MLW Azteca results: Hammerstone vs. Octagon Jr., Vikingo vs. Aramis
The MLW Azteca series continued from Tijuana, Mexico, this week with both MLW and AAA’s top titles on the line as the injured Alex Hammerstone defended the MLW gold against Octagon Jr. while AAA Mega Champion El Hijo Del Vikingo defended against Aramis.
A video package kicked things off, showing the last few weeks of Cesar Duran continuing to stack the deck against Hammerstone and Richard Holliday. This week will be no different as we are still in Duran’s theatre of violence.
Arez defeated Extreme Tiger
Arez still had his “life changing” briefcase of cash that he was given from Duran after defeating Aramis a few weeks ago. The commentary team played up his strange style gimmick as he slowly becomes a more regular MLW face.
Tiger hit a big plancha to the outside after dropping Arez off his shoulders and onto the top turnbuckle. Moments later, Tiger got a close near fall after a hard looking single leg dropkick.
Arez fought back with a step-up top rope moonsault but found himself on the other end of a piledriver as Tiger stayed in control. A slow referee count had the commentary team questioning if Duran had paid him off. This prompted an Arez comeback where he hit a double foot stomp from the top rope and his Northern Lights suplex finisher to pick up the win.
— Tag Team Champions 5150 were joined by Duran who instructed them that they were facing The Von Erichs at MLW Blood and Thunder.
— We had a hype video for a mystery debut: a fast car was speeding through some city streets while an hourglass emptied in the background.
AAA Mega Champion El Hijo Del Vikingo defeated Aramis to retain the title
Vikingo is one of the most exciting wrestlers around and he gelled really well with Aramis as both styles meshed almost perfectly.
This started at 100 mph and had flips, rolls, and reversals, culminating with Vikingo landing on his feet from a top rope hurricanrana — all in the opening few minutes.
Vikingo then climbed the top rope and leapt to one of the four support beams that were helping hold up the outdoor arena’s overhead ring cover before diving and landing on Aramis.
Aramis thwarted Vikingo’s next barrage of flips with a hurricanrana from the top rope to the floor and then a power bomb back first into another of the support beams. Back inside, his airplane spin sit-out power bomb was reversed for a flash near fall by Vikingo.
Aramis kept the tempo high and matched Vikingo with speed and urgency, finally dropping him on the back of his head with a reverse DDT. Aramis removed his top to challenge Vikingo to a chop battle that was so loud, they echoed around the outdoor arena.
They both countered each other until they exchanged crucifix drivers which led to both men being down and the beginning of the end.
While both were down, Aramis’ MLW enemy Arez slid in his briefcase which distracted the referee long enough for him to hit a tilt-a-whirl lungblower. That gave Vikingo an opening to hit running knees in the corner and his reverse 630 splash from the top rope for the win.
— We heard more from EJ Nduka. He spoke about his family life, his time at the WWE Performance Center, and what his plans are for 2022.
— Mads Krugger had a propaganda video where he challenged Jacob Fatu.
— Duran and National Openweight Champion Alex Kane were backstage. Kane said with Calvin Tankman being in jail, he needed some new challengers so Duran booked him in a trios tag team match next week.
MLW Champion Alex Hammerstone defeated Octagon Jr. to retain the title
Duran was ringside as we heard that the deck was once again stacked because one of his crooked referees was assigned to this match. That actually didn’t play into the match but it continued the ongoing storyline between Hammerstone and Duran.
The commentators even played up the possibility of hometown hero Octagon Jr. using his connection with Duran to steal the title away from both Hammerstone and MLW. This didn’t happen, but it makes Duran seem very powerful with a strong influence over the roster.
Octagon immediately went after Hammerstone’s injured arm that was heavily braced after he was kidnapped by Duran’s henchmen weeks ago. Richard Holliday helped Hammerstone escape from his cell, but took a beating last week from Pagano for helping his Dynastic friend. They used the injury to get heat on the larger Hammerstone, but it didn’t take long for the champion to fight back and launch Octagon in the air with a big back body drop.
After an ad break, Hammerstone continued to hammer Octagon around ringside, dropping him face first on the apron. A squad of around 20 of Duran’s masked henchmen appeared and watched the match from the stage.
The henchmen distracted Hammerstone which led to running knees in the corner from Octagon, an Arabian press, and an Asai moonsault to the floor. But back inside, the champ caught Octagon off the top rope and planted him with a swinging uranage.
A big belly-to-belly overhead suplex followed as Hammerstone continued his comeback. Hammerstone then put away Octagon with a spinning facebuster and not his Nightmare Pendulum like we are used to.
The result made Duran irate so he instructed his army of henchmen to ambush Hammerstone. During the melee, Holliday came out to help his friend but they succumbed to the numbers game as MLW Azteca went off the air.
Next week:
- Jacob Fatu promo
- Alex Kane, Extreme Tiger and Rey Horus vs. Vikingo, Laredo Kid and Octagon Jr in a lucha libre tag team match
- EJ Nduka in action