MLW Never Say Never Review - August 10, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

MLW World Middleweight Champion Mistico def. Magnus in an Opera Cup First-Round Match (Non-Title)

The show peaked early with this match. Mistico is more of a CMLL talent than he is an MLW talent, yet he’s made regular appearances for MLW throughout the year and has had a fun reign as World Middleweight champ. I don’t know how far he’ll go in the Opera Cup, but I’m glad he at least advanced past the first round. This was a really well-wrestled opener from him and Magnus.

MLW National Openweight Champion Bad Dude Tito Escondido def. Danny Jones in an Opera Cup First-Round Match (Non-Title)

I don’t remember Tito ever using his last name, but it was featured in his name graphic before the bout for whatever reason. The match itself was fine for what it was. Perhaps Jones is a bigger deal overseas, but I know nothing about the guy, so he was a disappointing choice as Tito’s “surprise” opponent. The best thing I can say about this is that it was kept on the shorter side because the outcome was obvious.

Brett Ryan Gosselin def. Jake Crist

I’m glad Gosselin is gradually building momentum. As someone who’s been following his career on the northeast independent scene for the last few years, it’s cool to see him get an opportunity on a bigger stage and make the most of it. He and Crist had a quality contest, but there wasn’t much that was out of the ordinary about it. Bobby Fish aided Gosselin in his post-match attack on Crist, so I assume we’re getting Crist vs. Fish soon.

AJ Francis def. Davey Boy Smith Jr. by Disqualification

I was confused as to why this match was happening when it started, and by the time it was over, I was still confused. Both guys are heels the last time I checked and neither of them should be turning face anytime soon, especially Francis. I’ve actually quite liked Francis’ post-WWE run, so it would be weird for him to become a babyface again this soon. The match wasn’t very good and the disqualification finish was lame, so this whole thing was a waste of time.

Delmi Exo def. Renee Michelle

Janai Kai has been built up really well as MLW World Women’s Featherweight Champion, but the rest of MLW’s women’s division lacks direction at the moment. For example, is Exo still chasing the championship despite being screwed several times? I’m glad she won here, but it was a rather basic bout between her and Michelle. The post-match verbal exchange between Michelle and Gigi Rey was abysmal as well.

Alex Kane def. Mr. Thomas in an Opera Cup First-Round Match

Kane and Thomas said on the last show that this would be a friendly competition and that there'd be no bad blood between them regardless of who won. They stuck to that as there were no hints of dissension during the match or afterward, and I'm glad because there didn't need to be. It was a pretty straightforward match with Kane winning decisively. There was no need for this to go any longer than it did.

Paul Walter Hauser def. "Filthy" Tom Lawlor in an MMA Cage Match

I assumed this would be taking place inside of a cage in the ring, so I was surprised to see them go the “cinematic” route instead. Okay, so there wasn’t anything cinematic about it, but it did not take place in front of a crowd, and I honestly think that took away from it. Hauser being as competitive as he was with a legitimate MMA fighter was completely ridiculous, so maybe the crowd rallying behind Hauser would made it more entertaining and less goofy. What we got instead was a mess, but I give them credit for attempting to make it work to the best of their ability.

Contra Unit (Mads Krule Krugger, Ikuro Kwon and Minoru Suzuki) def. AKIRA, Matt Riddle and MLW World Heavyweight Champion and MLW World Tag Team Champion Satoshi Kojima

Hauser vs. Lawlor lasted so long that I genuinely forgot about this being the main event. I wouldn’t have been disappointed if we didn’t get it because this ended up being a rushed, throwaway six-man  tag team match. It wasn’t labeled as a No Disqualification matchup to my knowledge, yet they used weapons, anyway. The only reason this existed was to further establish Contra Unit’s dominance.

Overall Show

MLW’s live specials have been a mixed bag this year and this wasn’t one of the stronger ones. As I mentioned, it peaked with the opener. Everything else that followed either didn’t get beyond a certain level or wasn’t interesting. Worse yet, a ton of time continues to be devoted to the dumb storyline with Cesar Duran and Salina de la Renta. How do they not see it isn’t working? This was definitely a skippable show with nothing of note happening.

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