MLW Worth Watching: Lawlor! Gotch! Ace! Brazil! The Biggest Boys!

No Holds Barred: Tom Lawlor vs. Simon Gotch  MLW Fusion #36 12/13 (Aired 12/21/18)

ER: We've been seeing a lot more of the NHB no ropes unsanctioned matches as a gimmick and it's a fun monkeywrench to throw into a feud. This didn't reach the potential heights of the gimmick, but was kept to a brisk 6 minutes. I think they could have made good use of more time, but I also like the stip worked within a 6 minute sprint. There were some issues, namely that Gotch started the match as an absolute killer and had a great first minute that he couldn't really sustain through to the end of the match, but he's a bigger guy than Lawlor and I liked seeing him bully Lawlor around. Gotch goes for an armbar right away and we get the now familiar moment in a no ropes match where a guy breaks a move by shifting his leverage and getting his feet to the floor; this gets a twist on that as Gotch breaks but shoves Lawlor into the guardrail, and the guardrail flies backward and makes a ton of fans jump, great visual. Also loved Gotch rolling him onto the mat from the floor but holding onto an arm, wrapping it around a ringpost, and booting Lawlor in the face. The in ring strike exchanges had a couple misses, but the strikes were thrown in more of a worked shoot style with weird angles and disrupted rhythm, so a few poor strikes thrown in get blended a bit better than if you're doing a turn trading strike exchange. Lawlor is good at these types of exchanges (makes sense) so while a couple of Gotch's shots looked weak by comparison, that's something I'm okay with because Lawlor *should* tool him at that type of thing. Finish was a little off as Gotch looked like he tried something beyond his level, like he was going for a Negro Navarro-like rolling kneebar and did it slow and looked like he was purposely leaving his arm out there, didn't come off very natural, but I dug Lawlor sinking in the rear naked off that. I was expecting a little more from this one and think they could have done more, but also like that Lawlor ended him quick in a fight that was more his own element.

Simon Gotch vs. Ace Romero  MLW Fusion #37 12/14 (Aired 12/28/18)

ER: I wish this would have got more time, it only goes a little over 2 minutes, but it was a really fun 2+ minutes. Romero answers Gotch's open challenge and smacks him around, Gotch spills to the floor and Ace teases a dive, but ends up yanking Gotch up to the apron and into the ring by his mustache before slamming him in a fun worked spot. Gotch's strikes to comeback all looked good, peppering Ace with cupped slaps and body shots, but Ace just yoinks him up and slams him, then hits the best possible version of Abby's running elbow drop, absolutely crushing Gotch. What we got was good, but we should have got more. Romero is a big fat guy but he's not like Barrington Hughes, we've seen him work longer matches. Still, big strikes and a fat guy finisher is gonna make me recommend something.

Kotto Brazil vs. Vandal Ortagun  MLW Fusion #41 12/13 (Aired 1/25/19)

ER: I liked this showcase for the returning - still with eye patch - Brazil. I'm unsure if it was a true eye patch or a fake, as he hits some pretty impressive flying here that would seem tough/crazy to do with one eye blocked. But Brazil's lack of optics helps with the match optics, really making him seem like a loon who wants to return early. He crashes into Ortagun with three big dives, and Ortagun spills nicely into the barricade for them. Schiavone has been a really great part of the MLW return, as he seems so into the product and I don't think I realized how much I enjoyed Schiavone as a commentator until his MLW comeback. He was around so much during formative wrestling memories, but I think many of us got used to him beaten down and over-produced and just not into it. It's hard to call action you can't follow or aren't into, and he sounds clearly into guys like Brazil. As Brazil racks up dive after dive Schiavone's excitement really adds to the moment. Brazil is a guy with some cool stuff, and I especially loved him grabbing a sub after a pinfall, a sub that looks as finisher worthy as anything, as he locked Ortagun's arms behind his back using his legs, then locked on an awesome facelock while the legs were trapped. Sure, do a couple stunner variations, fine, but a cool sub like that needs to be highlighted. I also love that they established that Promociones Dorado straight up MAIMS people, going after eyes and kidneys and ears and braids; it makes payoff matches way more fun, and I'm more interested in seeing Brazil take on Martinez because of it.

Ace Romero/Barrington Hughes vs. Dirty Blondes  MLW Fusion #41 12/14 (Aired 1/25/19)

ER: This was merely a cruel tease, but I am contractually obligated to write about something with this many bigguns. Dirty Blondes were on the first MLW return ep, and were prominently featured, so I was misled into thinking that they would be continually treated like a big deal. Well, all these weeks later and they're one of the only teams left from those original tapings, but they've sadly never been treated seriously since. They're still here, but they're lower than Disorderly Conduct, which is weird on a roster with so much turnover. This threatens to start as Barrington vs. Ace, but you know that's just as tease and sure enough the Blondes come out, and we get a good minute of blubber flying. No reason they couldn't have given this 6 minutes and just hid Hughes on the apron for most of it, but even in one minute we get a lot of fun jiggly clubbering and two mammoth falling powerslams. Still, the Blondes deserve more, and should really go out of their way to be promoting their fat guys in actual matches. Fat guys are the one thing missing from the American wrestling scene right now, and they have the two fattest. We need more fat guy screen time. Watching the Rumble the other night it just bummed me out that we have no big fat guys in WWE right now. That's fucking criminal.

