MLW: MLW Fusion Results, Highlights, and Grades: Mexican Massacre
ACH vs Davey Boy Smith Jr
ACH throws Smith off-balance at the start with a standing dropkick and some fancy footwork rolling away from and cartwheeling around his larger opponent. ACH looks for an enziguiri but misses, leading to a dead lift German from Smith to decisively slow things down.
After a failed attempt at the Canadian Stampede power slam, ACH is able to connect with the enziguiri the second time around before delivering his own dead lift German suplex for a two count. ACH, selling the lower back, leaps off of the top rope of one ring into the other with a splash but comes up empty which leaves DBS with an opening for his power slam to put this one away.
Grade: Underwhelming. Wish this one got more time to develop a story.
After ACH’s fiery promo, I had hopes for a lot more from this match. The feud between The Hart Foundation and ACH & Rich Swann has been growing for weeks and this one felt like a little bit of a waste to me, though there is still a trios match with the Harts facing ACH, Swann and Marko Stunt at Fury Road.
I’ve enjoyed Smith’s work lately more than I’ve ever enjoyed him in the past as a part of Killer Elite Squad in NJPW. For whatever reason, the duo never stood out to me but their last few appearances for New Japan have shown me something new. Unfortunately, neither Smith or ACH was able to showcase their talents with such a short match.
The War of Words Escalates
Konnan is backstage and is asked about the looming Mexican Massacre Match between his charge, Pentagon Jr, and Salina de La Renta’s LA Park. Konnan plainly states that anything goes in this match and that, with the two men involved, they will be looking for anything they can to deliver punishment to one another.
de La Renta bursts onto the scene and thanks Konnan for providing Pentagon as a sacrifice to her newest client. Konnan hits back and explains to de La Renta that he has a history with Park and knows how he operates, threatening de La Renta that Park will turn on her at the drop of a hat and align himself with Konnan.
Grade: Meh. Nothing too noteworthy here other than some flaws in Konnan’s logic.
Having the buffer of another promo between the previous match and the main event makes sense, so I get throwing something in here but it didn’t necessarily tantalize me at all. Also, I’m at a loss for Konnan’s logic here – he tells de La Renta that he knows the kind of man who Park is and that he’ll turn on her if he chooses, then Konnan will pick up another client. But, if Park is so flippant with his allegiances that he’ll so easily turn on de La Renta, what would stop him from doing the same to Konnan and why would he want someone with such disregard for his allies?
In any event, the main event is on its way!