MLW Kings of Colosseum
January 6th, 2021
GILT Nightclub – Orlando, FL
Commentary: Rich Bocchini & Saint Laurent
MLW World Tag Team Championship – Bunkhouse Match: The Von Erichs (Marshall & Ross) (c) vs. The Dirty Blondes (Michael Patrick & Leo Brien) w/ Aria Blake
The way the rules were explained is there are no rules with cowbells and brawling involved. All four men start in the ring together as tags don’t seem to be a thing either. The Blondes try to use their cowbell but get drop-kicked out of the ring. Leo Brien taking advantage of the ‘rules’ by trying to bite a chunk out of Ross. All four men start heading over to the locker room before ending up outside. They all start using chairs until Patrick gets thrown onto a picnic table. They end up back inside as it isn’t a falls count anywhere match. Aria is clapping along to this madness. Patrick is on his knees begging that he’s sorry to Ross before Aria comes in and delivers a low blow to Ross. On the outside, Leo Brien tries to piledrive Marshall but gets backflipped onto the floor. Aria continues to attack Ross inside as the referee is trying to kick her out, but she gets thrown off for her troubles. Marshall comes in and applies the Claw on Patrick and with it hooked on they deliver a double team back suplex, as Marshall covers Patrick for the win.
Winners: The Von Erichs (Marshall & Ross) retain by pinfall at 3:53
After the match, the Von Erichs say they just signed an open contract to take on all comers as the MLW tag division is deep as they get interrupted by CONTRA graphics.
Siino Vision: When this event was first announced I wasn’t sure if it would be 2 hours or one, once I saw the runtime, I knew that one of these matches had to be quick, and this one was it. Very uneventful, but I didn’t expect much for something with little to no build for it. Neither team looked too dominant or strong, and it just felt like filler that would have served stronger as an opening with a crowd. Wish they would have spent a bit more outside, as it seemed like something refreshing instead of having to stare at an empty venue.
Where is Simon Gotch?
When speaking about tonight’s grudge match between Simon Gotch and Jordan Oliver, they mention that Gotch has been MIA, but they aren’t sure if this is a ruse by CONTRA or not, and they will keep us posted.
We Are Going to Filthy Island
They then show Tom Lawlor from his backyard gloating about being the Opera Cup winner and how he goes everywhere with it, including strip clubs in Las Vegas. He has big news that we are going to Filthy Island soon. We later on, on the show did get a graphic saying ‘Tom Lawlor’s Filthy Island – Coming Soon”. This could be fun if it’s not just segments and actual wrestling taking place in a ring on a beach like people expected UFC to do, and even farther back AEW with Fyter Fest or Bash at the Beach.
Pro Wrestling Illustrated Top 10
10 – Mads Krugger
09 – Calvin Tankman
08 – Laredo Kid
07 – ACH
06 – Richard Holliday
05 – Myron Reed
04 – LA Park
03 – Low Ki
02 – Filthy Tom Lawlor
01 – Alexander Hammerstone
MLW World Heavyweight Champion: Jacob Fatu
Grudge Match Postponed
They officially announced the grudge match between Simon Gotch and Jordan Oliver has been postponed as Gotch is nowhere to be found.
MLW World Middleweight Championship: Myron Reed (c) w/ Jordan Oliver vs. Lio Rush
They start it slow, both applying wrist locks to try and ground each other. They quickly speed it up until Rush reverses a Fireman’s Carry into a sunset flip pin attempt. Reed comes back reversing a bulldog into a slingshot leg drop as he attempts a pin. They tease each other by bouncing off the ropes until Rush gets the upper hand and hits a springboard somersault followed by a suicide dive to the outside. Rush slows down the action by applying a headlock on Reed and starts pulling on his nose. Reed is able to power out and they start to strike each other until Rush counters a cutter into the 540 Kick for a 2 count. Reed is struggling to get on his feet as Rush kicks him in the corner followed by a back suplex, pin attempt, and starts wearing down Reed again. Rich Bocchini states that security tonight’s starting to tighten up to get ready for the main event by locking the building down. Reed is able to burst back with clotheslines and hits a flying crossbody to Rush on the outside, followed by a springboard corkscrew inside for a 2 count. Reed is able to kick out of a rolling through pin into a Half Nelson suplex that Rush lands on his feet but into a fireman’s carry and a kick to the face for a 2 count. Rush is able to outsmart Reed and hit him with a moonsault off the ropes to the outside and sends Reed back in and hits a twisting facebuster for a 2 count. They crisscross against the ropes until Rush takes him down with a clothesline, but Reed counters a suplex but as he tries to speed off Rush holds on to his ankle. They both show a bit of weariness until Reed hits an Enziguri and flying inside out cutter from the apron onto the floor outside as he takes off his chest protector. Back in the inside, Rush moves out of the way from Reed’s No Cap Splash and instantly hits a Bounce Back Stunner. Rush shows that he’s hurt and slowly jumps off the top and hits a big Final Hour Frog Splash for the pin.
