MLW Fusion results: Alex Kane vs. Delirious, lucha trios match

This week’s MLW Fusion was taped in Tijuana, Mexico, as part of the MLW and AAA Super Series tapings in February.

We opened with a Sam Leterna interview with Willie Mack from earlier in the day. Alex Kane interrupted, but Mack ended up flooring the MLW Champion with a slap. Mack will challenge Kane for the title at the upcoming Fury Road event on September 3rd.

MLW Heavyweight Champion Alex Kane defeated Delirious in a non-title match

The graphic correctly named him the MLW Champion and Kane came out with a title belt of some sort around his waist, but the full belt was never fully visible on camera. The reason: because of the timeline of these tapings, Kane had not yet defeated Alex Hammerstone to win the title which happened in July.

Delirious came out to The Calling’s music as he is still loosely affiliated with the heel group, but he played babyface here as recent crowd favorite Kane was leaning into the Mexico vs. USA/AAA vs MLW Super Series competition to get heel heat from the Tijuana crowd. All in all, the delay between taping this match and making it make sense on screen didn’t do it any favors.

With that being said, the action inside the ring was good. Delirious had the champion’s number in the early going, dropping him with a missile dropkick and later confusing Kane by running each side of the ropes (without hitting the opposite side) before connecting with a jumping clothesline.

Kane always went back to his suplexes when he could. He got an extended heat segment after capitalizing on Delirious’ bare feet with a foot stomp.

Delirious caught Kane with a headbutt to the midsection, followed by his running knee Panic Attack in the corner and his top rope Shadows Over Hell frog splash for a close nearfall.

In a spot we have seen a lot in more recent tapings, a Bomaye Fight Club member got on the apron to distract Delirious, Kane went for the cheap shot, Delirious moved, Kane collided with his ally and Delirious schoolboyed Kane…but the champion kicked out.

Kane then hit his Angle slam-esque finisher The Kane Maker, but Delirious kicked out to trade near falls as they made their way toward the finish.

Delirious hit a combination of strikes, but Kane caught him with a big boot which gave him the opening to hit a release suplex to pick up the win.

– We saw a recap of the events leading up to the Matt Cardona vs. Mance Warner match at Fury Road which is now a Kiss My Foot match. Cardona cut a promo from his home, saying Warner would be lucky to kiss his well-preened foot. He is coming to MLW not to pass the torch, but to light a new one and carry it to new heights with MSL by his side.

– In an All-Access look into Willie Mack’s past, we heard about him growing up with a foster family, pursuing his dream, passing a WWE tryout but being told not to report to developmental, feeling like he let everyone down, becoming homeless, and then being offered a second chance by MLW.

– We had a tease of something coming soon which a graphics package showing clips from space with the text “Fury Ignites Within,” “Kingdoms Clash,” “Worlds Collide” and “Enter the Realm.”

– We had another in-depth look at a current star in Women’s Featherweight Champion Delmi Exo. We heard about her upbringing with her sister Ashley Vox, joining wrestling training at the same time as she did, and an emotional story of her being torn between chasing her dream of training in Japan and being with her father who had Stage 4 lung cancer. She also talked about post-pandemic wrestling and there not being a lot of opportunities but being passionate to join MLW with people like Willow Nightingale and Brittany Blake, and eventually winning the Featherweight title.

– Backstage, B3CCA wanted a shot at Exo and was not happy to learn that Exo was not in the building. But we did hear that B3CCA will be facing Maki Itoh in her debut at Fury Road in a number one contender’s match.

– The next round of MLW Draft gave us Ichiban as the latest signee.

Willie Mack, Jack Cartwheel & Myzteziz Jr. defeated Dinamico, Genio del Aire & Skalibur

This had great crowd heat and amazing athleticism from all involved. The faces really shone here but they needed equally good heels to help them shine.

Mack had the crowd in the palm of his hand as he danced and grinded during an impromptu musical interlude that went through a commercial break. Mack busted out a worm, and even an inverted worm, but the heels jumped him to bring us back to the wrestling.

Backstage, John Hennigan was attacked, abducted, and dragged out of the building.

Back inside the ring, the usual lucha libre trios tag rules were in place with everyone in the ring which led to no tags, non-stop action, and far too much to keep up with in a match writeup.

Cartwheel is very good at what he does. He is athletic, has a gymnast’s build and has great fluidity. He reminds me of PAC with the way he is always in full control of his high flying.

Mack looked to be in his element in front of the Tijuana crowd, especially after he got them going with his dancing earlier. The babyfaces, or tecnicos, took control of the early going with Mack hitting a cannonball in the corner, Cartwheel landing a Space Flying Tiger Drop, and Myzteziz connecting on a middle rope moonsault to the floor.

Dinamico was facing a 3-on-1 problem against the faces and ate some hard chops, a pop-up forearm, a superkick and a German suplex. Thankfully, his partners were not far behind to break up the pin.

Skalibur got squashed with an Avalanche by Mack, a middle rope hurricanrana by Myzteziz, and a pair of standing moonsaults by Cartwheel and Mack.

The rapid pace kept up with Dinamico hitting a victory roll driver from the top rope, but had a temper tantrum when he didn’t get the three count on Myzteziz.

We had a simultaneous triple nearfall when Mack hit a pop-up power bomb and both Myzteziz and Cartwheel hit top rope shooting star presses, all landing on the mat at the same time.

After a string of dives to the floor, Dinamico was distracted by Rayo Star and Fantastic, part of the Tijuana wrestlers currently feuding with Dinamico and his Mexicali group. Cartwheel then hit The Jack Attack (rolling fireman’s carry) and the Jack Arrow (corkscrew shooting star press) from the top rope to pick up the win for his team in this highly entertaining match.

– We ended the episode of Fusion with a backstage attack. As former Tag Team champions Lance Anoa’i and Juicy Finau were leaving the building, they were jumped by The Calling’s masked henchmen. Anoa’i was hit with a lead pipe and Finau could do nothing but watch as he was locked inside the building.