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MLW Deserves Its Own Thread


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Zenshi v. Jordan Oliver was two guys trying to do more than they were ready to do.  Zenshi should reel his stuff in so he's doing maybe a 3/4's of his spots.  If he stopped to highlight one of his apron kicks and the awesome springboard splash thing, he'd be better off than trying to get all his stuff in.  Oliver looks like a weasel jerk and should lean into that as opposed to working athletic.  He looks like a guy who stands behind tougher people yelling the loudest at people to bring it on.  These guys are working back and forth and would be better with a simpler structure where Oliver stooges and fucks up until his people help him out.  Then work a simple heat segment until the comeback.  They seem just too ambitious.

Harts v. Dynasty 2/3 Falls.  The Harts dress like such assholes with Harry wearing a short sleaved hooded fur coat and Teddy wearing what looks to be chameleon vomit.  I get that Teddy is weird but it seems like an odd choice when put against two people trying to be jerks.  The Dynasty duck out and the spacing is weird here as The Harts just sort of walk up behind them and hit them.  MJF and Holliday needed to be on their bikes rather than just meandering around.  The bail out is to frustrate your opponents and get them to make a mistake but this is more like a hollow shell of that idea.  The whole first fall follows this sort of pattern where The Harts walk after the Dynasty, catch them and then beat them up a while.  It's really rather listless and nothing seems to build off anything else.  The first fall finish is a let down as Holliday kicks out of things a heel shouldn't kick out of in the first fall of a 2/3 match before something lesser takes Smith down for a 3.  The second fall ends up very quickly as Teddy hits video game finishers and seems more interested in adjusting his gear than demonstrating he's invested in the match.  Harry did manage to no sell the finish of the previous fall in nonsensical short order if you were interested.  Third fall is even faster and still manages to misfire as MJF sells being unconscious but Teddy refuses to just cover and goes for something else unneeded based on MJF's selling.  This match is a series of mistakes in a narrative sense aping successful story points in a way that misses the nuance of why the spots normally work.  If the Harts emoted more or The Dynasty showed either some killer instinct or more fear, it would have been more effective.  It's a match that works if I write down all the spots, but the stuff between spots is not there.

 

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1 hour ago, Goodear said:

It's a match that works if I write down all the spots, but the stuff between spots is not there.

Said everybody about every Teddy Hart match. He's the one guy who I don't mind it because he's one of the first MOVEZ guys and he's Teddy fucking Hart.

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He does suffer from a bad case of face freeze. He has this resting douchebag face, but he refuses to ever change his facial expression during a match. Also, I was shocked that when The Dynasty were being introduced, they were both bowing low so they could pop up in celebration at hearing their names. And Teddy Hart failed to take the opportunity to sneak up behind them and pretend he was cornholing one of them. What a waste.

If Pillman Jr doesn't do his roots soon, he's going to have a mullet where the business in the front is all brunette, and the party in the back is white blonde.

Edited by AxB
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The matches in MLW aren’t much as spectacles like NJPW but the story angles are great. Low Ki’s title reign was brutal and I’ve never seen a champion as sadistic and as brutal as he was. Dude was ripping off ears and maiming motherfuckers. 

Since I ditched WWE, I’ve been wanting to fill the void with something and AEW just wasn’t it.  But yeah, this has been a treat overall. I was surprised to see Low Ki in a big role for any promotion given his reputation. 

Edited by Kyuubi
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7 hours ago, NikoBaltimore said:

After their Bloodsport fight it's pretty much guaranteed that they're going to have one helluva match.  As long as it's on Youtube I can't wait to see it.

Seconded. I'd say it was possibly my favorite match on the card. Them doing a straight match is gonna be something else. 

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This popped up in my feed so I thought I'd drop it here. "2 rings were constructed side-by-side, as is tradition for this bout that featured a who's who of wrestling including: "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, Barry Windham, Sabu, CW Anderson, Justin Credible, The Sandman... even Bill Alfonso?!" Now that's a hell of a lineup...

