MLW Fusion results: War Chamber 2019

By Iain Oliver
Published: 15 Sep 2019, 08:47

The Big Takeaways —

“Filthy” Tom Lawlor, Low Ki, Marshall Von Erich & Ross Von Erich (w/ team captain Kevin Von Erich) defeated CONTRA Unit (MLW World Heavyweight Champion Jacob Fatu, Josef Samael, Ikuro Kwon & Simon) Gotch in the MLW War Chamber.
Leo Brien debuted a new look and gimmick.
LA Park will cash in his golden ticket for a shot at Fatu’s MLW World title at the MLW Saturday Night SuperFight PPV in the Chicago area on November 2.

Full Recap —

From the sold-out NYTEX Sports Centre in Texas, MLW Fusion opened with a video package hyping up the War Chamber main event.

Leo Brien defeated Brandon Banks (1:27)

Brien has a new look and gimmick: a wild, rough-house, cowbell-swinging throwback — he is even throwing in some Berzerker style barks to add to his crazed in-ring style.

The match was short, sharp, and to the point. Brien hit a big boot, used a biel across the ring by the ears, and followed up with a running powerslam called the Oklahoma Stampede to get the win.

Brien looked good here, and you could see him facing off against the likes of Mance Warner, LA Park, and Tom Lawlor in the future. Hopefully this restart will be the start of big things for him.

– LA Park and Salina de la Renta stormed the ring at the end of the match. They slapped Banks around and laid out the referee with a chair. Park set up said chair in the corner and rested his legs on the downed official to listen to de la Renta.

De la Renta introduced her destroyer, “the greatest wrestler in the history of Mexican sports, the greatest luchador in lucha libre,” LA Park. She announced that Park will cash in his golden ticket for a shot at the MLW World Heavyweight Championship at the MLW Saturday Night SuperFight pay-per-view. It’s taking place in Cicero, Illinois on November 2.

– Teddy Hart had a recorded message from a Calgary hockey rink. He said he takes wrestling seriously as a sport due to his upbringing in ice hockey. He said nothing gets him going more than the thought of going to Dallas to beat up MJF and Richard Holliday.

– We had a great recorded promo from the Von Erichs. It was intertwined with old archive footage of the Dallas Sportatorium and pictures of the Von Erich family. The family was at the site of the Sportatorium as Kevin Von Erich was talking about all his memories being back there. Ross & Marshall Von Erich said they had never been there before as they didn’t want to go without their dad.

Tom Lawlor, Low Ki, Ross Von Erich & Marshall Von Erich (w/ team captain Kevin Von Erich) defeated CONTRA Unit (MLW World Heavyweight Champion Jacob Fatu, Josef Samael, Ikuro Kwon & Simon Gotch in the MLW War Chamber (30:19)

They followed the traditional War Games rules with two competitors starting and the coin toss winning team gaining the one-man advantage throughout the alternating entrances. The finish could only take place when all eight wrestlers were in the ring and you could win by pinfall, submission or surrender.

It was a single ring cage with no roof, but barbed wire circled the top of the cage to stop anyone from entering or exiting.

Simon Gotch and Marshall Von Erich were in first and fought for the first five minutes. Kevin Von Erich came out with Marshall and got a huge ovation from the Dallas crowd. Marshall had a quick start, but they slowed it down soon to pace themselves for the long match ahead.

Josef Samael was out for CONTRA next. After another brief flurry from Marshall, CONTRA used the advantage to break him down. They stayed in control until Tom Lawlor came out to even the odds.

Lawlor and Marshall immediately had the advantage — but after only two short minutes, MLW World Heavyweight Champion Jacob Fatu came in for CONTRA. Marshall and Lawlor went straight for him, but Fatu ended up catching Lawlor off the top with a Samoan drop and slamming Marshall with a big uranage.

Fatu hit his handspring moonsault on both his opponents, kicking and squashing Lawlor against the cage before moonsaulting on Marshall. Samael bit Lawlor’s ear for good measure.

Low Ki evened the odds next. On arriving, he slammed the cage door on Samael — a little nod to the Dallas history with the Freebirds and Von Erichs. In the corner, he slammed elbows to the top of Gotch’s head, but CONTRA soon took back control.

Their advantage increased with their fourth and final member entering the ring. Ikuro Kwon went straight to Low Ki and they exchanged kicks and strikes — hopefully we will see them facing off in the future. Low Ki can bring a freshness to this feud and create some new matchups.

We were told Ross Von Erich was suffering from the flu as the countdown to his arrival started. Ross entered like a house on fire as the Von Erich theme song blasted around the arena. He floored Gotch, Samael, and Kwon as Marshall Claw slammed Gotch. Samael was bleeding heavily from the door shot from Low Ki earlier.

Ross reversed a pop-up powerbomb with a hurricanrana on Fatu, but the champion came back and remained strong. He choked Ross with his wrist tape soon after.

With all competitors in there, the match broke down into a hard-hitting exhausting brawl. Lawlor eventually got the champion down in the corner and hit a basement dropkick for a two count.

Marshall slammed Fatu and then dropped Kwon on top of him for good measure. Samael mouthed off at Kevin through the cage but was battered by Marshall for his trouble.

Fatu had Ross up for a Samoan drop, but Marshall applied the Claw. It was only briefly though, as the champion fought out and spun Ross around so he kicked his brother in the head. Fatu then successfully hit his big pop-up Samoan drop.

Samael and Ki climbed the cage and Samael had his face rammed into the barbed wire. A masked CONTRA member tried to climb the cage on the outside, but Kevin pulled him off and applied the Claw to take him down.

Lawlor came close to being pinned: He had Samael in a rear-naked choke, but Samael broke the hold when he jabbed his spike into Lawlor’s hand. Kwon then sprayed mist into Lawlor’s eyes and Fatu hit him with a superkick and triple-jump moonsault. Low Ki made the save at the last moment with a double foot stomp on Fatu.

Marshall saved his brother from a Gotch piledriver. He applied the Iron Claw, then pulled Gotch to the corner. Ross went underneath and lifted Gotch on his shoulders. Marshall — still applying the Claw — went to the top rope and they slammed Gotch to the middle of the ring. They pinned Gotch and picked up the win to the delight of the Texas crowd.

Kevin Von Erich joined Lawlor, Low Ki, Marshall, and Ross in the ring to celebrate.

Next Week —

MLW Tag Team Champions The Dynasty (MJF & Richard Holliday) defend their titles against The Hart Foundation (Teddy Hart & Davey Boy Smith Jr.) in a two-out-of-three falls match.