MLW Fusion Review - June 16, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Gangrel def. Budd Heavy

It was really cool seeing Gangrel pop up recently on AEW Rampage alongside The Young Bucks and The Hardys. My biggest issue with his matches in MLW up to this point have been dull and drawn out for no reason. Thus, I was happy that this was kept short and sweet with Gangrel winning decisively. I don't know he needs to be wrestling as much as he has been, but this was fine for what it was.

MLW World Tag Team Champions Hustle and Power def. 5150 (Danny Rivera and Hernandez) and The Von Erichs in a Three-Way Tag Team Match

5150 and The Von Erichs just wrapped up their rivalry not too long ago, so while I wouldn't have put them back in the ring together so soon, I can't say I'm surprised given the lack of depth in MLW's tag team division at the moment. This had a chaotic pace, the action was all over the place and it was fun to follow. It's still early in the reign of Hustle and Power, so this was a good title defense for them.

Taya Valkyrie def. Holidead to Become the Inaugural MLW Women's World Featherweight Championship

I've never been overly impressed by anything I've seen from Holidead in the ring, but she's at least a competent wrestler and Valkyrie is obviously very talented in her own ring. I figured this would be a quality match and it was, though the crowd not caring too much was unfortunate. Then again, MLW has never paid much attention to its women's division, so it's going to take much more effort to get the MLW audience invested. Holidead has been a regular in MLW for as long as I've been watching, but Valkyrie is the bigger name and the better wrestler, so she was the correct choice to win the title in my opinion.

Overall Show

MLW continues to do a solid job with the vignettes, video packages and backstage segments that set stuff up for the weeks ahead. The matches themselves on this show were largely well wrestled and made for an enjoyable edition of Fusion on the whole. Valkyrie becoming the inaugural MLW Women's World Featherweight Champion was newsworthy as well. Next week, Jacob Fatu and Mads Krugger will finally finish up their feud in a Weapons of Mass Destruction match while Myron Reed defends his MLW World Middleweight Championship against Arez and KC Navarro in a three-way.

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