EDIT: Watched this, I guess I'd give it a solid C. Nothing too special. Sander was in the entire time which was surprising, I thought he'd be blown up in five but he stays active. CW has good punches, Doc... doesn't. Match-ending submission is the only time I've ever seen said submission win a match.

Edited by Curt McGirt
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On ‎9‎/‎27‎/‎2019 at 2:51 PM, Sky Blue Sam said:

He used to wrestle as the Almighty Sheik, he's a former NWA World champion 

He and Jacob also ran through the indies as the tag-team, WARBEAST.

Court pretty much took the running gimmick they already had going on and made CONTA out of it.

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2 hours ago, alstein said:

MLW had three very different, each good matches this week.  I won't be surprised if it ends up being best wrestling show of the week.

Don't know if I'd say it may be the best this week considering AEW and Smackdown haven't happened yet.  But I thoroughly enjoyed it and it's certainly one of the better shows they've had the past couple months.  The post-match with the razor wire was wonderfully bloody.

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Screw Jacob Fatu, the World Champion should be Mance Warner. Fight me.

How the fuck is no one going to get color in the main event until after the match is over? The most brutal part of the entire match occurred after the match was over. At this point, Warner/Havoc needs to end with a violent and bloody match, because this was pretty tame (until the post-match beatdown).

Edited by Casey
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There seems to be a lack of detail on the show where it misses core concepts that should be adjusted.

Take the opening tag match where it starts with the referee pulling out weapons from Injustice and they miss on the emotional highs and lows of the spot.  The heels should be angry about being searched at all, the referee should be extraordinarily pissed about finding a weapon (much less two) and then the faces need to be reaction as well.  In this case Gringo and Airwolf aren't invested in the search whatsoever when they need to be participating.  The finish feels botched but it would have been interesting to see someone tag in and just cover for a pin as a way of getting to a finish.  Regardless, the post match is another miss as Injustice go after the referee which seems to be a regular thing for them (which opens up other issues with internal consistency) but again the faces don't intervene.  Instead they take action to avoid the attack by leaving the ring while the referee is getting beaten.  This makes them look indifferent to the action and poor 'good guys'.  

 

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Thankfully MLW gets a lot of the psychology aspect through the promos- even if they're cheesy as hell, such as the Dynasty/Von Erichs promo.   MJF being as talented as he is promowise, and the Von Erichs knowing how to do earnest good guy (my guess is that's all they can do, but they do it well) really helps here.   The Injustice promo was really good as well, especially coming from teenagers.   Oliver and Reed have some real potential down the road if they develop.

 

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On 10/1/2019 at 2:04 AM, Archibald said:

Any summary of what important things were said there? Not really in a mood to listen to Bauer for an hour.

You are in luck, I listened to it while stuck in traffic last night. There wasn't anything of note, but this is all I remember.

  • Said that working with AEW in regards to their shared talent worked out well.
  • Cornette is done with MLW.
  • Talked about how they've had options to co-run shows with NOAH but really haven't wanted to at this point.
  • Salina de La Renta is legit involved in the production of the show.

A lot of the questions were really bad. 

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I’ve heard of Tim Thatcher but this is the first time watching him. Dude somehow pulls off Wiry big guy if that makes sense. I can’t call him technical as he is more of a Regal type dude in terms of physicality. It was a fun showing. 

Not really into Lawler. I don’t get the hype because Riddle does former MMA guy turned wrestler better than he does. I’m just not impressed with anything he does yet. 

The black luchador guy? He is awesome. Some of the most creative shit I’ve seen since Shane Strickland. I wish MLW put more emphasis on, I hate saying it, workrate. I enjoy the Factions wars and conflicts as it adds an added dimension to conflicts. The matches just lack the spectacle of that makes sense. Maybe that’s on the performers or I don’t know what I’m talking about but when NJPW puts on a match, it not only feels big but the match itself is filled with story as well as technique and athleticism. MLW feels like they have top tier talent and I know they do but the matches feel underwhelming a lot of the time. 

Maybe I am buggin’. Regardless, I like this shit. 

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