Welcome back to MLW Anthology. This week we explore the journey of the current MLW Tag Team champions the Von Erichs. Marshall and Ross were announced as big signings to the company as the newest generation of one of wrestling’s most important families, and since then, have dealt with almost every faction in MLW especially CONTRA Unit and The Dynasty. This episode features on their clash with CONTRA Unit, their teaming with Filthy Tom Lawlor, and their crowning glory against the Dynasty. Let’s get into the action.
War Chamber: The Von Erichs, Low Ki & Filthy Tom Lawlor (w/Kevin Von Erich) defeated CONTRA Unit (Jacob Fatu, Simon Gotch, Ikuro Kwon & Josef Samael) via Iron Claw Doomsday Device on Gotch
.@Ikuro_Kwon with the Red mist to @FilthyTomLawlor and Fatu (@SAMOANWEREWOLF) follows up with a superkick followed by a Moonsault!!#MLWAnthology | https://t.co/0uHU8KAfBn pic.twitter.com/ca63RVMW0u
— Major League Wrestling (@MLW) July 4, 2020
The War Chamber may be the most aptly named match in history. This takes the WarGames stipulation and locks it in a single barbed wire wrapped cage. It would be Marshall and Gotch starting the action then after five minutes, CONTRA would get its next member. From there, it would be a sequential string of team members until all eight men were in the chamber and all bets were off. Marshall and Gotch got right into it with heavy strikes and Marshall dominating Gotch. Once Samael came out to tip the scales, Marshall’s control was gone. He tried to fight back but Gotch and Samael were too clever to let him break free. Lawlor was the next man out and he rushed the cage and beat both Samael and Gotch silly. He attacked Samael, with liberal use of the no DQ rule and Marshall went after Gotch. Fatu came next and fought off both men trying to take him down. He caught both men with a Samoan Drop and a Uranage and continued to take out both men with combination offence. After two minutes of suffering, Low Ki came out next and instantly bust Samael open with the cage door. He focused on bullying Gotch whilst Lawlor went for Samael and Marshall went for Fatu. Last but not least for CONTRA, was Ikuro Kwon who instantly went for Low Ki. The pair got into a heated exchange of strikes and kicks then started targeting Lawlor. After CONTRA’s last numbers advantage faded, Ross Von Erich came out and the match began. He was battling illness and had a bone to pick with Kwon who had blinded him with mist previously. He took out all of CONTRA, then worked with his brother to double-team Kwon and Gotch. He then amazed everyone by hitting Fatu with a Hurricanrana. We got a brief time skip and the feed returned to a part where everyone was down. Fatu had Ross in a fireman’s carry and used him as a weapon against Marshall’s Iron Claw. He then sent Ross flying with a pop-up Samoan Drop. Lawlor had Gotch trapped and Low Ki was battering Samael with strikes. Samael tried to flee up the cage but Low Ki caught him up there and ground his face into the wire at the top. A CONTRA soldier tried to make the save but Kevin von Erich yanked him down and trapped him with the claw. Lawlor trapped Samael in a sleeper but Samael escaped by stabbing him with a spike. Lawlor recoiled and was met by the red mist from Kwon and a superkick from Fatu. He hit Lawlor with his step-up Moonsault but Low Ki saved the match. Fatu went after Low Ki and the Von Erichs were able to use that to hit Gotch with an Iron Claw Doomsday Device. They overcame the evil CONTRA Unit and got themselves a mark in the win column over MLW’s top faction.
The Von Erichs defeated The Dynasty (MJF & Richard Holliday) via Iron Claw Slam
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Relive @RossVonErich & @MarshallVonEric chasing tag team gold as they took on the Dynasty!
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— Major League Wrestling (@MLW) July 5, 2020
Originally reviewed here. The main event took us back to Saturday Night Super Fight, MLW’s big PPV debut. They were taking on their newest foes in the opening bout of the show. The Dynasty thought very little of the Von Erichs and made sure to run down everyone before the match could even begin. The Von Erichs had been dying for this fight as the Dynasty had been ducking them for months. Now they had them in a match and tried to rush them, Texas Tornado style. The Dynasty was the scummier team and ended up breaking their opponents early on with the ring bell and the floor. The crowd was fully behind the Von Erichs and we got an uphill struggle of a match as they started to fight back against the Dynasty. Marshall rallied his brother and the Von Erichs started to give the Dynasty the two-on-one treatment they were giving Ross. It was all great fun with a team of believable good guys and a team so despicable no fan could like them. The Iron Claw became the bane of MJF’s existence and would eventually cost him the match. The win they got here gave them the belts they are still carrying now. This was one of their biggest moments and put them in the firing line of their former friend, Tom Lawlor.
Pulp Fusion Recap
Lastly, we go back to Pulp Fusion for another update on the lives of the MLW roster. We started with Los Parks writing off both Salina de la Renta and Konnan, a 4th of July message from the Von Erichs, Tom Lawlor mocking Von Erich history, Salina de la Renta warning Konnan to stay out of her business, Mance Warner celebrating a victory over Teddy the bear with some light beers, Calvin Tankman put the MLW roster on notice, Holliday having more golf problems and talked about his illustrious 4th of July Party, Jordan Oliver calling out Fatu since he’s a heavyweight now, Team Filthy are now sponsored by Kookies and Kreme, more Hammerstone workout footage. Myron Reed gave a speech about Muhammad Ali and how he was going to follow in his footsteps to keep his young goat status, Dominic Garrini teased getting a new member for Team Filthy, Konnan talked about Salina looking to sell Promociones Dorado. Next week, we go back into MLW’s vaults with a remastered return to old MLW, we’re going back to Underground.
All images courtesy of MLW Twitter, Video courtesy of MLW YouTube