MLW FUSION REPORT: Alex Hammerstone vs. Mads Krugger

Fusion featured the Baklei Brawl with Alex Hammerstone vs. Mads Krugger, the latest on the referee scandal, and Los Parks defend their titles.

Photo Courtesy: MLW

MLW Fusion #120

February 3rd, 2021
GILT Nightclub – Orlando, FL

By: John Siino

Commentary: Rich Bocchini & Saint Laurent

Sentai Death Squad (w/ Daivari) vs. Jordan Oliver (w/ Myron Reed)

This soldier sent from CONTRA Unit is simply labeled as ‘Sentai Death Squad’, and he is fully covered up and in black, so no real way of knowing who it could be. Reed had a warning before the match saying they’ve had the SDS gear and plotted this way back and suggested a 2-on-2 for next week with #INJUSTICE vs anyone from CONTRA. Sentai takes off his helmet and quickly tries to take out Oliver, but gets taken down by a big boot but shows that his knee might have gotten a bit tweaked. Oliver punches Sentai in the corner followed by a low dropkick for a two count. Oliver continues to deliver all the offense in this match and hits a springboard cutter off the second rope for the pin.

Winner: Jordan Oliver by pinfall at 1:25

After the match Oliver says he wants people to watch the match and realize something; Jordan Oliver is not the 170-pound kid he was a year ago, and right now he weighs 220 pounds and he’s a heavyweight. He then tells Jacob Fatu to watch it back, because he’s coming for his title.

Man of Deep Pockets

We went to earlier today, where we saw Salina de la Renta outside enjoying a glass of red wine. Salina says to Savio Vega, she understands that his honor and pride are hurting at this time, but after all, it was him who let down the entire island of Puerto Rico by failing to bring back the Caribbean Championship. Salina says she knows times must be tough with the pandemic and everything and rumor has it that IWA is lacking money and they could use an investor. It just so happens that the new owner and proprietor of Promociones Dorado is a man of deep pockets. So they made him a very generous offer and are looking forward to hearing from Savio.

Referee Corruption in MLW?

We see footage of last week’s referee scandal in the Caribbean Strap Match between Richard Holliday and Savio Vega with the referee helping Holliday win the IWA Caribbean Championship. We see a report from Sports Illustrated, revealing the crooked referee from last week is disgraced NBA official Tim Donaghy. The same referee who conspired to fix games in the NBA a couple of years back. Alicia Atout backstage confirms that MLW is investigating these allegations and Court Bauer told her that he takes allegations involving corruption extremely seriously. The Athletic Commission does reassign referees, but there were some suspicious reassignments on the days of the event. And on the betting end of the scandal, a lot of money came in late for Richard Holliday. Whether a coincidence or not, next week she will interview the self-proclaimed IWA Caribbean Heavyweight Champion, Richard Holliday.

Kauai Island is Filthy Island

Ross Von Erich tells Marshall it looks like Filthy Island will be happening two weeks from today right there on their island. Marshall says if they are coming to their island, they will give them a good ol’ fashion Texas How-Do-You-Do. Ross says since they are in Hawaii why not give them an Aloha kind of greeting? Marshall doesn’t like that because it would feel a lot better to put a bull rope over the head of Dominic Garrini and choke him out. Ross questions if the event will even happen, because Filthy Island is having trouble with sponsors and the locals don’t like him. Marshall says people can’t trust him because of what he’s done, and Ross says it might turn into a GoFundMe Island if he’s not careful. Marshall says regardless of whether they are invited or not, they are showing up.

MLW World Tag Team Championship: Los Parks (c) (w/ Salina de la Renta) vs. TJP & Bu Ku Dao

Salina again flanked ringside by what Rich Bocchini calls a ‘shadowy figure’ as he’s not able to get any information on him, Saint Laurent says he is an associate from Azteca Underground who is there to watch over the investments of ‘El Jefe’. LA Park goes and attacks TJP right before the bell rings knocking him to the outside as El Hijo de LA Park and Bu Ku Dao start the match officially. They grapple a bit on the mat, before LA Park distracts Dao, then comes in and takes him out. TJP ran in and chased LA Park to the outside. LA Park tries to offer a handshake to TJP, who refuses. Hijo and Dao continue the match back inside, with LA Park continuing to take cheap shots on Dao. As TJP tries to come in, he distracts the referee from seeing Los Parks put the boots on Dao. As Dao battles a comeback, right when he goes for the pin, his partner TJP comes in, shoves him off, and starts pounding down on Hijo before telling Dao to now go for the pin. This only results in a two-count and LA Park comes in and joins his son in beating down the babyfaces. Hijo hits a superkick on TJP and showboats a bit instead of going for the pin. Los Parks double-teamed on TJP, before targeting Dao. The referee has zero control on this match as all four end up back inside and Los Parks Irish whip TJP and Dao into each other. Dao and TJP are able to make a comeback as there is no clue who the two legal men are at this point. Dao kicks Hijo to the outside, as he and TJP both dive to Los Parks on the outside. Back inside, Dao applies a crossface on Hijo, as TJP ties up LA Park into an Octopus stretch. Park drops TJP on Dao to break up the submission. TJP takes LA Park to the outside, as Hijo takes it to Dao in the corner with a dropkick. As they lay each other out with a double clothesline, the Azteca Underground associate hands over money to Salina. Salina gets on the apron and tries to bribe the referee with the bills. As this is going on, the associate goes and lets LA Park Jr. come in from under the ring who plays possum against Dao, hits a shoulder breaker, and goes for the pin.

