MLW Fusion #131 Review

Matches: 

1.Gringo Loco vs Laredo Kid **1/2

2.Richard Holliday vs Ariel Dominguez NR

3.MLW Middleweight Title: Lio Rush(c) vs Myron Reed ***1/2

Thoughts:

A Lio Rush/Myron Reed promo/package kicks this one off with the Middleweight Champ talking shit on the division and boasting his own ego while Reed promises to step up. This first match at the start of the year was enjoyable enough so I was hopeful they'd do it again but even better this time around.

Laredo Kid versus Gringo Loco is up first and they actually addressed the messy AAA Cruiserweight situation. It made no sense, but that's because they had this match on a backlog. The commentary was newer and they decided to try to explain the situation, but in doing so just made Laredo look stupid af. They have been very bad about how they use the dude so it is what it is. Anyway, this was okay but the pacing was a bit off and the general match didn't come close to kick out of 2nd gear, like a lot of MLW matches. The commentary not knowing what an avalanche spanish fly was is funny af considering this is the company trying to revive Lucha Underground.

The pimped up the main again with a teaser.

Hammerstone with a backstage promo, making his intentions clear and setting a clear target on Fatu and Contra.

They plugged the new season and some dates. July 10th is when new content returns, by the way.

VE and Lawlor aren't done.

Holliday squashed Ariel next. Backstage, he was mid-promo when his former buddy, Gino, attacked and took the Caribbean Champion out. I admittedly don't care about this angle, or Richard if we're being honest, in the slightest. Oh well.

The Top 10 section went as follows:

MLW World Heavyweight Champion: Fatu

1. Alex Hammerstone (MLW National Champion)
2. Tom Lawlor (Opera Cup Winner)
3. Lio Rush (MLW Middleweight Champion)
4. Mads Krugger
5. Richard Holliday (Caribbean Champion)
6. Mil Muertes
7. Myron Reed
8. Calvin Tankman
9. Ross Von Erich
10. Rocky Romero

Next up, the main event. Reed/Rush II. In many ways, their first match was just an appetizer, and this was for sure the main course. Borderline great in execution, they used their time well, the drama and action were decent, and in general it was worth checking out. Thumbs up.

The episode concluded with the reveal of El Jefe, which luckily was indeed the same actor that played Dario. Any chance MLW has of making Azteca Underground work relied on that building block, and it is worth noting that it is still ill defined as is right now. Salina was murdered off during this. Him appearing seemed to get more hype for the promotion than literally anything else they've done in 2 years. Not to continue coming off negative, but I have to question how they'll write this in a way that works logically, too. Does no one that his daddy knows own a TV? Oh well, fingers crossed.

The season finale of Fusion was an interesting one. The opener was okay for what it was, the midcard was a squash, and the main surpassed expectations. Then, tack on the closing section that I sincerely want to be excited about and I'm left on an edge. While I have a lot of criticisms for the product, which I've seen little effort to remedy, they are righhhht there just on the brink of being a good show. This episode was one of the best Fusion installments I've seen yet still below the overall quality of many contemporaries. While I know they have their base, I also know it's not as big of one as they'd like to have us believe and I have no idea why Court wants to settle instead of sincerely grow. Alas, this was a bunt that got them a base hit and something worth considering. Some folks really enjoy Fusion and you might love this. Give it a look.

 

Overall Rating: 70/100%