MLW Fusion Results, Highlights, and Grades: Lucha Reigns

Old Man Yells At Cloud

Standing in front of a brick wall and a rusted fence with barbed wire which has seen better days, Tommy Dreamer built toward his match with Brian Pillman Jr. Dreamer started by talking about how much he had respected the youngster’s father before ripping into Pillman Jr for being a skinny jean-wearing millennial who lacked respect.

Dreamer promised to teach Pillman to respect those who had come before him in the business, ending with a simple threat: “I look forward to hurting you.”

Grade: Meh. I don’t want to see Dreamer become the angry old man.

Maybe it’s because it’s been run into the ground ever since it became a known term, but using “millennial” as an insult and sneering at those who fall into its age-range is such old hat that I tune out whenever I hear it. It seems like a classic case of a buzzword that maybe not everybody truly understands (see: Rousey, Ronda) but that everybody wants to throw around at every chance.

Dreamer could have delivered a fine promo here extolling all of the same virtues of the previous generation of wrestlers while running down Pillman Jr without stooping to complaints about millennials, skinny jeans, and podcasts.

Stokely Hathaway’s Next Steps

Backstage, Kaci Lennox asked the returning Stokely Hathaway what his plans were going forward in MLW. Hathaway, noting that he had absolutely no idea who Lennox was, suggested that he was going to do what Stokely Hathaway does best: dominate.

Hathaway set forth his intentions to manage talent in Major League Wrestling who would right the wrongs of the promotion’s past. Under his tutelage, Hathaway will lead whoever he manages to success, money and greatness.

Grade: Good. Hathaway is on a slow-burn build to his own new era in MLW.

There wasn’t anything of major note in the promo as Hathaway is still laying the groundwork for his future in MLW, but his return and lingering presence is enough to make everybody wonder just who will find themselves aligned with Hathaway as the months roll on. Will Hathaway bring someone from the outside to fill in some gaps left in MLW due to injuries, or will he tempt a current member of the roster?

Also, why is everybody so mean to Kaci Lennox?! She’s just doing her job!

Brian Pillman Jr vs Tommy Dreamer

We already know that Pillman and Dreamer will meet again on December 14 at Zero Hour in Miami, but this match served as the first meeting between two wrestlers on very opposite ends of their career trajectories. Dreamer, nearing 30 years in the sport, is the wily veteran looking to teach the young and brash upstart a lesson after Pillman and The Hart Foundation unceremoniously disposed of Kevin Sullivan several weeks back. For Pillman, defeating Dreamer would be the biggest win of his run in MLW so far.

These two started off fairly evenly until Dreamer connected with the Bionic Elbow sending Pillman to the floor in an attempt to regain his composure. Dreamer, never one to let up an assault, followed Pillman outside where he borrowed a ringside fan’s beer to spit in his opponent’s face.

Back in the ring, Pillman was able to slow things back down to take charge of the match with a series of strikes and kicks to a prone Dreamer. Despite a late-match opening for Dreamer from a missed elbow drop from Pillman, the Hart Foundation member stayed in control until the very end.

With Dreamer on the mat, Pillman would go for his trusty cane which was immediately taken away by the official. Pillman moved toward the fallen Dreamer, standing over him and shouting “I’m Brian Pillman Jr!”, in case anyone had forgotten, leaving him open to a low-blow from Dreamer while the referee was distracted with the cane. With a quick sunset flip roll-up from Dreamer, the match was over.

After the match, Dreamer pulled Pillman to his feet to shake hands and mend fences. Pillman accepted the handshake at first before laying into Dreamer with an attack and twisting neckbreaker to take the Innovator of Violence to the mat.

With Pillman laying into Dreamer with his cane, Teddy Hart came to the ring to stop the onslaught. Pillman would relent with Hart calling the youngest member of the stable to leave the ring. Pillman started to leave Dreamer’s beaten body in the ring but then rushed back to deliver another neckbreaker to the apparent dismay of Hart.

Grade: Disappointing. Slow and a little messy, but there is room to improve.

Something just felt off in this match. To be fair, I’d much rather see Dreamer in these types of matches where he’s simply wrestling with a clear story to drive his motivations than the types of matches he’s had in the past with the likes of Brody King. At this point, it isn’t fun to see Dreamer being pummeled by huge dudes. It’s a bit like seeing someone beat up your uncle, and I like most of my uncles too much to want to see that.

The ending of the match was completely awkward with Pillman’s attempt at using his cane thwarted before he stalled above Dreamer to lead to the final fall. There needed to be some sort of screwy finish to lead to the Singapore Cane Match in Miami, but it could have been accomplished much better.

The post-match shenanigans add some intrigue to the Hart Foundation. Hart, a veteran in the sport, seemed reluctant to bask in the beating of Dreamer. When Pillman went in for another round of attacks, Hart clearly yelled for him to stop and looked on with a disappointed “aw, shucks” expression on his face. Could Pillman’s unpredictability prove to be too much for even Teddy Hart to control?