There’s a storm headed MLW’s way this week. The long arms of Lucha have wrapped their way around the company as Cesar Duran once again looks to choke out MLW with his signature style of wrestling violence. Today there’d be not one but three Lucha-infused matches with Holidead flying the flag for Strange Sangre against the Luchadora Extraordinaire Chik Tormenta, the Caribbean Title was going to be contested in the most turbulent matches as King Muertes was going to have to defend his crown in a Cyclone match against three other Luchadores then in the main event, Bestia 666 was receiving his payment for his attack on Jacob Fatu by facing the Samoan Werewolf in an Apocalypto match. It was going to get very messy today so get down and Hail the Apocalypse. Let’s get into the madness.

Holidead (w/Dr Dax & Gangrel) defeated Chik Tormenta via Darkness Falls

We opened with a dose of the strange as Holidead made her way to the ring with Dr. Dax and Gangrel in tow for another round of ghoulish pain. This time though, the Featherweights were getting a taste of Lucha as Chik Tormenta made her debut for the company. Duran was bringing out the big guns now as we built to a title for the division. It’s rare to see someone match Holidead in terms of power but Tormenta was definitely giving the powerhouse of Strange Sangre a run for her money. These two were shunting, running, and slugging each other like no one’s business until Holidead could find her opening and slow things down. Once the ball was in her court, Holidead stretched and tore at Tormenta, cutting off a comeback with a nasty Spinebuster. That didn’t stop Tormenta from taking advantage of Holidead’s frustration and nearly stealing the win with a Meteora. Holidead held on and dodged a Moonsault to take the win with Darkness Falls. Holidead remains the Queen of the division. The featherweights can’t seem to catch a break as Holidead continues to bring the dark days. Tormenta gave it a great run but Holidead seems unbeatable.

IWA Puerto Rico Caribbean Title: Octagon Jr defeated El Dragon, El Hijo de LA Park & King Muertes via Moonsault Powerslam on Dragon

The tempo was about to pick up as King Muertes found himself in the middle of a cyclone. The brute of Duran’s rule held the Caribbean Title as his crown but now that throne was being contested by not one but three challengers. Octagon Jr, El Dragon, and El Hijo de LA Park were all gunning for that title, and Muertes’ odds of leaving the champ were looking slim. As expected, this bloody rocked. These four went all-out to put on a spectacle of a match full of high-flying, clever counters and brutal striking. Muertes was the biggest threat in the match so, of course, everyone went for him. When he was indisposed, the remaining fighters kept showing off their unique styles and flash until the next round of fending off Muertes came around. Eventually, all three teamed up to end Muertes for good with a continuous flurry of high-impact moves before going for broke against each other. Park and Muertes took each other out by going into the crowd, leaving Octagon Jr the chance to take out Dragon with a Moonsault Powerslam. We had a new champ with Octagon bringing honour to his clan with some new gold. The brutal styles of Park and Muertes had been their own downfall leaving Octagon Jr the chance to take the win over a foe who had been unnecessarily brutalised. It made for exceptionally fun viewing as the four put on the best clash of styles they could. It seems MLW has a lot of faith behind Octagon Jr, first, he got the video package treatment, and now a title belt. I look forward to seeing more of him as time goes on.

Between the matches:

• As Holidead made her entrance, cameras cut backstage as Cesar Duran tried to organise his business. He stopped upon Arez having a staring contest with a wall and offered him another opportunity. Arez may just be the solution to his Microman problem.
• Following the loss of their family’s title last week, The Von Erichs were trying to let off some steam training. They got the best advice they could from their dad and continued to prepare for the chance they’d get to murder 5150. They also linked up with Hammerstone as he entered the building trying to get him up to Hawaii for the tan.
• Since their names had been mentioned, 5150 couldn’t leave the episode without another insult session. They were hyped for the bunkhouse brawl coming next week as Limelight and Hernandez were going to send them back to Hawaii broken. Their family clout wasn’t going to mean anything.
• Calvin Tankman gave us another deep dive into his life and his sporting career. That led to his road into wrestling and where he is now. Nothing other than his family is more loved than pro wrestling to him. He also explained the Heavyweight Hustle mentality so people could understand the struggles that fuel him.
• The show ended with a press conference. Cesar Duran was offering some honey to media pigs he hated associating with. He confirmed what we already knew, Richard Holliday was the next contender to the MLW World Heavyweight Title. Holliday and Atout took to the stage to spew more venom, bringing out the champ and provoking another standoff. Atout threw her drink at Hammerstone, prompting him to strike and knock out Duran, who’d been caught in the crossfire. Something tells me Hammerstone is going to regret that mistake.

Apocalypto: Jacob Fatu defeated Bestia 666 via Killing Moon Double Spring Moonsault

It was time to get nasty. Bestia 666, the Tijuana Gremlin, had joined forces with Cesar Duran to get the one thing he wanted, a shot at Jacob Fatu. Bestia had knocked out Fatu weeks ago and now, he was being paid in full with an Apocalypto match against a very pissed-off Fatu. This could get very ugly if the match lived up to its name. I wouldn’t quite say it was apocalyptic but it did prove to yield some hardcore fun. It opened with a wild brawl that saw Fatu want to hurt Bestia with as many strikes as he could, yelling obscenities at anyone who got in his way. He wrecked the timekeeper’s area and harassed commentary as he carved a warpath through ringside, continuing to maul Bestia as he did so. Bestia is no stranger to MLW’s style of hardcore though and matched Fatu’s ferocity with chair shots and more, finding clever counters to the raw power of Fatu. Whilst not the most violent affair, the pair definitely beat the hell out of each other, hitting deadly DDTs, Destroyers, and a bevvy of Alé Uces throughout the runtime of the match. These two did not mess around. It was a rapid-fire bout of blistering shots interlaced with harsh weapon sports and a ring board that exploded into pieces when Fatu put Bestia through it. That gave Fatu the opening to hit the Killing Moon and take the win. This might be tame by MLW hardcore standards but it still provided a lot of wrestling excellence and gave us a main event calibre brawl that saw both try to break each other. I hope Bestia got what he wanted because Fatu gave him all he could handle. Belt or no belt, Fatu is still one of the kings of the mountain around MLW as he will still break 95% of the people MLW throws at him. Duran is going to have to try harder if they want to kill him.

All images courtesy of MLW, video courtesy of MLW YouTube