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https://www.prowrestling.com/mlw-announces-2020-opera-cup-bracket-wrestlers-from-aaa-impact-njpw-to-compete/
 

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MLW Announces 2020 Opera Cup Bracket

Major League Wrestling has revealed all eight competitors as well as the brackets for the upcoming 2020 Opera Cup.

The single elimination tournament dates back to the start of the 20th century. The actual physical Opera Cup trophy was in the possession of the Hart family for more than 50 years until it was gifted to MLW in 2019 when the tournament was resurrected.

This year’s incarnation will see stars from all around the world compete, including mainstays in AAA, New Japan Pro-Wrestling and IMPACT Wrestling.

On the left side of the bracket, former MLW World Heavyweight Champion “Filthy” Tom Lawlor battles New Japan veteran Rocky Romero, while the current AAA World Cruiserweight Champion Laredo Kid takes on free agent ACH.

On the right side of the bracket, Davey Boy Smith Jr. looks to rebound from an upsetting loss to reigning world champion Jacob Fatu when he takes on another former champ in Low Ki. Richard Holiday will also take on IMPACT Wrestling’s TJP.

The first round will begin next Wednesday, November 25 on a special Thanksgiving week edition of MLW FUSION

 

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One thing I seemed to note: they seem to be giving Reed more of the mic time with Injustice now.

 

Has there ever been a stable or a team, where when they're faces one member of the team does most of the talking, but when they're heel the other member does?  Oliver is definitely a natural annoying heel on the mic, so I can see why they made the switch.  Mylon Reed seems to be more of a face talker by comparison (not sure how Oliver does as a face, I could see him having the John Morrison problem where his ring-style is natural face but his talking is natural heel)

 

I can imagine the Lucha Bros. being like this also- with Fenix as face, and Penta as heel, but they don't talk much in the US.

 

 

Edited by alstein
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Man, Hammerstone looks GREAT with the beard. That is a wrestling look. He looks like Thor's buddy or something. 

Can you really cut 15 pounds in a day? That sounds unrealistic. Meanwhile, this match feels like it needed to be worked about 15% faster. For middleweights it was a beat off or sluggish or something. Myron has a really good chop and forearm. Pillman busted out the surfboard which nobody does anymore. But it just didn't hit that second gear that would make it a better match.

Where are they holding this show btw? It sounds like there's a half-packed bar outside but no crowd. 

Oh shit Fatu can cut a promo! "This ain't the restart, this the pain game!" Plus Davey Boy is a poodle apparently haha. I skipped Davey's promo because... yeah, you know. 

The match was methodical and hard-hitting. Good selling from Davey, really liked those agonized baby steps he took before Fatu slipped out from above him. No Samoan should be selling headbutts from no white boy though. Who's the Black Hand of Contra? Anybody know? Any guesses even? 

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TJP vs. Holliday was pretty much TJP rolling through every technical spot he can think of then Holliday hits him with two moves and pins him? Okay then. 

Calvin Tankman is a fuckin' beast. He doesn't need to be doing dropkicks though. Another guy finishing with a Rikishi Driver too... I still want somebody to bring back the Dominator.

Goddamn does Dominic Garrini look like such a sleaze with the sunglasses, mullet and gi. It's fantastic. And I think Lawlor is wearing trunks that have a jean shorts print on them?! Also Garrini creepily looks facially like Pat Patterson. I think it's the nose. Anyway, Lawlor and Rocky do some nice matwork before Rocky starts striking. Thankfully they don't go full NJ Challenge and sell the chops, which are very heavy. Man Romero is working hard here, he has a killer tornado DDT too. Lawlor comes back with an enormous Uranage and they do some slick reversals into a leg-bridge pinfall out of a choke attempt. They even acted wore out at the end with weaker and weaker slaps and leg kicks. Great match! 

...and that's the show? They got a show called Karate Combat on after with Bas as an announcer. Huh. 

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Hey, it's Laredo Kid. And ACH, who apparently unretired. They start with a Guerrero/Malenko reversal-rollup sequence and it kills the match for me immediately. I don't feel bad about that either. ACH calls a brainbuster a Spirit Bomb? No, it's a fucking brainbuster. There's nothing special about one. Maybe he's just a big fan of Koko and thinks he can change the name of his. 

Von Erichs say there's gonna be a "clawtrastophy" *groan*

And here's Logan "Black Hand" Creed. Or apparently "Krugger", with an umlaut over the 'u' as listed at the top of the screen. Which is hilarious if they're giving away his other (or another?) MLW name inadvertently. He squashes the other guy worse than Tankman in the last episode. Two guys come out and bodybag the jobber which is awesome. Wait, then it sounds like the announcers call Creed "Mance Krugger"? Or "Vance"? 

Low Ki did one thing over the break aside from bitching about not being able to work, and that's grow a mustache. Davey Boy has burned yet another bridge in the meantime. This is a rematch from the first Opera Cup. Ki is also wearing his outfit from the AJPW 2013 Royal Road tourney where Akebono took out his knee; it looks like one of those full arm and leg swimming suits TBH (only with Aristrist logos cuz he was teaming with Chono). And they work a methodical match where Davey plays sadist, twisting and smashing on Ki the whole time. Ki gets almost no offense but manages to roll Davey up around the 20 minute mark. It wasn't as abrupt or pointless as the Holliday/TJP match but yeah... pretty uneven. I wouldn't call it a Bloodsport match because they definitely didn't keep it entirely on the mat but I can see some comparisons. 

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On 12/4/2020 at 4:56 PM, EVA said:

So apparently MLW signed and fired Cody Hall today.  That has to be some kind of record for shortest tenure with a promotion.

This was the blurb on f4wonline Saturday. Doesn't appear to have happened in one day...

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After it was reported that Cody Hall has signed with MLW, Post Wrestling clarified that Hall had signed with MLW earlier this year but the two sides agreed to part ways and Hall isn’t in MLW’s plans.

 

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It sounds like he's just not talented. NJPW, DDT, MLW, etc all don't want the son of Scott Hall?

I haven't watched MLW in a while but I did watch the return episode. Reed-Pillman was dull, as McGirt said it never reached 2nd gear. Middleweights working a super heavyweight pace. DBS-Fatu was probably the best DBS singles match I've seen but the match itself was just okay. They did well at filling out the sound without a crowd though, there weren't empty lapses like a lot of companies had earlier in the year. 

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