MLW Fusion Results, Highlights, and Grades: Battle of the Aces
Callihan’s Promise
Callihan starts off by letting us know that he’s usually yelling and screaming and that he is an intimidating person. Pro-tip: if you have to tell people who you’re intimidating, you’re probably not really all that intimidating.
He goes on to label Jimmy Havoc as a phony who isn’t as crazy as he wants people to believe him to be. Callihan claims that it is he, not Havoc, who is the most violent professional wrestler on the planet. He promises to be the only man who walks out of their Spin The Wheel, Make The Deal match.
Grade: Meh. More of the same from Callihan with nothing that grabs you.
Callihan typically has a solid delivery, as seen in his promo two weeks back building to this match, but this promo felt more like filler than anything else. It’s nothing that we haven’t already heard from him heading into this match and doesn’t up the stakes at all.
Still Swerve’s House?
Shane Strickland shared his thoughts heading into the main event with Tom Lawlor. Strickland flowed back and forth between talking in the third-person, referring to himself by nickname, and speaking like a regular human being. I don’t think wrestlers who speak in the third-person generally start off doing so in a way that endears themselves to the fans. Perhaps a sign of things to come?
In Strickland’s view, Lawlor hasn’t made the same sacrifices that he has for Major League Wrestling. Strickland says that MLW will never find an asset as valuable as himself and that, tonight, he’ll prove that he’s still the franchise player when he defeats Tom Lawlor.
Grade: Good. After a no-show segment last week, it’s good to get a solid promo from Swerve.
Could this be the beginning of a heel turn for Strickland? He certainly has been painted more in that light than Lawlor has in the weeks leading to this match and would create some new interest at the top of the card in MLW.
de La Renta’s Magic Ball
Backstage, de La Renta congratulates Konnan on being able to bring the Lucha Bros back to the United States. She didn’t expect him to be able to pull off such a feat and wonders if he’s been playing with magic before performing a bit of magic of her own – a look into the future for the MLW World Tag Team Titles.
Gazing into the crystal ball sitting atop her cane, Salina prognosticates a bright future for LA Park and Hijo de LA Park in Chicago. She certainly doesn’t predict as such without reason as Pentagon Jr and Fenix have both fallen to LA Park and MLW World Heavyweight Champion Low KI in recent weeks. One more win against the Tag Team Champions could be the nail in the coffin for Konnan.
Grade: Fine. Nothing that will set the world on fire, but a good continuation of the story.
Blah blah blah, delivery delivery delivery. de La Renta, as I’ve mentioned before, comes off a bit wooden in her delivery and I’m hoping that she can spin things around in the coming weeks. She’s been a major focal point of MLW Fusion and is only going to continue as such, so I’m counting on “practice makes perfect” here being the case.
Still, she puts a different spin on the promo building to Fightland which is more than we can say for Callihan’s promo hyping his match with Havoc next week. Points for that!
The Chase is Over for Havoc
In another backstage corridor, Jimmy Havoc is posing in a mask and trench coat as you do. Thankfully, a camera was there to film a promo.
Havoc runs down a few of the options that will be on the wheel in next week’s main event. Perhaps a Dog Collar Match so Callihan can’t run away? Havoc mentions the Prince of Darkness match which he jokes matches his aesthetic. Finally, he knows Callihan doesn’t want the wheel to land on Deathmatch as he’s looking at the King of the Deathmatch.
England’s Most Dangerous Man reminds Callihan that there will be no running and no help from The Death Machines next week. Havoc is going to make the streets of New York run red with Callihan’s blood.
Grade: Very good. A much better build to next week than Callihan’s efforts earlier in the show.
Havoc did what Callihan didn’t do earlier and made me believe here. He hit all of the key elements in quick succession – he noted the problem (that Callihan ran away the last time they fought), mentioned the potential match stipulations, and drove home the fact that Callihan will be alone without the same numbers advantage that he had at War Games.
Solid work here from Havoc all around as I buy him more as a guy who wants to get his revenge on Callihan than I buy Callihan as a guy who wants to beat Havoc up for… reasons.