MLW Fusion: Jason Cade And Jimmy Yuta Steal the Show
Credit: MLW.com
Simon Gotch was back at it again this week with his bag-o-money, offering up a rich prize to any individual who could last 5 minutes in the ring with him. Gotch has yet to find himself a suitable challenger, but was tonight the night?
Much to the delight of the always-enjoyable Tony Schiavone on commentary, Gotch upped the purse from a measly $250 to a whopping $500. That’s twice as much! He’s a true humanitarian, people.
Gotch seems like he’s having a ton of fun here as he cuts the pre-match promo touting the challenge. He certainly got to show off his character work during his tenure in NXT, but this really feels like Gotch has found a flow for his carnival-barker-esque style. He helps to fill out Team Filthy to make the group one of the most well-rounded groups on the roster. All three men can go in the ring, but Gotch definitely has an edge on the charisma chart with Lawlor not far behind. Yehi ups the in-ring abilities of the group which will only challenge everybody to step up their game on all levels.
In the ensuing match, Gotch handily defeated Angel Pierce who was promoted as a boxer with a 23-0 record, 18 of those victories coming via knockout. Angel competed with his boxing gloves on but his punches were useless against Gotch who took them in stride before laying the challenger out with the Gotch-style Piledriver for a quick victory. This week, Gotch keeps the cash!
After the match, we get a promo from Abyss pumping up the coming War Games match on September 6. He tells the story of Sami Callihan calling him up to ask him to join his War Games team and, for some reason, the idea of Abyss receiving a phone call is hysterical to me. Imagining him sitting at home in full Abyss gear just waiting for the phone to ring is an image I need to see realized, so you artists out there should get to work and draw that puppy up. Abyss warns Strickland and his teammates that in Fort Lauderdale, he’ll show all of them “just what a monster I am.”
Following this, we’re treated to another video package where Low Ki provides the voiceover to detail the long-running issues between Salina de La Renta, Konnan, and the Lucha Bros. This whole thing felt like a video game cutscene in the best way possible. MLW, still gaining notoriety as he continues to grow, has the ability to take some chances with its video packages and this one hit the mark.
Ki builds to his match with Fenix at War Games as well as the match between LA Park and Pentagon which is being billed as a Mexican Death Match as well as a Mexican Massacre. The Mexican/Texas Death Match is one of my top-5 gimmick matches of all-time, so if Park and Pentagon are allowed to push the envelope we should be in for one Hell of a fight on September 6.