MLW Underground Wrestling Review - March 21, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

MLW World Heavyweight Champion Alexander Hammerstone def. Jacob Fatu

MLW has been building toward this highly-anticipated rematch for a long time and it definitely lived up to the hype. What's interesting is that Alexander got hurt during their last encounter, so this ended up being even better because they were both healthy. They really went all out here and I'm happy the crowd was as hot for all of the action as they were, which added to the big fight feel. They were given plenty of time and they made every minute matter. The post-match attack set up Hammerstone's next challenger, but it would have been nice if that was saved for another week so they didn't move immediately past the title match.

MLW World Women's Featherweight Champion Taya Valkyrie def. Billie Starkz

Starkz had a great night between headlining Underground in addition to headlining AEW Dark against Toni Storm earlier in the evening. Granted, both shows were taped at two different times, but that's still impressive. She's a star on the rise and I'm happy she's getting more opportunities to shine. Obviously, Valkyrie just debuted in AEW last week and has seemingly wrapped up her runs in IMPACT and the NWA, so it would have made sense for her to drop the title to Starkz here. She must not have given her notice at the time this was taped because she retained, so hopefully they address the situation soon because it doesn't look like she'll be back to formally drop/relinquish it. This was a fun main event with Starkz scoring plenty of offense and looking great in defeat, even coming close to winning on a few occasions. Starkz hasn't signed anywhere the last time I checked, so MLW should keep her on their radar and offer her a contract before AEW does when she's ready.

Overall Show

There was also hype for Microman vs. Real1 next week, which I don't care much for but I assume the crowd will eat it up. I loved how this was a two-match show and both matches were meaningful. Valkyrie vs. Starkz was good stuff and Hammerstone vs. Fatu was as excellent as I expected. This was an above-average episode that felt like the big deal they made it out to be. Underground has been built around Hammerstone vs. Fatu since its debut, so it will interesting to see where they go from here and how they attempt to keep the momentum rolling.

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