Indepth MLW Underground TV Recap

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Major League Wrestling "Underground TV" Results 6/30/03

Submitted by Bill Piven on Tuesday, July 1, 2003 at 2:57 AM EST

 

 

Let me preface this report by saying that tonight MLW delivered a great show building toward its future and establishing its world heavyweight title as a title that means something with a champion who defended the belt worldwide for a year.

 

Mike Awesome starts the show off claiming he will walk out tonight as the number one Heavyweight Champion of the World when he takes out Satoshi Kojima (MLW's Champion).

 

::::MLW Underground TV music opening::::

 

Joey Styles welcomes us to the War Memorial Auditorium for this week's edition of Underground TV where over 1,500 fans have packed the arena to see the big main event featuring Kojima vs. Awesome for the world title. Styles informs us that the Extreme Horsemen are in the building as well. Styles then plugs Rise of the Renegades on July 26 at Tabu Night Club in Orlando, FL. Styles then gets word that Jerry Lynn and Christopher Daniels are on their way to the ring.

 

Christopher Daniels and Jerry Lynn go to the ring. Daniels explains that Jerry Lynn is now known as the "Evil F'N Show" Jerry Lynn. Lynn then grabs the mic and asks where the crowd was when he was down. Lynn calls the fans a bunch of brainwash corporate mutants. Lynn explains how Paul London is not in the arena tonight due to a family emergency. Lynn says he wrestled while his father had open heart surgery and was in Japan when his daughter was born. Lynn claims this is a shoot. Styles calls Lynn an asshole. Lynn goes on to say that London is weak and that fans can buy into all the crap they want, but Lynn won't run from anyone and asks for someone to come out from the back. One if not Lynn's strongest promos I've seen.

 

Jerry Lynn pinned Kid Romeo. The debuting Kid Romeo comes out to answer Jerry Lynn's challenge. Fast opening two minutes with a series of dropkicks by Romeo. Styles notes that Romeo has wrestled in New Japan Pro Wrestling and WCW. Some solid mat work by Lynn and Romeo including some submission and pin reversals. Crowd is very respectful, applauding for the mat work. Romeo hits some nice high flying moves, including an ocean cyclone suplex into a bulldog. Lynn later hits a flawless TKO for a near count. After Daniels distracts both Romeo and the ref, Lynn hits the cradle Piledriver to get the pinfall. Styles alerts us that Paul London and Jerry Lynn will face off in the first match of their Young Lions Challenge series. A fast and well executed match that was a good choice to open tonight's show.

 

During a commercial they announce MLW will be going to Orlando on July 26 for Rise of the Renegades and an Underground TV taping. It will be at Tabu Night Club. Tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster outlets and Ticketmaster.com.

 

Homicide (while banging on pipes) says that he is coming July 26 to Rise of the Renegades. He is a Renegade from Brooklyn and lays down an open challenge for the Orlando MLW show. Homicide claims he will show us at Rise of the Renegades that he is the most strong style and hardcore athlete in MLW as he "is ready to F**** S*** up!"

 

Styles calls Homicide the "Brooklyn Bad Boy" and says he is getting ready to "thug up" for July 26th for his open challenge at Rise of the Renegades. Styles then brings up the Extreme Horsemen and their on going battle with the legends of MLW, most notably Terry Funk and Steve Williams. Styles says the Horsemen are now standing by with comments.

 

In the locker room, the Extreme Horsemen are about to begin their promo when Mike Awesome walks by in front of them and after initially getting pissed off, Steve Corino shrugs it off and tells them to follow his lead. The Horsemen go into Awesome's locker room. Corino kisses up to Awesome and wishes him luck going into tonight's match against Kojima. Awesome seems to have very little patience for Corino and the Extreme Horsemen. Nonetheless, Corino brings up the fact that MLW.com has just posted the top ten list and Corino is ranked number two. As such, he would like a crack at Awesome. Awesome seems to be on the verge of snapping and agrees just to get the Horsemen out of the locker room. The Horsemen thank Awesome for agreeing to the future challenge and leave.

 

Styles then reviews the Awesome-Horsemen meeting that just went down and says that if Awesome wins here tonight, somewhere down the road he will face Steve Corino for the world title. Styles changes subjects (Nirvana begins playing) and brings up the escalading CM Punk-Raven feud. Styles compares Raven to Punk and says that Raven couldn't pass a drug test if he stayed up all night studying versus Punk's straight edge drug free, alcohol free, etc. approach. MLW shows a widescreen shot of Punk during a previous promo. Styles says that Raven is gloating over his recent win over Punk and that has Punk enraged. Standing by with comments about Punk and more is Raven.

