MLW Fusion Results, Highlights, and Grades: Marko Stunt Debuts

Tommy Dreamer vs Brody King

King is looking to make a name for himself as the new purveyor of violence in MLW by laying Dreamer to rest. Dreamer, on the other hand, aims to keep his legacy as the face of extreme by felling the larger and younger King.

To be honest, this match wasn’t necessarily my cup of tea for Dreamer and, for once, Matt Striker on commentary echoed my sentiments. Striker pondered whether or not Dreamer truly needed to put himself through these types of matches anymore – matches where ultra-violence reigns and weapons almost undoubtedly become fair game.

Dreamer moves a bit slower around the ring and with every offensive strike from King, The Innovator of Violence seems to feel every one of those 29 years of pain and suffering coursing through his body. For me, as someone who grew up with ECW completely changing my perspective on pro-wrestling, it’s a bit uncomfortable to see Dreamer like this.

Late in the match, King corners the referee after failing to put Dreamer away for a three count and, I think, blows a snot rocker all over the face of the poor referee. Dreamer uses King’s self-distraction to recover long enough to plant him for a DDT before bailing out to the floor and returning to the ring with a cheese grater.

With weapon in hand, Dreamer advances toward King but as the referee wipes the nastiness from his eyes Brody nails Dreamer with a low blow. With Dreamer reeling, King hits a gruesome piledriver for the victory.

Grade: A Bit Uncomfortable. It’s not my cup of tea to see Tommy Dreamer beaten up anymore.

I think there is a spot for someone like Tommy Dreamer on shows, but I don’t know that he needs to be carrying the banner of extreme in quite the same way anymore. I don’t want to see him beaten with weapons or dropped on his head with what looked like a brutal piledriver from King at the end. Every time Dreamer winces in pain, I feel it as well in a way that isn’t super fun to experience.

For King, this is a necessary victory as he looks to come out on top in his No DQ rematch against PCO at Fightland in Chicago. For some reason, watching PCO destroy his body doesn’t give me pause the same way Dreamer does – maybe because PCO is much more flagrantly throwing caution (and his massive frame) into the wind in a way Dreamer doesn’t? It’s hard to say, but one thing you can count on is PCO/King being a savage affair in Chicago.

Lawlor Sets Sights on Fightland

Kaci Lennox is with Tom Lawlor, who is still recovering from an assault at the hands of Sami Callihan ahead of a would-be press conference in Chicago. Lawlor notes that while he’s been beaten both up and down, he hasn’t been beaten and will be the man to finally wrest the MLW World Heavyweight Title from Low Ki.

Lawlor chides Callihan for doing Low Ki’s work, calling him a troll for offering his services to the Promociones Dorado camp. Lawlor tells Callihan that he’s not going to be a Death Machine in Chicago but the first piece of treasure he collects on his way to claiming the gold currently sitting around the waist of Low Ki.

Grade: Very Good. Lawlor continues to grow as a promo.

Lawlor can sometimes come off a bit rushed or stilted in his promos, but he really slowed things down here and focused on every bullet point he needed to hit without speeding through anything. He set the stage nicely for both his coming match with Callihan at Fightland as well as his future World Heavyweight Title shot against Low Ki at Superfight.