MLW Battle Riot VII
April 5, 2025
By: John Siino
Thunder Studios Arena in Long Beach, CA
Commentary: Austin Aries & Joe Dombrowski
RESULTS
- Atlantis, Atlantis Jr. & Star Jr. over Barbaro Cavernario, Magnus & Ultimo Guerrero via pinfall (11:51)
- Janai Kai over HIMAWARI via pinfall (7:28)
- Templario over Esfinge, Hechicero via submission (9:53) (RECOMMENDED)
- MLW Women’s World Featherweight Title: Shoko Nakajima over Delmi Exo (c) via pinfall to become champion (9:17) (RECOMMENDED)
- MLW World Heavyweight Title Battle Riot: Matt Riddle wins by eliminating Rob Van Dam to retain the championship (1:06:31)
This show was originally scheduled at the Commerce Casino & Hotel in Commerce, California, but was moved to the larger arena.
Alex Hammerstone Returns
The show starts with Jesus Rodriguez in the ring to bring out Cesar Duran, who comes out with a nice-looking all-white suit with a sunflower. Duran welcomes us to Battle Riot and says this is his homecoming, talking about his roots in Boyle Heights and the ‘Underground’ and now being the president of MLW. Unfortunately, throughout this beginning, you can pick up audio of the producer directing the camera cues. Duran asks the fans what they want, as whatever they want, he will deliver. He has a surprise for everyone and brings out a new signing in the returning Alex Hammerstone. After his short stint in TNA Wrestling, Hammerstone is back for the first time since December 2023.
Hammerstone gets on the mic and says that at this moment, he has a ton of emotions flowing through him, but it’s been a long time since he’s heard a building full of MLW fans chanting for him as they welcome him back. He didn’t just come back for that return pop but to enter the Battle Riot and take back the MLW World Heavyweight Championship.
Austin Aries Joins The Broadcast Team
Joe Dombrowski introduces the newest member of the MLW broadcast team in Austin Aries, who is replacing Christian Cole, who was a regular on commentary since 2023. Aries returns to commentary for the first time since 2018, after being a regular for WWE Monday Night Raw & 205 Live in 2017.
Barbaro Cavernario, Magnus & Ultimo Guerrero vs. Star Jr., Atlantis & Atlantis Jr.
Right away, Aries compares Barbaro Cavernario to ‘someone from The Flintstones. ‘ Star Jr. making his first appearance in MLW unmasked, as he had just lost his mask last month to Zandokan Jr. in CMLL. Atlantis Jr. & Utimo Guerrero start the match by running the ropes as Aries starts questioning the Lucha Rules for this match. Right away, all six men go at it, fighting in and out of the ring until the rudos start going for the mask of Atlantis. Joe Dombrowski brings up how they sold out ‘two separate buildings for this same event’ with a paid attendance of 2,021. Guerrero almost gets Atlantis’ mask off a couple of times, but the Juniors stop him and gain the upper hand. Dombrowski brings up how all six of these CMLL wrestlers will be in the Battle Riot later on. Atlantis & Guerrero start playing with the crowd before Atlantis sends Guerrero to the outside and dives off the apron onto him, before Star Jr. hits a more impressive on onto Cavernario. Back in the ring, Atlantis Jr. hits a frog splash on Magnus to pick up the pin and the win.
Winners: Atlantis, Atlantis Jr. & Star Jr. by pinfall at 11:51
HIMAWARI vs. Janai Kai
HIMAWARI, who is representing Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling, is making her MLW debut here in her first-ever match in the United States. Aries compares HIMAWARI to the ‘Japanese Paul Walter Hauser’ going from acting to wrestling. HIMAWARI starts whipping her hair at Janai Kai, but it backfires as Kai ties up the air onto the ropes and kicks away. Kai hits three back-to-back slams before getting a two-count. Kai puts on the Demon Clutch with HIMAWARI’s hair wrapped around her neck, but as the referee raises HIMAWARI’s arm, she gets it up for the third time and breaks out. HIMAWARI comes back with a half Boston Crab, but Kai kicks her way out and hits a roundhouse kick to pick up the win.
Winner: Janai Kai by pinfall at 7:28
We see a video from Mads Krule Krugger, who threatens to go after Matt Riddle tonight.
