MLW Fusion Recap Episode 29: Hart Foundation vs. Rich Swann, Marko Stunt & ACH

Last week on MLW Fusion: I had WiFi problems and couldn’t recap. It was the Halloween episode and PCO faced L.A. Park. Also, Jimmy Havoc was put in a bodybag.

I am changing my recap style to my old style. Something I call “And I’m Like…” style. Basically its bullet points on the segment that consist of stray observations and then a bold analysis of how I feel at that exact moment.

Cold Open

Opening video package recapping Shane Strickland vs. Tom Lawlor for who is the ace of MLW. Tom Lawlor is the ace of MLW. MLW then showed it’s own tweets about how Low Ki and Tom Lawlor had an altercation backstage.

Konnan promo

• Konnan starts in Spanish and goes into English about how MLW and New York are equally lit.
• Konnan called Salina a witch and so she came out with Ricky Martinez.
• Salina is one half of the women in MLW. Not even a woman’s division, just Salina and Aria Blake.
• Salina said Fenix and Pentagon aren’t in the country because she called ICE on them.
• Konnan didn’t know Ricky Martinez’ name.
• Puma King is brought out by Konnan to put Ricky in his place.

And I’m Like… Konnan promo’s always feel forced and acted. Not like he is in the moment. Salina pulling out the ICE line drew massive boo’s. I found it a good thing for a heel to say. This was only done to set up the next match, which is nice. Now we have a little bit of vested interest into the match.

Puma King vs. Ricky Martinez

• Matt Striker is on commentary this taping. I like the Schiavone/Boccini pairing a hundred times more. It’s like Striker took his heel gimmick from WWECW and became a commentator. The over explaining, the faux energy, the tone where it’s almost like he is talking down to you and the weird references to irrelevant things.
• Martinez is bleeding from the nose and the mouth.
• Puma King was in control until Salina got invloved and Ricky kicked the middle rope into Puma’s testicles.
• The weird spot many Lucha matches have where someone is tree of woe’d in the corner and holding themselves up while the opponent jumps from above happens. It’s the Del Rio second run in WWE finish. Very hard to watch usually.
• Puma King hit a powerbomb from the top rope and then got the pin for the win.

And I’m Like… That was a pretty basic match that the crowd was into. I always get preoccupied with what Striker has to say and don’t get into the matches as much. It’s not like lyrics to the music it’s like a narrator over a video. That changes the perception of the matches a lot with me. 

Tommy Dreamer cuts a promo about how he is more hardcore than Brody King.

Fest Wrestling Champion Jordan Cage cuts a very wrestling promo about how he is gonna be Middleweight champion.

Jimmy Yuta cuts a promo about how he will win as well.

MJF and Aria Blake cut a promo about how MJF will keep the belt because Yuta and Cage will beat each other senseless and MJF will et the win.

And I’m Like… After that promo parade I realized that some promo’s feel very pro wrestling because the wrestlers look directly into the camera. I get that they are talking to their opponents but I’m used to the “look slightly offscreen” promo’s which makes these ones feel less authentic. MJF had the best of the bunch.

Tommy Dreamer vs. Brody King

• Tommy comes out to his “Man in a Box” entrance song. That’s pretty cool.
• It’s weird how MLW and ROH both aired shows this week with ECW alum on the show. What other promotion could still have drawing power 20 years after it closed it’s doors? Remarkable.
• Tommy borrowed a MLW fan’s water and then spit the water into King’s face. Tommy a babyface though and gives the rest of the water back to the fan.
• As Brody beats on Tommy, Striker tells us how old Tommy is, how many bumps he has taken and miles he has driven. How Tommy is a dying breed because no one lasts that long. 30 years Tommy has wrestled. This really makes Tommy look like he can’t hang, especially while we watch Dreamer getting beat on. If Brody wins, who did he beat? Some old guy past his prime?
• A yay/boo spot happens that Brody ends up winning. Tony puts over how this could be Brody’s biggest win of his career as Striker moans and groans when Tommy gets hit. The only story the commentary is telling is that Tommy is old and the offensive moves are really hurting him (Striker) and how Brody King is doing wrestling moves to win the match and why he is doing certain moves to win the match (Tony).
• Striker goes on these soliloquy’s and then when he is done Tony just keeps calling the match.
• Tommy tries to use a cheese grater but Brody blocks it and beats Tommy with a piledriver.

