MLW Deserves Its Own Thread

[Peck]

 

[DEAN]

16 hours ago, Peck said:

 

I'm loving the Micro Man matches.  It appears that Gino Medina and Arez and Mini Abismo Negro have figured out how much of a beating Mico Man can take and beat some heat on the little fella.  Aramis and KC Navarro are both really good.  The 3-Way was perfectly fine for a 3-Way.

[DEAN]

Gino Medina.

 

[Wee Bey]

 

[J.T.]

I want to believe that the SAT can still go, but I am expecting we'll get angry old man Jushin Liger offense out of those guys which is also perfectly fine.

[Wee Bey]

 

[DEAN]

Richard Holliday and Davey Richards is good.  Not as good as Richards vs Hammerstone but good.  Myron Reed has a mystery opponent!  Who will it be?  It is MLW so it could be kinda lame or 

Spoiler

it could be TOTALLY AWESOME!  Shane Strickland RETURNS to MLW!  

This match is fucking great.  Reed and Mystery Opponent really wrestle to Mystery Opponents strange style!  YES! IT IS AWESOME!

  

[bobholly138]

was a fun show. Seeing Holiday in Natchez MS in 2 weeks. Think he is facing local fave and AEW Dark talent Rey Fury.

[Curt McGirt]

Lemme just say it was really fun catching MLW at like 2 AM the other night. Now I know how you guys felt when Worldwide or the Pro or ECW came on in hours like that. Didn't catch all of it but Davey Richards is a weirdo (why stop to pose all the time?), Richard Holliday is clearly the guy they are running with now that MJeff is gone and doing a good job, Shane Strickland is even weirder and Myron Reed thankfully got rid of the flak vest while incorporating the design into his new gear. Fun! 

[bobholly138]

MLW to me is what ECW was before it hit PPV. Airs on an obscure sports network,BeIN Sports instead of Sunshine Network,the roster changes often and it is a fun hour of wrestling most weeks.

 

 

[DEAN]

Hey! It's Chik Tormenta!  She's good.  Holidead lays it in and Chik Tormenta matches her STIFFNESS!  I'm guessing Holidead is the only actually under contract featherweight woman.  This match was good. Oh geez, a four way match?  MLW cannot shake its indie booking.  El hijo de el Hijo de LA PARK!  Adorable.  King Muertes in this really makes me wish this wasn't such a goober gimmick match.  At least they do the Lucha Libre rules thing of only having two in the ring at the same time.but then it degenerates into a bunch of spots.  Luckily, it was the usual annoying finish that three and four way matches FOR THE BELT have.  Is Slice Boogie gone?  Hey!  It's Bestia 666!  MLW will bring in the interesting wrestlers. Man, Jacob Fatu is awesome.  He methodically crushes Bestia like a bug but Bestia is good fighting back and making for some good nearfalls.  Fatu has the gnarliest moonsault in the history of wrestling.  That was really good.  MLW!  UNEVEN!

 

[Curt McGirt]

Are they gonna air the LA Park firing incident or is that already buried by Court in the archives? 

[Peck]

7 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Are they gonna air the LA Park firing incident or is that already buried by Court in the archives? 

I don't see the point. They went in to business for themselves and injured arguably MLW's two biggest stars. Showing that would only make Hammerstone and Fatu look weak, especially if there's never going to be any payoff/comeuppance.

[Curt McGirt]

I don't care, I want to see Los Parks get fired haha

[CanadianChris]

Didn’t that already get skipped and replaced with Bestia laying out Fatu?

[Wee Bey]

 

[Wee Bey]

 

[thee Reverend Axl Future]

So I was going to go, then I wasn't, repeat x3 over the past three months, then at the last minute I buy cheap tix for the MLW TV taping at the 2300 Arena this past Friday AND for NJPW Strong event on Sunday. I have had a shite couple of weeks, I am broker than the 10 Commandments and I got my Kratos Titan absolutely snagged whilst magnet fishing that day. Oy vey, but as thee great Tommy Rich has said, "I'M IN THE BEST SHAPE OF MY LIFE, BABY" so into the breach we plunge again. I can't say I will be able to keep it brief but RAF is going to lean into the positivity despite the above punishments from The Great Spirit. In that low budget vein, we present the first of:

Johnny LaRue Presents: thee RAF's STREET BEEF. Dig it. 