 

Raven begins to discuss CM Punk when Punk interrupts. Meanwhile, Simply Luscious lurks in the background.. eavesdropping perhaps? Raven says "speaking of the devil" to which Punk replies "and the devil appears", which came off real intense and made for some good TV. They exchange some heated words with Punk leaving after saying something to the effect that he has Raven running. Once Punk has departed, Raven wonders aloud why he is running. He then calls Punk a jackass. He promises Punk will experience the raven effect soon.

 

Styles discusses how the mind games continue between Raven and Punk. Styles then runs down the Samoan Island Tribe & Los Maximos feud.

 

In a rather funny promo, Mana is standing on a scale looking proud while Samu says that they are indeed in great shape but flattery will get the Maximos nowhere. Samu warns the Maximos to be ready for pain. Samu then screams "teabaggin" as they go to commercial.

 

 

Back to Styles who says its time to rundown the top 10 contenders for the MLW World Championship. This week's top ten:

 

1. Mike Awesome

2. Steve Corino

3. Terry Funk

4. Sabu

5. Raven

6. La Parka

7. CM Punk

8. Michael Shane

9. Paul London

10. Jerry Lynn

 

Back to the Extreme Horsemen who discuss how they are re-writing wrestling history. All the Horsemen are dressed up well, wearing collared shirts and nice pants. Corino hears something and goes over to a Japanese man who is on his cell phone speaking in Japanese. Corino asks him if he can translate between Japanese and English and after some bullying, the man says yes. Corino along with his fellow Extreme Horsemen then drag the poor guy to a locker room where Satoshi Kojima is stretching while preparing for his main event match later tonight against Mike Awesome. Kojima is absolutely hilarious and great here. Corino once again kisses ass and flatters Kojima as being a great world champ. Kojima (speaking in English!) obliges. Corino then says he believes Kojima will easily defeat Awesome tonight. He yells at the translator to translate. The translator begins in a soft tone to translate to which Corino shouts for the translator to speak louder. Corino then proceeds to tell the translator to tell Kojima that after Kojima wins tonight, Corino would like the next crack at the title since he is ranked #2 in the world. Translator once again translates and Kojima listens. After thinking, Kojima (speaking in near perfect English!) says that after Awesome-Kojima, Kojima-Corino. Corino agrees. Kojima then says "tonight, I win." Corino playing a babyface puts Kojima over saying he hopes so. Kojima and Corino then shake hands. Corino then says "hey, Kojima speaks PERFECT English!" and throws the translator out of the locker room. Corino then ends this incident by saying that he will hold Kojima to his word and walks out while looking at the camera and mumbles that Kojima doesn't even speak Japanese. Funny and entertaining television that helped to setup some storylines and backdrop for the match(es) later.

 

Joey runs down how the Extreme Horsemen have now secured the rights to the first challenge to the world heavyweight title no matter who the champ is at the end of the night. Styles pushes the big world title match between Awesome & Kojima in a few minutes.

 

Mike Awesome pinned Satoshi Kojima to win the world title. The crowd chanted "Kojima" from the second Kojima's music started until a few seconds after the bell rang. When Kojima entered the ring, fans from all four sides of the ring through orange, black and white streamers into the ring. Lots of Kojima signs in the crowd. Very stiff back and forth match between Kojima and Awesome. Early on, the two exchanged some vicious chops and fists that gets the crowd hot. Kojima hits a pescado on Awesome at ringside. The two brawled all over ringside including Kojima backdropping Awesome into the fans at ringside. Kojima, ever so charismatic then bowed to the fans in appreciation of their support. The two continued to battle, throwing one another into the steel barricades as MLW went to break. Back from break, and Awesome hits three stiff chairshots on the back of Kojima (who is on his hands and knees in the ring). Awesome connects with a corner post dive with a chair. Later, Kojima gets the chair and blasts Awesome with it several times. Crowd is behind Kojima, which is pretty surprising given Awesome being a Florida native. Kojima rallied and hit a top rope diving elbow, big german suplex, and head & arm whip drop (during which Kojima screams to the crowd for approval). Kojima then signals for the lariat, but is blocked. Awesome gets a near 3 count with a sitdown powerbomb. Awesome follows this up with an Awesome Splash but fails to get the 3 again. Kojima later gets a shinning wizard on Awesome and does the Muto signature gesture/pose for a pop. Awesome hits a distracted Kojima with the running Awesome Bomb and again fails to get the 3. Awesome gets a table and props it up in the ring. Awesome goes to put Kojima through it (via an Awesome Bomb), but the ref is hit in the process and is down. Kojima wiggles out and hits a flawless lariat and goes for the cover for a good 10-14 count but no ref. Kojima's facials during this are priceless. Kojima then goes for another maneuever off the ropes, but it is reversed with an Awesome spear followed by an Awesome powerbomb through the table for the pin. Mike Awesome has won the world title in MLW. Crowd seems bummed about Kojima losing the title, but then turns and starts chanting Awesome. MLW, in a smart move lowers the music, ultimately killing it so we hear the arena chanting "Awesome" with several fans standing and applauding. Good TV.