Winners: Los Parks by pinfall at 8:20, to retain

After the match, all three Los Parks celebrate while Salina celebrates by throwing money, and the referee doesn’t even question what is going on here? Dao goes to try to apologize to TJP who smacks his hand away and even threatens to smack Dao before trying to walk away. Dao stops him, and TJP knocks him down to the mat with a pie face implying he is done with his protege.

Mads is Mad

As Bocchini is trying to plug tonight’s Baklei Brawl, CONTRA Unit’s feed cuts in and we see Mads Krugger. He talks and just like Bane from the Dark Knight Rises, it’s a bit hard to understand what he’s saying. He pretty much says anything will go down in the Baklei Brawl, he will bring that fight to America and he will end Hammerstone.

Interpromotional Title Fight

We went to a YouTube Exclusive of Lio Rush in Los Angeles responding to Laredo Kid’s challenge from last week. He says before he steps into his meeting with his agent, he needs to address some things. He says some guy by the name of Laredo Kid has issued a challenge to his MLW Middleweight Championship. Rush asked if he wants to fight the Money Weight? Rush says he doesn’t know who he is, but he heard he has some ‘go’, and he loves some ‘go’. Rush proposes that next week they have the main event, with the AAA Cruiserweight Champion vs. the MLW Middleweight Champion in an inter-promotional title fight. It is then announced officially for next week; title vs. title. MLW World Middleweight Champion Lio Rush vs. AAA World Cruiserweight Champion Laredo Kid.

We also get a quick video for the Heavyweight Hustle, Calvin Tankman returning next week.

Upcoming Fights

  • 2/10/2021 – Interpromotional Title Fight: Lio Rush vs. Laredo Kid
  • 2/17/2021 – Tom Lawlor’s Filthy Island
  • 3/24/2021 – MLW Never Say Never (Free Event)
Filthy Island Control Center
Alicia Atout says that on February 17th fans will be treated to a day at the beach for some great fights. She was supposed to promote some sponsors for this, but they have all bailed. She then goes through who has been invited to Filthy Island starting with the host of the event Filthy Tom Lawlor. We cut to Team Filthy standing in front of a green screen of a beautiful looking beach. Lawlor says the Von Erichs don’t live in paradise, and where they live is a ‘scumpit’ compared to Filthy Island. At Filthy Island you can relax and have a fully immersive experience with Team Filthy and get stretched out by Dominic Garrini, stuffed by Kevin Ku but you’ll also hang out and go to sleep with him, Tom Lawlor. At this point, there’s a disclaimer on the bottom that says the following; ‘MLW makes no guarantee regarding the information contained herein nor does MLW assume any liability whatsoever in the event Filthy Island is a fraudulent business venture. Wrestlers and fans take 100% risk journeying to Filthy Island.’  Ku is trying to tell Lawlor there’s a concerning email regarding the event, but Lawlor says it’s spam and not to worry about it. Atout then announces Dominic Garrini and Kevin Ku as guests for the event as well as King Mo vs. Low Ki. Next week they will announce more details for Filthy Island.
Hammerstone is walking around an undisclosed location looking for Mads Krugger. Hammerstone says he’s about to find him, whoop his ass and get right through him and get to Jacob Fatu.
Gringo Loco vs. Gino Medina
 
