MLW Fusion Results, Highlights, and Grades: Callihan vs LA Park

The honeymoon is over for Salina de la Renta’s Promociones Dorado and Sami Callihan as the empresario seeks to remove The Draw from Major League Wrestling as a whole. After failing to defeat Tom Lawlor in Chicago, Callihan will have to meet LA Park in a Falls Count Anywhere In Miami Match where anything goes. Can Callihan redeem himself for falling short against the #1 contender to Low Ki’s World Heavyweight Title or will the Chairman of MLW send him packing?

The show opened up with a nice video package detailing Sami Callihan’s history in MLW. Since he first stepped foot in the promotion, Callihan has made life miserable for everyone with whom he’s come into contact. He’s driven both MVP and Jimmy Havoc out of MLW while breaking the confidence of Shane Strickland. Tonight, after failing to do the same to Tom Lawlor, LA Park will seek to serve Callihan a taste of his own medicine at the behest of Salina de la Renta.

Kotto Brazil vs Vandal Ortagun

This was Brazil’s first match back after being taken out in a Miami nightclub by (reportedly) Ricky Martinez. Brazil is wearing the effects of that encounter in the form of an eyepatch. Who’s going to start the petition for an Escape From New York remake with Brazil in the Snake Plissken role?

Ortagun jumped Kotto before the bell here taking advantage of his opponent’s less than perfect peripheral vision. Brazil was quick to come back and absolutely murder Ortagun with a pair of suicide dives followed by a somersault plancha on the outside. When Brazil hits a suicide dive he looks like he’s been shot out of a cannon and could wind up in the 15th row.

Kotto felt the shortcomings of his eyepatch once more as Ortagun caught him once back in the ring, pulled the eyepatch away from his face and snapped it back against his damaged eye. Kotto would, once again, fight back from underneath and delivered a trio of German suplexes to knock Ortagun loopy before putting him down for good with a running Sliced Bread #2.

After the match, Ricky Martinez appeared from the crowd and laid Brazil out as he celebrated his victory. To add insult to injury, Martinez made off with Brazil’s eyepatch and seemed extremely pleased with himself in doing so.

How Was It? A great comeback match for Brazil and probably Ortagun’s best MLW match to date. I couldn’t be happier seeing Martinez and Kotto on a collision course with one another. I’ve wanted bigger things for Kotto ever since the build-up to War Games and I’m excited to see him settle into a singles feud. Martinez has really raised in stock in the past several weeks and seems to be coming into his own in MLW. I don’t think there’s a way these two disappoint whenever they finally go head to head.

Before the next match, Tommy Dreamer delivered a promo via telephone telling Brian Pillman Jr that he was insane for challenging him to a match in his own hometown – especially one where each man could choose their own partners.

There’s a lot of intrigue going into the mystery partner tag match and who each man may choose. The groundwork is being laid on commentary for an extreme partner for Dreamer as SuperFight emanates from the ECW Arena, but part of me is expecting Kevin Sullivan to step up and try to exact revenge on Pillman. Perhaps Pillman has the phone numbers for some of Dreamer’s old ECW rivals, though?