MLW Underground Wrestling Review - April 11, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Matthew Justice def. Real1, Microman and Mance Warner in a Four-Way Dumpster Match

I thought we were headed toward Warner, Justice and Microman facing Real1 and two partners in a six-man tag team match, not a four-way between all of them. What issues did the babyfaces have with each other? The stipulation was random, but I guess they tried to make it work. Justice is the least established of the four, so him winning was weird, but it's possible that was done on purpose to give him a bit of a boost.

Davey Boy Smith Jr. def. Alex Kane in a No Ropes Catch Wrestling Match

Doing two unique gimmick matches back-to-back is certainly questionable, but I actually enjoyed this one. They haven't had the hottest feud, but they work well together in the ring and I thought this was good stuff. Interestingly, Smith was booed by this crowd, which I don't think they were expecting. Smith seemed confused, but he basically brushed them off at the end. Maybe they do a double turn, but this could have easily been a one-time thing, so I'd hold off on that until we see how other crowds react to him.

Akira def. Calvin Tankman

Closing the show with a standard singles match with no heat after already featuring a Dumpster match and a No Ropes Catch Wrestling match was certainly questionable. Maybe Akira was already on the MLW roster, but I know nothing about the guy other than the fact he's now in The Calling, so I have no reason to care about him, personally. This was a well-worked main event and Akira made sense, but I feel like the last-minute attempt to build up The Calling ahead of their War Chamber match with Alexander Hammerstone and The Calling on next week's show hasn't really worked.

Overall Show

I can't say I'm excited for next week's War Chamber match because of how abrupt the whole storyline has been. The main event fell flat for me, and the Dumpster match came out of nowhere. I liked the No Ropes Catch Wrestling match, but as I've mentioned before, there just isn't a lot worth getting invested in at the moment. Real1 is apparently gone along with Davey Richards and Taya Valkyrie, so MLW is down three people who have been a big part of the program lately. And we're getting the return of Fusion soon? Why? MLW can barely fill out the hour with this weekly show. Hopefully the product picks up again soon because there's still plenty of talented performers on the roster.

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