MLW Fusion Review - September 21, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Ichiban def. Nolo Kitano

I saw on social media today that Ichiban announced he's signed a new deal with MLW, so good for him. He's been booked well since Fury Road and keeps racking up victories. This was another well-wrestled outing and Ichiban once again shined on offense. Is he being built up for a championship opportunity at Slaughterhouse? Either way, he's off to a solid start in MLW. A vignette or video package getting viewers familiar with who he is and what he's about wouldn't hurt, either.

Mister Saint Laurent Hosted Saint Laurent Sessions with B3CCA

Laurent's talk show is hardly a talk show considering he just stands on the stage and puts a mic in his guest's hands. B3CCA cut a brief promo putting Delmi Exo on notice ahead of their expected MLW World Women's Featherweight Championship clash at Slaughterhouse. I'm still not the biggest fan of her character, but she's certainly making the most of all the exposure she's been getting on Fusion recently.

Love, Doug def. Little Guido

Interestingly, Guido wrestled under his real name at IMPACT's Victory Road earlier this month. Either he owns the Little Guido ring name or MLW didn't care about him using it. Either way, this was a nice little match that I believe gave Doug his first win in MLW. His gimmick compliments B3CCA's perfectly, so I'm a fan of him trying to get her attention. He attempted again afterward but got his face put in a cake by B3CCA for his efforts.

MLW World Middleweight Champion AKIRA vs. Matthew Justice Ended in a No Contest (Non-Title)

The Second Gear Crew vs. The Calling feud is still going, which shouldn't come as much of a surprise considering how depleted the MLW roster feels at the moment. If this was always going to end in a no-contest (which MLW has done to death with The Calling in recent months), they may as well have put the MLW World Middleweight Championship on the line to make it more meaningful. This was a decent main event, but anything involving The Calling immediately loses my interest.

Overall Show

There really isn't a whole lot going on in MLW at the moment, at leas in terms of what we get to see in the ring. I like that Davey Boy Smith Jr. will challenge Alex Kane for the MLW World Heavyweight Championship at Slaughterhouse. Salina de la Renta being back is cool, and Matt Cardona is also sticking around. But all of that stuff was once again relegated to backstage segments this week. What we got in the ring was largely forgettable and inconsequential. MLW's builds to their live specials are solid, but Fusion itself isn't worthwhile most weeks and that's an issue that needs addressing.

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