8/3 MLW FUSION TV REPORT: Sami Callihan vs. Shane Strickland, Brody King vs. Jimmy Havoc, Jack Hager vs. Simon Gotch

MLW TV REPORT
AUGUST 3, 2018
QUEENS, N.Y.
AIRED ON BE-IN SPORTS NETWORK
REPORT BY KRIS KARCHER, PWTORCH CORRESPONDENT

Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Matt Striker 

– MLW intro played.

– A video package aired recapping Sami Callihan’s promo from 2 weeks ago where Callihan explained why he attacked Strickland and why he was going to take him out.

– The MLW Fusion intro played.

– Tony Schiavone introduced the show with his broadcast partner Matt Striker. He said they had three main events this week including Jimmy Havoc vs. Brody King. They previewed Simon Gotch vs. Jake Hager and Shane Strickland vs. Sami Callihan.

(1) Brody King vs. Jimmy Havoc

Havoc hit King with a tilt-a-whirl head scissor. Havoc tossed king out of the ring. Havoc then jumped between the ropes and hit a diving DDT on king. Havoc grabbed a fans beer but King smacked it out of havocs hand. King went to backhand king but Havoc ducked and king hit the ring post. King choke slammed Havoc onto the ring apron. King sent Havoc head first into the ring post. King choked Havoc over the barrier. Back inside the ring King continued to dominate on offense. King hit a senton splash on Havoc and got a two count. King hit Havoc with the black hole slam and got another two count. As Havoc was on the ring apron King hit a super kick and Havoc fell outside the ring. The pads on the outside of the ring where not together and most of the concrete was exposed. It looked very cheap. Back inside the ring Havoc attempted to fight back with chops and slaps but King hit a big elbow and Havoc went down. King went for the pin and got another two. Havoc hit a DDT. Havoc hit a european uppercut and then a fireman’s carry slam and got a two count of his own. King hit a lariat and then a pile driver and got a two count. King lifted Havoc for a gut wrench power bomb and got another two. King picked up Havoc with one hand and hit a “Go-Home Driver” and got yet another two count. King went for a Razor’s Edge but Havoc reversed into a huricanrana and then a double stomp to the chest. Havoc with for the discus lariat but King reversed and went for a choke slam, Havoc however reversed that into a victory role and got the win.

WINNER: Jimmy Havoc

(Karcher’s Comments: Not bad. Not great either. We got a few nice high impact moves but the story of this match was essentially Havoc taking everything King could dish out and still picking up the victory. It’s interesting to see Havoc in a normal match with no weapons involved.) 

– Kaci Lennox (I have been spelling her name wrong on all my reviews and for that, I apologize to Kaci) was backstage with Brian Pillman Jr. She said he was the hottest prospect in professional wrestling and Pillman said he was flattered. Kevin Sullivan then interrupted and wanted to let everyone know how good of a wrestler Pillman Jr. is. He said he comes from a very prestigious family and Sullivan has watched Pillman wrestle all over the country without ever being defeated. He warned Pillman about the pitfalls of professional wrestling and offered his help if Pillman ever needed it. Hillman said he appreciates the praise but he knows he still has a lot of work to do and he doesn’t want to take credit for his fathers accolades. Sullivan and Pillman shook hand and walked off.

– Striker previewed Gotch vs. Hager coming up next.

– They showed footage from earlier in the day of Sami Callihan, Salina de La Renta, and Low Ki sitting in a stairway. Low Ki handed over money to Callihan. Callihan said he doesn’t like Low Ki but he likes money. Low Ki said he wants to keep their business going and Callihan said Low Ki needs to keep the money coming. They shook hands and Callihan walked away.

– They showed highlights from the battle riot last week where Filthy Tom Lawler entered in at number 5 and outlasted 34 other competitors to win the match. They then showed footage from Tom Lawler’s twitter where Lawler was at a baseball game. He said he took out 39 men last week and now there are 39,000 people ready to be put to sleep. (So he is going to attack everyone attending the baseball game? Lawler’s promo’s often don’t make much sense. He delivers them with confidence which almost makes up for it but sometimes they don’t follow much logic.

