After the events at Kings of Colosseum, the new MLW World Heavyweight Champion Matt Riddle opened the night by receiving a gift from his training partner and friend, Tom Lawlor. Since Riddle has been working to become World Champion for seven years, once he finally became one, Lawlor gifted him the original belt from 2018.

I know it’s a play-on word, but the fact that Lawlor wanted to rename the Opera Cup as the “Filthy Cup” as we enter the year of the Filthy Bros, I got a sickly feeling as if someone farted next to me and didn’t apologize knowing they did it. Anyway, the celebrations were cut short once CONTRA Unit made their presence known after their name has been mentioned. Mads Krugger sent the Sentai Death Squad to swarm Riddle and Lawlor.

Krugger simply wanted to remind Matt that he won a guarantee title shot contract, and he will definitely set his sights on the current Champion. The question we’re asking is when will he cash it in?

Virus vs. Neon 

This match is Neon’s debut as Cesar Duran discovered him and brought his talents to the Major Leagues. He’ll be going up against Virus, a Luchador I’ve seen do tremendous things in the ring in past matches, so regardless of how good Neon is, Virus shouldn’t be underestimated.

Virus started the battle with grappling maneuvers as he and Neon jock for position that resulted in a near fall in favor of Virus. Neon was trying to utilize his strength despite the quickness of Virus being both sudden and precise. Later on, Neon used the ropes for leverage to perform an effective arm drag plus a suicide dive that surprised his challenger.

Virus regained control by bouncing off the post using his feet to avoid disaster, sending Neon crashing on the other side. He may have harmed himself in the process. Because of this, Neon was able to gain some momentum until Virus slammed his body on the mat for a close victory. Given how that didn’t work, Virus reinforced his attacks in the coming seconds of this fight. A high risk performance was said to finalize the match, yet Neon remained in the game.

Neon continued to impress in his debut, truly knocking the air out of Virus, however, it wasn’t enough to end this battle. Virus had Neon in a bad spot as he stretched his arms out. An inverted summersault from Neon was met with a winning bell. He was brilliant.

Winner: Neon 

Akira had an epiphany, by becoming the better man, he kept losing. So, in order for there to be some relevant changes, he’s abandoned the “Death Fighter” moniker and dawned a new one, the Psycho Samurai.

Shigeo Okumura vs. Dark Panther

Whatever Dark Panther was trying to do when he had Okumura’s hands somewhat trapped under his own legs, Shigeo managed to flip out of there for a near fall on the big man. He was able to drop Panther with a shoulder tackle, yet Panther came back twice as hard with multiple clotheslines plus a Baseball slide kick forcing Okumura to stay outside.

Back inside the ring, sequences of back-and-forth between the wrestlers was difficult to establish a strong footing on the opposition. Dark Panther made it even harder with those suicide dives, pushing Okumura further and further away from the ring. Shigeo was still on the floor and the third suicide dive left him dazed, but he dodged a body splash very efficiently. Two Cozy Cutters were initiated to keep Dark Panther down.

Winner: Shigeo Okumura 

Backstage, CONTRA Unit’s Minoru Suzuki was seen trying to convince Satoshi Kojima, former World Heavyweight Champion, to join them given he can’t stay a lone wolf forever. CONTRA was almost too happy to engulf him. “He’ll come around. They always do.” And to keep things ever more interesting, at SuperFight 6, Kojima, Riddle and Alex Kane will be in a Triple Treat match for the Heavyweight Championship.

BREAKING NEWS Templario, the Lion Warrior, will be heading to MLW soon! Also, after his appearance at One Shot, Eric Bischoff will be at SuperFight as Executive Producer.

Bobby Fish vs. Ariel Dominguez

Ariel was being outpowered in the corner of the ring by Fish, luckily, he muscled through with an arm drag and a quick roll up pin that nearly ended this in a flash. Bobby made him pay with a kick to the midsection. That gave the leverage Bobby needed to gain control of the match and the sliding clothesline he performed, oof, commentary thought it was over.

Dominguez didn’t stop fighting when he caught Fish by the leg in a strange, but painful pinning combination. As retaliation, Bobby threw him with an exploder suplex. At some point, Bobby started playing his food by not not going into a cover, instead by twisting Dominguez’s ankle in very disgusting and disturbing way that got an immediate tap. Nevertheless, Dominguez was incredible to watch for lasting this long, and I hope he’ll be all right.

Winner: Bobby Fish

Paul Walter Hauser & Paul London vs. The Andersons – Texas Tornado match

Given how this is a Texas Tornado match, no tags will be required and things can go as insanely as they please. The best types of fights. Hauser and London are seen with the most momentum as the Andersons were reeling. Once Brock Anderson assisted CW at the entryway, the Pauls have been lopsided. A shocking summersault Senton from Hauser off the apron surprised everyone.

A heel kick from London almost ended CW Anderson inside the ring, so he made Paul pay with a thunderous spine buster. And if things couldn’t get any more terrible, BRG got involved by handcuffing London to the ring while Hauser delivered a double side Russian leg sweep on the Andersons. Hauser was getting the air knocked out of his ass. Fortunately, London was able to break free at some point and go after CW… then London was locked on the bottom rope again.