Sessions by Saint Laurent w/ The Filthy Bros
Saint Laurent is in the ring with a Sessions by Saint Laurent segment as he brings out his guests The Filthy Bros: Matt Riddle & Tom Lawlor. Riddle brings up how tonight, for the first time, his MLW World Heavyweight Championship will be defended against 39 other ‘dudes’ in the Battle Riot and calls it the ‘worst surprise party ever. Riddle says Chuck Norris, Liam Neeson & Captain Jack Sparrow could be in the Battle Riot, while Lawlor brings up Dr. Dre. Laurent interrupts them and says nobody cares about that and they only care about how Lawlor broke his arm and Riddle broke his heart, and they’ll be hearing from his attorney. They corner Laurent before turning around to get the crowd to chant ‘Torta’ at Laurent, before Laurent takes out Lawlor from behind with a metal pipe. As Riddle grabs Laurent, Donovan Dijak enters the ring and attacks Riddle. Bishop Dyer, the former Baron Corbin, enters with a chair and joins in on the attack as Laurent announces that Dyer has joined in the alliance with himself and Dijak.
Azteca Lucha
They announced their next show, Azteca Lucha on Saturday, May 10th from Cicero Stadium in Cicero, Illinois, being a co-promoted event between MLW and CMLL.
White People Shit
We see The Rogue Horsemen cornering Paul Walter Hauser in the back, but Mr. Thomas, Paul London & Alex Kane show up to back up Hauser as all eight men get in each other’s faces ahead of tonight’s Battle Riot. London starts chanting ‘Bomaye’ in the style of ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ that Hauser calls ‘white people shit’.
Mistico Injured
We see Mistico sitting in the crowd with Cesar Duran & Salina de la Renta. Mistico was supposed to defend his MLW World Middleweight Championship against Templario but suffered a triceps injury earlier this week and wasn’t cleared to compete, so his match with Templario has been postponed.
Dombrowski thanks the crowd for helping MLW set a new box office gate record at Thunder Studios Arena, and they will return to Los Angeles in October.
Esfinge vs. Hechicero vs. Templario
I absolutely love the look and presentation of Templario, and I hope to see more of him throughout the year in any promotion. Right away, all three go at each other, with Hechicero being sent to the outside. He quickly joins back in as Templario has the upper hand, but the crowd seems to be behind Hechicero as well. All three start trading off submission and pin attempts before Esfinge hits a dive onto both men on the outside. Templario sends Esfinge to the outside with an arm drag before diving onto Hechicero on the other side. Hechicero stops a pin attempt from Templario before putting him into a surfboard. Very hard to keep up with all this action, and if you can’t tell by now, I just highly recommend you check it out yourself. Hechiceor puts on an armbar on Templario, but Esfinge breaks it up with a top-rope splash. Templario sends Esfinge to the outside with a wheelbarrow suplex before putting on an arm-trap submission on Hechicero while leaning back as Hechicero submits.
Winner: Templario by submission at 9:53
Mistico Vacates the MLW World Middleweight Championship
Templario gets in the face of Mistico on the outside, as he is still owed a title shot. Joe Dombrowski brings in Mistico with Cesar Duran & Salina de la Renta and asks Duran what’s next for Mistico. Duran says, unfortunately, Mistico will be out for a couple of weeks before saying he has good news as he passes the mic to Mistico. Mistico speaks in Spanish and vacates the MLW World Middleweight Championship as he has sights set on bigger things, potentially going after the MLW World Heavyweight Championship. As he goes to hand the title over to Duran, we see Ikuro Kwon from Contra Unit show up, spray red mist into Duran’s face, and steal the championship.
A Good Brother Summer
We see a mysterious vignette with silhouettes of two men, beer bottles, bullets, and more with a message saying ‘they’re coming’ with the date of 6.26, which happens to be the MLW Summer of the Beasts event this June in New York City. The clues pretty much sum up that The Good Brothers of Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows might be making their way over to MLW. Anderson did have some cryptic tweets on X going into Saturday night, where he was promoting AEW Collision as well.
