MLW The Burning Crush Review - February 17, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AJ Francis Interrupted Alex Kane

Kane addressed his loss of the MLW World Heavyweight Championship to Satoshi Kojima at SuperFight 4 and even teased leaving MLW (which was never going to happen) before Mr. Thomas talked him out of it. Francis popped up on the big screen to run down Kane, so it looks like those two are headed for a match. The former Top Dolla has spent some time in TNA since Hard to Kill and will be making his NWA debut in March, so I didn't think he'd be doing stuff with MLW, too. We'll see how this works out for him and if Kane can carry him to a competent contest.

Tony Deppen, TJ Crawford and Griffin McCoy def. Nolo Kitano and Wasted Youth

Wasted Youth have been very impressive in the handful of matches I've seen them have in MLW. I believe they also maintained a winning record prior to this point, though this was a six-man tag team match and won't hinder the momentum they had. The heels are an actual trio and it made more sense for them to go over. This was a well-wrestled affair with all six guys getting a bit of time to shine.

Zayda def. Notorious Mini, Delmi Exo and Tiara James in a Four-Way Match

Doing the multi-woman matches is one way to showcase MLW's growing women's division, but we've seen so many of these matches in recent months that most of them blend together for me. This was fine, but there really wasn't anything out of the ordinary about it. It wasn't billed as an MLW World Women's Featherweight Championship number one contender's match, but I have to imagine Zayda will be getting the next shot against Janai Kai with the way she's been built up since joining The WTF.

Jake Crist def. MLW National Openweight Champion Rickey Shane Page by Disqualification

Crist is back in MLW and is aligned with AKIRA in his feud with The Calling. Personally, none of this has done anything for me, but the matches haven't been bad. What we got here was good, but it was too short to be what it could have been. The disqualification finish must mean they're setting up a rematch, presumably with some sort of a hardcore stipulation. At least The Calling aren't all over these shows anymore. Let's keep it that way.

“Filthy” Tom Lawlor def. MLW World Tag Team Champion Matthew Justice

Lawlor might be the first member of The WTF to win an actual match (that wasn't a Battle Royal) in a while. Granted, this had no stakes and might not amount to anything, but it was better than him losing. He and Justice had a perfectly solid match. Lawlor and Josh Bishop previously failed to beat Second Gear Crew for the MLW World Tag Team Championship, so perhaps this will be enough to earn them another opportunity.

Salina de la Renta Confronted Cesar Duran

Give me more of Duran, please! The man plays his character exceptionally well, though I do miss those cinematic vignettes he used to have in Lucha Underground. Truth be told, I have absolutely no idea what he and Renta are feuding over aside from Renta apparently being the reason why Duran disappeared from MLW (in storyline) a year or so ago. Their exchange was okay, but I'm just happy we've got Duran back more than anything else.

Brett Ryan Gosselin def. Love, Doug in a Lumber Jack and Jill Match

For the record, B3CCA has yet to return to MLW, but these two have feuded regardless of that. This should mark the end of their rivalry because I have no idea when she's expected back. This was a fitting stipulation for the storyline and they made the most of it. Lumberjack matches are far from favorite, but this was fun. I hope Gosselin is able to do more than be a comedy character because he's a terrific talent.

COZYMAX (Satoshi Kojima and Okumura) def. The WTF Superstars (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Richard Holliday)

COZYMAX consisted of new MLW World Heavyweight Champion Satoshi Kojima and Okumura. I realize this was taped the same night as SuperFight 4, so the fact we didn't get a title defense from Kojima on this show wasn't too surprising, but this was a fairly formulaic tag team match. The fact The WTF couldn't even win this is pretty lousy. The faction may as well fold at this point because all they do is eat losses (beyond Lawlor's victory earlier on).

Mads Krule Krugger def. Jacob Fatu in a Baklei Brawl

This was basically a No Disqualification match. That's probably the best way to describe it, so don't think there wasn't anything too fancy about the stipulation despite the unique name. It's the environment that suits Krugger and it allowed them to have a main event that was entertaining enough. With Krugger coming back and Fatu likely on his way out, Krugger winning decisively was the only appropriate ending. Fatu being carried to the back in a body bag seemed to confirm his exit.

Overall Show

Of all the specials MLW has done since December, this may have been the least eventful one, but it was still decent. The in-ring action was adequate on the whole and I didn't have an issue with any of the outcomes. It felt like there were too many matches on this one and that it was basically an extended edition of Fusion, which would be my biggest complaint. I do appreciate how they do a consistently effective job of setting up stuff for the subsequent special.

SEE MORE: MLW Reviews