FUSION recap for June 22, 2018

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World Heavyweight Champion Shane “Swerve” Strickland is a marked man. Salina de la Renta has placed a $20,000 bounty on his head and tonight on MLW: FUSION Brody King comes to collect. Can the champ survive? Will the 6’5” California bounty hunter collect and will the modern day impresariade la Renta finally end the Era of Swerve? We’ll find out tonight on MLW: FUSION.

As if the main event isn’t enough, we’ll also learn some new participants in the Battle Riot. It’s an action-packed week here on MLW: FUSION we’ll see the surprise return of Teddy Hart, facing the “Fresh Prince of Midair” Trey Miguel. The “Caramel” Colossus Barrington Hughes is in action and looking for even more competition and Kotto Brazil squares off with Vandal Ortagun

Let’s go to the ring …

Teddy Hart defeated Trey Miguel
A Major League Wrestling original returned home this week on MLW: FUSION. The “Fresh Prince of Midair” Trey Miguel was prepared for a matchup with white belt Danny Santiago. But Santiago never made it to the ring. Hart came out of nowhere, beat him down and hijacked the show demanding a match and a spot in the Battle Riot. MLW CEO Court Bauer obliged saying if Hart looked impressive tonight, he would be in the Riot… and Miguel’s night just got WAY more interesting – along with all the MLW fans in attendance and watching on beIN Sports!

Hart opened on fire with a crisp powerslam on Miguel. But Miguel’s quickness and high-flying ability may have taken Hart by surprise, as well. Miguel was in control early with an array of aerial attacks that were paying off in and out of the ring. Miguel hit the Diving Meteora just minutes into the match and thought he had picked up a huge victory over the returning veteran. But Hart kicked out at the last second.

Hart regained control with a snap sunset flip/powerbomboff Miguel’s back out of the corner. Miguel not only survived that maneuver but kicked out of a nasty DDT and an electric chair lungblower. In fact, Miguel responded to the three near falls with one of his own, hitting a cutter off the top rope. But Hart finally put away the very game Miguel with a powerbomb lung blower, followed by an Avalanche Canadian Destroyer.

If Teddy Hart is indeed back as a full-time member of the MLW roster, he may cause quite the shakeup in the July Top 10. And he may have found a couple willing opponents after a tense discussion with ACH and Rich Swann backstage. Stay tuned, fans!

Battle Riot Report
It’s time for an update on our HUGE July 19 card in New York City, featuring Battle Riot. The following have now been entered into this huge, 40-man match:

Pierre Carl Ouellet
Rich Swann
Jason Cade
Joey Ryan
“Taskmaster” Kevin Sullivan
ACH
John Morrison
Lance Anoa’i
Swoggle
Konnan
“Worldwide Desperado” Sami Callihan
Davey Boy Smith Jr.
Teddy Hart

The Battle Riot match and card are getting bigger by the day. The winner of this match gets a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship any time they want. Major League Wrestling presents Battle Riot, July 19 in New York City. Click on https://mlwnyc.eventbrite.com for ticket information.

Filthy hijinx
While Col. Robert Parker was taking his hat off for the lady and escorting backstage correspondent Vanessa Craftto have a cup of coffee, he mistakenly left his trademark cowboy hat in plain sight. Filthy Tom Lawlor and Simon Gotch, who have had their run-ins with Col. Parker and the Stud Stable grabbed the hat and disappeared into the Stud Stable locker room. One has to wonder what sort of “Filthy” things are happening to that hat.

Hungry Hughes
Barrington Hughes, the 469-pound Caramel Colossus, has been begging League officials for more competition. He didn’t get find that competition on tonight’s episode. Hughes absolutely destroyed his opponent with a headbutt and a massive elbow drop. Following the match, Hughes continued to campaign tougher opponents.

