MLW Fusion Results, Highlights, and Grades: Highs and Lows for MJF & Aria

We get a quick recap of last week’s War Games match which saw Callihan and his Ravagers take a tapout loss to Barrington Hughes and Kotto Brazil in the form of a tandem crossface with barbed wire assistance. The package highlights the dissolution of the relationship between Sami Callihan and Jimmy Havoc stemming from Havoc’s Acid Rainmaker flattening “The Draw” toward the end of the match.

Jimmy Havoc Makes A Challenge

Havoc cuts a short promo telling Callihan that his anger is misdirected and that his anger should fall on Fulton who tapped out in The Match Beyond. Havoc challenges Callihan to a fight as recompense for the attack from The Death Machines following War Games. Havoc is calm and will use his serenity to capitalize on the mistakes that an angry Callihan will undoubtedly make.

Grade: Good. MLW is great at producing short, punchy promos to move storylines along that accomplish more in 45 seconds than some promos do in 15 minutes.

I’m still not quite sure how I feel about Jimmy Havoc as a whole. I’d always heard his name as a deathmatch guy and that skewed my opinion of him before he arrived in MLW. His work in MLW is the first I’m really seeing of him, and he’s brought the deathmatch vibes to every feud he’s been a part of so far. To his credit, Havoc understands the virtues of deathmatches along with the when and why they should be used as stated in a recent interview with the Daily Star:

"“Hardcore matches are at their best when they end a feud – if it does not call for it, then there is no point in doing it.”"

Still, I would love to see what Havoc can do outside of the realm of hardcore wrestling in MLW.

MJF & Aria Blake vs Joey Ryan & Taya Valkyrie

Before the match, we’re treated to a backstage interview with MJF and Aria where the World Middleweight Champion pontificates on his disdain for women’s wrestling and, while he’s at it, women’s voting rights. Aria wins him over by promising to leave Taya laying in a heap the same way she left Joey Janela. MJF loves the idea and proceeds to show Aria his rock hard… abs before we cut to a break.

I’ll just let it be known right here and now – MJF is a national treasure. He pours himself into the character and is as much a joy to watch wrestle as he is to watch cut promos or interact with the crowd. For someone so young, MJF has already shown that he has a solid grasp on the sport and his upside is bonkers.

The match starts off with the usual Joey Ryan antics with MJF informing the crowd that under no circumstances will he “touch it.” Joey suggests that if MJF won’t touch it, perhaps Aria Blake will. MJF goes into a fit of rage yelling at the crowd and pacing in the ring before Aria tags herself in.

Aria steps into the ring with a waiting Joey but instead of touching it, Aria grabs two fistfuls of ample chest hair before snapmaring him to the canvas. Aria follows with kicks to the back and chest before a somersault senton and double knees combination for a two count. Aria tags out to MJF then proceeds to commit perhaps the greatest act of villainy in all of professional wrestling by wiping her baby oil saturated hands off on MJF’s scarf.

After unwisely attempting an inverted atomic drop on the bionic groin of Ryan, MJF finds himself in trouble as Taya is tagged into the ring for the first time in MLW. Taya scores a near-fall after a drop toehold into Ryan’s magic package, but as MJF gets back to his feet he proclaims that he’s not going to hit a woman.

Taya uses the momentary lapse in judgment from MJF to make an offensive run on him before tagging Ryan back in. The rest of the match is fairly back and forth until a crucial miscalculation sees Joey superkick Taya instead of MJF. Aria attempts a low blow on Joey but injures her own arm, but the distraction allows MJF to roll The King of Sleaze up for the three.

After the match, the double-jointed Aria shows off her horrifically disfigured arm as a result of low-blowing Joey. The duo makes their way to the stage where MJF recounts the dismissal of all of the Joeys of MLW – Ryan and Janela. Before he can get too far, though, Joey Janela bursts out from the back and attacks the World Middleweight Champion!

MJF is able to sneak a low blow (or, as Schiavone calls it, “right in the bad boys”) on Janela before he and Aria escape to the back.

Grade: Great. A super fun match with solid performances all around including two in-ring debuts.

I’m excited to see more of Aria Blake in the ring and, of course, more of Taya in MLW. Everything here advanced storylines and characters more than anything else on the show as MJF continues to make himself the target of Joeys around the world. With Aria and MJF now a pair, will Janela resurface in MLW with Penelope Ford by his side? Hopefully, the injury suffered to Janela at Friday night’s GCW show won’t keep him out of action for too long.