MLW Fightland Review - September 13, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

MLW National Openweight Champion Ultimo Guerrero def. Esfinge in an Opera Cup Opening Round Match (Non-Title)

Guerrero really isn't doing much with the MLW National Openweight Championship at the moment, so having him advance to at least the quarterfinals of the Opera Cup was the least MLW could do. He and Esfinge had a well-wrestled, straightforward opener that I enjoyed. With this win, Guerrero will meet Mistico in the quarterfinals and I'm sure that will be an even better bout.

Zandokan Jr. def. Blue Panther Jr. in an Opera Cup Opening Round Match

I'm not as familiar with Zandokan Jr. as I am Blue Panther Jr., Guerrero and Esfinge, but similar to the opener, this was a quality contest despite being slightly shorter. I appreciated the emphasis on the action since there were some shenanigans later on in the show. Zandokan Jr. will face either Titan or Volador Jr. in the next round depending on who wins that opening round match.

MLW World Women's Featherweight Champion and TJPW Princess Tag Team Champion Shoko Nakajima def. Yuki Kamifuku

We're at a point with MLW's women's division where they're bringing in a lot of women from other promotions and I have little to no knowledge of most of them, but I'm glad they're switching things up with a few fresh faces, and to the credit of the women, the matches have been fun. This was no exception as Nakajima and Kamifuku worked well together and delivered a nice match with a good pace.

Alexander Hammerstone def. Matthew Justice in a Texas Death Match

I loved that there was a backstage segment earlier in the show where MJF, Hammerstone's former buddy from The Dynasty years ago, gave Hammerstone a pep talk and reminded him of the monster he can be. I hope that's the beginning of something bigger for Hammerstone, starting with this victory. Maybe they'll even be able to reunite eventually in AEW. Nonetheless, this was a brutal and bloody brawl from Hammerstone and Justice. We see this sort of stuff all the time in MLW it feels like, but they did make the most of the stipulation, so it was certainly a spectacle, if nothing else.

Templario def. Ikuro Kwon to Win the Vacant MLW World Middleweight Championship

Kwon has been carrying around the MLW World Middleweight Championship for months without ever actually being the champion even after Mistico was stripped of it. I have no idea why it took this long to crown a new champ, but oh well. The match itself was perfectly fine, but I wasn't fond of the interference toward the end. It was also too short to be anything out of the ordinary.

Mads Krule Krugger def. Matt Riddle and MLW World Tag Team Champion Donovan Dijak in a Three-Way Match to Win the MLW World Heavyweight Championship

Part 3 of Riddle vs. Dijak was heavily hyped coming into this event, but of course, it changed at the last minute before the bell rang with Krugger finally cashing in his Gravity Gamble title shot. Honestly, the match was weaker off because of his involvement as I think Riddle vs. Dijak would have been a stronger main event on its own. Krugger taking the title doesn't exactly excite me, but Riddle's been making headlines for the wrong reasons recently, so it was probably for the best that MLW moved in a different direction with its world championship for now. The chaos afterward indicated Krugger and Dijak aren't done with each other and that Hammerstone seems to want a shot at the strap as well.

Overall Show

At a little under two hours, this was a serviceable show. I've seen better from MLW, but I've absolutely seen worse. They didn't go overboard with the nonsense and the matches were solid on the whole. The title change at the end was newsworthy, and while it doesn't do much for me personally, we'll see where they go with it. MLW's next events, Fury Road and Slaughterhouse, are coming up rather quickly as they air on September 27th and October 4th, respectively.

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