Cleveland Steam Cleaning
As we returned from the break, Col. Parker returned to the Stud Stable locker room and ran into Gotch and Lawlor of Team Filthy. The duo informed Col. Parker they had given his hat a “Cleveland Steam Cleaning.” The southern gentleman that he is, Col. Parker didn’t catch the reference. But he quickly found out what had been done. Team Filthy lives up to its name yet again…

KOTTO CAN! Kotto Brazil defeated Vandal Ortagun
Fan favorite Kotto Brazil had never won a match on MLW: FUSION … until now! The underdog was matched up with Turkey’s top ranked professional wrestler Vandal Ortagun on this week’s card. Kotto had the momentum early, but Ortagun is a seasoned fighter. Brazil telegraphed a splash in the corner and Ortagun slipped out the side door, giving him an opening to take advantage of.

The MLW crowd got behind Brazil, chanting “Kotto can!” Not to be outdone, Ortagun would chant back to the crowd “Turkey!” But the MLW faithful stuck with Kotto and they were not disappointed. Despite Ortagun pulling the knees up on a five-star frog splash, followed by a lung blower, Brazil would not be defeated. Brazil’s incredible showing against Rich Swann recently seemed to give him confidence. He survived numerous near falls, then managed to hit a modified version of a running sliced bread to pick up the win over Ortagun.

No Bounty for Brody
Before the $20,000 bounty match, Sami Callihan’s Death Machines (Leon Scott and Fulton) attempted to collect the bounty by gunning for Strickland backstage. With Strickland’s music beginning to play, Barrington Hughes told the World Heavyweight Champion he had his back and to head to the ring to face bounty hunter Brody King. What came of the Hughes-Death Machines encounter remains unknown. Now it was time for the main event!

King may have had the upper hand in a television station parking lot. But this match took place at “Whose House? Swerve’s House!”

While those fans were still chanting, King and Strickland went at it. The champion slid into the ring and King immediately went on the offensive. While King got the first few licks in, Strickland landed the first big blow. With King on the ring apron in front of the announce position, Swerve nearly kicked King into the laps of Tony Schiavone and Rich Bocchini.

King responded in kind, however. He caught Strickland coming off the apron and powerbombed the World Heavyweight Champion into the ring apron, leaving Swerve writhing in pain on the floor. That vicious maneuver gave King an advantage, leading to a near fall after a cannonball maneuver with Strickand draped over the middle rope. Massive, heavy knife-edge chops rocked Swerve.

King tried to show off with by pressing Strickland over his head. Swerve managed to land a drop kick out of the gorilla press, stemming the bounty hunter’s momentum. As we came back from a commercial break, action had spilled into the crash zone in the MLW crowd. Strickland was on the apron and King found himself in a chair in the audience. One Swerve Stomp onto King folded the bounty hunter and the chair in half and the champion was in control.

A dozen stomps to King’s head seemed to rile the big man up for one last run of offense. King hit the All-Seeing Eye, but Strickland kicked out as senior official Frank Gastineau’s hand was just inches from a three-count. When King couldn’t finish him off with that maneuver he went to a stash under the ring and came out with some sort of powder, looking to blind the champion. But Swerve kicked it back into King’s face, nailed the bounty hunter with a high knee and scored the hard-fought pinfall.

Low Ki Attacks
With the bounty hunter dispatched, the mercenary Low Ki blindsided Strickland. The champ was considerably weakened by his matchup with King and Low Ki took advantage, kicking the champ in the back of the head while Salina de la Renta, who put the bounty on Strickland’s head looked on with delight.

Low Ki grabbed the World Heavyweight Championship belt, shared some choice words with Strickland, laid the belt across the prone champion’s body and then held it high as if to say “I got next.” It would appear Low Ki is the next to try and collect!

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Tune in at 8 p.m. ET every Friday, then watch the replay at 11 p.m. ET. Set a reminder in your phone. Set your DVR. But whatever you do … don’t miss any action-packed episode of Major League Wrestling: FUSION.

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