(2) Jake Hager (w/The Dirty Blondes) vs. Simon Gotch (w/Tom Lawler, Fred Yehi)

Colonel Robert Parker introduced “The man who runs the world” Jake Hager. Hager jumped Gotch before the bell reigning down some elbows in the corner. Once the referee separated them he called for the bell. Hager immediately went back to pummeling Gotch in the corner and then hit a big splash. (Schiavone said that referee Kris Levine [a friend of mine and a fellow Kris] might be in the pocket of Colonel Parker. How dare you Tony!) Hager was stomping away at Gotch and used his heel to choke Gotch on the matt. Gotch fired up and hit Hager with a number of big elbows and then three big splashes into the corner. Gotch hit a Sieto Suplex and got a two count. Hager attempted to apply the ankle lock. Gotch was able to counter that but Hager still hit a gut wrench power bomb and got a two count. Hager slapped Gotch in the face and Gotch spit back onto Hager’s chest. Hager whipped the spit then hit a big kick to the chest. Hager covered Gotch for the win.

WINNER: Jake Hager

(Karcher’s Comments: Pretty bland match. I’m really just not into Hager at all. /he really just does nothing for me and his matches are slow and kind of boring. this was a very basic match with nothing special and a weak ending. I didn’t think that move looked devastating enough to get his a three count and it was a little deflating when Gotch didn’t kick out.) 

– Striker announced that next week we would see Joey Janela vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman in a falls count anywhere match for the Middleweight Championship.

– Kaci Lennox was backstage with Aria Blake. Lennox asked blake what her thoughts where about the match they just announced. Before she could answer, MJF interrupted. He said he was the first ever middleweight champion and he has a bet going with his friend who’s father is worth three billion. The bet is apparently weather Aria would want to stay with Janela or have a better life with MJF. Aria said no way and walked off. MJF turned to Lennox and said “she wants it”

– Striker previewed the Strickland vs. Callihan and a new MLW top ten coming up next.

– Schiavone announced the August Heavyweight Top Ten (They specified Heavyweight so I’m assuming Middleweight is it’s own division now officially) The top ten is now:

10. ACH (6)

9. Rey Fenix (5)

8. Teddy Hart (9)

7. John Hennigan (-)

6. Jake Hager (-)

5. Sami Callihan (4)

4. Pentagon Jr. (2)

3. Jimmy Havoc (8)

2. Shane Strickland (0)

1. Tom Lawler (1)

0 – (Champ) – Low Ki (3)

– They showed footage from backstage of Rey Fenix and Konnan talking. Konnan was urging Fenix to inspect his contract an to make sure the money was right. Pentagon and Salina de La Renta then walked around the corner and while Pentagon seemed happy to see Konnan, La Renta was not. She told Konnan to mind his own business and she shuffled Fenix and Pentagon away.

– A video package aired promoting the debut of L.A Park coming soon

– Kaci Lennox was backstage with Team TBD (Jason Cade and Jimmy Yuta). She asked them what was with all the tension between them. Cade said there is no tension the only problem is that his partner wont listen to him. Yuta said that the problem was that Cade was all about himself and Yuta shoved Cade. Cade shoved back and someone jumped in to break them up. Cade acted like he was going to back pff but when Yuta turned his back, Cade took the microphone out of Lennox’s hand and knocked out Yuta. The two brawled some more as the lights went off. Striker said Team TBD might be no more. (Please just end this already. It’s been going on for like two months now.)

– Striker previewed the Strickland Callihan match still to come and then previewed next week’s show. Next week we would see Joey Janela and MJF in a falls count anywhere for the middleweight championship and also John Hennigan vs. Teddy Hart.

– Teddy Hart was shown walking backstage. Rich Swann and ACH were there laughing and singing when Hart approached them. He asked them if they were talking S!@# about him. They laughed at him. Hart said they should let him in on the joke. ACH said he needs to relax and they walked away while Hart was still standing there.

– They showed the tale of the tape for the main event.

