WARNING: THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF BARBED WIRE IN ITS FINAL ACT.
Welcome back to MLW and a new set of tapings. We are officially in Zero Hour now and they opened this next set with a massive episode. We got triple-team action as AAA stars went to war with Injustice, Low Ki and Filthy Tom Lawlor were there and we got a full-on deathmatch between Mance Warner and Jimmy Havoc. Let’s get into the action and see what happened when Mance and Havoc went to war in the barbed wire.
A CONTRA Unit Welcome

Josef Samael welcomed the crowd with a cutting promo on Dallas and the next era of CONTRA Unit. He promised more violence but Davey Boy Smith Jr came out to interrupt Samael’s speech. He stalled them while Brian Pillman Jr snuck in the ring and kicked the hell out of them. They cleared CONTRA, starting a new war with the most feared and most dominant faction in MLW. Samael would later challenge Davey Boy to take on Simon Gotch in a no rope, no holds barred match.
Drago & Puma King defeated Injustice (Kotto Brazil & Jordan Oliver) as Taurus & Low Rider via Around the World Roll-Up

The first match was a fast and furious triple threat tag bout between two AAA Star teams and the most hated faction of MLW, Injustice. This would be the first sign of the new partnership with the company and was prefaced with an interview with Konnan that Injustice interrupted. Oliver and Brazil ended up in this match and Myron Reed will have to defend the middleweight title against Drago next week. Back to the in-ring action, the match started with Taurus going flying and Low Rider murdering everyone in the match. Taurus carried on his partner’s momentum by throwing Drago into Puma King whilst Injustice rested on the outside. Injustice struck when Taurus went for a pin, double-teaming the bull and Low Rider. He escaped when Puma King tagged in and he and Drago went to work on Oliver. Taurus came back and started beating down Puma King until Drago stopped his rampage. Drago fought off Myron Reed and nearly beat Taurus with a Tornado DDT but Injustice broke it up. They started throwing cutters around, with Oliver hitting a suicide dive variant. Low Rider and Taurus found their way back into the match and destroyed both members of Injustice with a Backstabber Bomb to Oliver and a Fisherman Buster on the apron to Brazil. Drago and Puma King struck at that moment taking out Taurus and allowing Drago to roll up Low Rider for the win. These three teams put on an excellent if slightly short opening bout that had more than enough excitement to get the crowd hyped.
Low Ki defeated Chandler Hopkins via Rear Naked Choke

Chandler Hopkins had to debut against Low Ki. Talk about being thrown in at the deep end. The blue-chip challenger had to fight the former MLW champion and it wasn’t going to be pretty. The Young Gun as Chandler was also called, managed to hold his own Low Ki early on, even showing him up. Low Ki came back by targeting the arm then Mule Kicking Chandler across the ring. The beatdown continued with stiff chops and forearms. Chandler used his speed to hit a Head Scissor driver and a Rolling Flatliner on Low Ki but only got a two. He hit an Ushigoroshi and tried for a Shooting Star Press. Low Ki moved, hit a violent Shotgun Dropkick and choked Hopkins out with a leg assisted Rear Naked Choke. This was short but sweet with Hopkins holding his own against one of wrestling’s deadliest strikers. A strong debut even if it was a losing effort.
Filthy Tom Lawlor introduced Team Filthy Dojo’s First Member
Alicia Atout was up next interviewing Filthy Tom Lawlor who was with Dominick Garrini. He was to be the first member to join the Team Filthy Dojo. He had joined the dojo because his introduction had been overshadowed by Luchadores and other more dynamic performers. Since the Team Filthy Dojo was back, Lawlor announced that all the stiff fighting was sponsored by condom depot.
Mance Warner defeated Jimmy Havoc (w/Priscilla Kelly) via Piledriver atop the Plunder

Last but not least, the match I was chomping at the bit to see since it was first announced… No ropes, barbed wire madness. Mance and Havoc brought their bloody and violent feud to an even bloodier conclusion. Havoc brought a barbed wire bat out with him during his entrance whilst Mance brought a chair. The bell rung and the weapons were instantly lost. The pair tried to throw each other into the wire until Havoc ran into it and Mance continued to press him into it. He dragged Havoc’s face across the wire and continued the facial assault with a drop toe hold. Mance found his chair and gave Havoc a whack in the back. Havoc hit a facebuster and suplexed Mance into the barbed wire. Havoc gave Mancer a chair shot to the knee and dug the wire into his head. Priscilla Kelly retrieved a staple gun for Havoc, who stapled Mance’s head then stapled Mance’s shirt to his back. Havoc cut away some of the wire and raked it across the head of Mance then dragged it into his mouth. Next came the bat, as Havoc continued to torture Mance. Havoc hit a curb stomp for a two. Mance came back with a barbed wire bat assisted nutcracker, making Havoc ride the hobby horse but Havoc found his staple gun and stapled Mance’s bollocks. He set up some chairs for Mance but ended up getting his spine broken on them. Ring boards were brought in to the ring, which Havoc drove Mance through with a DVD. Havoc set up another board between some chairs but Mance recovered and chokeslammed him through it. Havoc kicked out so Mance wrapped his arm in barbed wire, avoided powder to the face and planted Havoc with a Lariat. He continued by throwing a chair at Havoc and hitting a Piledriver onto a plunder pile for the three-count. This was excellent. It was violent, bloody and made my deathmatch crazed side very happy. Mance and Havoc ended the match a bloody mess after trying almost everything to kill each other.
So, there you have it, MLW Fusion #94 reviewed for your reading pleasure. To absolutely no one’s surprise, I loved the main event. It felt like a proper graphic deathmatch with both men cut up to hell afterwards. There was plenty of blood and broken bits of weaponry left on the canvas when it was done. We also had a cool debut for the AAA Stars and Chandler Hopkins who all shone in their respective matches too. Next week sees Myron Reed take on Drago and more. We have CONTRA going to war with the New Hart Foundation, MJF targeting the Von Erichs and the continuing intrigue around the Team Filthy Dojo. Zero Hour is going to get even more interesting.
All images courtesy of MLW Twitter, Basil Mahmud – Video courtesy of MLW YouTube