimed her show had been great and said it would end with a bang. She introduced MLW Heavyweight Champion Alex Kane, who joined her. Kane said Salina was beautiful and powerful and had been killing it in the fight game. Kane said he heard she has her own reality show named Ho Island.
Salina said that if anyone is a ho, it’s Kane. She claimed Mr. Thomas is his pimp and that he spends his evening on all fours. Kane asked what she had for him. Salina said his next title fight would be at MLW Fightland. He said that’s cool and asked what her big surprise was.
Jacob Fatu made his entrance and went face to face with Kane on the stage. Dombrowski hyped Kane vs. Fatu for the MLW Heavyweight Championship for Fightland…
A Calling video package aired to push their tag title defense for next week…
Powell’s POV: A lousy episode. It’s bad enough that the only match featured Ichiban beating a ring announcer, but you need to turn your brain off to even buy into the idea that MLW officials would just hand over control of the show to heel Salina again. As if that’s not ridiculous enough, she’s somehow allowed to book matches for the Fightland PLE and even give control of the One Shot PLE to MSL.
I enjoyed Fusion when they ran all of the matches from their tapings. And I understand the idea that they needed to change formats due to their PLE deal with FITE.TV, but the television show has been so missable since then. The show previously featured all of the company’s top matches, whereas now it’s mostly throwaway undercard matches and maybe a television main event on a good week. At it’s worst, we get chopped up random matches from other promotions or even that recent episode that randomly included the main event from the first One Shot event in 2017.
In all honesty, it’s really tough to continue justifying the time investment of covering Fusion on a weekly basis when there are so many alternatives out there. I’ll bitch more about the sad state of Fusion in my audio review for Dot Net Members (including our Patreon patrons), which may also be coming to an end if the show doesn’t improve soon.
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