(3) Sami Callihan (w/The Death Machines) vs. Shane Strickland 

Strickland hit a superkick right from the opening bell, sending Callihan to the outside. Strickland then jumped over the top rope and hit a handspring off the apron to the outside. Callihan thought hit Strickland with a superkick and tossed Strickland into the ring. As Callihan did his thumbs up thumbs down thing to the crowd Strickland drop kicked Callihan through the ropes, and then hit a superkick from the apron. Strickland was favoring his right knee. Strickland tossed Callihan into the ring. Callihan used the ref as a shield and after he tossed the ref aside, Callihan hit Strickland with a low blow. Callihan then hit a double clutch shoulder breaker and got a two count. Callihan was attempting to remove the padding on Strickland’s knee. Callihan drover his own knee into Strickland’s injured knee. Callihan then applied a leg submission. Strickland got to the ropes but Callihan pulled him off the roped and applied a modified figure four. (Striker is so good on commentary btw. Breaking down what each and every move is doing to the wrestler’s bodies and how they could best use the leverage they have to apply more pressure) Strickland was able to turn over and reverse the pressure. Strickland hit a big clothesline sending Callihan to the matt. The two exchanges punch and kicks in the center of the ring with Strickland getting the better of the change with a big kick (Using his bad leg). Strickland missed a cannonball splash in the corner. Callihan hit a splash of his own. Strickland hit a nice roll through cutter then a European uppercut into the corner followed but a running elbow. Strickland hit a Saito suplex and got a two count. Strickland went for a half nelson suplex but Callihan reversed into a roll-up for a two count. The two hit mirroring elbows and kicks sending them both to the matt. They exchanged punches, kicks, and elbows in the center with Callihan getting the better of the exchange kicking Strickland in the bad knee. Strickland hit a big knee sending Callihan to the apron. Strickland climbed to the top rope but was knocked off by Callihan. On different sides of the ring, the two fought through the ropes. Strickland managed to lift Callihan with a fireman carry and dropped him on the apron. Strickland rolled Callihan into the ring and climbed to the top and hit a double stomp for a two count. Callihan spit right into Strickland’s face Strickland went for a knee but Callihan bought the knee and power bombed Strickland. He got a two count and immediately transitioned to a leg lock then a cross face. Callihan then fish hooked Strickland’s mouth forcing the ref to break the count. Strickland managed to reverse into a roll for a two. Strickland applied a short arm scissor hold and the Death machines jumped up onto the apron distracting the ref. Strickland released the hold and Callihan and Strickland then reversed each others pinning predicaments a few times getting a few two counts. Sami stomped on the bad knee of Strickland and then hit a spike piledriver for the win.

WINNER: Sami Callihan

(Karcher’s Comments: Good match. one of the best in MLW. Maybe the best match not including Pentagon or Fenix. Strickland did a really nice job selling the leg throughout the match (Except for one or two spots) and Callihan did a good job taking advantage of that injury. It was a long match by MLW standards and I think they can learn from this and have more matches that last this length on a weekly basis. Both men really brought it and I honestly wasn’t sure who was going to walk away with the victory. Callihan has been growing on me so much in these last few months between his work on IMPACT wrestling and here in MLW I really think he is one of the hottest acts right now.) 

FINAL THOUGHTS: A very good show. I think MLW will have more viewers this week coming off the Battle Riot show last week that did really great numbers for their Youtube channel. I think they put on a good show here although I wish they were able to have a real followup to the Battle Riot stuff even though I’m pretty sure all the matches tonight were filmed the same night as the Battle Riot so it would be hard to truly have a real followup. If MLW is going to follow this format of having a big special event every few months or so then they should try and align the TV tapings to get fresh content following the big specials. Wrestling fans are fickle and impatient and they want the story to continue right away instead of getting what some could consider filler. It’s one of the reasons I always hate the NXT show after the takeover special because I know I’m just going to get a few undercard matches and have to wait for next week for the fallout. Anyways this was a solid hour of MLW and two good matches are already announced for next week. I really hope we get to see the in-ring debut of Brian Pillman Jr. soon as I’m very intrigued by his potential. Matt Striker continues to impress me on the announce team. Please keep him on the show MLW. Bocchini didn’t do a bad job, but Striker is really good.  That’s all for this week. Be sure to check back here next week for Karcher’s in-depth TV recap of MLW Fusion right here on PWTORCH.com.

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NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S REPORT: 7/27 MLW FUSION TV REPORT: Special “Battle Riot” episode with Konnan, Teddy Hart, Davey Boy Jr, Swoggle, Fenix, ACH, Lawlor, Hennigan, Sami, Strickland, Pentagon Jr., Hager,