MLW Worth Watching: Cobb! Hager! Swann! Brazil! Teddy Hart!

Jake Hager vs. Jeff Cobb  MLW Fusion #7 5/3 (Aired 6/1/18) 

ER: I like a good short big boy battle, seeing two guys waste their gas tank by working fast for 6 minutes gives something like this a fun "ambitious Power Plant grad" battle. Hager is both a guy who doesn't really interest me. We saw a LOT of him during his long WWE run, literally hundreds of matches are out there involving him. And he hasn't changed things up a ton. But I've been enjoying him lately in squash work, he's got a lot of stuff that translates well to short matches, and a match-up with Cobb is going to work. Hager had a sharp back elbow while Cobb was working a go behind, his knees to Cobb's ribs looked good, decent lariat, big missed splash, nice throw. Cobb made all of Hager's stuff looked good, loved him getting totally upended by Hager's tackle to his knee, like a kid getting thrown off a banana boat by Jaws. Cobb takes offense really impressively, really runs into things with his cinder block noggin'. I would have liked to see more stuff on the mat or more fighting over throws, but we got a fun power sprint and still have a lot left for rematches.

Kotto Brazil vs. Rich Swann  MLW Fusion #7 5/3 (Aired 6/1/18)

ER: This started as a perfectly fine mirror sequence juniors match, with both men doing enough different athletically to make that kind of match more interesting than normal. Brazil is a faster, better Kofi Kingston, and while some of his offense misses as much as Kingston's he also has a couple things that land well (which I'm not sure Kingston has) and quicker kip-ups. He hits a big springboard elbow that lands well, and it's shaping up fine. And then Swann grinds things to an absolute halt and starts working cocky dickhead heel, and things go from potentially getting written up, to definitely getting written up. Swann bullies him around and talks trash, throws a mean chop and punches Brazil in the face when he tries to block another. Swann lands hard mule kicks to the gut, breaks out a Blue Panther/Negro Navarro type maestro submission, and all his punch-based combos actually look really good (his right hand is better than I recall, and he had a cool quick right hand/chop combo. This went from mirror juniors stuff to a vet working over a Young Lion. Swann is picking on him and it's way more fun than juniors All Night Long Swann. Brazil kinda flubs his comeback, not timing a dropkick well, but his comeback is fun and has good energy, hits a nice running leaping back elbow in the corner, big leapfrogs, fun ways to stay a step ahead of the suddenly flustered Swann. We go through a long series of Brazil kicking out unexpectedly, and it has some legs even if Brazil probably ends up kicking out a couple times too many, but I really liked the story of Swann coming into his MLW debut and almost getting stunned by a younger guy (they kept calling him a rookie and that's one annoying thing so far about MLW's comeback, referring to non-rookies as rookies). This whole thing did a good job of getting Brazil over, and this turned into a match much better than the one I was expecting.

Teddy Hart vs. Trey Miguel  MLW Fusion #10 6/7 (Aired 6/22/18)

ER: There's a lot of uninteresting Teddy Hart types on the 2018 indy scene, but if I'm going to see a guy doing stupid moves and seemingly making up stuff as he goes along, I want someone like Hart who is aware of his excess and doesn't care, and will also punch someone in the mouth. Hart dispatches of a guy in a gi (who appeared on an earlier episode doing capoeira before being quickly finished), and Teddy Hart opts for the standard move when dispatching someone from a fight, a split legged moonsault. Miguel is fine, a guy with a good entrance and a couple crazy spots, including a somersault legdrop to the floor (that the camera mostly missed in his prior match against Brazil), and he has no problem taking some of Hart's ill-advised spots, like Hart basically surfing on Miguel's back before dropping down into a fast code red. Things finish with a top rope Canadian Destroyer, and he whips into it with abandon. Hart runs hard chest first into the turnbuckles like his uncle, catches knees on another split legged moonsault, takes an apron DDT like he's posing after breaking, and the match gets really fun when Miguel unexpectedly kicks out of a couple things, and Hart starts getting frustrated. Hart makes great indignant faces, and is good at teasing an upset by barely getting his boot on the ropes a couple times. The finish run is fun, with Hart popping Miguel in the mouth with both on the top, then Hart dropping him across the top buckle with a backbreaker. You know, MLW, I don't think we've ever gotten a Ki/Hart singles...