 Mads Krule Krugger def. CW Anderson, Matthew Justice, Mr. Thomas, Okumura and Ariel Dominguez in a Scramble-6 MatchThe Scramble matches can be fun because they're all action, but they can also be a bit of a mess. This was no exception, but all in all, it was a nice sprint. It could have used more time, and it would've helped it there was something on the line, but Krugger made sense since he's still in possession of the MLW World Heavyweight Championship shot that he can cash in at any time (more on that later). Neon vs. Paul London in a Lightning MatchI forgot that MLW debuted this Lightning match concept with a 10-minute time limit at War Chamber back in June. So far, it's not off to a stellar start. This wasn't necessarily bad, but it wasn't all that exciting, either. Rather, it was largely boring up until the time limit expired. If you're going to do a match type like this, those involved have to maximize their minutes and not have a normal, regular-paced match. Paul Walter Hauser offered very little on commentary, too. MLW World Tag Team Champion Bishop Dyer def. Anthony Greene in an Opera Cup Opening Round MatchOn paper, this looked like a match that would've been a WWE SmackDown squash a few years ago, though Greene never escaped NXT and 205 Live during his time with the company and Corbin was on the main roster at that time. That said, this was far from a squash with Greene scoring an ample amount of offense before eating defeat in what was a good match. MLW World Champion Matt Riddle vs. MLW World Tag Team Champion Donovan Dijak Never Got Underway; Dijak and Mads Krule Krugger BrawledI was looking forward to this rematch between Riddle and Dijak for the MLW World Heavyweight Championship, but Krugger attacked Riddle backstage and prevented the bout from coming to fruition, leading to Dijak and Krugger brawling to the back. That lasted for the rest of the show and culminated in Dijak seemingly throwing Krugger off the top of the building (yes, seriously). I was disappointed this turned into an angle, but at least it's been announced that Riddle vs. Dijak will happen at Fightland. Satoshi Kojima def. Bobby Fish in an Opera Cup Opening Round MatchBoth guys are talented, but neither of them are in their physical prime anymore (more so Fish than Kojima if we're being honest), so I don't think these two should have been put up against each other, even in the first round. What we got was perfectly passable, though it would've benefited from being slightly shorter than it was. More importantly, the right person advanced. Shotzi def. Ava EverettShotzi was introduced as Shotzi Blackheart, but her name plate said Shotzi and she's listed as just Shotzi on MLW's website, so that's what I'll refer to her as for now. It may have been better to give Shotzi a straightforward squash in her MLW in-ring debut instead of a competitive contest, but this was still fine for what it was. MLW's women's division is shallow enough that it may not be long before Shotzi gets a shot at the MLW World Women's Featherweight Championship. Mistico def. Ikuro Kwon in an Opera Cup Opening Round MatchThere's so much time in between MLW shows these days that I forgot what the situation was with the MLW World Middleweight Championship, but a quick search reminded me that the title is currently vacant and Kwon is just carrying it around. This was a logical match as a result of the rivalry they've been having this year and it was a well worked main event. I assume they'll meet in a rematch eventually for the World Middleweight title. Overall ShowThis show was all about the Opera Cup, and I don't know if it's because they were opening round matches, but there was nothing out of the ordinary whatsoever. Riddle vs. Dijak could've been the best bout of the night had they actually gone through with it, but they wanted to set it up for Fightland instead. On the whole, this was an adequate event. MLW has had stronger shows within the last year, but they've also had way worse.
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