MLW Women’s World Featherweight Championship: Delmi Exo (c) vs. Shoko Nakajima
Shoko Nakajima is also representing TJPW and making her MLW debut, and she comes out to an awesome ‘Big Kaiju’ entrance as she destroys buildings and the Hollywood sign. AEW had Nakajima on two shows in their first year as part of the Fight for the Fallen Buy-In in 2019 and then an episode of AEW Dark against Riho but never brought her back. Dombrowski says he believes Matt Riddle has suffered broken ribs, but he hasn’t been ruled out for Battle Riot tonight. Nakajima works on Delmi Exo, hitting a senton off the ropes for a two-count before heading to the top rope, but Exo dodges her and takes her out with a discus lariat for a two herself. Exo stays on top with multiple pin attempts, but Nakajmima comes right back with a springboard hurricanrana, sending Exo to the outside, hitting her with a cannonball dive. They run the ropes as Exo hits her with a cutter but doesn’t go for the cover and instead starts working on Nakajima’s back. Nakajima escapes out of multiple attempts of the Delmi Driver and hits a Tiger Faint Kick, followed by a DDT. Nakajima heads to the top rope and hits a Senton splash to pick up the pin, the win, and the championship.
Winner: Shoko Nakajima by pinfall at 9:17, to become the *NEW* MLW Women’s World Featherweight Champion
Battle Riot Rules
- The Riot begins with 2 competitors in the ring.
- A new participant enters every 60 seconds.
- Elimination occurs by pinfall, submission, or being thrown over the top rope.
- No disqualification; weapons are legal.
- For the first time, the MLW World Heavyweight Champion defends his title in the Battle Riot
MLW World Heavyweight Championship Battle Riot Match
The #1 entrant is former MLW World Heavyweight Champion Alex Hammerstone, followed by #2 Raj Dhesi, the former Jinder Mahal, making his MLW debut. Aries wonders why nobody brought in a weapon since weapons are legal. Atlantis Jr. comes in at #3, followed by CMLL’s Virus at #4. #5 is Jesus Rodriguez, entering his third Battle Riot. #6 is Star Jr., who enters and takes everybody down. Esfinge comes out at #7 and gets involved in a Tower of Doom spot with Virus, Star Jr. & Hammerstone, as Dhesi capitalizes and gets the pin on Virus for the first elimination. #8 is Ikuro Kwon, who doesn’t bring out the stolen MLW World Middleweight Championship with him, followed by Barbaro Cavernario at #9. CMLL legend Blue Panther comes out at #10 and has the crowd erupting with his offense.
Magnus comes out at #11 and goes right after Atlantis Jr., clotheslining him over the ropes to eliminate him. Juicy Finau makes his return to MLW for the first time since 2023 at #12. During this, Hammerstone makes Kwon submit to the Torture Rack to eliminate him. Hammerstone goes on a rampage and eliminates Star Jr., Esfinge & Cavernario. Ultimo Guerrero comes out at #13, followed by Atlantis at #14 and Hechicero at #15. Okumura comes out at #16 and hits cutters as Panther & Atlantis start going at it, with Dombrowski saying they never finished their rivalry in 1991 due to a wrestler’s strike. Guerrero traps up Atlantis, making him submit for the elimination. Ariel Dominguez came out at #17, followed by Mr. Thomas at #18, as Panther made Guerrero tap out for the elimination. Thomas eliminates Okumura, as Hechicero pins Panther as the crowd rains down in boos. Right away, Rodriguez sends Magnus over the ropes, before Thomas eliminates Hechicero & Dominguez. Hammerstone sends out Rodriguez, Finau & Dhesi as it’s just Hammerstone & Thomas going face-to-face. Hammerstone hits him with the Nightmare Pendelum, as the debuting Journey Fatu comes out at #19. Journey is the younger brother of Jacob Fatu. Dombrowski brings up the history between Jacob & Hammerstone, and Hammerstone ‘seeing a ghost’ as he goes face-to-face with Journey. Bobby Fish rounds up the first half at #20 but gets attacked by Thomas on the way out.
