MLW hosted this month’s BeIn Sports/YouTube special this week, the second part of the War Chamber event. In it, we see the conclusion of the Calling Saga, as they battled the Death Fighters in the titular two-ringed cage match. In the undercard, we will see the World and Tag Team championships defended in separate matches.
Joe Dombrowski and Christian Cole are our commentary team and run down tonight’s event as the proprietor of Azteca Lucha, Cesar Duran, makes his way to the stage. Duran claims that he will run the stench of Salina de la Renta out of Tampa, before bringing out his latest signing, CMLL competitor, Virus.
Virus w/Cesar Duran vs. Star Jr. W/Salina de la Renta
Before our opening contest starts, we get backstage footage of Cesar Duran speaking with someone who is identified as Salina de la Renta’s mother. No audio is heard.
This match is the latest in the war between Azteca Lucha and Promociones Dorado. Lots of back-and-forth action that started in one ring and ended in the other…with no explanation why that was allowed. I dunno, ref bias. Lots of grappling and counter wrestling before Star suddenly picks up the win with a springboard double stomp followed by a modified bow and arrow lock, securing the submission. The match finished before it had an opportunity to fully start.
Backstage, Mister Saint Laurant is with the Tag Team Champions, “Filthy” Tom Lawlor and Davey Boy Smith Jr. MSL mocks Alex Kane for buying into conspiracy theories regarding his loss to AJ Francis. Lawlor wants to know who Kane and the Bomayes ever beat…forgetting that Kane, as MLW Champion, singlehandedly ran through most of the WTF roster.
Budd Heavy vs. “Notorious” Brett Ryan Gosselin w/MSL
Budd Heavy is making his return to MLW after more than a year away. As celebration, BRG attacks Heavy as the bell rings, hitting the larger opponent with the Sweet Victory clothesline and the Key to Victory to put Heavy away in less than two minutes.
After the match, Dombrowski gives BRG the mic. BRG let’s us know he is going to the top before giving Heavy an encore beating.
Backstage, Salina de la Renta is looking to celebrate Promociones Dorada’s victory tonight. Salina recommends a cruise or Gucci shopping before Mama recommends ripping Cesar Duran’s balls off. Salina is a wee bit shocked by this response.
The Bomaye Fight Club vs. WTF w/MSL: MLW Tag Team Championship
AJ Francis joins us on commentary. The Bomayes start the party after Tom Lawlor misses a corner charge. After a brief period where Mr. Thomas was used as a weapon, the Bomayes fell victim to a Davey Boy Smith distraction, allowing WTF to work on Alex Kane’s leg. Kane gets the hot tag, and Thomas cleans house in a way that ignores that he is six and a half feet tall, destroying the opposition with a top rope crossbody and a tope con hilo to the floor. A revived Kane joined the party, hitting a suicide dive. Unfortunately, like most people in real life, Kane is distracted by Francis at the commentary table. During the confusion, MSL slid the MLW tag team championship into the ring, hidden by Lawlor. Thomas lifted Lawlor for a powerbomb and is dinked on the head with the belt, securing the victory for WTF. After the match, Kane clears the ring with a steel chair.
Backstage WTF celebrate their victory. MSL gloats about swiping the new MLW World Heavyweight Championship belt, when COZYmax interrupts. Kojima wants his new championship belt before entering a tirade in Japanese and leaving. Luckily, DBS Jr. is able to translate and proclaimed that COZYmax are coming for the Tag Team Championship!
Joe Dombrowski announces that due to the BRG/Budd Heavy match ending earlier than expected, we are getting a bonus match that was taped earlier in the evening.
Sofia Castillo vs. Zayda
Salina de la Renta joins us for commentary and says nary a kind word about anyone. Sofia Castillo is making her MLW debut tonight. Plenty of back-and-forth action is had between the Federette and the debuting Castillo, unfortunately most of it was clunky and seemed to be stuck in first gear. There were some high spots, such as a double down after the opponents hit big boots at the same time. Zayda mercifully ends the match with the I’m Prettier tomakaze.
