MLW Fusion Alpha results: Fish vs. Moriarty, Shelley vs. TJP

This week’s MLW Fusion: Alpha featured the final two matches in the 2021 Opera Cup opening round with TJP vs. Alex Shelley and Bobby Fish vs. Lee Moriarty.

The show opened with a National Openweight title update. Cesar Duran had the title in his office and announced that a new champion will be crowned on the Thanksgiving edition of Fusion, later announced to be a multi-man ladder match that will take place at November’s TV taping in Philadelphia. Alexander Hammerstone relinquished the title following winning the MLW World title from Jacob Fatu.

New IWA Caribbean champion King Muertes then entered Duran’s office and said Duran needs to “fulfil his end of the bargain.” Duran said there must be a sacrifice and handed Muertes a wooden box that shone with a golden light when opened, similar to Pulp Fiction’s briefcase scene.  

Opera Cup quarterfinal: Bobby Fish defeated Lee Moriarty to advance

In a rematch from a recent AEW Rampage that was actually taped before that match, Fish defeated Moriarty in a great back-and-forth technical encounter.

Pittsburgh, PA, prodigy Moriarty said he was representing AEW in a pre-recorded promo as both he and Fish have since signed with the company after this match was taped.

An “Undisputed” chant rang out before they began the slow feeling out process. Both tried their luck with various kicks and strikes with Fish getting the initial upper hand. Moriarty used his speed to get back into the match. The referee got in his way on the apron during a soccer punt attempt which gave Fish the chance to sweep his leg and take the firm advantage going into a commercial break.

Back from the break, they brawled on the outside which continued inside with Fish in control. Moriarty brought out some of his self-named Taiga style for a brief moment of hope, but Fish went back to working on his lower limbs.

Moriarty fired up once more and was able to escape two choke attempts, coming off the top with a double stomp to the arm. But seconds later, Fish kept the back-and-forth action going with an exploder suplex into the ropes. A back suplex followed after a strike battle, but Moriarty kicked out.

Moriarty tried a pair of mouse trap pins, but Fish rolled smoothly into a heel hook which left Moriarty no choice but to tap out due to the continued leg attacks throughout the match.

This now sets up an Opera Cup semifinal between Fish and Davey Richards, who defeated Tom Lawlor to advance.

— There was a War Chamber match update with the teams now being Hammerstone, Richard Holliday, EJ Nduka and two mystery partners vs. Jacob Fatu, Mads Krugger, Josef Samael, Ikuro Kwan and a Sentai Death Squad member. Emilio Sparks caught up with Nduka who said he is here to make things right and that maybe Hammerstone could repay him with a title shot in the future.

Calvin Tankman segment

Before his scheduled match with Gino Medina, Tankman was backstage talking about the speculation of him joining King Mo and Alex Kane. He said they should be joining him by jumping on his bandwagon instead. Mo and Kane walked by and heard this and attacked Tankman, busting him open. He was later taken away in an ambulance and his participation in his Opera Cup semifinal match was put into question as we learned that Kane is the first substitute if anyone is not able to compete.

— Los Parks were trick-or-treating back home. They jumped a poor fan who had a Konnan mask and then said trick or treating was for children. Later in the night, 5150 (Konnan, Slice Boogie, Rivera and Dr. Julius Smokes) challenged Los Parks for the MLW Tag Team titles.

— Sparks then met up with Willow Nightingale and asked about her being attacked by Holidead last week. She said Holidead had scratched her cornea and she wanted revenge. She said she called Duran and got a match booked.  

— Hype videos aired for two impending debuts: nZo and Warhorse.

Mads Krugger defeated Dr Dax (w/ Holidead)

This was a very quick squash. A big boot and a reverse tree slam had Dax defeated.

Duran talked with Krugger before the match and planted more seeds of doubt with staying with CONTRA Unit. Duran asked him what his plan is now that Hammerstone has beat Fatu for the title and asked him to think about going back to his mercenary roots.

Mads Krugger defeated Budd Heavy

After the match, Krugger took the mic and challenged Hammerstone. But, it was Budd Heavy who answered the call with a chair, only to be destroyed in a similarly short fashion with a big boot and a reverse tree slam.

— During an Alicia Atout interview, Hammerstone challenged CONTRA Unit to a tag team match. Holliday arrived covered in comical-looking bandages after his match last week but ended up being slapped by Atout after supposedly saying something inappropriate under the bandages.

Opera Cup quarterfinal: TJP defeated Alex Shelley to advance

Shelley said if you can’t go out and wrestle on auto-pilot, you don’t deserve to be in MLW or the Opera Cup, indicating you need to be able to use your instincts and not think too much while in the ring. That was certainly on display in the opening minutes as both he and TJP smoothly exchanged holds, reversals and escapes as the announce team talked about them being near mirror images of each other.

The action snapped into life as Shelley got knocked to the floor and TJP landed on him with a big pescado. TJP took control and hit a nice twisting headscissors that kept Shelley in his control as he dabbed and blew kisses to the crowd.

TJP stopped a Shelley comeback by locking in a sharpshooter, transitioning into a Muta lock before snapping his knee while he hammerlocked Shelley’s arm with his legs.

Shelley blocked a tornado DDT and dropped TJP face-first into the middle buckle. He then hit a running knee in the corner and a tornado DDT of his own. Shelley went to the top rope and hit a big frog splash but TJP kicked out.

TJP hit a low dropkick to get a breather before they both crawled to their feet and had a forearm strike exchange. The strikes turned to kicks before Shelley’s sliced bread #2 was reversed and he ate a superkick. TJP then hit a running boot across the face and went to the top rope, but missed a frog splash of his own.

Shelley tried to lock in his Border City stretch and a cross armbreaker but couldn’t fully sink in either. TJP reversed into a leg lock cloverleaf and transitioned into an STF but couldn’t get Shelley to quit.

Shelley dropped TJP and finally locked in his Border City stretch crossface, but TJP rolled through, grabbed the ropes, and picked up a tainted pinfall win to set up a semifinal match with Tankman if injury doesn’t knock him out first.

Next week:

• The Sea Stars (Ashley Vox and Delmi Exo) will be in tag team action