MLW Fusion Results, Highlights, and Grades: Battle of the Aces
Tom Lawlor vs Shane Strickland
The match MLW has been building to over the past month or so is here as we look to determine who is the true Ace of Major League Wrestling. Will it be Strickland, the former World Heavyweight Champion who looks to regain his lost prize in Chicago or “Filthy” Tom Lawlor who still holds a guaranteed shot at the champion as a result of his Battle Riot victory?
Strickland seems to be straddling the line as a tweener based on his words and actions over the past several weeks. To add to the mix, he’s no longer coming out to “Ain’t Nobody” (or a knockoff of it) which is one of the greatest crimes against humanity I’ve seen in the past fifteen years.
Things take a turn for the sloppy early on as Lawlor takes a spill on the apron while trying to avoid Strickland’s attack and mount one of his own. The two recover nicely with Strickland taking a moment to point out Lawlor’s mistake furthering his claims leading up to the match that he’s one step ahead of the leader of Team Filthy.
The two eventually find themselves on the floor on the opposite side of the ring where Strickland focuses his attack on the left arm. Lawlor damages the arm himself when he misses a clothesline, wrapping his arm around the steel ring post instead of Strickland’s head.
The story of the match quickly becomes Lawlor’s damaged left arm as well as an increase in intensity from Strickland. Not that he doesn’t fight with gusto in general, but there is a different air about Strickland who seems more frustrated than anything as he works over Lawlor.
With Lawlor mounting a comeback, Salina de La Renta appears on the ramp as Low Ki, who had been on commentary the entire match, drops his headset and walks along seat backs to make his way through the crowd and into the ring. Ki connects with a rolling koppu kick on the elbow of Lawlor’s injured arm and then calls on Strickland to pick up the fight on Lawlor.
Despite the three-on-one odds, Lawlor is able to fight back and wrap his good arm around the neck of Strickland in a rear naked choke. Lawlor, unable to use his left arm to help apply pressure, bites the partially undone wrist tape on his right wrist to cinch in the move leading to a Strickland tapout.
Grade: Great. A fantastic match with some seeds planted for the future between three main event wrestlers.
Why would Salina and Low Ki want Strickland to win this match so badly? With the recent change in attitude for Strickland, do signs point to another big-name signing to Promociones Dorado or was this simply an uneasy partnership between Ki and Strickland? It’s going to be interesting to see what the dynamic is between Ki and Strickland as we build to Fightland in Chicago.
After the match, Lawlor is met on the ramp by Kaci Lennox who wants to know when Lawlor is going to cash in his Battle Riot opportunity. Lawlor finally answers the question everybody has been asking and stakes his claim to the MLW World Heavyweight Championship at MLW Superfight on February 2. Lawlor wraps up with a bit of an endearingly cheesy line asking New York whether or not it’s “time to get Filthy.”