- My memory  is holier than Il Papa's boxers, so i am working off my scrawled notes over here. It's a TV taping, so spoilers maybe? Won/loss really ain't my focus anyhoo.

- My first notation is that Bill Apter is a lich. That's sort of positive, right?

- I recently discovered that my live card scale is that the worse the card is, the more I drink (and I barely booze anymore). Every venue around here has alcohol available, or I bring it in. When rassling is done wrong, it hurts my heart and I seek to remedy it with cold beer and warm shots. I remained sober for this card.

- I tried and failed to prevent my pal Tony from spending too much at the merch tables. He is helpless to his addiction to attractive wrestlers. He also is an informative source on worker's OnlyFans and Grindr accounts so it serves my journalistic/purient needs. We bicker, Oscar & Felix style, about particular wrestlers predilections. The issues remain unresolved. That's the fun part, isn't it?

- Some of my other pals were delighted that Gangrel appeared like 5 times on this card (TV tapings, yay). If he working on a by-the-match basis then good for him, those blouses don't come cheaply. There were a couple minor but fun surprise appearances here, which always adds value.

- "You can never have enough Arez" - RAF

- The 6 Man (Lince Dorado, Taya Valkyrie, & Microman defeated Arez, Holidead, & Mini Abismo Negro) and the Three Way (Myron Reed defeated KC Navarro and Arez) (back-to-back, incidentally) were fun. See above note. I don't like everyone overselling for Microman but I love it when he gets beat up. I assume that means I am a bad man with a black heart. So be it. MM is fine as a gimmick-comedy worker for a short term thing but you can't sacrifice so many of your workers to him with such a thin unstable roster. One bad man's opinion. The three way was fun, KCN and Arez and MR are all great, that's just a fact.

- Seeing these Young Von Erichs gives me '80s flashbacks to how much I wanted to see the Elder VEs lose. I still do.

- Cheap mic heat is running wild. No names, you know who you are. Philly sportsball team stink, blah blaw bla...

- This is definitely worth my $20 but that 2300 $6 fee (on each ticket!) kills me. I guess all the teenagers working everywhere in here need to start saving up for junior proms. The bartenders are always adult and attractive. How fast can Alpha Security wear out black turtlenecks?

- Evil Makeup Alicia Atout is pleasantly effective at ringside. I honestly believe that MLW is the best out of any current fed in their use of non-wrestler workers. RAF loves a competent manager.

- Speaking of effective non-wrestler workers, how freakin' good is Cesar Duran? I mean, his motivations and machinations actually make sense. The crowd hangs on his every word. He needs a better class of henchmen, tho'.

- RAF, with all due respect, prefers his wrestling Samoans savage and heel rather than gangsta and babyface. However, times change and I must accept that.

- The PA Athletic Commission (the shoot heels) have really been enforcing the "no juice" thing here, yet tonight there was accidental (?) color (and see NJPW Street Beef as well). Jacob Fatu was covered with thee krovvy after getting jumped at ringside, yet the show went on and he appeared in the main all cleaned up. I like to think he got a pass for being a brilliant worker and a Samoan.

- NZO dressed and talked like a dangerous drunk homeless person and I loved it.

-  Speaking of Mr. 'ZO, I look at him as a very underappreciated worker, akin to the way folks on-line view Michael Hayes and (early) DDP. They all were learning on the job, all tried to find a way to stand out and they all filled a role of someone who had to make the match be entertaining while usually putting someone over. Not the tradition roles of the carpenter or enhancement talent, but more of the mid-card threat. The reasons I see that the Former Amore works a lots of vets around here is that he doesn't have an ego to get in the way, he wants to absorb the knowledges and he can match them gimmick for gimmick. I spoke to him at his merch table, and he did say the phrase that I admire: "I want to have a match that's different from the other matches on the card. That's how I am going to stand out." Wise words. I still did not buy anything.

