I love how the show opens with Salina de la Renta suddenly being here after what happened at Fury Road. I thought she was kidnapped by Cesar Duran, hence the reason Bad Dude Tito went looking for her, only for de la Renta to be freely walking the streets talking about enacting some revenge against Duran. Ha!
Janai Kai (c) vs. Delmi Exo – World Featherweight Championship match
Exo manages to shove Janai with her shoulder as she continues to rain down on the champ as hard she can with a fisherman suplex. Kai retaliates as she dodges an attempt from Delmi with a spin kick to the back of the challenger’s neck.
Kai adds more aggressiveness by dragging Exo’s arm around, practically ripping it from her socket. I genuinely think Cesar lost a huge opportunity with Janai by letting her slip to CONTRA Unit. But I can see that works better.
Delmi has been on the receiving end the majority of the time once Janai took control of this match. Exo catches Kai’s leg, then delivers a clothesline, face plant plus a Super Kick. She performs an impressive cutter to Janai, yet that wasn’t enough to win the belt.
Kai applies the Demon Clutch, trapping Delmi in the center of the ring. However, Exo was able to escape, then follows that up with a Delmi Driver. She was too exhausted to enter a cover. Meanwhile, Salina sprays an Azteca henchman in the face as she struts her way to the stage. Ha! Ha! Ha! Salina was aiming her spray towards Cesar, he got it and so did Delmi.
Janai took advantage with a GTG Kick to finish this match. Duran was shocked once he noticed what happened. Ha! What’s even more funny was after the victory, Cesar left Delmi at the hands of CONTRA’s mercy. She’s a prize until she isn’t…
Winner: Janai Kai
Alex Kane vs. AJ Francis – Ritual Combat match for the Bomaye throne
If AJ Francis wins, Alex Kane will have to serve as his right-hand man. But if Kane manages to score a victory, Francis will leave Bomaye alone. Here to survey the match are the elders such as Hall of Famer Teddy Long and Mark Henry. It feels good to see Mark Henry again. I’ve missed him.
If I’m being honest, I prefer this version of AJ Francis’ character embodying a more villainous persona better than his previous person being Top Dolla. The only noteworthy thing from that moniker is when he poorly flipped himself over the rope in the most comical way imaginable. Ha! That still makes me laugh.
Anyway, when Kane made his entrance, he came in wearing ritual war paint and a shaved head. Francis kept insulting his mohawk, but I hoped he wouldn’t remove it. Oh, well… I shouldn’t be surprised by the sudden assault from behind AJ does.
Kane makes an explosive comeback with a spear to Francis. The challenger is left momentarily dazed, which was a ploy to lure Kane to the crowd area, so he could slap Alex with a drink of some kind. The only way to win is to sit on the Bomaye throne for ten seconds uninterrupted.
Kane reverses by sending Francis face first against a brick wall as Henry and Teddy watch on with great anticipation. A powerbomb to Kane on the apron stops his momentum. AJ uses a chair to squash him further as he sits on the throne awaiting the ten count.
Henry notices that Kane was getting up, so Francis takes note of it and kicks Alex in the face. He continues his onslaught with a couple of chair attacks. Francis even drives Kane through the chair he used, breaking it in multiple ways. AJ went too far when he tried to smother Kane from breathing. Luckily, the elders stopped him by informing him that’s not the way you win a fight.
So, he slams Kane back inside the ring followed by the Tennessee Whiskey. Later on, that Idiot crashes into the door he set up for Kane. Ha! Alex turns things around the best way he can with a cavemaker suplex. He nearly got Francis with a choke hold, AJ was fading, but he was able to scurry away.
Kane impresses us even more with another suplex. Henry was becoming anxious as he sits next to Long to truly consult his peer. Francis doubles down with a choke slam that leaves Kane motionless for eight seconds. Alex almost lost. Because of this, Francis tosses Kane once again inside the ring.
AJ placed Kane on a table he set up in the middle of the ring. Kane fights back with a beautiful suplex from the second rope and crashes AJ on the table. Kane was able to drag himself to the throne and win the ten count uninterrupted despite Francis’ efforts.
Whoo!! Mark and Teddy shake his hand in congratulations.
