MLW Fusion Review - August 24, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Second Gear Crew (Matthew Justice and 1 Called Manders) def. The Calling (Delirious and a Henchman) and Samoan SWAT Team (Lance Anoa’i and Juice Finau) in a Three-Way Tag Team Match

MLW doesn't have many tag teams left and this may have been most of them. The Calling being represented by Delirious and some random henchman was weak because the group isn't good as it is, so thankfully, they did not win. Samoan SWAT Team is established by this point, so Second Gear Crew going over made sense as they look to earn an opportunity at the MLW World Tag Team Championship. This was a well-worked opener.

Willie Mack def. Love Doug, O’Shay Edwards, Ken Broadway and Nolo Kitano in a Scramble Match

This felt like a showcase of some of MLW's newer faces, which was cool. All five of these guys had impressive showings and had some time to shine, making for a fun match on the whole. With Mack challenging for the MLW World Heavyweight Championship next weekend at Fury Road, I don't think there was any uncertainty surrounding the outcome, but I enjoyed this for what it was and hope we get to see some of these guys again soon.

MLW National Openweight Champion Jacob Fatu vs. MLW World Middleweight Champion and MLW World Tag Team Champion AKIRA by Disqualification

This was another one of those instances where MLW had a main event that was more of an angle than a match. I can't say I'm disappointed because it's not like I was looking forward to it, anyway. That's not to say it would have been bad, but The Calling continues to do nothing for me whatsoever. This ended within a matter of minutes with The Calling standing tall, so this obviously only existed to put more heat on the group.

Overall Show

I automatically lose interest in any edition of Fusion where The Calling is prominently featured, and although that was the case with this episode, it was still a solid show on the whole. None of the three matches really seemed to serve much of a purpose, mind you, but I'm glad they're finally airing matches from their July taping and are doing a nice job of building up/hyping the card for Fury Road.

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