- The main event was much better than I expected. JFatu and Mads Krugger really worked the weapon and plunder gimmick in very intelligent ways for the psychology of the match. The set decoration was festive and showed that MLW cares. Good finish for the match and the card.

In the spirit of thee late great Johnny LaRue, I did note the lack of crane shots at this taping, and not even a camera drone buzzing about. Hell, Giant Baba or Bill Watts didn't need no cranes to make a rassling show. Good on you, Mr. Court Bauer.

Wrestling is fun and I learned a lot.

[DEAN]

50 minutes ago, thee Reverend Axl Future said:

So I was going to go, then I wasn't, repeat x3 over the past three months, then at the last minute I buy cheap tix for the MLW TV taping at the 2300 Arena this past Friday AND for NJPW Strong event on Sunday. I have had a shite couple of weeks, I am broker than the 10 Commandments and I got my Kratos Titan absolutely snagged whilst magnet fishing that day. Oy vey, but as thee great Tommy Rich has said, "I'M IN THE BEST SHAPE OF MY LIFE, BABY" so into the breach we plunge again. I can't say I will be able to keep it brief but RAF is going to lean into the positivity despite the above punishments from The Great Spirit. In that low budget vein, we present the first of:

Johnny LaRue Presents: thee RAF's STREET BEEF. Dig it. 

- My memory  is holier than Il Papa's boxers, so i am working off my scrawled notes over here. It's a TV taping, so spoilers maybe? Won/loss really ain't my focus anyhoo.

- My first notation is that Bill Apter is a lich. That's sort of positive, right?

- I recently discovered that my live card scale is that the worse the card is, the more I drink (and I barely booze anymore). Every venue around here has alcohol available, or I bring it in. When rassling is done wrong, it hurts my heart and I seek to remedy it with cold beer and warm shots. I remained sober for this card.

- I tried and failed to prevent my pal Tony from spending too much at the merch tables. He is helpless to his addiction to attractive wrestlers. He also is an informative source on worker's OnlyFans and Grindr accounts so it serves my journalistic/purient needs. We bicker, Oscar & Felix style, about particular wrestlers predilections. The issues remain unresolved. That's the fun part, isn't it?

- Some of my other pals were delighted that Gangrel appeared like 5 times on this card (TV tapings, yay). If he working on a by-the-match basis then good for him, those blouses don't come cheaply. There were a couple minor but fun surprise appearances here, which always adds value.

- "You can never have enough Arez" - RAF

- The 6 Man (Lince Dorado, Taya Valkyrie, & Microman defeated Arez, Holidead, & Mini Abismo Negro) and the Three Way (Myron Reed defeated KC Navarro and Arez) (back-to-back, incidentally) were fun. See above note. I don't like everyone overselling for Microman but I love it when he gets beat up. I assume that means I am a bad man with a black heart. So be it. MM is fine as a gimmick-comedy worker for a short term thing but you can't sacrifice so many of your workers to him with such a thin unstable roster. One bad man's opinion. The three way was fun, KCN and Arez and MR are all great, that's just a fact.

- Seeing these Young Von Erichs gives me '80s flashbacks to how much I wanted to see the Elder VEs lose. I still do.

- Cheap mic heat is running wild. No names, you know who you are. Philly sportsball team stink, blah blaw bla...

- This is definitely worth my $20 but that 2300 $6 fee (on each ticket!) kills me. I guess all the teenagers working everywhere in here need to start saving up for junior proms. The bartenders are always adult and attractive. How fast can Alpha Security wear out black turtlenecks?

- Evil Makeup Alicia Atout is pleasantly effective at ringside. I honestly believe that MLW is the best out of any current fed in their use of non-wrestler workers. RAF loves a competent manager.

