MLW Fusion: ALPHA Review - December 16, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Holidead def. Willow Nightingale

I applaud MLW for putting together a nice little feud for the women involving these two over the last month or two, but this wasn't a very good match, unfortunately. Both women had solid showings and I still think Willow in particular has a lot of upside, but this was hurt by the interference and shenanigans on the outside, though the crowd seemed to like The Blue Meanie showing up. From what I've heard, Willow has finished up with MLW, so that would explain why she lost here.

LA Park def. Homicide

I haven't been watching MLW very long, but my understanding is that weapons (and specifically chairs) are allowed in any of LA Park's matches regardless of whether there's a stipulation attached or not. This was a brutal brawl even though I don't remember it being announced as one. It also didn't overstay its welcome, so that was also appreciated. It accomplished what it needed to as far as furthering that faction feud.

MLW World Middleweight Champion Tajiri def. Atsuki Aoyagi

This match occurred at an All Japan Pro Wrestling event and it was shown in its entirety on this show. I know absolutely nothing about Aoyagi, but I thought he looked good and they had a well-wrestled match. Tajiri is definitely in the twilight of his career, but he can still go. It was cool to get this matchup in a different environment and it made Tajiri feel like a traveling champion. You don't need to drop everything and watch this, but it did make for a quality main event to cap off the episode.

Overall Show

I know MLW does a lot of backstage segments and hype videos and that's fine, but it felt like there were more than usual on this episode and it came off as filler at certain points. For example, it's nice they spotlighted one of their cameramen, but that would have benefited from being a bit shorter. The in-ring action wasn't highlight of this episode, but it was a decent hour this week. Unless there's another episode of Fusion: ALPHA I'm not aware of, MLW will be back with its next mini series, Azteca, starting in early January.

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