Winner: Alex Kane
With high excitement still to come with CONTRA’s brand new crusader to be presented later tonight, that leaves people a little unsettled. That may be the case, but I remain delighted to see this reveal.
Satoshi Kojima (c) vs. Tom Lawlor – World Heavyweight Championship match
At the beginning of this match, the referee wasn’t paying attention to MSL handing Tom some brace knuckles and a chain to use against Kojima when the time came. Okumura was trying to warn the official, yet due to the language barrier, he ignored it at first. Fortunately, the audience assisted Okumura in diverging the official’s attention.
Chris De Antonio, is his name, finally takes wind of it and checks Lawlor’s pockets to find the chain amongst other things. He also does the right thing by kicking Saint Laurent out, otherwise, he’ll be banded from MLW for life. Ha! Good on you, De Antonio. Laurent fell on his way out. Ha! Ha! It was emphasized by commentary.
Our eyes shoot back towards the ring once Tom jumps Satoshi with a few well-placed punches to the stomach and the jaw. He also becomes desperate when he uses his shirt to choke Kojima. Lawlor is the more dominant force at the moment as he focuses on Satoshi’s wounded left knee. Kojima did attempt to flip the damage.
Later on, Tom utilizes his MMA background to apply a triangle choke hold with his legs, yet Kojima was able to break free using the bottom rope. Despite the failure, Lawlor hammers down on the Champion. Satoshi changes the momentum of this match for a short while. I can see that he may be trying to get Tom to overuse his energy in order to tire himself.
Satoshi suddenly collides with Lawlor’s striking knee. The champ nearly crashes into the post Tom was leading him towards. He still got hurt, though, once Tom noticed he missed. Kojima fires back by tripping Lawlor off the apron.
Tom drops Kojima and cinches a submission move that nearly takes the champ out if it weren’t for the bottom rope that saved him. Satoshi spikes Tom with a DDT then a Cozy Cutter. Lawlor thwarts Kojima’s attempt at a lariat by applying a sleeper hold.
Satoshi secures his title reign with two thunderous clotheslines to end Tom’s venture for gold.
Winner: Satoshi Kojima
Salina swore revenge tonight, and she’s enacting it with Bad Dude Tito’s help. She enjoys seeing Duran on his knees, right where she says he should be, at all times. People would pay money to witness this. There’s nothing she likes more than a public execution. Just when she offers Cesar to have his final words, he decides to sing a Spanish song Salina’s mother usually sings.
The weirdest thing is that the rest of us begin to hear a woman’s voice singing that very song as well. Duran is seen cackling to Salina’s confusion all the while intimate images and photos of Salina’s family pop up on screen. I didn’t suspect this before, but Cesar is Salina’s dad… She was distraught. Oof…
Battle Riot match
Entrant number one is Mistico, while number two is reserved for Jimmy Yang. Although, Yang extents his hand, Mistico goes straight to work with a kick to the mid-section. Jimmy fights back as if time hasn’t passed him.
Entrant number three is Star Jr. Everyone in the ring thus far were surprised by Junior’s appearance since he manages to change the game. Representing CMLL, Rugido enters the fray brazing through everyone. Number five is Jesus Rodriguez. Despite the onslaught, no one has been eliminated yet.
One half of the World Tag Team Champions enters at number six, Shigeo Okumura bulldozes through the roster. Star Junior receives the worst of it the funniest way possible. Mistico gets Rodriguez to tap out being the first to be eliminated. Ikuro Kwon representing CONTRA enters at number seven. Akira follows suit as he brawls with Kwon and Yang.
Tom Lawlor enters the ring after he failed to capture gold not too long ago into the evening. Star Jr. eliminates Jimmy Yang. Rugido is also eliminated by Lawlor. Things get annoying the second Josh Bishop walks in. Double team from WTF was inevitable. Bobby Fish has arrived just as Mistico, of all people, gets eliminated by Star. Boo!
National Openweight Champion Bad Dude Tito comes in as well just as Okumura gets dumped over the ropes by Lawlor and Bishop. Star Junior gets dumped as well. When I saw Adam Priest’s name, my eyes only looked at the name “Priest”, so I thought they were talking about Damian Priest from WWE. Ha! Ha!
