MLW Fusion Results, Highlights, and Grades: Lawlor Wins World Title
MLW is back with another Fusion LIVE episode, this time coming from the famed 2300 Arena in Philadelphia with a snippet of their SuperFight event. Two huge title matches headline the show with Low Ki defending the World Heavyweight Title against Tom Lawlor while the Lucha Bros defend the World Tag Team Titles against The Hart Foundation. In other action, Kotto Brazil seeks retribution against his accused attacker Ricky Martinez in a Grudge Match.
From the historic former ECW Arena, Matt Striker and Rich Bocchini kick off the show from ringside. Tony Schiavone had prior commitments and couldn’t join the broadcast team which is a shame because he and Bocchini are a much better pair than Striker and… well… anybody, if we’re being honest.
After an opening video package to hype the World Heavyweight Title main event, we hit the ring for our opening contest!
World Tag Team Titles: Lucha Bros (c) vs Hart Foundation
Making sure the night felt special, Teddy Hart came to the ring with one of his cats, Mr. Velvet, while Davey Boy Smith raised a hefty bulldog to the heavens like he was showing Simba off to everybody across the plains. Come to think of it, I don’t know what happened to the dog or the cat after the entrance. If anyone has any information on the whereabouts of Mr. Velvet or the unnamed bulldog, let me know!
There was speculation over which two members of The Hart Foundation would make up the challenging team here and a tweet from Davey Boy Smith earlier in the day confirmed that he and Teddy would take the reins.
Davey Boy used his considerable size and strength advantage to control Fenix early on, stopping the hotly sought-after luchador from getting too much momentum going. Doing what they do best, the Lucha Bros utilized their double team technique to neutralize DBS momentarily.
As things tend to happen with Lucha Bros matches, the action spilled out to the arena floor without too much coaxing from any of the fighters. As Davey Boy held Penta and Fenix in place, Hart connected with an insane moonsault from the top rope to the unprotected floor below. Despite my gripes with Hart as a whole, you have to acknowledge that he has some of the most ridiculous balance and control when flying through the air.
As everybody attempted to recover on the floor, Davey Boy began to loosen Penta’s mask before moving on. Pentagon did fight his way back to his feet and managed to turn the tides back in the favor of the Lucha Bros. After a vicious Canadian Destroyer on Hart along the ring apron, Penta rolled his challenger back into the ring for a package piledriver.
That surely would have ended things, but Brian Pillman Jr was at ringside to pull the referee out of the ring before the three count could be made. As the referee was distracted, the Lucha Bros looked to capitalize on a weakened Hart with a tandem move from the top rope. As they set it up, Davey Boy ripped the mask from Penta’s head neutralizing him as he covered his face.
Davey Boy entered the ring and propped Fenix on his shoulders leading to a Doomsday Canadian Destroyer from Hart to finish the match and add more gold to the pile for the Hart Foundation.
How Was It? This was all a bit underwhelming and disappointing. Something felt off between the two teams especially at the start where there were some incredibly awkward moments and interactions between the Lucha Bros and Davey Boy. I’m not sure if it was just my own perception or not, but it also looked like the ring was smaller than usual and led to some unexpected collisions.
The big spots throughout the match were good, but there didn’t seem to be much of a story developing throughout the match which is a common complaint I have with Teddy Hart matches in general. It will be interesting to see where we go from here as the MLW Twitter account tweeted that Pentagon and Fenix stormed out of the building following their World Tag Team Title loss. Could this be the last time we see the Lucha Bros in MLW?