MLW Worth Watching: Low-Ki! Lawlor! Hager! Havoc!

Low-Ki vs. Ricky Martinez  MLW Fusion #12 6/7 (Aired 7/6/18)

ER: This was Ki's TV wrestling debut here (he had shown up before to assault Strickland and yell at people from dimly lit hallways backstage), and we get to see him savage some guy. Martinez took a rough enough beating that I'd like to see more of him, as we got no offense from him, but a guy who can take his ears being boxed can't be that bad. Ki sprints at him at the bell and really hammers him with strikes. As Martinez is on all fours Ki stands over him and throws these nasty swiping strikes to his ears and head, and throws some violent downward elbow strikes in the corner that looked like they'd bust open the top of Ricky's head. Ki boots him with his running dropkick, then grabs Ricky's beard and uses it to bend him and then snap the back of his neck over the top rope. Damn. Sure, this was merely a squash, but Ki is a guy I'll go out of my way to watch squash someone. Martinez was a good sport and I hope they give him some time.

PAS: This reminds me of the way Kevin Sullivan or Ronnie Garvin used to mess up jobbers. Ki running over and kneeing Martinez in the head and then following with hooks to the body and head was super nasty, as was Ki grabbing his nose and flying backward. Purpose of this was to make Ki look like a vicious bad ass and it delivered. Great call by Schvione too "Why are people like this?" Why indeed.

Tom Lawlor vs. Jake Hager  MLW Fusion #13 6/7 (Aired 7/13/18)

ER: This was really cool, much more of a grappling and submission match than maybe any other Hager/Swagger match I've seen, and a perfect style match-up. Lawlor's plan is to just swarm Hager, leap on him and work for counters, and Hager's plan is to try to throw Lawlor off of his body. Any time Hager would grab Lawlor, Lawlor would latch on and work for a choke, or a limb. Hager goes for a Karelin lift and Lawlor instantly gets scrambly, locks him up, climbs up his body, just acting like a total nuisance. Sometimes Hager is successful at shaking him off, but it's always fleeting. Hager gets a big belly to belly and starts grapevining a leg, and there's Lawlor scrambling to get a kneebar. Lawlor is the one to start working strikes, hitting a couple hard mule kicks to the stomach and some nice elbows, seemingly one step ahead of Hager. Hager gets the ankle lock but Lawlor rolls through and works for the rear naked choke. The whole thing was a much more interesting style than we usually get from Hager (although I've liked his recent power style), and it's clear he has the ability to work this style more often. I assumed a big Stud Stable/Team Filthy brawl was going to break out, and naturally it does, but they at least gave us a good 8 minutes before it got to that point. This was really good, the grappling and struggle was great, and the trios feud should be gold. Give them a few matches, and we all win. It keeps the Blondes away from having to sell for Jimmy Yuta and actually puts them in with some talent. This could be a killer feud.

Tom Lawlor vs. Jimmy Havoc  MLW Fusion #14 7/12 (Aired 7/20/18)

ER: This is one of those violent matches where you hope the owners of GILT Nightclub aren't actually watching the professional wrestling that's taking place every month in their establishment. The death match worker is certainly a bizarre niche within our bizarre niche. Necro Butcher gained fame doing death matches and also having a fantastic name, but once he started getting work in normal indy feds he toned down death match elements and kept the big brawling, stiff work, and stupid bumps. Havoc is keeping the stupid bumps and #PopularJapaneseFinisher, but he's still slicing himself up like he's working a match in the parking lot of a metal festival. It's not really that weird I guess, but it stands out on a nightclub show. Sure, nightclub owners are used to seeing shootings, but a dude blading his fucking arm might be too unexpected for them. This match has plenty of geek show elements, but also had some big time crazy and some nasty bumps, and would have landed on our 2018 MOTY List if the finish hadn't been so flat and cut short.

Havoc hits an early dive into the crowd and both guys take bumps through chairs. A cheese grate and stapler get introduced almost immediately, having getting a permanent sheet of blood running down his face as his forehead gets grated, then gets various staples into the head and we get a gross shot of him frantically pulling the staple out of his head. There's an adorable young girl near them in the crowd who is simultaneously terrified that these bloody sweaty guys might fall into her, and loving this professional wrestling. There also does not seem to be an adult claiming her or shielding her. They're good about not just trading geek show spots, instead nicely fighting over these weapons, Lawlor fighting off a stapling, and Lawlor bridging gaps to these weapons by kicking Havoc. Schiavone is damn funny on commentary as he dives into his knowledge of cheese graters, what each side is best used for, detailing different ways to grate parmesan depending on the dish, and how grating parmesan with almonds is delightful; important to note, that Schiavone made the almonds comment right after Havoc fought his way back to control by getting ahold of the grater and slashing it across Lawlor's nuts. 

We get some painful stuff on chairs, Havoc ends up taking a German on some and later gets dropped hard on a set-up chair that had fallen on its side. Damn, son. Havoc always amusingly transitions back to offense by producing an unexpected weapon, and while fading in a choke he gets a piece of paper, and eventually cuts Riddle in the finger crotch. Afterward he produces a lemon and squeezes it onto Lawlor's hand. It's like sadistic Bugs Bunny, but was plenty fun to see. The ending comes so suddenly, and it's really odd: Lawlor slices Havoc's arm with a pizza cutter, drops him on that chair I mentioned...but then Havoc just kind hits him a couple times and does a really sloppy Rainmaker to win. Huh? I don't mind a sudden finish to a match, but this just made no sense to me. It felt like they had a hard 10 minutes allotted to them and they suddenly had to go home. Very unsatisfying finish, and it's also a weird visual as you had Episode 13 ending with Lawlor  nearly beating Swagger before a DQ, and then the first actual match of the next episode is Lawlor just losing after a clunky lariat.