Winner: Lio Rush by pinfall at 14:19, to become the NEW MLW World Middleweight Champion
After the match, the new champ Lio Rush speaks and says what else did you expect? There’s only one outcome and he is the 25-year-old piece of gold. He is the Man of the Hour and the Middleweight champion. He calls Myron Reed, the paperweight champion. Now it’s real gold, and not only is he a musician, the hottest agent in the world, not only does he own more things than your entire life is worth, but he is also the Middleweight Champion and there is nothing anybody can do about it.
Siino Vision: Excellent match, but I expected no less from two of the best Middleweights in wrestling today. They obviously have much faith in Lio Rush sticking around, for the time being, having him take the title in his MLW debut from Reed who has had the title since November 2019. The roster here is deep and Rush can have plenty more great matchups including the eventual rematch, as I feel like there was so much more, they could have done in this match giving the ability of these two. Crazy to think Rush has accomplished so much at 25 years old and there is so much more for him to do.
Two Gifts From CONTRA
Before the match, Alicia Atout asks Hammerstone how he can prepare against a man you know nothing about but quickly gets interrupted by a CONTRA Unit video with Josef Samael preaching from the Arabian Peninsula saying he offers two gifts for the new year. A new soldier of CONTRA will take arms tonight and his masked mercenary takes Hammerstone’s title and career.
Salina’s Bombshell
Salina de la Renta interrupts Bocchini and Laurent with her big news that’s been promised by saying she is executive producing the January 13th episode of MLW Fusion. She announces the main event with The Von Erichs defending the MLW World Tag Team Championship vs. Los Parks with the promise that LA Park and his sons would join Promociones Dorado if she got him a title shot. She also announces Opera Cup winner Filthy Tom Lawlor as the special guest referee before leaving saying she has an important phone call. They also announced on the January 20th episode of Fusion, Jacob Fatu will defend his MLW World Heavyweight Championship vs. ACH.
Daivari Joins CONTRA
Myron Reed and Jordan Oliver are backstage, and Reed speaks about his loss and says even though Lio Rush was the better man tonight, he’s still the young GOAT. He will do whatever it takes to get his Middleweight title back, as they get attacked by CONTRA Unit including Jacob Fatu, Simon Gotch who surprisingly is now found, and their newest member Shawn Daivari.
MLW National Openweight Championship: Alexander Hammerstone (c) vs. Mads Krugger
The action starts quickly with Hammerstone running after Krugger and hitting him with his title, but Krugger is able to slam Hammerstone into the ring to get the match started. Hammerstone starts beating down the bigger Krugger in the corner until Krugger attempts a chokeslam but Hammerstone is able to big boot Hammerstone to the outside. They brawl outside until Krugger drops Hammerstone onto his face on the apron before throwing him back inside. They trade off chops until Krugger hits a big splash but runs into a Belly-to-Belly Suplex by Hammerstone. Hammerstone comes back hitting a flying clothesline and another one into the corner followed by a bicycle kick in the corner and a pump handle suplex for a 1 count. Hammerstone tries to hit the Nightmare Pendulum but Krugger reverses it and nails Hammerstone in the corner. They go back and forth as the referee tries to control them until Krugger dumps Hammerstone to the outside. As they brawl, at the 5:03 mark we get an MLW “Please Stand By” color bar that cuts some of the action as Bocchini says they both have stopped taking direction from the official and the production staff have run away. As they brawl to the back, Krugger applies a choke on Hammerstone as the referee counts them both out and the show abruptly ends.
Winner: Alexander Hammerstone & Mads Krugger both get counted out at 6:24
Siino Vision: Well, that was a mess. Once I saw how much time was left on the show I knew we would get either a squash from Krugger or some sort of non-finish, but that was a cheap cop-out. The colored bars cutting in to throw off the match clock was very random and didn’t really make any sense, and it wasn’t even clear what the finish was as Bocchini just stated that the match was thrown out. If it wasn’t for the fact, I heard the referee say ‘ring the bell’ and hear the bell as he counted to 20 I wouldn’t even have realized it was a count-out. This is obviously leading to a rematch, but from what I saw I don’t know if I want to see that. I would have preferred Krugger squashing Hammerstone in minutes similar to how Brodie Lee defeated Cody Rhodes, and build to the story of Hammerstone’s redemption
Overall, if it weren’t for the Lio Rush-Myron Reed match this show would have been a complete disaster. For a show that was originally meant to be a Pay Per View event, we ended up getting crumbs that were worse than a regular episode of Fusion, especially after that fantastic Opera Cup we got. I understand they might have only been slotted an hour of time due to their obligations, but I expected this to be a 2-hour event with a sleuth of action, instead, we got one great match, one match being canceled for no reason, a quick tag match that meant nothing and a sad excuse for the main event. Even Salina’s much hyped-up bombshell was just a previously announced show that was meant for today’s date. I was expecting Mil Muertes tonight, and instead, we got Shawn Daivari. They could have easily spread out the Kings of Colosseum name to two weeks and thrown in the announced Fatu/ACH match and made it much more salvageable. I am being kind with my rating only because of the Middleweight Championship and I can at least say this was a free show and not something they would make you pay for. They should have just called it what it was, a subpar episode of MLW Fusion instead of sugar coating it to be a big event.
5 cowbells out of 10
