MLW Fusion Alpha results: Muertes vs. Lawlor casket match

This week’s edition of MLW Fusion: Alpha ahead of Saturday’s War Chamber event saw a casket match between IWA Caribbean Champion King Muertes and the departing “Filthy” Tom Lawlor.

Matchmaker Cesar Duran came to the ring to open the show in what turned out to be chaotic fashion. He said when putting the card together he missed something: a sacrifice.

5150 interrupted, introduced themselves, and called out Los Parks who obliged for a fight. Rivera and Slice Boogie took to the sky and hit stereo dives while Los Parks’ music was still playing. A huge brawl broke out as officials and security failed to keep them apart.

When the teams finally dispersed, “Filthy” Tom Lawlor’s music hit as he and Kevin Ku came to the ring to talk to Duran (who stayed in the ring while the chaos ensued around him).

Lawlor said he has been screwed week after week and deserves to be treated like a prizefighter. Duran asked what he wanted and Lawlor repeated the answer that got him a National Openweight title shot against Hammerstone a few weeks ago: “I want a title fight!”

Duran granted his wish, but once again, it was not the title that Lawlor wanted. Duran made Lawlor vs. King Muertes for the Caribbean title in a casket match instead.

Willow Nightingale and Zoey Sky defeated The Sea Stars (Ashley Vox and Delmi Exo)

The Sea Stars took control early as they singled out the smaller Sky. Nightingale got tagged in and got her team back in the match with a cartwheel, superkick and senton splash before bodyslamming Sky onto Vox.

Exo got a hot tag and took Nightingale over with a Northern Lights suplex. As the action broke down, Nightingale was thrown from the ring. Holidead appeared from under the ring and attacked Nightingale once again, dragging her back under the ring.

Inside, the Sea Stars had the numbers advantage as Exo crushed Sky in the corner with running knees before Vox finished her off with a Tidal Wave (an assisted top rope tumbling senton bomb). Nightingale was able to leave with the rest of the women in the match, but she looked worse for wear.

— Mads Krugger interrupted during the women’s featherweight entrances and said that he was the leader of CONTRA Unit as the commentary team questioned if there was internal conflict between himself and Josef Samael. Later in the night, Samael had a propaganda video where he called himself the leader of CONTRA and the real “El Jefe.” 

— Alex Kane “confirmed” that Calvin Tankman was out of the Opera Cup and said his only mission was submission as he hinted he was substituting for Tankman and taking his place in the tournament. However, Alicia Atout later confirmed that Tankman is fit and is at home training for his scheduled semifinal match with TJP.

Alex Kane (w/ King Mo) defeated Warhorse in an open challenge prizefight

“4000 pounds of heavy metal” answered Kane’s open challenge and knocked King Mo out of the ring with a headbutt to start things off. Mo then distracted Warhorse as Kane tried to take advantage, but Warhorse reversed Kane and sent him into the guardrail and then back into the ring.

Inside, Warhorse was impressive as he headbanged (aka traded headbutts) with Kane and got the better of his larger opponent. Mo got involved again by grabbing Warhorse’s ankle which allowed Kane to get ahold of him and suplex him onto his head in the corner.

Kane took advantage, suplexing Warhorse all over the ring as Mo held up number cards along with each throw. Warhorse did land on his feet after a back suplex and slapped Kane’s ears, but it was a brief hope spot as Kane just ended up throwing him across the ring.

Kane hit a ripcord Olympic slam and a head and leg suplex to pick up the pinfall win against a spirited Warhorse.

— Backstage, Lawlor and Ku were talking tactics via an excellently drawn “Mil” on a whiteboard when Ku brought up that sponsorship money was way down and his gym fees were way up, suggesting he and Lawlor weren’t working anymore. Lawlor questioned his timing ahead of his title match, but Ku said he has to leave him on his own.

— Rumors had been running wild all week of MLW World Champion Alex Hammerstone making a deal with the devil, Cesar Duran, for his War Chamber mystery partners. When questioned, Hammerstone quickly blew off the reporters.

— Atout caught up with Richard Holliday who was still wrapped in bandages from his title loss to Muertes two weeks ago. Holliday said he has a new marketing campaign for candy in Japan, but when he tried to give Atout a sneak taste, he found new MLW Middleweight champion Tajiri sampling the product instead.

IWA Caribbean Champion King Muertes defeated Tom Lawlor in a casket match

Karlee Perez (the former Maxine in WWE and Catrina in Lucha Underground) came out to make her MLW debut before Muertes entered with a lot of death symbolism that made Lawlor feel very uncomfortable.

Lawlor fought this match, his last in MLW, as a babyface as he battled and struggled to overpower Muertes. The action soon spilled to the outside where Lawlor was thrown headfirst into the casket.

The commentary team made no bones about this being Lawlor’s last match, calling it the final undoing of Lawlor and his swan song, listing off his recent losses along with his earlier split with Ku.

Muertes hit a big TKO in the ring as we had our first casket tease, but after Lawlor escaped, he got a bit of momentum and knocked Muertes down with a ripcord knee to the face.

Lawlor dragged a deadweight Muertes to the casket for a tease of his own, but Muertes powered his way out. The action spilled to the outside again where Lawlor missed a chair shot and ended up being power bombed onto the casket.

Back inside, Lawlor locked in a rear choke from the middle rope before Muertes crawled over to the casket with Lawlor on his back. Lawlor once again got Muertes in the casket but couldn’t close the lid. Muertes grabbed Lawlor around the throat, dragged him back into the ring, and snapped a powerslam that stopped Lawlor in his tracks.

Muertes tried a spear but in a final heroic attempt, Lawlor caught him in a front guillotine choke. Muertes powered out of it and got to his feet before he hit his Straight to Hell face-first finisher. He then dragged Lawlor inside the casket and closed the lid to end not only the match, but the former MLW World Champion and Opera Cup winner’s career in the promotion.

Next week:

• Davey Richards vs. Bobby Fish in an Opera Cup semifinal match