MLW War Chamber II Review - April 20, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Star Jr. def. Virus

Virus represented Cesar Duran while Star Jr. represented Salina de la Renta. Star Jr. has made a handful of appearances recently in AEW and MLW, but I still didn't care about this match because I don't care about the feud between Duran and Renta. They're utilizing more talent from other promotions, but these matches largely mean nothing. That includes this one, despite being well worked while it lasted.

Brett Ryan Gosselin def. Budd Heavy

Gosselin is one of my favorite wrestlers in MLW right now and I'm glad he's getting a proper push. Heavy is the go-to enhancement guy for MLW, so it made sense for Gosselin to make quick work of him here before cutting a post-match promo (which he received good heat for from the crowd). This was exactly what it needed to be. Hopefully he'll be entering championship contention sooner rather than later.

MLW World Tag Team Champions WTF Superstars ("Filthy" Tom Lawlor and Davey Boy Smith Jr.) def. Bomaye Fight Club (Alex Kane and Mr. Thomas)

I'm already done with The WTF, a poorly-booked faction from the start. I like some of the guys in the group, but the group itself sucks and isn't getting any better. I would've preferred to see Bomaye Fight Club take the titles here, but this match only existed to further the feud between Kane and A.J. Francis, who sat in on commentary. The match itself was decent, but Bomaye Fight Club vs. The WTF has been going on for way too long and thus this didn't have my interest.

Zayda def. Sofia Castillo

I'm shocked this lasted as long as it did. This was terrible and felt like it'd never end. Zayda isn't the most polished performer, but she's had much better bouts in her time with MLW. She's partially to blame here, but with this marking Castillo's MLW debut, she clearly had an awful outing and hopefully she won't be brought back. If nothing else, the win gets Zayda one step closer to another shot at the MLW World Women's Featherweight Championship.

Matt Riddle def. Timothy Thatcher

Riddle lost the NJPW World Television Championship to Zack Sabre Jr. a few weeks back, which frees him up to challenge for MLW gold going forward (and  enter  Battle Riot, which he confirmed afterward). I loved that he and Thatcher had the chance to rekindle their rivalry from WWE NXT here. Remember, they had the very first Fight Pit match in the early days of the pandemic. Thatcher won that feud, so Riddle avenged that loss here in what was a very well-wrestled matchup.

MLW World Heavyweight Champion Satoshi Kojima def. Bad Dude Tito

Kojima has had a nice run as champ, but he hasn't had a lot of direction, so I'm ready for someone younger to dethrone him. Maybe it's Riddle, maybe it's someone else, but it wasn't and shouldn't be Tito. Nothing against the guy, but I don't see him being world championship material, even though he fared well for himself here. They had a solid match, but I wish Tito was built up a bit more beforehand so he felt like more of a threat.

Death Fighters (AKIRA, Raven, Jimmy Lloyd and Jake Crist) def. The Calling (MLW National Openweight Champion Rickey Shane Page, Sami Callihan, Cannonball and Doctor Cornwallis) in a War Chamber Match

Callihan pulling double duty tonight! Yes, I'm aware this was taped late last month, but it's cool that it aired the same night he returned to TNA at Rebellion. Perhaps this was his latest MLW swan song. The match itself was the hardcore spot-fest you'd expect given what we've gotten from this feud in the last several months. It was certainly a spectacle, I'll say that much, and not one I particularly enjoyed. Thankfully, AKIRA was finally able to get a measure of revenge over Page and the rest of The Calling. Plus, Raven was wisely kept limited. Fingers crossed this rivalry is officially finished.

Overall Show

This is bound to get overshadowed by all of the other wrestling this weekend, but it was another adequate two-hour special from MLW. I thought the main event was overkill, but if you dig the War Chamber stuff and hardcore wrestling, then that was for you. It was a straightforward show otherwise that built toward upcoming matches and events. MLW needs more storylines worth getting invested in, but at least the quality of the in-ring action has mostly been consistent throughout these specials.

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