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MLW Fusion, anyone watching it?


sek69

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So, War Chambers wasn't very good. Yes, there were a bunch a decent moments like Jacob Fatu doing his usual big spots at several points, Low Ki looking good whenever he was featured and Ross Von Erich entrance kinda got some fire, but seriously, they did not tell any story after the final guy entered and it was pretty much an aimless brawl inside a cage that went on *forever*. I find WWE stuff to be way overproduced, but man, putting some kind of thoughts into a gimmick match like this seems necessary. Most of the action was just stuff happening without any dynamic. Kevin von Erich got to do the claw on some masked goon. Samael bled, because that's all he can do well I guess. The ending was pretty good, but it should have happened two minutes after Ross got in, not twelve. 

Salina calling the audience putos was the highlight of the show (I wonder if they even know what it means). That and Teddy Hart taking about "beating on a pussy". I guess they don't have to apologize like Cody did.

Still, I'm definitely gonna cherry pick from now on.

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And this week, the 2/3 falls match between Dynasty and the Hart Foundation was a huge, huge letdown. Everything feels wrong with this company at this point to me. I know these guys are better than this, but I thought it was an extremely mediocre, run-of-the-mill and very poorly laid out match with an endless directionless shine segment, a heatless short heat segment before the first fall and then you had like seven minutes to end the mach on a complete fuck finish. They gave Aria Blake exactly nothing to do (she showed how good she was in the ladder match, so why ?). And the MLW crowd was as dead as ever, when MJF can't barely get heat, it's pretty bad. I'm gonna keep on until the PPV, but really... Hope Salina's contract runs out and she gets money and exposure elsewhere.

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10 hours ago, El-P said:

And this week, the 2/3 falls match between Dynasty and the Hart Foundation was a huge, huge letdown. Everything feels wrong with this company at this point to me. I know these guys are better than this, but I thought it was an extremely mediocre, run-of-the-mill and very poorly laid out match with an endless directionless shine segment, a heatless short heat segment before the first fall and then you had like seven minutes to end the mach on a complete fuck finish. They gave Aria Blake exactly nothing to do (she showed how good she was in the ladder match, so why ?). And the MLW crowd was as dead as ever, when MJF can't barely get heat, it's pretty bad. I'm gonna keep on until the PPV, but really... Hope Salina's contract runs out and she gets money and exposure elsewhere.

I've been an MLW defender in general, but on last week I absolutely have to agree - the tag match was a massive disappointment. I've really enjoyed the feud going in - the video package that showed all the different interactions showcased something I really enjoy in wrestling when you get stables feuding, with lots of different combinations of guys in matches, and as EL-P says, the ladder match these teams had a few months back was really fun, with some great involvement from Aria Blake, but this match was just... odd... there was no flow to it at all.

I get the stalling at the beginning as in character for the Dynasty, but there wasn't that big cathartic moment when the Hart Foundation got their hands on them, they just sort of ambled into lifeless brawling. After that, nothing happened...at all. I enjoyed DBS Jnr's shoot style match with Tim Thatcher from a few months ago, but him trying to do that with Richard Holliday, who I think has been a great character in MLW, was awkward as anything. It was late and I'm a new Dad, but I must've fallen asleep at least three times trying to watch this. 

They also made no use of the 2/3 fall stip, which can create a great structure for some really interesting story telling, but when the first fall was DBS just seemingly falling over, and then the final fall being an ambiguous count out, you got the final reaction where the crowd didn't even boo, they just seemed confused. 

The thing I like most about MLW is the aesthetic of the promotion. I know some of it is a bit hokey at times, but the old school territory in the 21st century homage they are seemingly going for absolutely appeals to my tastes. However, I can't deny, as people like EL-P and Migs have said, they do seem - for whatever reason - to quite often screw up the big match. I'm still a fan of the promotion, and enjoyed the War Chamber match more than most (while acknowledging that there were some big flaws in it's execution) but after a positive couple of episodes a few weeks back, the standard seems to be slipping again.   

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I had the same feelings as you guys on the 2/3 falls match. Surprisingly poorly structured, terrible finishes to the falls, no heat at all. And long to boot! I'll admit, the Dynasty against the Von Erichs is an intriguing matchup, though, and they set up Hart-Aries for the PPV. 

@TonyPulis'Cap, staying up to all hours with a new baby is actually how I ended up getting into MLW when it started last year. It's an excellent show to just sort of watch in the background while taking care of a newborn. If you're looking for episodic wrestling TV to fill more time, PCW Ultra's show on Youtube is also pretty good and doesn't require a lot of mental investment.

