5/11 MLW Fusion TV Report: Jimmy Havoc vs. Joey Janella, Tom Lawler (w/Simon Gotch) vs. ACH, Yehi vs. Friedman

MLW TV REPORT
MAY 11, 2018
TAPED IN ORLANDO, FLA.
AIRED ON BE-IN SPORTS NETWORK
REPORT BY KRIS KARCHER, PWTORCH CORRESPONDENT

Commentators: Tony Schiavone and Rich Bocchini

Shane Strickland was shown walking into the building.

They air the same Jimmy Havoc promo from last week with Havoc standing outside in a grassy field. Havoc said he enjoys fighting Janela. He said he learns new things about himself when he fights Joey and that his name is more than a name. He will bring the Havoc. Joey should bring his towel because there will be blood and Havoc is going to lick it up.

ACH promo aired as he made his entrance. He said he doesn’t see Mixed Martial Artists when he sees team filthy, he sees Mixed Martial Asshats.

(1) Tom Lawler (w/Simon Gotch) vs. ACH. Lawler pulled his mouthpiece out from his trunks before he put it in his mouth. Gross. Lawyer takes the early advantage but then he sits down to give ACH a free kick. ACH hurt his foot on the free kick. Lawyer kept goading ACH into mat wrestling him. (c) Advertisement for the New York TV Tapings. The MLW World Heavyweight Championship will be there for the first time. Lawler kept ACH grounded as he kept looking for various submissions. ACH hit a very nice bridging German Suplex. As ACH was making his comeback Gotch jumped onto the apron and distracted ACH and the Referee while Lawler removed the protective padding from his arm and hit ACH with the “steel plated arm” that is supposedly because Lawler is “injured” except he is also cleared to wrestle. I’m not sure how it’s legal for him to be wearing that. After ACH was out  cold Lawler chocked him out with a rear-naked choke. 

WINNER: Tom Lawler.

(Comments: Not sure if having ACH in another slow paced match was a good idea as the crowd seemed uninterested. They should be utilizing ACH’s exciting offense better)

Bocchini receives breaking news of a confrontation backstage between Strickland and Pentagon. We cut to Strickland talking to Selina de La Renta. He tells her that her games last week was unnecessary because Pentagon can say whatever he needs to say to him directly. Pentagon was right behind Strickland and Sprayed him with red mist in the face. He then laughed and walked off with Selina as she claimed she made her point. 

(c) MLW tapings on June 7th will have the Premiere of the World Tag Team Championships

(2) Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Fred Yehi. Yehi started off dominating a matt wrestling exchange. MJF stalled for much of the start but then gained the advantage with a cheap shot. Friedman worked over Yehi’s wrist and arm. Yehi hit Friedman with some dynamic knees and bicycle kicks then got a close two count with the Dragon Suplex. Friedman used the ref as a shield and then poked Yehi in the eyes and rolled up Yehi and pulled on the tights for leverage. 

WINNER: Maxwell Jacob Friedman.

Friedman is interviewed by Andrea Campo on the entrance ramp. Friedman takes a seat and introduces himself for the fan out there who can’t afford internet. He said he feels bad for Fred Yehi because, without the winner’s purse, Fred Yehi won’t be able to afford Golden Corral. He said the fans are jealous of him and he’s jealous of them because they don’t have to deal with having the attitude of a perfect ten girlfriend and a sub-par limo driver. He said he was better than the fans and they know it. He thanked Campo and said it was so hard to find good help today. 

(Comments: Decent simple match that got some good heat on Friedman. I’d like to see them do more with Yehi though. I enjoyed some of his matches in Evolve) 

(c) Another promo for The New York City tapings.

A replay of the Sami Callihan and M.V.P program last week. 

Campo interviewed Callihan backstage. She asked for an explanation. Callihan said he won’t answer any questions he doesn’t want to answer. He’ll say what he wants when he wants. He said he is creating an army of like-minded individuals. The Bearded man from last week walked in and stood next to Callihan. Callihan said they will take over wrestling, and then take over everything. Then they both did Callihan’s Thumbs up thumbs down gesture. 

A replay of Pentagon spraying Strickland aired. Schiavone said the extent of Strickland’s injuries is unknown. League officials decided Pentagon will now have to put his number one contendership on the line and go one on one again with his brother Rey Fenix next week on fusion. 

(Comments: Not sure how they decided Rey Fenix deserves this chance as he’s ranked 7th on their top 10 and he already lost to Pentagon on the debut show. Why have a ranking system if you don’t utilize it.) 

(3) Joey Janela (w/Aria Blake) vs. Jimmy Havoc – Bogus adventure match “No DQ”. The match quickly went to the outside as Janela suicide dove through the ropes. Havoc tried to do the same, except Janela threw a chair at the diving Havoc and then Jenela DDT’d Havoc onto a steel chair from the apron. Janela missed a shooting star press and Havoc grabbed a door and some chairs from under the ring. Janela hit Havoc with an elbow from the top rope while Havoc had his head stuck in one of the chairs. This looked very sloppy. Havoc scored a two count off a pump handle slam onto a chair. Jenela hit a nasty looking front flip onto a Havoc who was underneath a chair. Janela grabbed more chairs and a table. Havoc hit Janela with a chair shot to the head and then hit a Death Valley Driver on top of a pile of chairs for a two. Havoc hit his own Death Valley Driver onto the chairs and then hit the Acid Rainmaker for the win. 

WINNER: Jimmy Havoc.

Havoc accidentally bumped into Tom Lawler as he was leaving the building and team filthy beat Havoc up and tossed him into a ditch. 

FINAL THOUGHTS: Overall another weak show as far as the wrestling goes. The Yehi match was the highlight and that was only an average quality match. Hopefully, next week’s Pentagon vs. Fenix match will deliver as good of a match as they did on Fusion’s debut.)

NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS REPORT: 5/4 MLW TV Report (ep. #3): Simon Gotch vs. ACH, MVP vs. Callihan, Ortagun vs. Parrow, with Schiavone & Ricchini on commentary