Welcome back to MLW Fusion. This week, we continue our trip down to Tijuana Mexico as the AAA/MLW Super Series continues. This week Team Filthy makes their tag team debut as Dominic Garrini and Filthy Tom Lawlor take on AAA stars Puma King and Xtreme Tigre. We’ll also see Douglas James taking on Averno and much much more as both companies continue to jockey for position in AAA’s home turf. Let’s get into it, shall we?

Averno defeated Douglas James via Knock Out

The first match of the night saw AAA’s Averno take on the hybrid style of Douglas James. He’d expressed his respect for Averno but this was all about James proving himself as more than just an MMA-infused fighter. He was ready to prove himself against another Lucha Libre master. The pair started slow and locked up where James got the upper hand and locked in a choke early on. Things sped up and James sent Averno out to the floor with a Dropkick then followed him outside to kick him in the face. Averno countered a second and slammed him into the ring apron then ran James into the rails. Averno continued the abuse by slamming James into the ring apron again and driving him into a pile of broken boards. Back in-ring, things went from bad to worse as James was Powerbombed into the turnbuckles. The pair went into a chop off and James powered up into a series of flying forearms and clotheslines. He took Averno outside with a Hurricanrana then clipped him with a Suicide Dive. The pair got back into the ring and started mixing it up again. James floored Averno with a running Meteora but was foiled by the referee’s slow count. Averno then KO’ed James with a forearm, smashing James in the temple with his elbow. The match was ruled a KO victory to Averno and James was escorted away by medical staff. This was an odd direction to take the match but it was fun to watch and a very powerful win for Averno.

After winning last week in his MLW debut in a "Barrio street fight" @Pagano656 now looks to "start the party" everywhere he goes as he now has his eyes set on the MLW World Heavyweight Championship. #MLWFusion on @beINSPORTSUSA #MLWxAAASuperSeries pic.twitter.com/orWSrjTqSr

— Major League Wrestling (@MLW) April 19, 2020

After the match, Davey Boy Smith Jr was interviewed about his condition after the Team Filthy beatdown and gave some updates on Brian Pillman Jr’s condition after the Injustice attack. He revealed that both men had been cleared for action in Tijuana. He announced that The New Hart Foundation will be back to fight Texano Jr and Rey Escorpion Jr next week. We also got confirmation of the Injustice vs Jinetes Del Aire match that Konnan signed last week for the AAA Trios Titles. Lastly, we saw Pagano issue a warning to Jacob Fatu as he’s going for the MLW World Heavyweight Title.

Team Filthy (Filthy Tom Lawlor & Dominic Garrini) defeated Puma King & Xtreme Tigre via Rear Naked Choke

The main event saw Team Filthy make their big tag team division debut. Their goal was to take the Tag Titles from the Von Erichs but to get there they would have to go through AAA’s Puma King and Xtreme Tigre first. Garrini and Lawlor were ready to make a statement and had no interest in showing any respect as they did it. Lawlor and Tigre started, Lawlor tried to strike but Tigre to him to the mat and started pounding away. Lawlor tried to urge Tigre on and bait him in for some ground game but Tigre wasn’t falling for it. The pair got up and Tigre picked the pace up, catching Lawlor with a series of kicks. Lawlor tagged out as did Tigre bringing Garrini and Puma King into the fight. Puma fed off the crowd’s energy and locked up with Garrini. The went through a sequence of chain wrestling then Garrini took King off his feet with a shoulder block. Garrini got too cocky and was dropkicked, then hit with a Powerslam and Senton combo. Lawlor tagged in, helped execute a double team Suplex/Kick combo then went to work on Puma King. Lawlor pissed off the crowd as he attacked Puma King in the corner and tagged back out. Garrini chopped King against the ropes but was caught into a DDT and kicked in the head. King tagged out and Tigre got another round with Lawlor.

Tigre attacked Lawlor in the corner, kicked the turnbuckle into his face and hit him with a Senton off the top rope straight into the guts (and lower.) Lawlor bailed, so Garrini tried to attack from behind. When that failed, he slugged Tigre in the face with a forearm. A blind tag later and Garrini had a face full of Puma King’s knees and was trapped in the Rings of Saturn. Lawlor tried to break it up by locking on a Cross Arm Breaker on King. Xtreme Tigre finished the Human Centipede of Submissions by locking in a Kimura Lock on Lawlor. Team Filthy ended up on top and both men took a turn at smashing in Puma King. Garrini tried to lock in a choke but Tigre made the save and ended up facing the wrath of both members of Team Filthy. Tigre got rid of Lawlor and hit a series of kicks on Garrini. Lawlor tried to attack from behind but found himself locked in a unique chokehold from Tigre. Garrini made the save and the pair got Tigre into the Mighty Mouse but Puma made the save by kicking Garrini in the face. King continued to clear the ring, hitting Garrini with a Pescado on the outside. The match broke down as Team Filthy took out Puma King, and when Tigre tried to fight back, Lawlor locked in a rear-naked choke for the win. This match was a bit all over the place but I enjoyed it. The ref seemed to be fairly lax on the rules meaning most of the match was populated with chaotic exchanges between both teams. Filthy got the win but it wasn’t made easy for them.

This wouldn’t end the show though as we got more footage from the brawl between Mance Warner and Alex Hammerstone that started before the main event. The pair had made their way into Alicia Atout’s birthday party. Savio Vega was with Atout and Brian Pillman Jr to present a birthday cake. Unfortunately, the cake would end up with a face print from Hammerstone as Mance poked him in the eyes, kicked him in the dick and slammed his face into the cake. This didn’t ruin it as Vega and Pillman Jr seemed to think it tasted great.

Oh c'mon guys, really @ManceWarner @alexhammerstone ???

Sorry @AliciaAtout#MLWFusion on @beINSPORTSUSA #MLWxAAASuperSeries pic.twitter.com/oIZRN38gLK

— Major League Wrestling (@MLW) April 19, 2020

So, there you have it, another episode of MLW Fusion reviewed for your reading pleasure. The Super Series delivers again. There may have been no flaming tables this week but, hey, we got two great matches and Hammerstone being driven into a cake. The ref’s actions are starting to get suspicious so it’ll be interesting to see what happens next. On the next episode, we will see Richard Holliday defend his Caribbean Title against Lucha legend, Chessman, and we’ll see the New Hart Foundation get back together to take on Texano Jr and Rey Escorpion Jr. It looks like Mexico still has plenty of matches to entertain us with.

All images of MLW Twitter, Video courtesy of MLW YouTube