MLW Fightland
October 7th, 2021
2300 Arena – Philadelphia, PA
Commentary: Rich Bocchini & Saint Laurent
MLW World Middleweight Championship: Myron Reed (c) vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Arez vs. Aramis
Aramis and Reed start by shaking Tajiri’s hand as a sign of respect, but when Arez goes for it, he pulls in Tajiri and attacks him, and goes for the pin early. Reed and Aramis jump in and attempt pinfalls as well, as all four men go back and forth with attempts before Arez tosses Tajiri to the outside. Arez and Aramis go at it with both men reversing and dodging each other’s moves until Aramis hits a flying head scissors. Reed comes in and takes them both out including a slingshot guillotine leg drop on Arez. Tajiri comes in and delivers kicks, knocking all three men down as the crowd chants his name. Arez heads to the outside where Aramis hits him with a suicide dive, followed by dives from Reed, Arez before Aramis, and Reed more dives right after as they go to the commercial.
When we come back Aramis is on the apron, but Reed hits him with a flying Ace Crusher followed by a No Cap Splash inside, but Tajiri breaks up the pin and hits a brainbuster on Reed that Arez breaks up. Arez hits Tajiri with a double stomp, but Aramis comes back with a suplex on Arez. Aramis runs to the ropes, but Tajiri puts him in his signature Tarantula while Arez kicks Aramis. Arez then puts Reed in a Boston Crab while sitting on the top rope as Tajiri gives Reed kicks. Arez and Aramis go at it with all four men ending up back on the outside where Aramis hits Arez with a standing Spanish fly. They head back inside where Arez goes to the top rope and tries to hit a Frog splash, but Reed intercepts it with a cutter and hits a Captain Crunch that Tajiri breaks up. Tajiri and Reed go at it, but as the referee is distracted Tajiri sprays Reed with Green Mist, takes out Aramis on the apron and hits Reed with a buzzsaw kick, and gets the pin for the win.
Winner: Yoshihiro Tajiri by pinfall at 11:14 (plus commercials), to become NEW MLW World Middleweight Champion.
CONTRA Hunts
We go to a video package from CONTRA Unit where Mads Krugger says destiny calls for Hammerstone and he won’t triumph. The Black Hand of CONTRA will hunt him down and tonight the black flag of CONTRA will be draped all over Hammerstone’s broken body.
We then cut to backstage where Krugger and more members of the CONTRA Unit are attacking backstage personnel while looking for Hammerstone.
Upcoming Fight Schedule
· October 13th – MLW Fusion ALPHA: Tom Lawlor vs. Davey Richards
· November 6th – MLW Philadelphia (2300 Arena) – Will Ospreay debuts
· November 25th – MLW Fusion on Thanksgiving
MLW Embedded
Alicia Atout is in the MLW Vice TV Studios in New York joined by Raj Giri (Wrestling Inc.), Andreas Hale (Sporting News), Emilio Sparks (Wrassle Rap), and Dave Meltzer (Wrestling Observer) from his home office in San Jose.
They go into the first topic being WWE releasing tons of staff and talent and it’s a clue that WWE could be for sale. Meltzer starts by saying there are always stories about a potential sale and there are economic reasons between Vince McMahon’s age and the value of the company where it makes sense and the Peacock deal itself tells you that they are looking at making a lot of money from bigger companies. Giri brings up back in the day WWE always said they weren’t for sale and now their tone has changed completely, and they are open for business and brings up WWE and Fox having talks in 2017. Hale says he thinks this is more on cleaning up the books rather than preparing something for sale and Sparks compares Vince McMahon to Andy from Toy Story by playing with them and throwing them to the side for the new toys and this could be just to stir things up to get people talking and then renegotiate certain deals. Giri brings up CAA where Nick Khan came from as a potential buyer as well as Fox and NBCU. Sparks doesn’t want to see them sell off but down in the line in 10 years he could see it happening.
The next topic is AEW being super aggressive signing former WWE talent like CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, and Adam Cole and Atout asks who could be next. Hale right away says Kevin Owens since his contract is coming up and his friends are all there, while Giri says Bray Wyatt and that starting February 1st Owens can be wherever he wants to be. Giri then brings up Sami Zayn’s contract coming up early next year and Hale says Kevin Steen and El Generico sounds exciting being back in business.
Atout says she has a scoop of her own and says that the self-proclaimed real IWGP World Champion Will Ospreay is coming to MLW this fall. Meltzer calls Ospreay one of the most talented guys in the business today and an amazing performer and top tier. Giri says anybody would put him in the top five while Hale says he’s ultra-talented and now we can see him against guys like Myron Reed and Jacob Fatu. Sparks says Ospreay is bringing in a prestigious title working for a prestigious company and might go for the company’s biggest title and says Reed and Ospreay could have the match of the year. Giri ends it by saying this is a huge get for MLW.
Locked In
CONTRA Unit is still going backstage looking for Hammerstone, but they run into a room full of MLW talent and start brawling. Cesar Duran and his masked henchmen are seen closing the door and locking them in and Duran says he won’t let CONTRA destroy his world title match tonight.
MLW World Heavyweight Championship / MLW National Openweight Championship – No Disqualification Match: Jacob Fatu (c) (w/ Josef Samael) vs. Alex Hammerstone (c)
Right as the bell rings, Hammerstone drives Fatu into the corner and attacks him with strikes and kicks. Fatu quickly reverses and delivers headbutts and strikes of his own before hitting a big splash in the corner. They trade off belly-to-belly suplexes before Hammerstone clotheslines Fatu to the outside. Fatu comes back in and shoulder blocks Hammerstone back in the corner and delivers chops and more kicks before whipping him hard into the corners a couple of times. Fatu hits a swinging uranage that sends Hammerstone to the outside. They start brawling by the barricades as Fatu hits a moonsault off the guard rail. They start fighting on the apron where Fatu hits a piledriver as they go to the commercial.
When we come back, Fatu is tossing Hammerstone around including headfirst into a steel chair that was wedged in the corner. Fatu hits a Coast to Coast with the chair onto Hammerstone who was on the other side but only gets a two count. Fatu applies a nerve hold, but Hammerstone fights out with a side suplex and an exploder suplex into the corner. Hammerstone hits a series of uppercuts and a single leg drop kick for a two. Hammerstone follows with a German suplex and a sit out powerbomb for another two counts as they go to commercial again.
When we come back Fatu hits a pop-up Samoan Drop and a senton, but Hammerstone rolls to the outside where Fatu meets him with a Suicide dive. Hammerstone goes into the ring just to hit a pescado onto Fatu. They go back inside where Hammerstone hits a missile dropkick. They slowly go to have a face-off in the middle of the ring and start exchanging strikes and headbutts. Hammerstone goes to run the ropes, but Samael holds his foot as Fatu clotheslines him to the outside where Samael hits him with a spike to the throat. Fatu brings a table into the ring and sets it up in the middle of the ring. Fatu places Hammerstone on the table, places the CONTRA Unit Flag on him, and hits a moonsault off the top rope but Hammerstone kicks out, throws the flag off, hulks up, hits a running clothesline, and a powerslam. Hammerstone follows with a TKO and gets the pin and the win.
Winner: Alex Hammerstone by pinfall at 16:22 (plus commercials), to retain MLW National Openweight Championship and to become NEW MLW World Heavyweight Champion.
The show ends with Hammerstone standing tall with both championships as confetti reigns down in the 2300 Arena to end the show as he gets a big ovation.