 

Back to Styles who begins to recap and close the show. However, Steve Corino's music starts and Styles sends it back down to the ring to see what is up.

 

Steve Corino comes out to some new music (very funky, yet addictive). Corino gets on the microphone and congratulates Awesome on becoming the new champ on behalf of the Horsemen, MLW, and the fans. Styles says it's a load of crap. Corino reminds Awesome of his promise from earlier in the night. Corino runs down that he has defeated the Sandman, Vampiro, and Dusty Rhodes and deserves to be the world champion. Corino says he was promised a world title match at any time. Corino reminds everyone that MLW is getting bigger and badder, going to Orlando in July and St. Pete in August and concludes that they should have the match right now. Corino then bashes Awesome in the head with the microphone as the bell rings and the match begins. The two have a really solid match with Corino being tossed three rows deep by Awesome including clearing the guard rails. Commercial break. Back from commercial and Awesome slams a steel chair from the top rope into the skull of Corino. Corino does one hell of a job selling for Awesome and also laying in some top notch chops that show his time in Zero-One. Awesome later dumps Corino on his head and shoulder with a German suplex. Awesome then goes for a table which he props into the corner. The two tease the table spot several times, ultimately leading to Awesome Awesomebombing Corino through table in a holy sh*t spot that had the fans stomping in the bleachers. As Awesome was getting ready for the pin, CW Anderson & Simon Diamond ran in but were taken down by Awesome instantly. However, this opened up Awesome for two stiff superkicks by Corino for the pinfall and MLW world title. Corino, Diamond, and Anderson celebrate with the world title which generates some huuuge heat from this crowd. Corino says "this is reality and that tonight begins the rise of the renegades. led by the Extreme Horsemen." They pose with Corino showing the world title to the camera as Joey Styles closes out the show saying that the Extreme Horsem

en control all the gold in MLW.

 

Notes: This show made me feel like a wrestling fan reborn. No campy segments or uninspired workers. No lame booking ideas but instead multi-dimensional characters and concepts, something that has been missing from wrestling and wrestling on TV for a bit. MLW in just one hour set up several interesting storylines leading into their 7/26 MLW show in Orlando at Tabu Night Club, including Mike Awesome being screwed by the Extreme Horsemen, Samoans vs. Los Maximos (big bullies vs. the young and hungry brothers who have less experience but show big time heart), CM Punk one-upping Raven in his mind games and the lingering question of how Simply Luscious factors into this, Jerry Lynn establishing his heel persona with his great promo and showcasing him in an excellent match. By the way, MLW has been able to get promos out of Lynn and the Maximos that I didn't think was possible. Kudos off to them for doing such. The booking around the world title was great with everyone gunning for it tonight and setting up many intriguing scenarios down the road. It has become the focus of the promotion and Corino's desperate attempt to weasel his way into the title picture was well executed. I am anxious and excited about Corino's reign as champion. Joey Styles does a great job in getting the young talent over and building the storylines. No one right now can match his ability to weave it all together and get you fired up for a match quite like Styles. MLW has put some money into their production since their last TV taping with this show having lighting on the level of any ECW TV tapings I've seen. Also, I can now here the music and ring entrances, which is great. I also think they finally got a microphone for the audience so you can hear their reaction, as it sounds leagues better. Overall, great improvements. The crowd looked huge. There is no doubt the company had an easy 1,600+ in there. It was perhaps the biggest crowd I've seen on TV outside of a WWE show since ECW and WCW closed. Good to see a wrestling fan base growing this day in age. After watching a mediocre Raw with a pretty good main event and then seeing a balanced, entertaining and edgy MLW TV show, WWE's problems pushing storylines and building young talent becomes even more apparent. But that's for another column!... The Evil F'N Show persona is something I am really marking out for. Did I mention that already?... The show tonight was based simply around the desire to be the world champion of MLW and how that was all that mattered. This show solidified me as a fan of MLW as it had everything from intensity in ring work and angles to comedy and all around great work and enhanced TV production values. My hat goes off to MLW on a great job... The teabag gimmick for the Samoans is really catching on and a nice touch of comedy to a traditionally serious tag team gimmick. MLW has tickets available for their 7/26 show at $20 via Ticketmaster or at: http://www.MLW.com