MLW Fusion results: Five-way National Openweight title match

Joe Dombrowski and Rich Bocchini welcomed us to Dallas, Texas, for the first episode of MLW Fusion filmed during WrestleMania weekend.

Rivera (with Dr Julius Smokes) opened the show by coming to the ring to let the Dallas crowd know that his tag partner Slice Boogie was arrested on arrival in Texas. He then began bad mouthing The Von Erichs.

This brought out Marshall and Ross Von Erich but before they could get in the ring, Hernandez made his MLW debut. He took out both brothers with a steel chair and aligned himself with Rivera and 5150.

Rivera, Hernandez and Smokes beat down the Von Erichs, ending with a Border Toss from Hernandez to Ross over the top rope and through a table at ringside.

Cesar Duran is under investigation

Duran said with every investigation, you need witnesses. But the problem MLW has is that all their witnesses keep disappearing. He said he is back in control and booked a four-way tonight for the National Openweight title with four different styles of wrestlers.

Mads Krugger walked into Duran’s office and demanded a shot at Hammerstone as he has beat Bestia and Jacob Fatu recently. (Later in the night, we learned Krugger will get his shot against Hammerstone next week.)

Later in the night again, Fatu stormed into Duran’s office and after some heated words, he was interjected into next week’s main event with Hammerstone and Krugger.

Matt Cross defeated TJP

TJP was on the mic before the match and said he is shutting down the open door policy after sending Buddy Matthews to AEW. This week, he is dealing with some in-house issues by taking on Cross.

Cross and TJP made their MLW debuts on the same show 18 years ago and we saw some nice vintage clips of them from their debut matches.

The commentary team played up the importance of this match to the Middleweight title picture but also highlighted their different styles. The match was competitive early as they traded cradles and reversals in the opening minutes.

Cross hit a crossbody to the floor, but TJP took back control quickly and began twisting and tying Cross up in a variety of submission holds.

TJP began his heelish foot scrapes but when he took his eye off the ball for a second, Cross took him out with a suicide dive.

Cross began building momentum and hit a springboard crossbody followed by a double foot stomp off the top rope. TJP came back momentarily with a tornado DDT.

TJP came close to winning with a crucifix slam, but Cross swung the match back in his favor with his springboard cutter and a top rope shooting star press to pick up the big win. 

– Alex Hammerstone talked about his former friend Richard Holliday. He said Holliday was the first one he called when his girlfriend was diagnosed with cancer and Holliday was the first one waiting for him when he came through the curtain as MLW Champion. But when Holliday tried to steal the limelight by attacking him, all everyone was talking about was the preceding Hammerstone vs. Davey Richards match. Hammerstone vs. Holliday is now booked and will take place at May’s TV taping in Philadelphia.

– We saw a hype video for Taya Valkyrie returning to MLW.

Holidead (w/ Gangrel and Dr. Dax) defeated Shazza McKenzie

Australia’s McKenzie took to the sky early to take out Dax with a crossbody. She then tried another crossbody inside the ring, but Holidead caught her and rammed her headfirst into the buckles before slamming her to the mat.

The Strange Sangre member then took some of Gangrel’s advice and began biting McKenzie’s head to start grinding her down. A tree of woe dropkick, an end of days-style slam and an unprettier finished McKenzie off.

After the match, Bocchini tried to get a word with the winner who said she is the leader of Strange Sangre, Gangrel is the master of pain, and MLW will have a body of pretty faces lying in the ring as she becomes the MLW Featherweight Champion.

– Holliday and Alicia Atout dished the dirt on Hammerstone and their old stable, The Dynasty. He said when he was younger, Hammerstone was a “skinny little bitch” and then had to “enhance himself” to get bigger. Atout then said it’s a good thing Duran is back, but when questioned about that by Holliday, she told him and the camera to “Shhh.”

MLW National Openweight Champion Alex Kane defeated ACH, Myron Reed, Puma King and Juicy Finau to retain

After holding the title for nearly half a year, Kane demanded challengers and got a barrel load of them here in all shapes, sizes and styles. Earlier in the night, we learned Duran had listened to Kane and booked a fifth “super heavyweight” opponent. That turned out to be Finau who is certainly a super heavyweight addition to the match standing over six feet tall and over 400 lbs.

Finau started strong with everyone bouncing off him or falling to his massive size and power advantage. The opponents ganged up on him and got him out of the ring so Puma King, Reed and ACH could show off with some high flying lucha exchanges. Finau caught Reed on the floor after a dive, but ACH quickly followed up and knocked them both down before quickly hitting Puma King with another dive on the other side of the ring.

After a break, ACH was the main man in the ring as everyone took turns coming in for a spot. He suplexed Kane and Reed but when Finau came in, he was on the receiving end of a double Samoan drop.

A masked man then interfered and took out Reed at ringside. In the ring, Kane suplexed Puma King and quickly made him tap out with a crossface.

Calvin Tankman was on commentary and after he was victorious, Kane confronted him, Reed, Mr. Thomas and EJ Nduka were all involved and in the skirmish, Kane ended up hitting Tankman with a chair as Fusion went off the air.

Next week’s MLW Intimidation Games:

• MLW World Champion Alex Hammerstone will defend against Mads Krugger and Jacob Fatu in a triple threat match