The debut of MLW Fusion ALPHA is basically a new season of MLW Fusion only with some slight rebranding. It’s intended to be a mini-series or a prequel to Fusion airing on Vice TV.
As for this episode, it feels like another episode of Fusion instead of an entirely new show. There’s some promo and interviews to get into before we look at three matches for this episode.
The matches themselves are all from the MLW Battle Riot III event from July 10th.
MLW Fusion ALPHA #1
-Bunkhouse Brawl: The Von Erichs vs. Team Filthy (Kevin Ku & Kit Osbourne)
–Gino Medina vs. KC Navarro
-TJP vs. Davey Richards
Hype Central
Before we get into the action, we finally have an interview by TJP for his match against the returning Davey Richards. He says that Richards was a world traveler but it is now TJP who is the world traveler.
We also build a collision course between MLW World Heavyweight champ Jacob Fatu of Contra Unit and MLW National Openweight champ Alexander Hammerstone. The match has been set up for MLW Fightland 2021 after Hammerstone won the titular match of MLW Battle Riot III.
Major League Wrestling will be featuring a Women’s Featherweight division with a few talents listed. This comes as SHIMMER head Dave Prazak has joined the oversee the division.
It’s a big get as MLW has featured a few women’s matches in the past but those never went anywhere as far as being a regular attraction on shows. The first wave of the division will include Nicole Savoy, The SeaStars, Holidead, Brittany Blake, Zoey Skye, and Willow Nightingale.
The latest incarnation of Konnan’s Latin American Xchange had a brief promo to reintroduce themselves. Included are Danny Rivera, Slice Boogie, and east coast indy veteran Julius Smokes.
Filthy Tom Lawlor meets with MLW and Azteca Underground matchmaker “El Jefe” Cesar Duran about challenging for the World Heavyweight title—which I wouldn’t mind seeing, actually.
Before the main event, Duran schedules him in a match against Alexander Hammerstone for the MLW National Openweight title. Obviously, Filthy Tom was stun-locked about the match while Duran scuttles him out of his office.
In-Ring Action
The opening match was a bunkhouse brawl lived up to its name as the Von Erichs went at it with the Team Filthy duo of Kevin Ku and Kit Osbourne.
This was an even back and forth brawl. The momentum for the Von Erichs the turning when Team Filthy began attacking Marshall von Erich’s knee.
It was the level of limb work that would be acceptable in a brawl. Like, you’re not going to go in fist and fire then slow down things with methodical wrestling—you attack a limb where you can.
As expected, the Von Erichs pick up the win over Team Filthy following some stuffed interference and a big moonsault through a ring board by Marshall.
The showdown between Gino Medina and KC Navarro wasn’t bad but if you blinked or sneezed, you’d miss it. For television, it was a fine match that didn’t eat up time: fast-paced with action in it.
Now, the main event had some extremely good wrestling. These two were buttery smooth in slapping on holds and throwing counters to strikes, suplexes, and submissions to the point that it was a stamina battle.
That’s another thing about this match and probably its only flaw: things got fast-paced quickly and there was little time to breathe for the fans or for a move to really take effect as both men recovered so fast from match enders.
I say think of it as if both men hit the analog stick on their Nintendo 64 controllers, had their “SPECIAL” bars flashing WWF No Mercy-style and were bombing each other with everything until one person’s “SPECIAL” ended before the other.
That was the second half of the main event but it was fun as hell to watch and both men are so damn good at that 00s American strong style approach.
Verdict: Bronze Medal Show (2.75/5)
This was your standard MLW Fusion episode that featured a watchable match, a match made for TV, and a must-watch bout—then it’s a three-match episode.
What boosted this episode was the build for different storylines as well as time spent introducing new faces. This is something Major League Wrestling has always been good at even if those new faces often dip after a little time with the company.
The best match of the episode goes to TJP vs. Davey Richards although I found myself enjoying the opener way more.
Overall, the pacing of the show was similar to the Fusion episodes from when we first started covering MLW on TheOvertimer: not bad but it wasn’t smooth.
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