- Speaking of effective non-wrestler workers, how freakin' good is Cesar Duran? I mean, his motivations and machinations actually make sense. The crowd hangs on his every word. He needs a better class of henchmen, tho'.

- RAF, with all due respect, prefers his wrestling Samoans savage and heel rather than gangsta and babyface. However, times change and I must accept that.

- The PA Athletic Commission (the shoot heels) have really been enforcing the "no juice" thing here, yet tonight there was accidental (?) color (and see NJPW Street Beef as well). Jacob Fatu was covered with thee krovvy after getting jumped at ringside, yet the show went on and he appeared in the main all cleaned up. I like to think he got a pass for being a brilliant worker and a Samoan.

- NZO dressed and talked like a dangerous drunk homeless person and I loved it.

-  Speaking of Mr. 'ZO, I look at him as a very underappreciated worker, akin to the way folks on-line view Michael Hayes and (early) DDP. They all were learning on the job, all tried to find a way to stand out and they all filled a role of someone who had to make the match be entertaining while usually putting someone over. Not the tradition roles of the carpenter or enhancement talent, but more of the mid-card threat. The reasons I see that the Former Amore works a lots of vets around here is that he doesn't have an ego to get in the way, he wants to absorb the knowledges and he can match them gimmick for gimmick. I spoke to him at his merch table, and he did say the phrase that I admire: "I want to have a match that's different from the other matches on the card. That's how I am going to stand out." Wise words. I still did not buy anything.

- The main event was much better than I expected. JFatu and Mads Krugger really worked the weapon and plunder gimmick in very intelligent ways for the psychology of the match. The set decoration was festive and showed that MLW cares. Good finish for the match and the card.

In the spirit of thee late great Johnny LaRue, I did note the lack of crane shots at this taping, and not even a camera drone buzzing about. Hell, Giant Baba or Bill Watts didn't need no cranes to make a rassling show. Good on you, Mr. Court Bauer.

Wrestling is fun and I learned a lot.

Hey you!  Where's the New Japan Strong report?

[thee Reverend Axl Future]

I am doing on the fly, brudda. I just posted it, I don't start writing until 0400, dontcha know, because my sleep schedule is all out of whack, Long COVIDs, dammit. I love you all.

[DEAN]

Still using footage from Dallas, so no Reverend Axel Future.... YET!  Oh man, I think it's going to be one of THOSE episodes of MLW, as NZO and Budd Heavy approach the ring.  Budd Heavy will bump like a total psycho.  And that's that?  Okay.  Out comes ACH to wrestle NZO.  MLW will sometimes have an offbeat dream match.  I don't know if this is one but ACH is a fucking MEGA worker and NZO is perfectly fine, so this should be good.  NZO is good being wrestled upon so this is as good as this could possibly be.  NZO goes on offense by being wiley and cheating.  ACH does a torprope gut wrench suplex because ACH is awesome.  NZO is pretty good in this, though going over ACH is a stretch but here we are.  WELCOME TO MLW!  Oh good, it's HUSTLE AND POWER!  They are awesome.  Court should bring in FTR to wrestle them.  EJ Nduka and Mr Thomas are about the same size.  Nduka is your face in peril and Alex Kaine is fun avoiding the tag to Calvin Tankman.  Calvin Tankman tags in and gets in trouble too!  Mr Thomas will lay it in!  He's got a good Big Boot!  EJ Nduka tags in and hits a cool Oklahoma Stampede and Tankman splashes Mr Thomas into oblivion.  Hustle and Power are a good tagteam.  Alex Kaine did not throw a single suplex, which was strange.  It's the Von Erichs in Dallas!  Hernandez is tagging with Danny Limelight- as I assume there is some sleazy MLW story as to why Slice Boogie isn't here.  Hernandez looks pretty good.  Danny Limelight is the ULTRA worker in the match and is bumping for three.  Marshal goes through a door.  Hernandez rakes Ross's back with a RAKE!  Truly great.  Limelight is bumping to get over Von Erich style offense.  Ross goes through a table!  The match comes to a standstill while they dick around with chairs and a doof and Limelight goes through it eventually.  Marshal or Ross PROCURES THE CLAW on Hernandez!  VON ERICHS WIN!  Well, this wasn't a classic for the ages, but folks went through a bunch of stuff, which is pretty good.  Middlin' episode!