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MLW Worth Watching: TEDDY HART!!!

Teddy Hart vs. John Hennigan  MLW Fusion #17 7/12 (Aired 8/10/18)

ER: So I'm not sure I could call this a really good match, but teddy Hart is eminently watchable and Hennigan is a guy with freaky athletics who you know can be coaxed along into a bonkers Teddy Hart match. And both guys bring exactly what I was hoping they'd bring. Hart is a fun highflier and I love his aloof faces, a guy whose gimmick is that he wants to put on a great show for everyone and doesn't care if he comes out a winner or loser. That type of thing can easily be turned a bit and become the traits of a really annoying wrestler, but Hart works with such a shrug that he never comes off overly serious, which is what plagues most of those "putting on a MOTY for the fans" types. Plus Hart brings stiff strikes and a general unpredictability, and those are key to him standing above the rest. Here he brings out the crazier side in Hennigan as I hoped, and they went through some sequences you won't see from most. I dug the opening counter stuff, all weird flips and angles, vaguely lucha, vaguely parkour, vaguely silly, but then Hart will throw a hard right hand and snap everyone awake. Both guys hit big moonsaults into the fans, crashing through the front rows (Hennigan not even both to tell people to move, just crashing through fans). We get a bunch of big moves, Hart breaking out a bunch of cool and weird piledriver variations, leaping off the top and catching Hennigan standing before flipping into a piledriver, and a great leverage piledriver when Hennigan is getting back into the ring and Hart grabs his head in his knees and sits back with it. That's a variation I don't really see a lot, and as indy as it seems I think it actually makes a ton of sense. Your opponent is climbing back through the middle ropes anyway, meaning his head is right where it needs to be for a piledriver. We've seen several DDT variations from that spot, but not really a piledriver, even though they make equal sense. Hart always makes me laugh when he climbs up to hit a crazy move, as it's almost always accompanied by him making Fericito Ay Dios Mio faces before plunging to failure or success. So sometimes he'll make the face and get planted with a Spanish Fly, other times he'll make the face and hit a couple of gorgeous late rotation twisting springboard sentons. The finish of a match between these two is almost never going to be very satisfying, as they do so many big moves throughout that whatever wins is going to seem like any old move. Hart hits a nutty powerbomb onto his knees and a harsh hammerlock DDT, but I don't dislike Hennigan winning by blocking a sunset flip and leaning forward with his own pin. Something has to end a match like this, and the journey getting there was exactly what I wanted.

Teddy Hart/Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Rich Swann/ACH  MLW Fusion #18 7/19 (Aired 8/17/18)

ER: This got a little messy at the end, which is a shame as it started out like it was going to be easily the best tag match of the resurgent MLW. Smith is a guy billed as a catch as catch can master but who wrestles like Test, and Hart is really great at utilizing Test into a tag setting. Hart is so adept at all the grappling we start with that I really want to see him against any of the Catch Point alumni, he works real snug with Swann, fast armdrag while bullying him into a Rings of Saturn, great right hands, big snap powerslam; Hart would really be a fun third man in a Dickinson/Jaka stable. Hart is dominating Swann, hits his cool surfing Code Red out of the corner, and we get great involvement from ACH as Hart has him locked up and ACH's leg comes in out of nowhere with a great superkick to Hart's jaw. Smith follows suit with a nice running big boot to save his boy, and we get some cool stuff like Smith tossing ACH from the ring to the floor with a bodyslam, onto Swann. Pillman Jr. starts getting involved, and Smith has some simple, nice ref distraction as Swann goes up top and Smith gently shifts the referees positioning so he can't see Pillman smashing Swann's groin with his cane. This felt like they were well on their way to a great tag match, but kind of went into the finishing stretch too quickly, which is a common quibble with MLW TV. A lot of the matches seem to have a pretty firm 10 minute time limit, but a lot of the matches I've liked would have benefitted from a few more minutes. Still, this made me want to see a lot more of the New Hart Foundation.

Teddy Hart vs. Vandal Ortagun  MLW Fusion #20 7/12 (Aired 8/31/18)

ER: This post didn't set out to be a post highlighting all of the Teddy Hart, he just happens to be bringing it every damn time he shows up on MLW. The first two matches here are full matches, and this one is a squash...but mah god what a squash! The opening of the match is almost uncomfortable as Hart unloads some hard punches right at Ortagun's forehead, each one looking like a KO blow. Hart is a legit tough SOB but after the second punch you can really see Ortagun's head start to turn bright red from the shots, and as I'm waiting for Ortagun to go limp Hart starts putting a hole through his chest with stomps. But don't worry as Hart goes back to working over the face by trying to smash his skull with a curb stomp. Jesus, Teddy. Ortagun gets a one count schoolboy and Hart rolls right through it into a sick Rings of Saturn/crossface, yanking Ortagun's arm while meanly tugging at his beard and mouth. A couple of Hart's crazy lungblower variations end it pretty easy (electric chair into knees always looks like such a tough landing) and Hart as violent badass is awesome. I'm unsure what Ortagun did, but I can only assume that he definitely deserved it. Later in the episode he, Smith Jr., and Pillman Jr. got into it with Kevin Sullivan backstage. It got a bit too shooty, but it was a pretty intense segment with all of them eventually jumping Sullivan and Sullivan blading. Not sure where it's going, but they did it well.

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