By Jon
COMMENTATORS: Rich Bocchini & Saint Laurent
Savio Vega looks to get back physical possession of the IWA Caribbean Heavyweight Championship when he meets Richard Holliday in a Caribbean Strap Match in the main event. Also on the show Zenshi challenges Laredo Kid for the AAA Cruiserweight Championship and TJP & Bu Du Kao face off against Violence is Forever to see who challenges for Los Parks’ Tag Team Titles on next week’s show. Lotta title-related stuff going down this week, is what I’m saying.
CHAMPIONS
- MLW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION: Jacob Fatu
- MLW NATIONAL OPENWEIGHT CHAMPION: Alexander Hammerstone
- MLW WORLD MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPION: Lio Rush
- MLW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS: Los Parks (L.A. Park & Hijo de LA Park)
LINEUP
- Laredo Kid [c] vs. Zenshi for the AAA CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
- TJP & Bu Du Kao vs. Violence is Forever
- CARIBBEAN STRAP MATCH: Savio Vega [c] vs. Richard Holliday for the CARIBBEAN HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
*****
–Josef Samael cut into the usual Fusion intro to call Injustice (Myron Reed & Jordan Oliver) fools and hype his newest acquisition Daivari. He vowed to humble Injustice and MLW because HAIL CONTRA.
Laredo Kid [c] defeated Zenshi via pinfall with a Spanish Fly-style belly-to-belly suplex to retain the AAA CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP (10:01)
- There were some cool spots here but overall the match never really clicked with me. They did your standard Cruiserweight stuff and that was all well and good, but there was also a fair amount of pause between the moves as they got into position and stuff that took me right out. Just did not have good chemistry together. Zenshi WHIFFING a dropkick early in the match was pretty funny though.
- POST-MATCH: Laredo Kid called out Lio Rush, saying he came to MLW to become a double champion.
–Myron Reed said that CONTRA poked the bear and once he got them in the ring one-on-one he would get his justice. Which one though?
-This week’s PWI Top Ten was read by Saint Laurent. Here it is so I can pad the word count:
- 10. ACH
- 9. Daivari
- 8. Myron Reed
- 7. Mil Muertes
- 6. Richard Holliday
- 5. Mads Krugger
- 4. Lio Rush
- 3. Low-Ki
- 2. Tom Lawlor
- 1. Alexander Hammerstone
- WORLD CHAMP: Jacob Fatu
–Kevin Von Erich made Ross & Marshall do some chores on his Hawaiian ranch. Ross & Marshall vowed to get even with Tom Lawlor for costing them the World Tag Team Titles two weeks ago and once that’s done to regain said championship.
–Los Parks sarcastically wished the next two teams luck as they face the winners on next week’s show.
-MOMENTS AGO: Gino Medina arrived at the arena to watch the main event, hoping to see his former Dynasty mate Richard Holliday get cracked by the whip.
-CONTRA PROPAGANDA VIDEO: Mads Krugger hyped next week’s Baklei Brawl, saying Hammerstone was on borrowed time and would be broken.
–Tom Lawlor once again professed innocence in the attack on ACH but made it a point to insinuate that he was the more deserving contender to Jacob Fatu.
-It was announced that Filthy Island, due February 17th, was facing financial trouble due to sponsors pulling out. Bocchini mentioned they could be headed for another Fyre Festival. Add MLW to the bigger than it should be list of companies making Fyre Festival jokes.
TJP & Bu Ku Dao defeated Violence is Forever (Dominic Garrini & Kevin Ku) when Dao pinned Ku following a Mamba Splash from TJP (10:02)
- Garrini traded in the dorky karate gi for a Brock Lesnar-like look. I guess it’s an improvement?
- TJP essentially used Dao as a weapon for most of the match and did the work to get their team the win.
- Los Parks are heels I guess so I shouldn’t have been too surprised at who won this one, but Violence is Forever seemed like the MUCH better team and it was legitimately shocking that they not only lost, but lost CLEAN. Match was fine if you like faux-MMA stuff, TJP was easily the best one in the match and carried everybody.
- TJP got on the mic after the match and told Dao to stick with him because next week they will take a walk through Los Parks. BOO. BOO THIS JOKE.
–King Mo made a “sincere” plea to MLW and state athletic commissions to never let Low-Ki wrestle again due to how badly he beat him up…however long ago it was, I wasn’t watching the show regularly then.
–Richard Holliday vowed that Savio Vega would never get one over on him and would take great joy in inflicting pain on his archnemesis.
CARIBBEAN STRAP MATCH
Richard Holliday defeated Savio Vega to win the CARIBBEAN HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP (8:57)
- Holliday stole the Caribbean Championship belt from Vega FOREVER ago and has been calling himself champion since but Vega according to MLW was still the actual champion going in.
- The object of the match was to touch all four buckles without interruption so the match was a lot of tug of war and “touch three buckles, get yanked away” which is fine but not particularly compelling.
- Disgraced former NBA official Tim Donaghy made his pro wrestling debut in this one and, SHOCK AND AWE, ended up being a crooked ref that helped Holliday secure the victory by blocking Vega from hitting the fourth buckle. Holliday is now the champ both in possession and name.
- Alicia Atout interviewed Holliday and Donaghy backstage, Donaghy saying he called it down the middle just like he did with the Lakers/Kings series back in the 00s (WOUND HASN’T HEALED YET, TOO SOON) before Vega chased them off saying he was cheated. This concluded the episode but maybe not the feud, unfortunately.
*****
FINAL THOUGHTS: Tim Donaghy being part of MLW is a win when it comes to mainstream publicity so good on ‘em for securing the bag on that. Episode itself was fine I guess, nothing really stood out for me outside of maybe Samael’s promo at the beginning. The wrestling was okay to bad, the little interview segments were fine, MLW was just…fine. It was a show and I don’t regret spending my time watching it.
- MATCH OF THE NIGHT: Savio Vega vs. Richard Holliday
- MOMENT OF THE NIGHT: I guess Tim Donaghy doing Tim Donaghy things? That seems like the “right” thing to say but to be honest I didn’t feel like any moment really stood out.