Despite the unbalance, Hauser held out pretty well. The Bomaye Fight Club swooped in to release London from his shackles, while Kane went after some of the members of the Rogue Horsemen. This match has spilled into pure chaos as Mr. Thomas and Kane are throwing weaponry inside the ring for usage. Bobby Fish has also made his way to the stage as he brawled with London on the main floor. Such a messy altercation going on in-ring where Hauser was beaten by a 2-on-1 assault at the hands of the Andersons.

Winners: The Andersons

What’s going on in Azteca Lucha right now? Don, Salina de la Renta’s baby daddy, hasn’t returned, and she’s becoming even more devastated over his disappearance. Normally, Duran would ripe an asshole’s head off his shoulders, but Salina persuaded him to agree to the mystery kidnappers’ demands by compensating with money.

Persephone vs. Alejandra Quintanilla

I love seeing more women matches despite how little they are within this promotion. Over time, we’ll be blessed with a capacity over 20 in the women’s division later this year. That’s 2025’s year revolution for MLW, my personal one. Anyway, Persephone has been attempting to make Alejandra dizzy with continuous rolling tactics on the mat, yet Quintanilla managed to free herself. She’s been controlling the match to her liking until Persephone showed some tenacity with a vicious spear out of nowhere.

The majority of this battle has been Quintanilla’s game regardless of Persephone’s amazing comebacks with a bridge suplex that nearly resulted in a victory. That abrupt headbutt to the gut of Alejandra awarded Persephone the win.

Winner: Persephone

During an interview, Featherweight Champion Delmi Exo made the challenge to open the women’s division to anyone and everyone to face her at SuperFight. “Come one, come all.” And speaking of fighting words, Alex Kane warned Eric Bischoff that once he beats Riddle and Kojima to become a 2-time World Heavyweight Champion, he’ll go after Bischoff.

But wait, prior to the following match starting, MSL interrupted to insult Lawlor into signing a contract for a fight against Donovan Dijak since he’s convinced that Tom has been ducking and dodging. Lawlor informed Saint Laurent that he won’t sign anything until he’s read the fine print, to which Laurent mocks he doesn’t have time to wait for Lawlor to learn how to read. Tom retuned fire with a punch to the stomach of Laurent. Annoyingly so, Dijak wanted to interfere… Tom’s challenger did that instead by chocking him with CONTRA Unit’s flag.

Tom Lawlor vs. Minoru Suzuki

The battle has been officiated regardless of the constant chocking and chair use Minoru Suzuki utilized. He dragged Lawlor around the ring like a dead carcass and knocked Tom with an electric one-punch. A drop kick didn’t do much to take Minoru down. Later on, an exchange of chops ensued mid-ring to see who’ll budge first from the pain. Suzuki seemed to be absorbing the grunt on it very well.

Minoru slowed Lawlor with multiple applications of sleeper holds, truly compressing any available air from circulating properly. Nevertheless, Tom stunned Suzuki with a massive clothesline as the Sentai Death Squad were on their way to the ring, it would seem. Kojima thwarted them with a chair as a response to CONTRA Unit’s earlier offer. Back to the stage, Tom hit the Filthy Smash for a special win.

Winner: Tom Lawlor

For SuperFight, Dijak and Lawlor face each other in a Grudge match. Kenta returns to MLW in a battle versus Kevin Knight. The first ever Honey Trap match between Paul London and Brett Ryan Gosselin, where the losing opponent will be dunked in a pool of honey and feathered in front of the fans. House of Duran will be there, too!

Mistico (c) vs. Barbaro Cavernario – 2/3 Falls Middleweight Championship match

We’ve reached the last match of the evening in a bout that’s been highly anticipated after Cavernario removed Mistico’s mask at Lucha Apocalypto last year. A hand of sportsmanship from Mistico was immediately stomped on by his challenger, so now, he decided to go on the offensive side. This wouldn’t be a stupendous match if there wasn’t a bit of mind-games.

The fight really got underway with a springboard maneuver from Barbaro on top of Mistico on the outside of the ring, flattening the Champion for a couple of minutes too long, if I’m being honest. Cavernario has been extremely forceful with that first pin cover that granted him the point, despite the slight issue of not being sure if Mistico’s shoulders were fully down.

On top of the ring, Barbaro once again removed the mask of Mistico. Luckily, the champ had time to put it back on while the referee was lecturing Cavernario. Things start spilling too closely to the commentary desk with Barbaro at the helm, licking the Championship belt and whatnot. It was too much wild animal instincts to the point of it being genuinely gross to watch such behavior. Mistico ventured to fight back, yet he got shut down almost too easily.

Mistico finally picked up the pace and gained the second fall with his amazing quickness that whiplashed the challenger to look like boneless meat. For a few moments, Mistico argued with the official about the first fall thinking it should be 1-0. Nonetheless, the champ went flying like a majestic dove.

At some point during the battle, Cavernario had Mistico trapped with half a Boston Crab submission maneuver that closely encouraged him to tap out. Happily so, Mistico didn’t relent. A double headbutt collision mid-ring stumped them both to collapse like cartoon characters. Ha! Mistico missed with the Moonsault, but he succeeded with a power slam. Since that wasn’t enough, Mistico retained his title with La Mistica. Whoo!

Winner: Mistico 

 

TOP PHOTO: Mistico initiating his finishing move on Cavernario. Courtesy of MLW