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Three strikes and you're out. The Dallas tapings really were no good. Mance Warner vs Jimmy Havoc was a really lame comedy garbage brawl, typical Havoc stuff, with mostly a poor use of the Bunkhouse Brawl aspect of the gimmick (they got back to using chairs, ring bell and those damn wood board in no time). I will give Havoc credit for stuffing his own head into a pumpkin, which aws funny, but apart from that, I was not into it at all. And I'm not hard to entertain as far as garbage matches goes. At this point Warner has dropped even lower though. Gimmicky from A to Z, he hasn't delivered jackshit unless paired against excellent workers, annoying promo to boot. At least Havoc looked decent in a straight wrestling match in AEW and was quite ok in the insane three-way brawl. The post-match going full gore was kinda odd after a match involving hays and pumpkins. 

I noticed Salina wasn't at those tapings. Her presence being reduced to nothing surely did not help that series of show. The neverending matches between #Injustice, whose gimmick is beyond stupid (they basically feud against the *referee* over being checked) and awful zero-personnality indie spot monkeys like Gringo Loco & Air Wolf are just fast forward material. I enjoy Tim Thatcher, but I would love to see him in IMPACT or AEW instead.

With Dynamite beginning this week, I'm afraid I'm gonna throw MLW to the woodpile, this show has not delivered anything worthwhile to me in eons.

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7 hours ago, El-P said:

I noticed Salina wasn't at those tapings. Her presence being reduced to nothing surely did not help that series of show. The neverending matches between #Injustice, whose gimmick is beyond stupid (they basically feud against the *referee* over being checked) and awful zero-personnality indie spot monkeys like Gringo Loco & Air Wolf are just fast forward material. I enjoy Tim Thatcher, but I would love to see him in IMPACT or AEW instead.

Salina was there, she and Park came out to announce the cash-in there.

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Well, you can't say I'm not giving MLW chances after chances after chances (I guess the WCW project and watching the entire TNA from he 00's made me quite endurant). And it finally paid off ! I really enjoyed this week's show.

First, Los Parks (El Hijo was sporting a wonderful shiny red outfit) vs two guys from The Crash I would guess, Magnus being their Mistico of sorts (how many is there ?), which was a really cool crazy-ass lucha match in which LA Park worked really hard, doing an insane for his age plancha from the top rope over the barricade to the floor and other cool stuff. And Salina was there in all her glory.

The addition of Dominic Garrini and Tim Thatcher and the prospect of shoot-style/bloodsporty type matches with Tom Lawlor (and maybe others ? Davey Boy ? Hell, try to book Killer Kross !) has gotten my interest up.

The main event had Aries finally showing up as the great worker he is, giving Pillman his best single match yet. Likewise, I'm interested in his match with Teddy Hart now.

So yeah, finally, MLW delivered a good show with the final Dallas tapings episode. The next one(s?) are gonna be from a Crash show I believe, which is quite cool in and of itself, so here's hoping they get on a streak of cool episodes leading to their first PPV. 

Also, Tony Schiavone dropped this during the first match : "You gotta let the match breathe. You don't have to call everything." Is Mauro listening ? Anyway, another reason why I love Tony.

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The card shuffling for cutting the show into 4 weeks of TV was interesting, especially since they had to realize "hey, we're airing Teddy making a run-in on Aries 2 weeks after Aries brainbustered Teddy but we taped Aries/Pillman first"... or the "hey, one of the refs that was attacked by Injustice is in the next match we're airing"... it doesn't really make the MLW physician look strong if the referee isn't taking his advice though.

Looking at the spoilers, the live match order+when it aired was.. Garrini making a 10 year old tap out (week 4), Brien/Banks, Parka Cash-in (week 1), Loco/Airwolf vs Injustice (week 3), Aries/Pillman (week 4), Werner/Havoc (week 3), Thatcher/James (week 3, before Werner/Havoc), Parks vs Magnus+Septimo (week 4), Oliver/Zenshi (week 2), Dynasty/Harts (week 2), and War Chamber (week 1). So gotta balance out the "hey, this is a real card" and "hey, we're gonna get 4 weeks of TV out of this"

Also, LA Park must be a very caring soul because that Parks/Magnus+Septimo match was really generous. It would have probably made more sense for the guy getting the title shot in a few weeks to be a little stronger in that match. Skinny Park could eat a little bit more of the babyface's offense because Daddy Park is getting a big match. I probably would have picked a finish other than a Lucha dick kick but then again, low blows and mask pulls are proud match finishes in the 2019 CMLL that I keep watching. The match was pretty good in it's own realm.