CW Anderson comes out at #21 with a crowbar and attacks Thomas, followed by Chris Adonis at #22, making his MLW debut. Hammerstone eliminates Fatu as he and the former Chris Masters have a staredown. Adonis tries the Masterlock, but Hammerstone breaks out as Paul Walter Hauser comes out at #23 with a shopping cart full of weapons. Brett Ryan Gosselin comes out at #24, as Hauser is already bleeding while using a kendo stick. The MLW World Heavyweight Champion Matt Riddle comes out at #25 with his ribs all taped up as everybody brawling on the outside finally makes their way inside the ring. Brock Anderson comes out at #26, as Riddle sends Thomas over the top rope for the elimination. Paul London is #27 and helps Hauser eliminate Fish, as Riddle eliminates Adonis. Alex Kane is out at #28, as Hauser rolls up CW for the pin, but Hauser then gets eliminated by Brock before Brock gets eliminated by London. Matthew Justice comes out at #29 and brings a ladder with him that he jumps off of onto The Rogue Horsemen. Satoshi Kojima comes out at #30 (Sii-note: The scheduled MLW World Tag Team Championship match between Kojima & Okumura vs. KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight didn’t happen on the show, with Knight being the only one not to appear on this show. The commentary didn’t mention it, but you would assume that Knight being needed for AEW Dynasty the following day on the other side of the country could have caused the cancellation of the match.)
Plenty of the eliminated men are still brawling on the outside, bleeding and fighting with weapons as Justice gets sent over the top rope but lands inside the shopping cart to stay in the match as Thomas helps him by driving the cart back towards the ring, saving Justice. Hauser helps Riddle & Kojima eliminate BRG as Bishop Dyer comes out at #31, making his MLW debut by going right after Riddle. Dyer eliminates London & Kane, as KUSHIDA comes out at #32 as Riddle & Hammerstone go at it. Shane Haste from TMDK makes his MLW debut at #33 as Hauser jumps off a ladder onto BRG on the outside, sending him through a table. Mads Krule Krugger comes out at #34 and brings a chainsaw with him into the ring. Krugger eliminates Justice by chokeslamming him out of the ring onto a table, as Riddle kicks the chainsaw out of the ring. Everybody gangs up on Hammerstone, eliminating the first entrant, who lasted about thirty-five minutes. Tom Lawlor hobbles to the ring at #35 and helps Riddle attack everybody else. Donovan Dijak comes out at #36 as Saint Laurent goes and joins the commentary table. Anthony Greene makes his MLW debut, coming out at #37 as Kruger eliminates Haste. Dijak knocks KUSHIDA off the apron to eliminate him, as Titus Alexander comes out at #38, in his first MLW match. Krugger eliminates Kojima, as Dr. Dax comes out at #39 but gets eliminated by Riddle right away. The Filthy Bros eliminate Greene, as Dijak goes to eliminate them both, but only Lawlor gets sent over the top rope. Dyer sends Alexander over the top rope as it’s now Krugger, Dijak & Dyer surrounding Riddle as out at #40 is the biggest surprise of the night in Rob Van Dam, making his first appearance in MLW. RVD & Riddle team up and send Krugger over the top rope to eliminate him. RVD sends Dyer over the top rope, and Riddle ducks as Dijak goes over the top rope. It’s now down to the final two in Riddle and RVD, who hug it out before they go at it. They go at it for a couple of minutes as the crowd chants for RVD. RVD goes for the 5 Star Frog Splash, but Riddle runs up and pushes him off the top rope to get the pin, the win, and retains the title, as the fans don’t seem too happy about this.
Winner: Matt Riddle at 1:06:31, to retain the MLW World Heavyweight Championship
FINAL THOUGHTS
This was one of the better Battle Riots in the last couple of years, and it helped to have CMLL talent as well as actual big names as surprises such as Rob Van Dam, unlike previous years that might have been reserved for mostly unknown wrestlers or masked henchmen. The luchadores stole the show for me, and despite the injury to Mistico, it was Templario, Esfinge & Hechicero who stole the show, with Templario being the biggest stand-out of the night for me. Mistico having to vacate his championship is unfortunate, but him setting his sights on the World Heavyweight Championship makes his return seem more grand. Shoko Nakajima winning the championship was a welcomed surprise, and this guarantees another appearance for her. The surprise of Rob Van Dam, appearances of former WWE Superstars and the potential debut of The Good Brothers should be the talking points out of this show, but it’s apparent that their working relationship with outside companies TJPW and especially CMLL are what could be bringing eyeballs to the product and people to these shows, as they seemed to get the biggest reactions (no one was more over than Blue Panther). It helps that AEW & MLW have been sharing luchadores, and that only helps them get more exposure on a U.S. level, and I’m curious what else could be down between these companies as Azteca Lucha in collaboration with CMLL is their next show on May 10th. Overall, this was one of the better MLW shows I’ve seen in the last couple of years.
