Last week on MLW Fusion: Ace Austin continued to impress while Rich Swann kept up with his heel antics after losing to Austin. Alex Hammerstone made his debut, not sure what his gimmick is going forward but he wrestles in, what looks to be, uncomfortable pants. MJF and Teddy Hart wrestled a Teddy Hart style match, which did no favors for MJF.
Cold Open-
A recap of the MJF/Teddy Hart Middleweight Championship match. Teddy Hart matches are almost better in video package form because his highlight reel moves don’t have any context in the match. After the match Teddy got attacked by MJF and Richard Holliday.
MANCER IS FINALLY HERE!!!
Lance Anoa’i vs. Rich Swann
- Lance Anoa’i looks like the rest of his family, let’s hope he wrestles like them too. It’s nice to see the Anoa’i family isn’t regulated to just WWE.
- Rich Swann gets a backstage promo. He is trying to sing and talk and does weird voices. He is thanking fans but it looks sarcastic. I have no idea what dude is doing with his character. Just cockier. The crowd is still behind him and he still kind of plays to the crowd but is trying to be a different kind of heel. It’s some weird shit.
- Swann still wrestles with his flippy and flamboyant offense, which seems fan friendly to me.
- Lance is hitting heritage moves on Swann. Samoan drops, dives to the outside, headbutts and chops. The crowd is reacting to all of it.
- That damn “CONTRA” interruption happened again. It happened twice last week. Has to be a new faction or wrestler. It’s starting to get my attention though.
- Swann does a great bit where the ref was trying to tell him something was illegal and Swann said “THIS IS ILLEGAL” and grabs Lance’s hair and pulls it for the count of four. Then we see four crowd shots in a row, making me think Swann did something that wasn’t supposed to be on television.
- Lance is hitting hip attacks and standing backflips. He looks like you could put him in with The Headshrinkers and it would be a perfect fit. The gear is almost the same, but Lance is wearing shoes, which shouldn’t be as weird as it seems.
- Swann went for his second rope Phoenix splash but missed. Lance is able to hit a superkick on Swann and goes for a 450. Anoa’i misses the splash and Swann rolls up Lance while grabbing the ropes for the win.
And I’m Like… Rich continues to cheat and seem more aggressive, that’s what the match story was and that’s where Swann’s storyline continues to go. This match was pretty good and a great opener for the show. Very impressed by Lance Anoa’i. Really wish there was some character development with Lance.
Filthy Tom cuts another wrestling promo that tries to sound like a fight promo.
MJF cuts a promo on Teddy Hart being a phony. MJF’s promo ability is out of this world, his facial expressions really bring it home. I realized that wrestling promo’s and sitcom acting have a lot in common. Over acting and hamming it up. Richard Holliday shows up because he is rich and comes from a great family. MJF found someone just like him. It’ a great pairing.
Mance Warner cuts a promo with a white board a light beer. Mancer tells us this is his gimmick. How he plans to win the match by drinking light beer, using eye pokes, putting his knee pad up and dramatic pause…. puts the knee pad down, then hitting the lariat for the win. Then he hits the pay window for some more light beers. MANCER IS AMAZING!!! He is like Stone Cold meets Dusty Rhodes meets the entire ECW meets Dick Slater meets Terry Funk and the hick part of the south. It’s the greatest.
A highlight package of Aerostar’s abilities by showing clips from Mexico. It’s a nice change of pace for MLW promo stuff.
Mance Warner vs. Jimmy Yuta
- Jimmy Yuta is a very talented wrestler but he is the third best wrestler with light up face gear. Mustafa Ali and DJZ are a step above him.
- Mancer comes out with a bunch of energy and the crowd eats it up. Dude comes off as a star instantly. He has IT.
- Yuta finally started landing some punches, which made Mancer smile. Mancer was asking for more shots to the face, which didn’t work out for him.
- Mancer is a brawler but is able to wrestle too. Jimmy is trying everything he can but Mancer is relentless.
- Mancer is able to dodge the triangle dropkick and feinted a punch that led to Mancer connecting with a DDT on the apron.
- Mancer finally hit the eye poke and the crowd popped big for it. “One More Time”by the crowd and Mancer obliged. The ref doesn’t say that eye pokes are illegal.
- Yuta is going for a pin after every move he hits. Yuta knows he is in over his head and that Mancer is dangerous.
- Mancer puts his knee pad up and his knee pad down, hits the running knee, follows that up with a lariat and Mancer wins.
And I’m Like… Good Ol’ Mancer is fantastic. Yuta was there as a set piece to the show that is Mance Warner. This dude will be the talk of wrestling in less than five years.
Teddy Hart and Davey Smith cut some promo stuff. Teddy challenges anyone to fight Davey. Calls out Brock, says CM Punk has some big balls. Talks about Backwoods cigar’s being the worlds best cigar. Says he isn’t going to AEW and mentions that he and Davey have all the money they need. Teddy made it through drug dealing and Davey saved his WWE and Japan money. These guys are outrageous.
A Rey Horus move package to familiarize us with him before the main event.
Rey Horus vs. Aerostar
- Aerostar has a mask on and wears a face mask over it for his entrance. Very extravagant and very cool.
- Rey Horus comes out in just his normal mask and gear. It’s cool that these are both lucha dudes with their masks but one is very minimalist and the other one isn’t.
- This is a typical lucha match. Lots of action and very little selling. The timing is on point and both these dudes know what they are doing.
- Aerostar is the best wrestler with light up ring gear. These other amateurs out here with light up entrance gear, but they don’t have actual ring gear that lights up.
- Horus hits a dive over the turnbuckles and the crowd erupts with “Lucha” chants.
- This match is all “movez” but they are sequenced and strung together very well. It’s hard to describe everything that is happening, and with lucha matches, there is little emphasis on in-ring storytelling.
- Aerostar hits a step up dive to the outside. ACH used to do that move to but he almost destroyed himself and will no longer do it. Aerostar seems to still be willing to take that risk.
- Horus hits the code red sunset flip powerbomb from the top rope for the win.
And I’m Like… That match was entertaining from start to finish. Very hard to take your eyes off of it. I look for story over everything in wrestling, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy this type of wrestling. Very good stuff from these two.
