Welcome back to MLW and the ever-weirder world that is being built. In the realms of violence and Lucha, one man is currently reigning supreme, Cesar Duran. El Jefe has MLW in the palm of his hand and has continuously enacted schemes and traps to pull all power and agency from those in the company. Tonight, he was shocking the world twice. Firstly, by threatening to end Micromania, and secondly, by actually stepping into the ring himself. After Hammerstone clocked him at the press conference, he’d been left hungry for revenge and he was damn well going to get it. Alongside that, we had another round of exciting Lucha six-man action and The American Wolf Davey Richards tangling with 5150’s Rivera. Let’s get into the anarchy.

Davey Richards defeated Danny “Rivera” Limelight (w/ Dr Julius Smokes) via Gotch-Style Piledriver

The first match of the night saw the Radioactive Papi of 5150, Danny “Rivera” Limelight in singles action. He was about to prove a point to the Dallas fans by putting down the American Wolf, Davey Richards. We don’t often get to see Rivera outside of tag action so this was going to be an excellent chance to show what he brings to the dance against one of the most travelled within the company. This was bloody awesome. Rivera is a multi-faceted martial artist and we got to see some of that here as he managed to out-grapple Richards at multiple points. He was just as cocky as ever but for most of the match, he was backing it up. Alas, all it takes is a single moment for the Wolf to lock in his claws and start doing damage. After a trailer hitch, Rivera was left hobbled and Richards was able to start picking him apart. It made for a fun opening match and gave Richards another win as the hunt goes on. He ever showed the old dog could bring out some new tricks by taking the win with the Gotch-Style Piledriver. Post-match, he was interviewed and set his sights on a new target. He still wants gold so now; he’s coming for Alex Kane and the Openweight Title. It’ll be Suplex Assassin vs Submission Specialist.

Microman, El Dragon & Aerostar defeated Strange Sangre (Arez & Mini Abismo Negro w/Holidead & Dr Dax) & TJP via Micro Victory Roll on Abismo

This six-man spectacle carried with it an added stipulation. Not only was Microman and co going to have to face the might of Strange Sangre and TJP, but they would also have to win or Microman would be booted out of the company. Duran has wanted rid of Microman since he became so popular and now, he was fighting for his survival against the group that’s always trying to kill him. He had some great back-up in Aerostar and El Dragon but Strange Sangre was bringing a crippler in TJP. As expected, this delivered another barrel-load of excitement. TJP thought he was too good to fight Microman until a punt in the balls changed his mind. From there, he blended into the continuous whirlpool of activity just as well as everyone else, playing killjoy alongside the rest of Strange Sangre. There was just back-and-forth galore as both teams brought their best and had a whole lot of fun doing it. When you mix some of AAA’s best with MLW’s best, you get fun like this. Microman managed to save his place in the company by pinning Mini Abismo Negro but it had been far from easy. Micromania gets to run wild for another marathon of shows. There was something special about seeing TJP get bamboozled by Microman’s submission ability. The Lucha division remains as alive as ever and I hope they never stop putting on clusters like this. It never gets old.

Between the matches:

• The show opened with MSL pulling up in the MicroMobile bringing Microman to the arena. Everyone was cheering for the diminutive dynamo when MSL was approached by El Jefe’s goons. He was given a note stating that if Microman loses tonight, he’s out of the company.
• Mads Krügger was seen storming out of Cesar Duran’s office. No one knew why but the speculation built it was around tonight’s main event. This also happened with the Los Parks locker room as more Azteca goons showed up. Alas, they were nowhere to be seen, and later in the show, Fatu broke up more of Duran’s karate to brag about killing them. Fatu wasn’t playing and Duran was finding that out the hard way.
• We returned to the Battle Riot Control Centre as more names were announced to take part. EJ Nduka, Jacob Fatu, Mini Abismo Negro, Budd Heavy, Matt Cross and Ross Von Erich were all entering the fray.

• The Von Erichs were trying to get their title shot and wanted to get Duran’s attention but he was too busy practising his Karate. The Von Erichs didn’t get what they wanted but they did give Duran a scare by breaking his boards with a Texas punch.
• We got more of an in-depth look into Calvin Tankman’s life and career. He was still beating himself up over the Opera Cup injury but with the tag titles, he’s started his path to making himself a legend for his family, his company, and his community.
• The Killer Kross videos began to play again. It looks like Doomsday is on its way back to MLW. I think a message is going to be left before Killer Kross enters the Battle Riot. Probably through someone getting mercilessly beaten up.

Alexander Hammerstone vs Cesar Duran ends up being a trap

Now for the oddest main event of FUSION to date. No one expected Cesar Duran to actually fight in this one. Alexander Hammerstone has been unstoppable as the champ so no one could see him being stopped by El Jefe. There had to be more to this and the names he’d been gathering throughout the show made it seem like there was a trap afoot. Of course, there was more to this. Duran controlled every element from the referee to the ring announcements where I think he gave himself more credits than anyone else ever has to the stipulation. There was a chair to play with and as Duran’s ultimate gift from the Gods, he had one of Hammerstone’s arms tied behind his back. It wasn’t going to be a fair fight by any means but Hammerstone didn’t seem too bothered. He still had a massive size advantage over Duran. Of course, it wasn’t Duran fighting. It was Richard Holliday as the Clout Couple invaded the scene to call the whole thing a farce. Never one to miss an opportunity, Holliday laid the hurt on Hammerstone and Duran kept piling on the pressure by bringing out his new army, King Muertes, and Mads Krügger. These mercs kept the beatdown going until the Von Erichs chased them off. Duran was livid. The Texas boys had crossed the boss and now, there’d be hell to pay. It would be Hammerstone and the Von Erichs vs Holliday, Krügger, and Muertes in trios action at a time to be decided. That’s a lot of beef for one ring… This was pure storyline cheese but there was something hilarious about it. Duran was so committed to the act that it made something that could have been cringe-worthy actually worth watching. There are big things on the horizon and next week’s show boasts some fire as nZo and KC Navarro have their grudge match and Bandido takes on Flamita. See you then.

All images courtesy of MLW, Video courtesy of MLW YouTube