MLW Fusion Episode #131 5/5/2021

MLW Fusion Episode #131 5/5/2021

We get a package for Rush vs Reed tonight.

Gringo Loco vs Laredo Kid

Laredo Kid has his title back. MLW says that Kid refused to address Rush's win and has a new title made. The announcers say Rush' tapout might not have been a tapout since he didn't tap 3 times. I wasn't a fan of this. If you watched Fusion, there was no real question to the finish of the Rush/Kid match and now there's doubts and questions.

Loco flips out of the corner early and then takes two armdrags. Loco goes outside and comes back in with an armdrag of his own. They do a fun lucha sequence and Kid hurricanrana's him off the 2nd rope. Loco then slingshots outside with another hurricanrana. Kid jumps onto Loco's shouldrs then takes a reverse ddt down for 2.

Kid rolls outside and Loco follows him with a flip dive but ends up mostly splatting on the floor in a hard bump. Back inside and Loco misses a top rope split legged moonsault. Kid then hits a moonsault from the bottom buckle. He tries one from the 2nd buckle but is caught with an overhead sitout slam for 2. Loco gets stuck on the 2nd rope and Kid hurricanrana's him from the top for 2. Kid then hits a top rope spanish fly and wins it. They put out some effort here with some big moves. They got a little too spotty at the end but the early lucha was good.

Alexander Hammerstone does a promo on Josef Samuel.  He said he got mad when Josef Samuel turned down his challenge to Fatu. He said he knows Samuel wants him to get mad though. He asks why Samuel is trying to protect Fatu if he is so bad. He said Fatu thinks he is unbeatable but Samuel knows he isn't and is trying to protect him. Hammer says he is the one person who has a real chance at taking the belt away from him.

Alicia Atout confirms that Samuel can keep Hammer from challenging, but if Hammer can win at Battle Riot, he can get around that. They announced an MLW Open Draft for new talent and ask us to tell them who we want to see.

The Von Erichs do a promo. Ross says Mutoh taught him to have respect in Japan. Marshall says he doesn't want to make excuses but promises to come for Tom Lawlor in Philadelphia. He says it will be the last dance and it ends with an iron claw.

Richard Holliday vs Ariel Domingiuez

AD is picked up and put on the top rope. Richard knocks him off of it and then hits a big face kick after. AD is popped-up and thrown, then takes a twisting neckbreaker for the quick Holliday win.

Alicia Atout interviews Holliday. Gino Medina comes in. Holliday tells him to go to the back to respect Atout and says he fired him. Medina then jumps Richard and ddt's him on the stage. They say Holliday could have a skull fracture.

MLW World Middleweight Championship - Lio Rush (c) vs Myron Reed

They start off slow and start countering each other. Rush handsprings into the ropes and is caught with a backdrop on his way back. Reed then legdrops him over the middle rope then does a slingshot legdrop to the back of Rush's head. Reed kips down to avoid a lariat then he takes a spinning enzugiri.

Rush hits a russian leg sweep then standing frog splashes Reed's back on the mat. Reed gets hit with kicks and tries to push off Rush. Rush armbars Reed and Reed comes back with a jawbreaker. Reed does a wild over the top rope tope onto Rush and almost does a header.

Rush limbos out of a lariat but Reed comes back with a slingshot codebreaker. Rush does a blind springboard into a posionrana then standing spanish flies him for 2. Reed hits a headbutt to the chest then Rush topes him outside. Rush then corkscrew moonsaults him from the bottom and they go splat onto the hard floor.

Back in and Reed hits an inverted suplex then an Os Cutter. Reed then hits a schwein for 2. Reed kips down on a lariat then enzugiri's him. He then tries to get Rush with a cutter over the top to the floor, but Rush blocks it and poisonrana's him. Rush then hits the frogsplash for 2. Reed hits another schwein then a springboard 450 and wins it. Oliver and Tankman celebrate with Reed after.

I wasn't too big of a fan of this. They just did too much and didn't sell enough and the lack of crowd really did hurt this.

We cut to Selina de la Renta being kidnapped into a room. Dario Cueto is behind the desk! He says he gave Selina many resources and just wanted violence and gold. He said Selina failed. He said he is building a new temple but it needs a sacrifice. Dario then picks up the phone and says something about seeing the person on the phone in Philadelphia, which is where MLW will be running for the new season. Really cool segment here and it means we will be getting a new spin on Lucha Underground.

Overall thoughts: I didn't love Reed/Rush but they did a good job of building it up and Kid/Loco had some good points to it. The return of Lucha Underground and Dario Cueto was really cool.