MLW Fusion Alpha results: Hammerstone vs. Tom Lawlor
After complaining last week to new MLW matchmaker Cesar Duran that he did not receive a title shot after winning the 2020 Opera Cup, former MLW World Champion “Filthy” Tom Lawlor gets his shot at Alex Hammerstone and his National Openweight title on tonight’s show.
Aramis defeated Arez
This was a really good, fantastic opener. The Philadephia fans showed their appreciation afterward by throwing money into the ring after it ended.
This played into the Duran storyline as it was hailed as a Duran-booked showcase of the superluchas for these two newcomers. Arez was called “the master of strange style” and had face paint instead of the more traditional Aramis-style lucha mask. Arez also was less traditional with his wrestling style as he showed a ground-based game early on, but it was still a style in which Aramis matched him move for move in the early going.
They traded roll-ups, armdrags and had a stalemate face-off before the action picked up with Aramis diving to the floor. Arez’s unorthodox style was a nice change of pace as he tried to slow things down, but Aramis always recovered to speed things up again. Aramis was sent flying over the top rope after a buckle bomb, but it didn’t stop their flow.
Aramis stepped up the tempo and the risk factor toward the end with a head first tope suicida and an amazing top rope somersault plancha to the outside which got a “holy sh*t” chant from the Philadelphia crowd. A twisting top rope splash then got a close two count.
Arez hit a nice combo of a GTS, heel kick and a Michinoku driver for a near fall of his own. Aramis returned with a sit-out power bomb and later defiantly kicked out of a tilt-a-whirl back cracker, putting Arez away with a spinning torture rack into a power bomb.
— Backstage, Duran was confronted by Matt Cross once again. Similar to last week, he said he deserves a shot at the World title. Duran appreciated his ambition and announced Cross would face Jacob Fatu for the MLW World title.
Alex Kane (w/ King Mo) defeated Budd Heavy
This was quick and made Kane look like a monster. “The Suplex Assassin” took the popular Heavy off his feet right from the bell, beat him down, and put him away with a ripcord Olympic suplex (Angle slam).
Kane no-sold the brief offense Heavy was able to garner but was suplexed, chopped and elbowed for his trouble. Heavy flipped Kane off as he was leaving and ate a multitude of suplexes for his bravery. For Kane’s impressive performance, he was granted the first alternate spot in the Opera Cup by Duran if someone can’t continue.
— Alicia Atout interviewed EJ Nduka and hyped up his impressive performance in Battle Riot III. Nduka said we will be seeing much more of him soon.
— Konnan and LAX (Rivera, Slice Boogie and Julius Smokes) cut a passionate pre-recorded promo before we saw a hype video for Bobby Fish’s MLW debut and then the tale of the tape for our main event title match.
National Openweight Champion Alex Hammerstone defeated “Filthy” Tom Lawlor to retain the title
Lawlor had the ground game advantage, but Hammerstone had the size and power advantage and was able to both power out of and escape Lawlor’s holds and locks early on. Lawlor then began to chop Hammerstone down to size by focusing his attack on the lower limbs of the nearly three-year National Openweight champion.
One-half of the Chop and Roll Express’s chops didn’t do much damage to Hammerstone early on. Instead, Lawlor ended up eating the apron after being dropped face first on it. But, Lawlor got the underhanded upper hand moments later after raking the champion’s eyes.
The chops had a little more sting to them as Hammerstone was struggling to recover. He was able to momentarily power out and launch Lawlor over the top rope to the floor in both a warning shot and a reminder of the power advantage.
Lawlor countered a fallaway slam into a rear naked choke before transitioning into an armbar and crossface. Hammerstone fought back and hit his fallaway slam into a uranage to start turning momentum back in his favor.
Hammerstone landed clotheslines and an overhead belly-to-belly followed as Lawlor tried to call for help to someone in the back. Hammerstone then hit a German suplex, a power bomb and a Nightmare Pendulum to finish off Lawlor for the successful title defense.
Earlier in the night, Mads Krugger of CONTRA Unit had promised to take out Hammerstone before his title vs. title match against Jacob Fatu at Fightland. When Hammerstone made it back through the curtain, he was jumped by all members of CONTRA Unit as Fusion: Alpha went off the air.
Next week on Fusion Alpha:
- MLW World Champion Jacob Fatu vs. Matt Cross title match
- Willow Nightingale vs. Ashley Vox
- 5150 (Rivera and Slice Boogie) vs. Injustice (Middleweight Champion Myron Reed and Jordan Oliver)