MLW Fusion results: Tom Lawlor vs. ACH Opera Cup semifinal

By Iain Oliver
Published: 17 Dec 2020, 08:02

The Big Takeaways:

“Filthy” Tom Lawlor booked his spot in the 2020 Opera Cup finals against Low Ki by defeating ACH in a great main event. National Openweight Champion Alex Hammerstone vs. Mads Krugger was made official for Kings of Colosseum while Jordan Oliver challenged Simon Gotch for the January special event.

Show Review:

In a nice comedy segment to open the show, Alex Hammerstone and Richard Holliday fought off some CONTRA Sentai Death Squad members in the parking lot, but Holliday was more aghast that Hammerstone exposed his obsession with Alicia Atout rather than the attempted ambush. He also stopped Hammerstone from throwing one of the members into his car because it was a rental.

Bu Ku Dao (w/ TJP) defeated LA Park Jr. (w/ LA Park and El Hijo de LA Park) (4:44)

This was a battle of MLW debutants as LA Park’s son took on Vietnam’s Dao. Park Jr. was junior in name only as he was every bit the height of his dad and not too far off his size too. He towered over Dao as he hit him low with a kick and flattened him with a dive as Dao was taking a much needed breather on the outside. The Parks also interfered behind the referee’s back at any opportunity.

Dao used the ring well and fought back after his early setback with a face-first slam coming out of a Bossman slam. The finish came when Park Jr. had Dao tied up in a guillotine, but Dao was able to fight out and lock in a small package to pick up the upset win.

— In a vignette, Injustice team member Jordan Oliver challenged Simon Gotch to a match at Kings of Colosseum. Oliver harkened back to Gotch taking out Kotto Brazil earlier in the year — an attack that caused Brazil to leave MLW. Interestingly, Brazil was mentioned twice and was seen on an old MLW.com article on this week’s Fusion. Could we see a return on the horizon?

Mads Krugger defeated Budd Heavy and Daniel Starling in a 2-on-1 handicap match (:58)

We were told Hammerstone was being restrained backstage by MLW officials so he could not come to ringside to exact revenge on Krugger in this short squash. After his reverse tree slam which squashed Starling on top of Heavy, the Sentai Death Squad put both fallen victims in body bags.

Once Krugger was backstage, he and Hammerstone finally got their hands on one another as the backstage area was described as chaos and the cameras had a hard time capturing all the commotion. Later in the night, Hammerstone’s scheduled appearance was pushed back to Kings of Colosseum instead where he will defend the National Openweight title against Krugger.

— The PWI Top 10 of MLW stars was as follows: 10. Mads Krugger, 9. Calvin Tankman, 8. Richard Holliday, 7. Laredo Kid, 6. ACH, 5. Myron Reed, 4. LA Park, 3. Tom Lawlor, 2. Low Ki, 1. Alex Hammerstone. Interestingly, Laredo Kid is 0-1 in this MLW relaunch but is ahead of Krugger, Tankman and Holliday who have all won matches in recent weeks. LA Park has yet to wrestle and is no. 4, Hammerstone has won one 20 second squash and is no. 1, so I guess pre-lockdown reputations and records still matter.

— Salina de la Renta continued her vignettes in the build-up to the debut of her latest acquisition: Mil Muertes. She was back amongst the Aztec ruins with a blood-soaked rag, dimmed lights, and a pentagram drawn in blood. She laughed as she told us that Muertes is coming.

2020 Opera Cup semifinal: “Filthy” Tom Lawlor (w/ Dominic Garrini and Kevin Ku) defeated ACH (12:29)

This was fantastic and hopefully a prelude to what should be an amazing final next week with Low Ki.

Lawlor had previously beat ACH in MLW and earlier said ACH didn’t have the brains to compete with him and would use his better speed to beat ACH. However, it was ACH who got the better of the two when the pace picked up by rocking Lawlor with a dropkick to the face.

Earlier in the night, ACH said he had improved since their last match in MLW and he certainly showed it. He bettered Lawlor on the ground, repeatedly using the side headlock in his favor, keeping Lawlor from making any real offense until the nine minute mark.

Lawlor tried to lock in a rear naked choke, but ACH dodged. However, he missed a double stomp and found himself locked in Lawlor’s grasp. They did the Bret Hart-Steve Austin Survivor Series ’96 finish, but Lawlor kicked out. ACH then reversed the choke into a victory roll for two.

The match went from zero to 100 almost instantly as ACH hit a barrage of quick strikes and floored Lawlor with a sit-out powerbomb. Lawlor got his knees up as ACH came off the top rope, rolling him up to pick up the pin, booking his place in the finals of the Opera Cup next week.

After the match in a backstage promo, Lawlor called himself “the king of the mat,” that his first round match “was a bit Rocky for my opponent,” that his win against ACH was “super” and that now he is going to go 3-0 and undefeated against Low Ki in MLW.

Next Week:

Low Ki vs. Tom Lawlor in the Opera Cup finals.
The Dirty Blondes are in action.