We recap Medina on Pulp Fusion saying he didn’t get kicked out of The Dynasty, but he left on his own. They start the match off fast with each quickly reversing each other until Gringo misses a moonsault but Medina himself misses a kick as they pause and stare each other down. Gringo extends his hand, but Medina kicks it out and says he will even fight him with one hand and actually does take him down as such. Medina heads to the outside, as Gringo tries to moonsault on him, Medina trips him up. Medina slows down Gringo and applies a headlock while doing a handstand to apply pressure. Gringo comes back with a schoolboy trip, a superkick and hits a twisting moonsault for a two count. They go back and forth, but Medina escapes out of a Fireman’s Carry and hits a spinning enziguri, before Gringo comes back with a kick of his own for a two. Gringo goes to the top again, this type moonsaulting right into the feet of Medina. Medina quickly drops Gringo face-first onto the top turnbuckle from a Fireman’s Carry, followed by running knee in the corner. Gringo tries to roll up Gino, but Gino reverses it for the pin.
Winner: Gino Medina by pinfall at 5:28 
 
Backstage Gino Medina is cutting a promo in Spanish when a flying Gringo Loco leaps on top of him out of nowhere and they start brawling through the back.
They also announced for next week Myron Reed & Jordan Oliver of #INJUSTICE vs. Simon Gotch & Daivari of CONTRA Unit.
Baklei Brawl: Alexander Hammerstone vs. Mads Krugger
 
We go back to the undisclosed location where Hammerstone and a referee are standing by a giant container of liquid nitrogen as the cameraman says he doesn’t think they should be here. Hammerstone is searching but there is nothing but darkness ahead of him. Hammerstone is frustrated saying they must of GPS’d ‘123 Bullshit Avenue’. Hammerstone starts calling out to Krugger, and Krugger finally emerges from the shadow as they start brawling. They start brawling by a dumpster that says ‘Orlando’ on it. Krugger starts pressing Hammerstone against the bars of a metal gate and then slams the gate on the hand of Hammerstone. Krugger starts tossing pallets at Hammerstone, who dodges them and starts brawling back at Krugger. Krugger grabs Hammerstone and starts pressing him face-first against more pallets. Hammerstone reverses Krugger right into another dumpster. As Hammerstone goes to grab Krugger, you can clearly see it is someone with a different mask and hair instead. Regardless, Hammerstone throws him face-first into another dumpster and gets the pin and the win. As Hammerstone gets up he realizes it’s a different guy. The cameraman keeps telling Hammerstone they got to ‘get the fuck out of there’, but the real Krugger comes back in and knocks Hammerstone down with two hard left punches before saying ‘Hail Contra’, and the show signs off.
Winner: Alexander Hammerstone by pinfall at 3:17
 
Siino Vision: Once I saw there was going to be a third match before the main event that took up a bit of time, I had a feeling this Baklei Brawl was going to be quick. Didn’t realize it was going to be so pointless. There was zero about this ‘Baklei Brawl’ that made it more dangerous than any other street fight or No DQ match, if anything it probably did much less. They hyped it up for weeks, only to get a quick ‘match’ in some Orlando parking lot, with a pretty dumb finish if you can call it that. When I saw the fake Krugger I expected some crazy stunt to happen, instead, we get a really dumb finish that did absolutely nothing, and now whatever match we get next will not even have me intrigued because of this disappointment.
Regardless of the main event, this show made me really look forward to the next month or so in MLW. Next week’s inter-promotional title match between Lio Rush and Laredo Kid will surely deliver and have a lot of people talking, and even though I’m a bit hesitant to think this Filthy Island will actually do what’s promised, at least we have an actual match with King Mo and Low Ki promoted. I just hope they actually utilize Hawaii since they have cameras there with the Von Erichs every week, and we don’t see some cheap green screen tactics and redundant Fyre Festival jokes. Also hoping that the Never Say Never show will learn from the mistakes of the last free show promoted as a PPV caliber show with Kings of Colosseum, and actually delivers a worthy supercard type of show, but the fact that it’s on a Wednesday and will probably have to stick to the one our formula doesn’t get my hopes up, especially as this is the show that I was supposed to go on February 4th at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens.
No real match stood out, but if I had to pick one it would be Gino Medina and Gringo Loco and thought if they were given more time they could have a much greater match, and by the after-match antics it looks like we might just get that. The Los Parks match was ridiculous as the referee literally stood there and had no control and let them do everything, and then the finish was even more over the top, with him not realizing someone swapping in with completely different gear on to get the win, and didn’t even show any confusion at their celebration.
Bad show, but I have my hopes up with the Filthy Island, inter-promotional title match, the Tim Donaghy storyline, and whatever happens next with Azteca Underground, that the next month of MLW should make for some talk worthy television.
3.5 swapped Parks out of 10
About John Siino 409 Articles
New York native and reporter at POST Wrestling. He is also Associate Producer at POISONRANA, co-host of 'Collision Course' and the host of the 'Shot in the Dark' podcast.