MLW Fusion Results, Highlights, and Grades: Death of The Death Machine

Chicago Street Fight: Tom Lawlor vs Sami Callihan

Callihan has long been doing the bidding for Salina de la Renta and Promociones Dorado, and this match is a continuation of de la Renta’s attempt to squash every challenger placed in front of Low Ki. So far, she’s been successful and Callihan has been a strong ally in that respect. The self-professed Draw is fresh off of winning his feud with Jimmy Havoc and the question remains to be answered – who can take out Sami Callihan?

Lawlor is looking to cash in his Battle Riot World Heavyweight Title Shot at Superfight in February, but a loss here against Callihan could be the hiccup in momentum that knocks his confidence back the same as we’ve seen with former champion Shane Strickland as of late.

This one started off with two of my favorite features of a street fight – Lawlor showed up in street clothes and the fight started before both men could even get into the ring. Lawlor called Callihan to the aisle to start things off and as Callihan charged Lawlor with a kendo stick, the leader of Team Filthy would duck and lock The Death Machine in a rear naked choke for the briefest of moments. Callihan, still clutching the kendo stick, was able to strike Lawlor with the weapon to break the hold before being tossed over the barricade into the crowd. Callihan returned with a trash can using the can itself as a weapon before dumping Chicago’s trash all over a prone Lawlor.

After fighting their way back toward the ring, Callihan setup a table against the barricade which was teased a handful of times without a body being thrown through it. The Draw was finally able to catch Lawlor off-guard and send him through the wood with a death valley driver as both men writhed on the arena floor.

The two would finally make their way into the ring where Callihan, frustrated at not having put Lawlor away already, revealed his trusty baseball bat from underneath the ring. Unfortunately for Callihan, Lawlor was primed and fought back against The Worldwide Desperado before taking control of the bat himself. Rather than using the weapon, Lawlor snapped the bat over his knee and locked Callihan in the rear naked once more.

Using a table previously set up in the corner, Callihan was able to drive Lawlor (and himself) through the table backward, but Lawlor’s perseverance was on display as he crawled toward Callihan and locked him in the choke once more. With one final attempt at survival, Callihan grabbed a shard of the baseball bat to try to gouge Lawlor off of him, but Filthy Tom used the splintered wood in Callihan’s hand against him driving the jagged shard into his throat to elicit an immediate tapout.

Grade: Very Good. A fun brawl with Lawlor picking up a much-needed win.

I’m not really sure what could have happened going forward here had Lawlor not won. Callihan has been on a tear since coming to MLW, taking out MVP, Shane Strickland, and Jimmy Havoc over the past several months. Other than Low Ki, Callihan has been primed as one of the most dominant, and unbeatable, figures in Major League Wrestling.

Lawlor being the one to finally pick up a decisive victory over Callihan puts him exactly where he needs to be as the focus shifts to the MLW World Heavyweight Title and Low Ki in Philadelphia. Speaking of which…

After the match, Simon Gotch looked ready to make good on his promise to present Lawlor at a press conference to gloat about his victory. The writing was certainly on the wall from the previous segments in the show, but it all came together as Gotch led Lawlor into a backroom of the Cicero Stadium where Low Ki, Salina de la Renta, LA Park and Hijo de LA Park were waiting. The show wrapped up as Gotch closed the door behind himself with Lawlor left to fend for himself.