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Pretty cool episode this week if only because it was taped at a Crash event. The first MLW match had Hammerstone vs Rey Horus in a good match. Not a fan of Hammerstone, I find him dull in the ring, but Horus really made it work and he's seen as a star there, so it's probably the best match I've seen of him since LU. This guy should really go somewhere at one point. Second one was Dynasty vs Los Parks, which really wasn't very good because of a brutal clash of styles. Dynasty can't do lucha to save their life, so they work Larry Z. style and although they did get heat, the match itself kinda died, especially with an anticlimatic finish.

Salina was all over this episode though, with a good promo against Samael (who's good in the mouthpiece role but should just not work) and the best line of the show when she confronted Dynasty outside the building : "Don't get kidnapped" :lol: 

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Odd choice for the last build to the PPV to showcase a taping from The Crash. Still, these episodes have been quite enjoyable thus far. More luchadors, more Salina, that's what you need. The Tijuana brawl between Samael & Hijo de LA Park was kinda cool in a 1999 hardcore match way, but way to short to amount to anything. More an angle than anything else. Savio vs Damian vs Havoc was as good a match you could expect from these three really, with old-ass Savio taking a superplex through a table (he's what, 55 ?), Havoc doing some actual funny stuff like sitting on a chair with thumbtacks then running the ropes holding his ass, total cartoon style. I guess we'll get Havoc vs Bestia 666 next week. The PPV is actually shaping up to be quite ok on paper, with several interesting matches like Tim Thatcher vs Tom Lawler, Dynasty vs Von Erich in a Texas Tornado match ("what is that, we can't wear shoes", dixit Hammerstone), Aries vs Teddy, Fatu vs LA Park. Warner vs Havoc could be either good in a disgusting way or totally suck. The six-men I really don't care at all (Gringo Loco makes sure of that). No women match on a US show really has an odd feel at this stage though.

Best line of the week, Salina again, to Jimmy Havoc : "You like blood, what does that even means, you have your period ?"

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Is "dixit" French for "said"? I took seven years of Latin and "dixit" is "said" also. It has nothing to do with wrestling, but it is really cool that my Latin actually came in handy. Not so dead after all!

Ill make it pro wrestling-related...Austin Aires went to MLW!?! I had forgotten about him. I like him; Im glad he is doing something. What's Low-Ki up to? Timothy Thatcher is there? Very cool! I love seeing him live in Beyond, glad he is on a TV Show. He is awesome!

I feel like if MLW, ROH, NWA and Impact merged they would actually have a half-way decent roster to compete with WWE and AEW.

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1 hour ago, Superstar Sleeze said:

Is "dixit" French for "said"? I took seven years of Latin and "dixit" is "said" also. It has nothing to do with wrestling, but it is really cool that my Latin actually came in handy. Not so dead after all!

Yes, we use it to quote something that has been said, it's straight up Latin. We still use a number a Latin expressions, mostly without knowing what the hell they litteraly means. I for one have never learn any Latin, so there you go, you just taught me what dixit actually means.

1 hour ago, Superstar Sleeze said:

I feel like if MLW, ROH, NWA and Impact merged they would actually have a half-way decent roster to compete with WWE and AEW.

For sure. Booked by D'Amore & Callis, preferably, called by Callis & Schiavone (I would love that team), with the business side handled by Corgan. Bauer can fuck off. :lol:

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Just now, Laz said:

Bauer has the production value, man. He's always made MLW look great for its budget.

True that. Ok, I'll give him that. Just don't let him book jackshit.

And ROH.... well, ROH has a bunch of cool people under contract and a NJPW relationship (for now).

Of course, who are we kidding, none of this will happen, but yeah, the talent is there, both in the ring and in production/booking.

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To me, a bit like the Impact shows from Mexico, the idea of MLW taping stuff with the Crash has been better in theory than execution. I'm all for wrestling shows being in different buildings and giving shows different looks - part of my disconnect with WWE is that every show, outside of Mania, looks exactly the same - but the pros of having a lively crowd, have been outweighed by the cons of having random matches with talent that has nothing to do with any of the companies story lines. Having some fresh guys involved can be fun, but this close to trying to build to a PPV? Doesn't make sense to me. Plus, and I know some people round here are into Lucha brawls, but some of the matches with The Crash guys, while entertaining, have been a bit of a mess. Again, I think WWE's historic obsession with people having a certain look has been detrimental at points, but that six man a couple of weeks ago was filled with guys that look like they would be more at home wrestling in your backyard rather than on TV. 

In saying that, the PPV next week to me looks decent on paper, and I'm interested in quite a few of the matches. However, again, as with Impact and Bound For Glory, the PPV seems to look decent in spite of some of the TV building up to it rather than because of it.    

