MLW Fusion Recap Episode 36: Tom Lawlor vs. Simon Gotch – NHB Fight

Last week on MLW: Teddy Hart won a five man ladder match for the vacant MLW Middleweight Championship. A debuting Dragon Lee defeated a debuting DJZ in a fun match. Rush defeated Rich Swann and is over big with the MLW crowd.

Cold Open

The show starts with a shot of the MLW crowd and this dude just jumps on screen screaming MLW in what was one of the funnier things I’ve seen on wrestling!

Salina De La Renta says that Miami is surrounded by demons and broke ass marks. The crowd is very responsive.

Konnan comes out, he is challenging for the MLW championship. Champion Low Ki is represented by Salina De La Renta. Then Salina and Konnan talk some trash to each other. The mic cuts out every now and then, Konnan says he is performing a “long distance lobotmy” on Low Ki and Ki doesn’t even know it. The crowd reacts to everything and end up chanting something in Spanish at the end.

Kotto Brazil was injured at a night club and word has it it was Ricky Martinez

Rich and Tony run down the card for tonight which is something that I really like. We also get a replay of Teddy Hart winning the MIddlweight Championship.

Teddy Hart and Brian Pilman Jr. have a promo they recorded and they are flipping cats in the air and cut some weird shit. I’ll throw it in at the end of the review because it has to be seen to be believed.

The Hart Foundation (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Brian Pillman Jr. vs. Barrington Hughes and Tommy Dreamer)

• Tommy starts the match but nothing of significance really happens until Davey Boy faces off against Barrington.
• Barrington takes a lot of offense but doesn’t get taken off his feet. He legit just stands in the middle of the ring as the Hart Foundation runs circles around him and it’s still believable!
• Barrington can’t spend much time in the ring though so it isn’t long before Tommy is tagged in.
• This arena adds an aura to a wrestling show I haven’t seen in a while. It’s like a real 1960’s feel to it. The weird bleachers and MSG esque doorway always in the shot.
• As Tommy hits his comeback Tony says that The Hart Foundation has been undefeated as a team since their arrival. They are really due a tag title shot if that is the case.
• Pillman Jr. tried to use a cane on Barrington but Hughes stopped it.
• Tony says DBS Jr. just got done with a 19 hour plane ride and a 102 degree temperature and he is still wrestling right now.
• Davey holds Hughes and Pilman uses a cane to hit Tommy in the nuts and roll him up for a win.

And I’m Like… That was a quick match that did the best that it could with what it had. Hughes is an attraction and did all that he really can do. Davey Boy was sick as hell and that meant the match depended on the rookie Brian Pillman Jr. and the veteran Tommy Dreamer. They did a great job.

Rush cuts a promo and there are SUBTITLES!!! He calls himself the biggest asshole in wrestling and calls everyone else dogs. He does it in a way that’s cool though.

DJZ vs. El Hijo De L.A. Park

• DJZ’s entrance makes me want to vomit. There is so much going on it should come with a seizure warning.
• Commentary says DJZ is the wrestler that Court Bauer has been looking for. Kind of dropping the seeds that he could be a golden boy?
• Hijo and DJZ KILL IT with some catch as catch can lucha style back and forth stuff.
• They start brawling on the outside and El Hijo De L.A. Park starts working over DJZ’s crotch. Atomic dropping him onto the guard rails, ramming his crotch into the ring post. Real crotch based stuff.
• DJZ and Park go back into the ring and DJZ hits some moves but Salina distracts him and Park starts whipping DJZ with his weight belt.
• The ref is allowing it because I guess its part of his ring gear.
• Dudes are pulling out all the stops though. Both men dive to the outside towards the stage with some steps. That stage has got to be less than 10 feet away from the ring. Dangerous stuff.
• Top rope hurricanrana that Tony has never seen anything like that ever, really making the moment special. Just as everyone digested that move El Hijo De L.A. Park hits a vicious piledriver for the win.

And I’m Like… That was a very fun match. They didn’t tell that much of a story that I could tell but both men are very talented. Good wrestling is good wrestling.

Andrew Everett vs. Desmond Xavier

• This is a Middleweight division match. Rich said Everett had to cut some weight to get into this division so some wrestlers want to be in this division.
• Everett makes fun of Desmond’s rascal gimmick. Rich and Tony are not familiar with Xavier’s Rascalz group he is in.
• It’s been about five minutes of back and forth action and it was so good I didn’t know what to say, I was enthralled and enjoying the match. These two know each other so well. Counters to signature moves, super fast wrestling, great stuff.
• Desmond wins with a corkscrew senton bomb which is an amazing top rope maneuver.

And I’m Like… I don’t know what to say. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it and enjoyed the hell out of that match.

Tom Lawlor has a very pro wrestling style promo. I don’t know if I like it or not. He is a legit bad ass but that promo style is so cheesy. I’m sure he will get better overtime.

No Ropes No Holds Barred Match

Simon Gotch vs. Tom Lawlor

• This match stipulation makes me miss playing Def Jam Fight For NY.
• Before the match there is a hype video for Low Ki vs. Tom Lawlor in the biggest championship match in MLW history on February 2nd. Even though next week is Konnan vs. Low Ki for the MLW championship.
• Now Low Ki is at ringside to commentate this match. Tony puts over Tom’s credentials and then brings up that Low Ki has been undefeated in MLW for 14 years.
• So Gotch and Tom grapple on the canvas while Rich, Tony and Ki talk about Tom Lawlor and this all is to build up the match that was just advertised, kind of killing the finish to both of the main events. The main for this show and next weeks.
• Simon and Tom are brawling on the outside and getting pretty brutal with their attacks. Even creative when Simon suplexes Tom into the ring from the floor. Something that can only be done with no ropes.
• A boo/yay strike fight happened in the middle of the ring that Lawlor won with an enziguri to Simon Gotch. The camera keeps cutting to Ki as commentary talk about Tom and how Lawlor stacks up against Low Ki.
• Lawlor caught Gotch in a rear naked choke and the crowd wakes the hell up. Simon passes out and the camera cuts from a celebrating Tom to a slow clapping Low Ki.
• The ring announcer says “How does it feel to defeat your former teammate?” and Lawlor just cuts a promo on Low Ki about how he been ducking Lawlor for seven months. “This isn’t a martial arts movie buddy.” Is a line Tom just said and he is now my favorite MLW wrestler. That line was gorgeous.

And I’m Like… This match was strictly to wrap up Tom Lawlor’s feud with Gotch and build up the mega fight between Lawlor and Low Ki. The match was unique but overshadowed but the story of the up coming championship match. Severely highlighted when Lawlor blew past the question referencing the feud to talk about how he has been chasing Low Ki for seven months. All in all in was one of the better episodes of MLW Fusion.

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