MLW Fusion Review - March 24, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Killer Kross def. Budd Heavy

This was practically the perfect re-debut for Kross in MLW. No pun intended, but he came across like an absolute killer here and the crowd was hot for him. His offense looked crisp and he destroyed Heavy in a matter of minutes. This reminded me of when Kross first debuted in NXT two years ago and he was booked to be the most dominant dude on the roster. I really enjoyed this and hope Kross is sticking around in MLW for a while. Him and Alexander Hammerstone could be a war.

Gangrel def. Gnarls Garvin

Unfortunately, this was the exact opposite of the opener, and that's coming from a fan of Gangrel. His MLW arrival has been hyped up for weeks with vignettes, but I almost wish it was kept as a surprise because it would have been a bigger moment that way. Speaking of vignettes, Garvin was another guy who got the video package treatment for weeks leading up to his debut and he's done absolutely nothing since. This lasted way longer than it should have and was painfully boring. Gangrel doesn't need to be having near-10 minute matches at this point in his career, at least not with guys like Garvin.

Madds Krugger def. Jacob Fatu in a Stairway to Hell Match

This was a vast improvement over their original encounter a few weeks ago, which was way too short and underwhelming. They made great use of the weapons available to them and the crowd was into the action. I wasn't expecting Krugger to win, but at least Fatu was protected in defeat due to the interference from Ikuro Kwon. This only makes sense if the feud is set to continue, even though the stipulation made it seem like this was the payoff.

Overall Show

This was a mixed bag of a show. It started strong with Kross' debut but quickly went downhill with that Gangrel vs. Garvin match. That was a weird booking choice and the crowd was completely dead for most of it. Thankfully, the evening ended on a high note with the Stairway to Hell match despite Krugger going over. In addition to those three matches, we also got the usual brawling backstage, this time from Hammerstone and Richard Holliday. This evened out to an average episode that had its highlights but could have been more consistent.

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