MLW Kings of Colosseum notes: Matt Riddle debut, Alex Kane vs. Richard Holliday

MLW presented Kings of Colosseum on Saturday at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. 

The show featured Alex Kane defending the MLW Heavyweight Championship against Richard Holliday and Matt Riddle vs. Jacob Fatu. 

MLW Kings of Colosseum notes:

TJPW’s Hyper Misao made her MLW debut on the show. She was defeated by Featherweight Champion Janai Kai after being distracted by Salina de la Renta on the outside.

Josh Bishop and our own Tom Lawlor were unsuccessful in winning the MLW Tag Team Championships from Second Gear Crew’s Matthew Justice and 1 Called Manders. They were defeated after Justice gave Bishop a death valley driver onto a set of stacked tables, although the tables did not break.

Bishop and Lawlor wore gear inspired by Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. They attacked their opponents after the match and left them laying before heading to the back. 

Sami Callihan was revealed as the newest member of The Calling. He helped Rickey Shane Page defeat AKIRA in a bloody Taipei Death match to retain the MLW National Openweight Championship. 

Love, Doug was victorious in a “Love is Blind” blindfold match against Brett Ryan Gosselin. The angle here is that Doug had been obsessed with B3CCA, only for Gosselin to reveal he is her boyfriend. After Doug was victorious, someone handed him flowers at ringside because now he has his own admirers. 

A video announcing the legendary Mistico will make his MLW debut on February 3 at Superfight aired. 

In the semi main event of the evening, Alex Kane successfully retained his MLW World title for the seventh time. He defeated Richard Holliday via referee stoppage with a rear-naked choke. 

After the match, they announced Kane has set a record for most choke-out victories as MLW Champion. It was also announced that his next challenger will be the first-ever MLW World Champion, Satoshi Kojima. The Bread Club leader then came out and was presented with some celebratory bagels, which he tossed into the crowd. 

Callihan then came out to confront Kojima. He also spit water in the ring announcers face before getting into a pull apart with Kojima. A match between the two was later announced for MLW Reload on January 20. The show will air on YouTube and BeIN Sports. 

Salina de la Renta and Rocky Romero discussed Mistico coming to MLW in a backstage segment. Salina was not happy that MLW is bringing him in. She announced Averno will wrestle Mistico at Superfight. 

In the main event, they played up on commentary how Riddle has faced members of Fatu’s family, alluding to his matches in WWE against the Bloodline. The finish here saw Riddle with Fatu in a rear-naked choke but he then transitioned to something of a crossface and Fatu tapped out. 

After the match, Fatu and Riddle hugged and showed each other respect.  

Matt Striker’s commentary during the main event caused some controversy. Striker said of Riddle during the broadcast, “Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. The court of public opinion would love to see Jacob Fatu slap the taste out of Matt Riddle’s mouth. But the court of public opinion does not convict, I’m sorry. I know it’s the world in which we live but, it’s not the case.”

On Sunday, Striker posted the following statement to X:

I’ve given this a lot of thought. Could not sleep. My critics are right. I was wrong. Tone deaf. Trying to use the guise of art or character portrayal is self preservation. Thank you to those that shone light on this. It is now on me to stand in that light. I will be better

There were also a series of technical interruptions that caused the screen to briefly distort during the show. This is likely to set up a future angle. 

MLW Kings of Coliseum 2024 results:

  • Alec Price, Dylan McKay & Marcus Mathers defeated Griffin McCoy, TJ Crawford & Tony Deppen
  • MLW Women’s Featherweight Champion Janai Kai w/Salina de la Renta & Jesus Rodriguez defeated Hyper Misao to retain her title
  • MLW Tag Team Champions The Second Gear Crew (Matthew Justice & 1 Called Manders) defeated Tom Lawlor & Josh Bishop w/Mister Saint Laurent & Zayda
  • MLW National Openweight Champion Rickey Shane Page defeated AKIRA
  • MLW World Heavyweight Champion Alex Kane defeated Richard Holliday to retain his title

Coming up next for MLW:

MLW Reload on January 20 on YouTube/BeIN Sports announced lineup:

  • Satoshi Kojima vs. Sami Callihan
  • Good Brother #3 (rumored to be Mance Warner) vs. Steph de Lander
  • Nao Kakuta vs. Moka Miyamoto
  • Zayda w/Mister Saint Laurent vs. Notorious Mimi
  • Matt Riddle vs. TBA

MLW Superfight on TrillerTV February 3 announced lineup:

  • MLW World Heavyweight Champion Alex Kane defends against Satoshi Kojima
  • Mistico vs. Averno w/Salina de la Renta