MLW Fusion results: Alex Hammerstone vs. Cesar Duran World title match
Joe Dombrowski and Rich Bocchini welcomed us to Dallas, Texas, for another episode of MLW Fusion recorded over WrestleMania weekend.
After seeing Microman arrive at the building to a mini hero’s welcome earlier in the day, Mister Saint Laurent was handed a note from Cesar Duran’s henchmen that said if Microman lost, he would be fired from MLW.
Davey Richards defeated Danny “Limelight” Rivera (w/ Dr Julius Smokes)
Rivera was billed as Danny “Limelight” Rivera in what could be a step toward him taking that name up in MLW. This match had no storyline attached to it, but coming out of it, we could be seeing more of Rivera as a singles competitor as it was made to make him look highly competitive against the strongly pushed Richards.
Rivera got on the mic before the match and riled up the local Dallas crowd, telling Richards he was going to put him down like Old Yeller.
After an equal opening exchange, Rivera knocked Richards down with a dropkick in the first major swing in momentum, getting just a one count.
Richards fought back after the commercial break with a dragon screw through the ropes followed by locking in the trailer hitch submission. A moment later, Rivera came back with a DDT for a near fall.
In the closing moments, they exchanged forearms and Richards flipped Rivera over with a German suplex. But, the 5150 member popped right up and walked into a big clothesline for a near fall for Richards.
Richards then spiked Rivera with a Gotch-style delayed cradle piledriver to pick up the big win.
After the match, Bocchini got a word with Richards who asked him about his recent loss against Alex Hammerstone. Richards said there was no shame in losing to the champion and the loss only made him hungrier. He then called out Alex Kane and his National Openweight title: “suplex assassin, suplex specialist.”
– We saw Mads Krugger leaving Duran’s office, leaving the announcers to speculate if this had anything to do with tonight’s main event.
– Later on, Ross and Marshall Von Erich entered Duran’s office, staking their claim as rightful number one contenders to the MLW Tag Team titles after defeating The Mortons and 5150 in recent weeks. Duran was more focused on preparing for his title match, doing Eric Bischoff-esque Karate Kid warm-ups in a gi. Marshall promised to show him they were ready by doing it the hard way if he wasn’t prepared to listen.
Microman, Aerostar and El Dragon defeated Arez, TJP and Mini Abismo Negro (w/ Holidead and Dr Dax) with Microman’s MLW career on the line
Similar to other six-man matches of recent weeks involving some of those involved tonight, the match was sprinkled with high spots, dives and great lucha exchanges. This week, we had the inclusion of TJP who brought a more story-driven aspect, but only after he took a short beating at the hands of the three-foot tall Microman.
Arez manhandled Microman by tossing him from corner to corner. But the tecnicos fought back after Microman distracted the three rudos, letting El Dragon hit them with a crossbody followed by Aerostar knocking everyone over with a missile dropkick.
All the high fliers took turns taking to the sky and dove onto the ever-growing group of wrestlers on the outside. Microman then teased going up, but TJP spoiled the spot for the loudest heel heat of the night.
TJP then tried to lock in either a sharpshooter or figure four, but Microman’s legs were too short. Microman then flipped the frustrated TJP over and locked in a Fujiwara armbar that was only stopped by Abismo Negro’s double foot stomp.
Microman hit TJP with a 619 to dispose of him long enough to pin Mini Abismo Negro with a flash victory roll to win the match for his team and save his job in MLW.
– During the last match, the cameras went backstage to see Duran’s henchmen going into Los Parks’ locker room again, leading the announcers to question if Duran was gathering the troops for tonight’s main event.
– We were back with another instalment of the all access interview series with the next instalment of Calvin Tankman’s story. He talked about his undefeated MLW streak, but then ran into Jacob Fatu who gave him his first loss. He talked about his family and community and said he didn’t want to just be a wrestling legend, but a legend in his community and in his family.
– We were back in Duran’s office as he continued his focused karate warm-up. A henchman told him Los Parks were here so he ordered the door to be opened for them, but alas, it was not Los Parks but Fatu who floored a henchman with a headbutt and promised Duran he would “see your punk ass later, you fake ass Karate Kid.”
Duran’s face was priceless as his plan seemed to be crumbling around him. He also has a new catchphrase as he called his failing and bumbling henchmen a “piece of crap” on more than one occasion tonight.
MLW World Champion Alex Hammerstone defeated Cesar Duran by disqualification to retain
After accidentally knocking him out two weeks ago, Duran promised violent consequences for Hammerstone last week when he made this surprising and controversial match announcement.
Duran had personalized introductions that he made the ring announcer read out: Duran was the “embodiment of lucha libre with a black belt in violence, your homeboy, a visionary, a man with courage and conviction, and a man who possessed the biggest cojones ever measured: the undefeated and reigning ‘El Jefe’ of Azteca Underground: Cesar Duran.”
Conversely, Hammerstone was “fighting out of a country that has seen its best days gone by, representing the fat, poor and dumb, fueled with more illegal supplements than the fast food that every one of you eat for breakfast lunch and dinner: Alex Hammerstone.”
Of course, Duran came into this with a plan up his sleeve. He got on the mic and blackmailed Hammerstone into tying one hand behind his back before he brought a steel chair into the ring. Just after the bell rang, the odds were stacked more against the champion as Richard Holliday and Alicia Atout entered the arena and distracted the champion before jumping him and putting the boots to him.
The referee called for the bell and the disqualification but it was all just a plan to lay a beating on the champion. Holliday then hit Hammerstone over the back with a chair.
Duran got back on the mic and said he liked to give surprises. King Muertes and Mads Krugger came out and started putting the boots to Hammerstone, but almost immediately, the Von Erichs ran out to chase them off.
Duran was angry at his plan being ruined, so he booked Hammerstone and The Von Erichs to take on Holliday, Muertes and Krugger at a later date.
Next week:
- nZo vs. KC Navarro
- Flamita vs. Bandido