 

[thee Reverend Axl Future]

Budd Heavy (OVER!) not having a merch table is the most gregarious wastage of potential ducats I have heard of. Is he a millionaire, or a Commie? Also, in the Land of Hyperbole Abutting Grim Reality, you have no ideer of the size of Mr. EJ Nduka until you are eye-to-nipple with the man.

[DEAN]

MICRO MAN IS OUT OF MLW IF HE DOESN'T WIN TONIGHT!  The great thing is that it's MLW, so you don't really know if the most over guy in the promotion asked for a hundred bucks more per appearance or he may be related to LA PARK, so you never know if they are actually trying to get rid of him!  Danny Limelight Rivera is really good and Davey Richards is on a WILD resurgence since becoming Dr Davey Richards so this is good.  Limelight can't take it to the mat and match submissions with Richards but he's good so this is interesting as he uses his athLEETicism  to stay on top of Richatds before Richards swarms over him with submissions- which he starts by procuring a Trailer Hitch.  Limelight makes the ropes and hits a DDT and sells the knee.  Limelight is good.  Richards has cool looking kicks and elbows.  Limelight gets slaughtered by a Gotch Style Piledriver and Limelight does the greatest sell of a piledriver I've ever seen.  Better than RVD.  Better than Konosuke Takeshita.  BRAVO, DANNY LIMELIGHT!  You are awesome.  TJP is part of the six man Microman match.  Aerostar is in this!  WILD!  Ares is in this!  Mini Abismo Negro has to be  4'11" and 3/4.  Okay, TJP selling for Microman is truly magnificent.  Ares does strange things but hits a nasty toprope double stomp.  Ares gets mountains of heel heat by working over Microman.  Mini Abismo is a mini that towers over Microman so he gets the same level of heat for beating on the little fella.  Aerostar decides to start the spectacular section of the match.  El Dragon wins by being the most graceful and insane.   TJP is great as Microman is his nemesis!  Microman rolls up Mini Abismo!  Microman stays in MLW!  TJP was an all star in that.  El Dragon out-spectaculared Aerostar.  So weird.  So good.  Cesar Duran is taking on Alexander Hammerstone?  I don't see that happening.  Who knows, maybe Court Bauer is doing an Ode To Vince Russo.  I assume this is taking the place of the Los PARKS thing that went awry.  This is pretty pointless but makes up for not having LA PARK around.  They set up the Von Erichs and Hammerstone versus Richard Holliday, Mil Muertes and Mads Krueger, so that'll be good.  The first two matches are good.

 

[J.T.]

TJP has been killing it in MLW.  They need to put the Middleweight belt on him already so that he can wrestle classics against the technicos in the mid-card.

You have to think they will put the World title belt on Holiday since there are rumblings that Hammerstone is trying to get to a major fed in the US.  Most likely he will go to AEW and feud with Wardlow since his homey MJF is there and may get a sweeter deal when negotiations are up.  Hammerstone also likes to go to Japan and AEW is his best shot at getting Forbidden Door bookings

That being said, I would not be surprised if Hammerstone ends up in the WWE feuding with the Steiner kid in NXT.  It would be a decent payday and he has the musclebound look that Vince likes.  

I had high hopes for the Alex Kane title reign, but it is the drizzling shits.   Probably best for him to drop the Openweight belt to Jacob Fatu since he and Mads Kreuger are having a miracle feud.

Edited May 31, 2022 by J.T.

[Curt McGirt]

I like this fantasy booking. If things are copacetic then Hammerstone as the new Wardlow for MJeff would be killer. I don't think WWE will pick him up -- right now at least -- but he'd fit there fine too. Hell just put him in NJ Strong.