Where to begin…Inserting an announced pre-taped match in a show that was pre-taped was a choice. A match that had been advertised for nearly a month. As stated, the match was clunky as Castillo did not show much technical expertise, despite being a seven-year vet and Zayda is too inexperienced to be carrying opponents. Added to this was Salina’s commentary. Ever since her return to MLW, Salina has had difficulty putting over others on the mic, forgetting that it is hard to put yourself over if you cannot put your opponents over as threats.
Following this match, the Death Fighters cut a promo about finding oneself and preparing for war.
We also get an advert for the WTF Hotline. Not going to lie, I want to do wrestling trivia with Tom Lawlor and get screamed at by Josh Bishop.
Timothy was brought in to lose again. Sadface. Even bigger sadface is that it was the announcement that Matt Riddle would be the first participant in Battle Riot.
Contra is shown beating down people backstage. One of the people beaten was Richard Holliday.
Bad Dude Tito vs. Satoshi Kojima: MLW World Heavyweight Championship
Tito finally obtained a winning record, allowing him to challenge for the championship. Him and Kojima start with having a big boy off, with strikes and shoulder tackles. Lots of back and forth with Tito showing surprising agility and Kojima showing a resiliency belying his age. The final sequence sees Kojima hit a DDT and cutter, followed by Tito planting Kojima with the F-5, before Kojima finished with the patented Western Lariat to put the challenger away.
We cut backstage and see that Contra is not finished attacking members of WTF, as Davey Boy Smith Jr. Is now in their crosshairs. We get further notice that Tom Lawlor is currently being seen at a local medical facility due to Contra’s attack. What will come from this attack, now that Contra is targeting the power brokers in MLW.
The Death Fighters vs. The Calling: War Chamber
Our main event is at hand, as The Death Fighter (formerly known as the Response) (Jake Crist, AKIRA, Jimmy Lloyd, and Raven) battle The Calling (Sami Callihan, Rickey Shane Page, Cannonball, and Dr. Cornwallace). Crist and Callihan start the match. Despite the door supposedly locked, Crist is sent into the door, and it pops open. Crist is a bloody mess as Callihan utilized weapons and a fork. AKIRA is out next and is immediately attacked on the entranceway by the rest of the Calling…so we get an extra couple of minutes of one on one. RSP is out next, kicking AKIRA on the way. AKIRA is bleeding now as well. Calling wasted their advantage after RSP accidentally hit Callihan with a garbage can lid, Crist hitting a stunner, and AKIRA drop kicking RSP through a door. Lloyd is out next and is taken down after a brief flurry of offense. Cannonball is out with a bag of tacks. Cannonball plants a bleeding Lloyd with a double underhook piledriver. Cannonball is wrapped in barbed wired and allowed to trust fall into AKIRA through a table.
Raven is out last for his team and gingerly make his way to the ring with a kendo stick. Raven eventually breaks the stick over the members of the Calling by lightly tapping them. Dr. Cornwallace makes his return to MLW and the match beyond begins. The match can be won now, either by pinfall, submission, or ref stoppage. This is immediately negated by the ref missing Sami Callihan pinning Jimmy Lloyd. Cornwallace is unmasked, luckily I have no clue who he is. Cannonball takes a cutter into the thumbtacks and RSP misses a senton through two tables. This is the opening AKIRA needed to lock RSP in a kendo stick assisted crossface, before being gifted with barbed wire to use instead. RSP has no choice but to submit due to the barbed wire crossface.
After the match, AKIRA gets on the mic and declares the Calling dead. He also proclaims his love for blood, guts, and wrestling; ending his talk by putting over MLW. Raven takes the mic and has a singalong “Quote the Raven”.
Our show ends with a shot of Salinda de la Renta and her mother walking out of the parking lot with Cesar Duran watching in the distance.
Despite featuring two title fights, the real star of the show was the War Chamber match. Unfortunately, the quality of the match is dependent on your view of deathmatch wrestling. Luckily, regardless of the result, the important thing is that we get to move on from the Calling, which has felt flat for over six months. In this vacuum, we have Contra attacking WTF and the new wrinkle in the Azteca-Dorado feud, being Salina’s mom. Seriously.
Photo Credit; Slam Wrestling, SEScoops
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Rob Kamerer is the host of the MLW Con-Fusion podcast and contributor to the Urban Wrestling Network. He can be found on most social media @thenovaofcass.
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