MLW Fusion Review - November 17, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Samoan SWAT Team (Lance Anoa’i and Juicy Finau) def. Los Maximos

Putting Finau and Anoa'i with Jacob Fatu as Samoan SWAT Team was such a great idea because it benefits everyone involved. It's a badass group and I wouldn't be surprised to see them challenge for the MLW World Tag Team Championship before long (though it's not like the division has much depth, anyway). Maximos scored some offense here, but this was largely a glorified squash for Samoan SWAT Team as it should have been.

Killer Kross def. Matt Cross

Cross is MLW's resident gatekeeper in that it seems like everyone goes through him in order to get to the next level. He's a great talent who loses way more often than he wins, but it is what it is at this point. These two are probably capable of more, but like the opener, this was designed to showcase Kross. That's perfectly fine as Kross is clearly being built up for a shot at the MLW World Heavyweight Championship, but the question is whether that was already taped. If not, all of this television time being devoted to Kross means nothing now that he's back in WWE.

Davey Richards def. Alex Kane to Win the MLW National Openweight Championship

The last match these two had was an excellent piece of business that ended in a draw. I would've picked Richards to win this, regardless, but the fact he's been defending the title in the NWA for months (due to this being taped back in June) telegraphed the outcome of this clash. This didn't measure up to their original encounter as it never felt like they reached that next gear, but they picked up the pace down the stretch and had an entertaining affair.

Overall Show

Richards becoming the new MLW National Openweight Champion made this an eventful episode, even though it's been out there for many months and could be seen coming from a mile away. From an in-ring standpoint, this wasn't a particularly interesting show, but there wasn't anything terribly bad and everything was either solid or served a purpose. As always, there was more setup for the coming weeks, including a Falls Count Anywhere match between Alexander Hammerstone and Richard Holliday for the MLW World Heavyweight Championship on next week's Thanksgiving edition.

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