MLW returned to the Melrose Ballroom in New York City to bring us Summer of the Beast. A full show with no Bein Sports tapings, featuring the quarterfinals of the Opera Cup and two bid championship matches. 

However, the broadcast was marred by technical problems. The show started with no sound before the feed was lost in its entirety for a half hour. Title cards were misplayed, in addition to one of the entrances being played for the wrong wrestler. These gaffes would be expected for a small independent promotion, but not a top five American promotion who recently touted a twenty-million-dollar settlement and two big production hires. 

Most fans missed the Timothy Thatcher’s return and the Miyu Yamashita-Delmi Exo match. So we are going to start with…

Opera Cup 2024 Quarterfinals Alex Kane vs. Bad Dude Tito Escondido 

Kane had to fight through getting Miyu Yamashita’s entrance. This match screamed banger, and it did not disappoint. It was just two thicc dudes clubbing and hitting suplexes on each other until one couldn’t go anymore. In the end, it was the ingenuity that only comes from your brain losing oxygen that allowed the National Openweight Champion to advance, recreating the Roddy Piper-Bret Hart WrestleMania 8 finish. 

Backstage a walking fast food breakfast sandwich find Satoshi Kojima. The duo reminds us that “Bitch ass Contra” is a thing. 

MLW Women’s World Featherweight Championship Janai Kai (champion) vs. HANAKO 

Hanako is a top prospect from Stardom and is making her MLW debut against Kai…continuing the trend of importing Joshi for Kai instead of building up their own Featherweight division. That being said, we got a solid match with Jai trying to kick down the much taller Hanako. This strategy was effective overall, except for an interlude where Hanako hit several slams and locked in the torture rack twice. Kai, however, was able to persevere, hitting the charging corner kick followed by the Demon Clutch to retain. 

The Doomsday Clock is continuing its countdown. It hits zero…soon! 

Opera Cup 2024 Quarterfinals “Filthy” Tom Lawlor (w/MSL) vs. TJP 

This is TJP’s first match in MLW in nearly three years. TJP was announced as an alternate for the Opera Cup tournament and is replacing an “injured” Davey Boy Smith Jr. Despite my eye rolling at the setup, this match was killer on paper and did not disappoint. Lots of graps and solid strikes as the action was back and forth. Even MSL got involved. However, it was a big knee that gave TJP the victory and advancement to the semifinals 

A Contra promo played…unfortunately the camera focused on the crowd for most of the promo…so most of it was missed. 

More Doomsday Clock… 

Matt Riddle vs. Matthew Justice 

Poor Matthew Justice. He didn’t deserve this. Anyway, my monitor went out, but Riddle wins. LOL. 

Salina de la Renta and her baby daddy are having a babymoon at Cesar Duran’s estate. She’s excited for the Promociones Dorado/Azteca Lucha merger. I’m impressed that the baby daddy hasn’t been gifted with cement shoes yet. 

Paul London vs. Brett Ryan Gosselin (w/Bobby Fish) 

This is London’s return to MLW after nearly twenty years. This is BRG’s first appearance as Fish’s apprentice. London showed why he’s lasted twenty years in this business, taking opportunities to thwart Fish’s attempts to interfere. However, BRG spent most of the match in control, usually with underhanded tactics. Despite all the cheating, the former Rabbit Tribe spokesman took out the upstart with a mushroom stomp to get the win. 

After the match, Fish and BRG attack London, putting the boots to him when the music of the debuting New Age Andersons hits and CW and Brock come to the ring. The Andersons square up with BRG & Fish before, swerve bro, the Andersons attack London! The Andersons take out some security & an EMT before getting the mic and talking about making a statement. This leads to… 

The Anderson vs. Love, Doug & Jay Lyon 

Man, I missed Love, Doug & and Mane Event. Guess I will still, because this match was a squash, with the Andersons showing the teamwork the family is known for. The final blow was a slingshot by Brock on Lyon into a CW superkick. 

After the match, the Andersons join BRG and Bobby Fish to pose on the stage, signifying a new Faux Horsemen. 

Opera Cup 2024 Quarterfinals KENTA vs. AKIRA 

AKIRA is looking to make a statement in the Opera Cup and beating KENTA would be a big one. However, AKIRA would need to survive numerous still slaps and kicks. AKIRA persevered, defiant, at points showing a middle finger or even punching himself. At various points, AKIRA got to show off the chain wrestling that he has made an effort to showcase since the demise of the Calling. Despite the fire shown, AKIRA was no match for KENTA’s GTS. 

The Doomsday Clock is at eight minutes…finally… 

Little Guido vs. Jimmy Lloyd vs. Nolo Kitano vs. LSG 

It’s been a bit since we have seen most of these competitors…except LSG. LSG is making his debut. A chaotic start would be all we get, as the Doomsday Clock reached zero. Donovan Dijak walks out, business is about to pick up. Following Dijak is MSL…and business is back down… 

Dijak comes into the ring and destroys all four competitors. Dijak takes a mic and lets us know that this is a Dijak Hijack and that he is not afraid of the supposed top names in MLW. 

MLW World Tag Team Championship CozyMAX (Satoshi Kojima & Okumura, champions) vs. CONTRA Unit (Minoru Suzuki & Ikuro Kwon) 

COZYMAX have had their issues with Contra over the year. This is their first title defense in quite some time. The match started chaotically, with Contra attacking before the bell. Kwon put in most of the work for Contra once the bell rang. Kwon & Okumura battle for a bit before things break down again & the four competitors brawl around the ring. Kojima eventually gets the blind tag & gets everyone with machine gun chops. Okumura tags himself in for some reason, setting the dominoes in motion that allowed him to take Kwon’s poison mist & a Gotch piledriver from Suzuki to win the tag team championships. 

Afterwards, Janai Kai & Mads Krugger come out to lay the boots to Kojima. Okumura proves he’s somehow a worse tag team partner than the 1 Called Manders & just wanders off. Contra stands tall with the titles in what should have been the closing shot of the night…but we still have our main event next! 

Opera Cup 2024 Quarterfinals Místico vs. Atlantis Jr. 

Jesus Rodriguez is doing introductions for this match. Two of the hottest luchadores on the planet due battle in what is only the second round. We have good lucha things going on, even if Atlantis Jr. is going rudo for this match. Atlantis spent a majority of the match in control. Despite impartiality in introductions, Rodriguez would play a factor for Atlantis until being sent off after a tope suicida by Misitico. We are building to a crescendo as bigger and more impactful moves are being utilized. Mistico would utilize a destroyer and finally put away his opponent with the swanton bomb to advance to the semifinals. 

With that, the end we end the broadcast. As per usual, the in-ring action is top notch, but it is often overshadowed by odd booking choices & the massive production errors at the start of the show. The Dijak debut, however, brings a level of excitement to the product, as he is a hot free agent (& personally, I’m salivating for a Krugger/Dijak match). MLW will be returning to Atlanta September 14^th for Fightland. 

Rob Kamerer is the host of the MLW Con-Fusion podcast and contributor for the Urban Wrestling Network. He can be found on Twitter & Facebook.