MLW Underground results: Alex Hammerstone vs. Yamato title match

This week’s MLW Underground action was taped in January in Philadelphia at the Blood & Thunder TV taping with Joe Dombrowski and Matt Striker on the call.

After being knocked out by Real1 and a pair of brass knuckles during their street fight last week, Mance Warner was on the hunt for revenge and it did not take him long as we opened the show with footage from the parking lot with Warner running down Real1 with his car. 

Warner suggested he was drunk driving and then told Real1 to never steal from a redneck. Later in the night, we were told the authorities were en route to the arena and Real1 was being looked at by paramedics.

Sam Adonis (w/ Cesar Duran and Azteca Lucha henchmen) defeated Calvin Tankman (w/ EJ Nduka)

This match was short, but had good action. This was used to connect a lot of ongoing storylines and bring in the returning John Hennigan.

Duran put up one million pesos to anyone in the back who could beat Adonis before Adonis himself got on the mic and riled up the crowd Joel Gertner style in a nice ECW callback for the Philadelphia crowd.

Tankman’s MLW Tag Team championship partner EJ Nduka accompanied him to ringside and joined the commentary team. He discussed his recent run-ins with MLW Champion Hammerstone and more recently with the Samoan SWAT Team.

Last week, we saw Nduka badmouth Jacob Fatu before hitting Lance Anoa’i with a cinder block in the parking lot building up the upcoming title challenge from the SST.

Adonis seems to be getting a strong push in MLW and was able to put Tankman away after a low blow and a 450 splash off the top rope. Adonis had help from ringside with the henchmen getting involved, but Nduka chose not to help his partner and stayed at the commentary table.

After the match, Adonis got on the mic, said he wanted a title shot, and called out National Openweight Champion Davey Richards who gladly accepted via some right hands. Adonis bailed and the henchmen jumped Richards, giving Adonis the easy opening to lay a few boots himself.

This brought out the returning John Hennigan (fka Johnny Nitro, John Morrison, etc) with a steel chair. He cleared the ring of Lucha Azteca but then turned the chair on Richards, siding with Adonis and Duran. Hennigan joins his wife and MLW Featherweight Champion Taya Valkyrie in Duran’s stable. Duran, Hennigan and Adonis then stood over a fallen and battered Richards as Duran called this a new era of Azteca Lucha as he is collecting the best luchadors in the world.

The Billington Bulldogs (Thomas & Mark Billington) defeated The FBI (Little Guido & Ray Jaz)

Guido and Jaz sized up well with the Bulldogs, especially Guido, which made for a nicely-styled match.

Thomas kicked out of Guido’s Sicilian Slice and Mark got the hot tag which led to the closing moments of the match. Mark caught Jaz off the top rope and held him Hart Attack-style which let Thomas hit a top rope missile dropkick to pick up the pin and win.

The Bulldogs looked good here, hitting hard with nice execution, obviously focusing on their family heritage and the Stampede Wrestling style. Being in the ring with people like Guido and Davey Boy Smith Jr should help them too.

– We saw another tease of the recent mystery attacks that have been happening in MLW. The symbol is an A.O. and we have yet to find out the attacker’s identity, although this week they ramped up this storyline a bit. The symbol flashed during Hammerstone’s interview and also before the entrance for his match so this may indicate his next opponent– either with or without the title.

– Sam Laterna interviewed Richards after the attack by Hennigan, who they called Johnny Fusion. Richards said he has a few nicknames himself, most of all “The American Wolf.” He then called out Hennigan to a match anytime, anywhere. Duran interrupted via the big screen on the stage and booked Richards vs. Hennigan for the Openweight title for next week.

– An All Access segment with Jacob Fatu aired, showing a slightly different approach to his earlier All Access looks. This focused on his babyface run, talking up his fighting background but also his road back to challenge for the MLW title again. We then cut to a pre-recorded promo with Fatu in the parking lot where he hyped up his title challenge at SuperFight.

MLW Champion Alex Hammerstone defeated Yamato to retain the title

Before he collides with Fatu in their long-awaited rematch, Hammerstone had a hearty challenger here in “Japan’s no. 1 ranked wrestler.” The Dragon Gate native gave Hammerstone a scare in this slugfest, but he eventually fell to the champion’s power and the Nightmare Pendulum.

Earlier in the night, Hammerstone told Laterna that he is used to staying focused on the number of challengers that seem to attack him after he defends his title, so he is ready. He got riled up, saying he is staying champion whether it is tonight or at SuperFight against Fatu.

Similar to the opener, this had good solid in-ring action but also served as a backdrop to other ongoing storylines and future matches.

After a short break, Yamato had weathered the initial Hammerstone storm and was in control via a pump kick and corner dropkick. He then hit a big top rope superplex, but the champion also held on and as both got to their feet, he hit a suplex of his own.

A German suplex and sit-out powerbomb followed, but Yamato kicked out and came back with a Frankensteiner and jumping kick. Hammerstone then came back with a strong lariat and his Nightmare Pendulum in quick succession to retain his title.

After the match, a man in a gas mask came to ringside and gave the champion a box. Hammerstone was confused and when he opened the box, there was an octopus inside. Is this hinting at another debuting wrestler, his next challenger, the mystery attacker, or all of the above? If you connect the dots, it does bring up an interesting title challenger.

After the unboxing, Hammerstone was leaving the arena and confronted by Fatu who wanted to have their fight right now. Hammerstone, seemingly fed up with being called out or attacked, caught him off-guard with a pump kick and kickstarted a wild show-closing brawl around ringside. Security and officials tried to keep them apart as Underground went off the air.

Next week on MLW Underground:

  • MLW National Openweight Champion Davey Richards defends against Johnny Fusion