And I’m Like… Tony is trying to talk about how Tommy’s neck problems led to the piledriver being so devastating. Striker cuts him off to say “I’m sorry I got so passionate… I know about Tommy’s injuries more than his wife.” Shake my f’n head.

Tom Lawlor gets interviewed about how he feels about Sami Callihan. Tom says he has been beaten up and beaten down but he has not been beaten. He says he will beat Low Ki and then gets super serious towards Callihan. 

Fightland hype. Tom Lawlor vs. Sami Callihan in a street fight. Strickland vs. Lo Ki for the MLW strap. Los Parks vs. Lucha bros. PCO vs. Brody King in a NoDQ match. Rush vs. Sammy Guevara in Rush’s debut. Marko Stunt vs. Ace Romero in what should be the funnest match of the night. The Dirty Blondes vs. Size Matters (Swoggle and Joey Ryan), Kotto Brazil vs. Trey Miguel, Brian Pillman Jr. vs. Tommy Dreamer, Myron Reed vs. Ace Austin, MJF vs. Puma King in a flag match, Jason Cade vs. Teddy Hart and Stokley f’n Hathaway is coming back!!!! That is quite a fuckin card though.

Callihan cuts a promo where he stares right into the camera but starts the promo like its a selfie video. That for some reason makes me feel like it is more real. I can’t explain why Callihan’s promo feels different than the previous ones but it does. I think it’s because he isn’t thinking, he is Sami Callihan the character. He isn’t playing a character.

Rich Swann, ACH and Marko Stunt vs. The Hart Foundation

• Marko put his gear in the wrong corner before the match started and kept trying to fit in with ACH and Swann but was failing miserably. I think it helped the character of Marko. He is an obvious novice and just happy to be hear which makes him very endearing.
• Teddy tries starting some ish before the match even starts. The Hart Foundation brings three very different styles to the match but they gel together so well.
• Pillman is really progressing as a wrestler. Things look more natural in the ring now.
• Teddy and Rich Swann both got tagged in. Striker says the last time Swann was in the ring in this building he had a severe concussion caused by Teddy Hart.
• After Teddy worked on Swann, Rich got the tag to Marko and Marko ran off Swann’s back and hit two codebreakers on Teddy which led to Davey Boy Smith Jr. getting tagged in.
• Such a difference in bodies between Marko and Davey. Stunt tried to bodyslam Smith but got ragdolled into oblivion.
• Striker keeps putting over how annoying and hated Teddy Hart is as the crowd chants “Teddy”. Which is just… perfect.
• DBS is beating on Marko and the crowd is fully behind the Hart Foundation.
• Marko is a pillow in Teddy Hart’s bedroom. You know how if you were wrestling your pillow as a kid and would just flip the pillow a bunch of times, throw it in the air and do multitudes of suplexes? Yeah that’s Teddy and Marko.
• ACH and Pillman are back in the ring. The match breaks down with dives and counters and superkicks.
• Whenever Swann gets beaten up Striker says “you got to think about the concussions”. Like no we f’n dont.
• Hart Foundation hit a Canadian Destroyer. Davey had Marko on his shoulders and Teddy jumped off the top rope and Canadian destroyed Marko.
• Swann is pinned by a blockbuster powerbomb combo by the Hart Foundation.

And I’m Like… With moves like that, how could we boo The Hart Foundation? That match was very fun with everyone playing their parts very well. There wasn’t much of a story but everyone impressed. Except Matt Striker who lost all goodwill points when he referred to MLW as The League. The show was only two matches and a ton of hype and promos. So it went by quickly and covered a lot of ground. Plus we saw everyone on the woman’s roster..

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