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I skipped last week's episode but checked this one out for Hart Foundations - Dragon Lee / Xtreme Tiger. Lived up to my expectations. Pillman is really rounding into form as a worker and a character - he didn't seem totally out of place in there against Lee, which he almost certainly would have a year ago.

I'm still not sure if I'm going to get the PPV. It looks solid but there's no single match that's moving me to pull the trigger.

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33 minutes ago, Migs said:

I skipped last week's episode but checked this one out for Hart Foundations - Dragon Lee / Xtreme Tiger. Lived up to my expectations. Pillman is really rounding into form as a worker and a character - he didn't seem totally out of place in there against Lee, which he almost certainly would have a year ago.

What struck me is how small most of the luchadors are. Pillman is not a huge guy, and Dragon Lee looked tiny next to him. The match was quite fun yeah, a good learning experience for Pillman for sure. I have enjoyed those Crash episodes quite a bit. What MLW really needs is : luchadors, Salina, Dynasty, Hart Foundation and more Salina.

LA Park should win the title, since it's almost never defended anyway. The guy is ridiculously good still. Fatu, as cool as some of his stuff looks, really has done jackshit with the title, even Tom Lawlor's reign was more memorable.

Yeah, the PPV looks interesting despite the booking (which is, infact, the opposite of IMPACT, which has a really strong, logical, building up to big shows booking up and down the cards every time)

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2 minutes ago, El-P said:

LA Park should win the title, since it's almost never defended anyway. The guy is ridiculously good still. 

This is one of the problems with the once a month tapings - once guys get the title,  there's two options - have them do a title defense every month that isn't really built to, or do a big chase and stall the champion's momentum. Fatu's title reign, which is at like 4 months now, has basically just been a rematch with Lawlor and some multi-man matches. Lawlor had a rematch with Ki, okayish matches with Havok and the German guy... and that's all I can remember.

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So has anybody seen the MLW PPV yet?  I looked through my PPV listings last night, and didn't see it being offered as a traditional PPV, so I didn't order it.  For the record, it was probably a dumb idea to schedule this show the same night as a UFC show - especially one featuring the return of one of the Diaz brothers, who are proven to draw PPV buys.  Regardless, Larry Csonka over at 411 gave the MLW PPV a very good review, and I tend to agree with his opinions about most things.  Just wondering if any of the MLW fans here at PWO had seen the show and what they thought?

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3 hours ago, The Thread Killer said:

So has anybody seen the MLW PPV yet?  I looked through my PPV listings last night, and didn't see it being offered as a traditional PPV, so I didn't order it.  For the record, it was probably a dumb idea to schedule this show the same night as a UFC show - especially one featuring the return of one of the Diaz brothers, who are proven to draw PPV buys.  Regardless, Larry Csonka over at 411 gave the MLW PPV a very good review, and I tend to agree with his opinions about most things.  Just wondering if any of the MLW fans here at PWO had seen the show and what they thought?

Fite app's got it.

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I watched the ppv and thoroughly enjoyed it. Probably my favourite show of the year, actually. I think all the matches delivered to some degree, with Hart/Aries, Thatcher/Lawlor and especially Park/Fatu being really strong. The main event had everything I wanted it to have, except for a new champion. Definitely worth the money.

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I watched it. It was dope. Felt like an old ECW card as they kind of had everything up & down the card. They had the Lucha spotfest. They had the lightweight wrestling title match. The hardcore stuff. The strong style stuff. Etc. Aries/Hart was pretty good. Probably the best Teddy Hart match I've ever watched. At least that I can remember. I didn't like him for a long time & it feels like he's really toned down the high spot stuff. I even bought into one of the false finishes. Timothy Thatcher Vs. Filthy Tom Lawlor surprised me a lot. I've really come around on Lawlor lately & feel like he would be a big pick-up for any promotion. It kind of felt like a mix between an old school NWA match & like a stiff strong style NJPW match. Kind of gave me early Buzz Sawyer feels. And I've spoken before about my love of Jacob Fatu. That dude is a superstar in the making. The next Umaga. Just a freak. I also think Josef Samauel as a manager/mouthpiece is probably the best play for him. 

I don't like Gringo Loco or Jimmy Havoc & even the matches they were in didn't bother me. Even the Von Erich tag was fine. It was a good show that I would recommend. 

 

Oh, also, I know that Salina during LA Park's entrance is gonna get El-P FIRED UP! Gonna be a Bluechew ad. 

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3 hours ago, Coffey said:

Felt like an old ECW card as they kind of had everything up & down the card.

3 hours ago, Coffey said:

Oh, also, I know that Salina during LA Park's entrance is gonna get El-P FIRED UP! Gonna be a Bluechew ad. 

Ok, now you've got me seriously hyped up about this one.

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