Paul Walter Hauser enters the match as he eliminates Lawlor. Tom was shocked. Ha! Slim J comes in strong, yet he gets caught in a suplex by Priest.
Elsewhere, Akira and Kwon have eliminated each other, but the fight between them hasn’t stopped. So much so that Akira doesn’t notice Mads Krugger stumping behind him. He tries to fight back, but Kwon jabs his knee off. Krugger makes it even worst when he drills Akira through a table. The damage to Akira wasn’t done after that.
Our attention has to swerve over to Mr. Thomas running to the stage. Thomas trampled everyone, but he didn’t count on Bobby Fish to pounce on him like that. We’re still wondering where Mads Krugger went.
He did promise us a new member, so I was both shocked and amazed by that person being Minoru Suzuki. This is a scary thought… He dumps Priest with no remorse. Suzuki chokes out Bishop as well.
Brett Ryan Gosselin struts around the ring. He made the mistake to piss Minoru off, so he scurries like the rat that he is under the ring. Literally. MLW’s original CW Anderson enters the game as well as The American Male Scotty Riggs and Jake Crist. Hauser eliminates Slim J, by the way.
Crist found BRG under the ring and shoves him back inside the match. Tito eliminates Fish. Also, who invited a clown over here? Violent J is here… He threw a trash can lid at Crist’s head. Meanwhile, Hauser took care of Scotty Riggs. Later on, Chris Danger swoops in.
Elsewhere, Gosselin finds himself in the clutches of Minoru, and Danger eliminates Violent J. A little moment between Hauser and newest entrant, Ernest “The Cat” Miller occurs center ring.
Arg! The first kick Hauser delivered didn’t eliminate Mr. Thomas, yet Tito finishes the job with a clothesline. Boo! 1 Called Manders was the next to enter, but he didn’t when his theme music was playing… at least not on his own. Mads Krugger makes his way back to the ring with Manders in tow.
Oh no, Sami Callihan is here. Damn it. Jake Crist is eliminated. So is Hauser, by Callihan. A man named Masked Assassin roams around the ring. Mads and Manders eliminate each other. A brawl continues between them.
Alex Kane enters the match to eliminate Tom Lawlor again after he posed as the Masked Assassin. My God, the desperation. Ha! Matthew Justice comes in at number 30. Funnily, Sami hit himself trying to attack Justice. A coast-to-coast assault rattles Anderson.
Matt Riddle comes out at number 31 going straight for Callihan, and pins Ernest “The Cat” Miller. Justice pins Gosselin. Andrew Everett enters the match later on and takes out Sami after nearly getting eliminated. Kane disposes of CW Anderson with a choke hold. Kimchee comes in and gets thrown out by Chris Danger. Riddle amazingly eliminates Tito.
Timothy Thatcher brawls it out with Minoru. Dr. Cornwallis immediately establishes dominance, yet he gets eliminated by Suzuki. Wow. Suge D and Rickey Shane Page enter Battle Riot. Page notices he attacked Suzuki and tries to back off. Nevertheless, Suzuki goes after him. Ha! Shane Mercer, the Iron Demon has descended on Everett with a super fall-away slam.
Suge D got eliminated while our eyes were distracted by… Arachnaman? Tom Lawlor again, I presume. His mask gets snatched from him by Hauser to reveal his dumb face. Also, Callihan eliminates Page. Davey Boy Smith Jr. comes in at number 40. Everyone ganged up on him, and he swats them with slight ease.
Justice dumps Shane Mercer, but Sami eliminates Matthew. Sadly, Kane loses as well. Five men are left standing: Riddle, Suzuki, Callihan, Smith Jr., and Thatcher. They all choose to surround Matt, and get him out. He remains safe… for now. Shockingly, Riddle eliminates Minoru.
Matt tackles Sami, while Davey deals with Timothy. In a surprise shuffle, Thatcher eliminates himself and Davey. Riddle kept one leg between the ropes, so he could dispose of Callihan with success.
Winner: Matt Riddle
TOP PHOTO: Riddle smiles victoriously. Courtesy of MLW