Andrew’s MLW Fusion Ratings & Review: 6/29/18

Another Friday night, means more MLW Fusion! What happened to Barrington Hughes after he tried to stop Sami Callihan’s Death Machines last week? When will Low Ki try to cash in his shot at the bounty?

I guess there’s only one way to find out.

Barrington Hughes promo with Kaci Lennox talking about the Death Machines hitting him with something last week when he was protecting Shane Strickland. Says they’ve got a pissed off Colossus to deal with now.

Vanessa Craft interviews Kotto Brazil, but the afore mentioned Death Machines show up, beat down Kotto, and Sami Callihan cuts a promo. Sounds like he’s calling out MVP again and trying to prove they can be entertaining.

Ariel Dominguez vs Jaye Skye

As soon as the match starts, Su Yung and Zeda Zhang show up. And starts beating the hell out of the two combatants.

A hell of a way to make their impact felt. Plus Su Yung’s intro music and visual effects are pretty cool. What’s not to love about two badass women?

Winner: N/A

Rating: N/A

Low Ki pomo, for his bounty hunt on Shane Strickland. Salina de la Renta, Fenix and Pentagon have upped the bounty to $60,000 dollars, and Low Ki is looking to collect.

Promo for Battle Riot, adding a few new names to the Riot, one including Headshrinker Samu.

MVP is seen backstage looking for Kotto, and finds him in the boiler room like a scene out of Saw. Including a recorded message for a Boiler Room Brawl.

Sammy Guevara w/ Salina de la Renta vs Fred Yehi

Team Filthy stops Yehi before he walks out to say good luck and they were sorry for being jerks the past week. Obviously, no one believes that genuine, but it’s a good quick way to keep stories moving. Yehi powers down Guevara with a Headlock takeover, holds it for a bit, before coming off the ropes for a shoulder tackle. The pace starts slow as both men pander to the crowd, but then Guevara hits a nice combination of leaps, into a beautiful drop kick.

Yehi feels annoyed so he starts stomping the hell out of Sammy, laying in numerous strikes before hitting a Release German Suplex for 2. Fred takes him to the corner, and both men begin trading chops. Snapmare into a Shotgun Dropkick allows Yehi to keep the advantage until Guevara counters and just throws Yehi into the turnbuckles. -commercial break-

When we come back, Guevara is posing in the corner, before squatting Yehi, but then getting a few big suplexes as payment for show boating. Fred puts together a nice Spinning Backchop into a Double Stomp on the neck, followed by a Powerbomb for a near fall. Yehi props Sammy in the corner for a Superplex, but, Guevara slips down into an Electric Chair, Yehi slips off and manages to sink in a Koji Clutch for the submission victory.
Guevara losing his debut match on Fusion along with pissing off Salina, surprising, not gonna lie.

Winner: Fred Yehi via Koji Clutch

Rating: ** 1/4

Backstage, Team Filthy runs into Low Ki. Low Ki points out that Tom Lawlor is number one contender with no match, but Low Ki does. Lawlor seems obviously annoyed, even though Simon Gotch does his best at trying to make excuses.

More Sami Callihan promos calling MVP out, demanding the Boiler Room Brawl.

Jimmy Havoc promo, reflecting on the growing feud between with him and Tom Lawlor.

Kaci Lennox outside of Team TBD’s locker room and one of them storms out after some sort of argument.

Rich Swann vs ACH

Collar and Elbow tie up into the corner, and then they break back into the center of the ring. Classic Test of Strength moment as they start going into trading arm wringers and a few athletic moves and counters before they stare off. Numerous counters and flips to avoid contact before Swann hits a dropkick to take a small advatange into the corner. ACH catches him with a big boot, then physically catches him off a back handspring and starts laying in very deliberate chops.

Jockeying for position with standing switches and gutwrench attempts, before ACH manages a quick Backbreaker into German Suplex Hold combination for 2. ACH maintains the advantage as he slowly tries to wear down Swann with Headlocks and some well placed strikes. -commercial break-

Returning from commercial we see Rich finally get a second wind and get a big Headscissors takedown and a step over back kick, to finally take the advantage. Super Frankensteiner snapped off quickly, as Swann goes for a pin but only gets 2. Leg sweep, back stomp into shotgun sliding kick by ACH, swings the momentum the other way.
Frog Splash from ACH for 2, as he then hits a one armed German Suplex Hold. Back to back attempts for Vertical Suplexes as Swann keep kicking him in the head. Finally gets an opening and hits a Backhandspring Cutter for a near fall.

Both men are exhausted, but they start trading strikes and chops in a strong style-esque spot. Back Roundhouse Kick from Swann, catches ACH out of nowhere, but only for 2. Small opening where ACH missed a Frog Splash. Swann tries to take advantage and go for the La Magistral Cradle, but ACH stops him for his own pinning situation and picks up the win.

Winner: ACH via Counter Cradle

Rating: ***

Thoughts:

These shows have a tendency to do this I’ve noticed, where there will be a few that are heavy promos or gimmicked matches. Granted not bad, since they’re establishing newer characters and keep storylines moving. It only bothers me that there tends to be a lot of backstage segments or promos or interviews grouped together, so it stagnates the show.

Still no real complaints, the storylines are pretty compelling, the matches are of a decent quality or better, so still enjoying this program. Especially with Su Yung and Zeda Zhang’s debuts, that adds a fun wrinkle.