MLW Fusion Results, Highlights, and Grades: War Games
The wait is over and War Games is upon us! Ten men will collide inside of the two-ring steel cage monstrosity with one goal in mind – the utter destruction of each man who stands against them. Strickland wants revenge and Callihan wants to bring even more destruction to MLW.
Before we even get to the action, ring announcer Tim Barr runs through the rules. As much as the match itself is something to behold, Barr lends a voice to the introduction that I don’t see being matched anywhere in WWE right now. As he hits each bullet point on the War Games stipulations checklist, his voice harkens back to that of a Howard Finkel or even a Michael Buffer whose booming voices lend weight and credibility to whatever they’re saying. He ends with probably my favorite lead-in to any gimmick match – “Let the War Games begin!”
Period 1
Kotto Brazil and Fulton are the first two men to enter the cage for their teams in the initial 5-minute period. To be more accurate, I guess I should say that Kotto is the first man to both enter and leave the cage. As Fulton looked to make his way through the cage door, Kotto dove through the door with a suicide dive to drive himself and Fulton through a table at ringside! Back in the ring, Fulton caught a flying Kotto in mid-air with a right hand before struggling to hurl the smaller man around the ring. Brazil was able to escape almost every attempt by Fulton until finally being thrown into the cage wall before being heaved from one ring into the next by one half of the Death Machines.
Fulton took a page out of Kotto’s book with an impressive top-rope missile dropkick for a man 6’8″ and hovers around 300 pounds. Fulton punished Brazil for the remaining time in the period until the next man entered the fray – John Hennigan!
Periods 2 & 3
With the 2-on-1 advantage, Strickland’s team was able to quell Fulton’s rampage with a little bit of teamwork. Hennigan showcased some fancy, though maybe a little sloppy, footwork on the top rope before taking Fulton down with a spinning heel kick from the top rope. Just as the two men began to get their bearings about them and take decisive control over Fulton, the countdown began to bring in the next competitor – Jimmy Havoc.
Havoc, his face painted reminiscent of Road Warrior Hawk, begins by bending back the digits of Hennigan before pulling out an 8×10 glossy from the back of his tights. Havoc proceeds to deliver paper cuts to the webbing of Hennigan’s fingers, his armpit and mouth with Brazil receiving the paper cut treatment across his mouth. The paper cut spot is always a little bit silly to me, but it helps that everyone in the crowd always plays along as if they’ve just seen someone getting shot in the center of the ring. It also adds to the psychotic nature of Havoc whose sole mission in MLW is to cause others to feel pain.
As expected, Havoc and Fulton dominated Brazil and Hennigan with the ebb and flow of War Games. After beating both men with a stop sign, the countdown began to bring out the leader of the opposition, Shane Strickland.
Periods 4 & 5
As Strickland made his way to the ring, Sami Callihan appeared from behind and bulldozed him. The former MLW World Heavyweight Champion went careening into the railing on the stairs leading to the ring. Callihan is sporting his fresh haircut coming off of a loss to Pentagon Jr at Impact Wrestling’s Slammiversary, and it makes him look like an even more insane goblin than he looked like with hair.
Callihan sends “Swerve” flying off of the stage and through a table on the arena floor before following up with a powerbomb through the remnants of the very same table. After slamming the cage door on the head of Hennigan, Callihan stomps his way into the cage throwing off the entire dynamic of the back-and-forth nature of War Games.
As he enters the match, Callihan immediately begins directing traffic which ups the overall chaos factor of everything so far. With Hennigan draped over a table, Havoc is sent to the top rope to deliver an elbow sending both men crashing through the wood and to the mat. Fulton and Callihan follow this with a double-team electric chair splash before Brazil is lawn-darted one more time into the cage from Callihan’s charging crucifix powerbomb.
During all of this madness, Strickland is carried out of the arena by a group of officials before Tommy Dreamer made his way to the ring with a trash can full of weapons.