MLW Blood and Thunder Review - July 12, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Atlantis Jr. def. MLW World Tag Team Champion Okumura in an Opera Cup First-Round Match

Interestingly, Atlantis Jr. recently won the ROH World Television Championship from Kyle Fletcher at a CMLL event. Of course, that wasn't acknowledged here and thus he didn't have the belt with him. He's an impressive talent and him advancing in the Opera Cup was the correct choice. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary about this, but it was what it needed to be. It reminded me that Okuamura and Satoshi Kojima are MLW World Tag Team Champions for zero reason.

Alex Kane Vowed to Win the Opera Cup for the Second Straight Year

With Kane having won last year's Opera Cup, it made sense to give him some mic time to discuss potentially winning it again and using that to get back on track toward regaining the MLW World Championship. Not only that, he discussed facing his longtime partner Mr. Thomas in the first round and why it wouldn't tear them apart. I assume it won't, but it's possible it plants the seeds for future dissension.

"Filthy" Tom Lawlor def. Jake Crist in an Opera Cup First-Round Match

Both of these guys are talented, so unsurprisingly, this was a well-wrestled affair. Crist hasn't been a big player since coming to MLW earlier this year, so Lawlor advancing was logical. Post-match, Paul Walter Hauser popped up on the screen and it was made official that he'll fight Lawlor in an MMA cage match. Hauser held his own in Battle Riot recently, so I'm curious to see how he'll fare in that environment.

Minoru Suzuki def. AKIRA

This was designed to make Suzuki look like a threat ahead of an eventual rematch with Kojima, who made the save for AKIRA afterward. I totally forgot that they already had a match against each other earlier this year. These two got some time and had a quality contest. Can we skip to the part where Kojima loses the MLW World Championship? I don't see it being to Suzuki, so rekindling that rivalry feels like a waste of time.

Salina de la Renta Revealed the Father to Her Unborn Child

As I've said before, this whole angle with Renta and Cesar Duran has been a mess and has only gotten worse as of late. I couldn't care less about the father of Renta's unborn child and I can't imagine many people do. I mean, the silence during this segment spoke volumes. It ended up being one of Duran's henchmen, so it wasn't anyone the audience was familiar with. This was just terrible. I'd like to think this is over because Renta is legitimately pregnant, but I'm sure MLW will find a way to have it continue.

Mads Krule Krugger def. Matt Justice in a Three Stages of Destruction Match

It looks like Matthew Justice has slightly shortened his name to Matt Justice. He was accompanied by ECW legend Bill Alfonso, who got involved more than I thought he would. This was basically a Three Stages of Hell match with a different name. This was quite the brawl. It wasn't my cup of tea personally (it doesn't help that MLW does this sort of stuff way too often for it to matter), but they managed to keep it interesting throughout.

MLW World Women's Featherweight Champion Janai Kai def. Gigi Rey

I don't believe I've seen Rey before, but I thought she had a perfectly fine showing. If this marked her MLW debut, I'm not sure why she would be getting a title shot so soon as the crowd had no incentive to think she would win, but at least it made Kai look dominant once again and didn't overstay its welcome. Who's in the division that Kai hasn't already beaten? Is there any actual competition left?

KENTA def. Bobby Fish in an Opera Cup First-Round Match

Say what you will about Fish, but the guy can still go and that was evident in this outing with KENTA, who is obviously excellent in his own right. Although it started slow, I'm glad this went as long as it did because it built to a fun final stretch. KENTA is a strong get for MLW, so I hope he advances deep into the tournament so we can see more of them (as well as when the Opera Cup is over).

Matt Riddle def. Sami Callihan in a No Ropes Death Match for a Future Opportunity at the MLW World Championship

I was worried this would be a bit lackluster considering there was a Three Stages of Destruction match earlier in the show, but it was equally wild. They made the most of the stipulation and beat the hell out of each other. Riddle's MLW World Championship opportunity was on the line, so there wasn't much doubt he was winning, but this was a worthy matchup to close out the show with, nonetheless.

Overall Show

Blood and Thunder turned out to be one of the better events MLW has produced all year. The two hardcore matches were both spectacles in their own way and the Opera Cup matches filled out the rest of the card nicely. Of course, the drama with Renta and Duran was pretty abysmal and is easily the worst part of MLW at the moment, but at least that was limited to one (painful) segment on this show.

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