MLW Underground TV

[Guest The Real Nosferatu]

Happy Birthday Episode For me. Wooo. This is my first recap here, so any advice or feedback is appreciated.

 

 

MLW Underground TV

 

(Taped from Rise of the Renegades; July 26, 2003 from TABU in Orlando, Florida)

 

I'm sure I'm just like everyone else familiar with MLW on TV that the first time I tuned in I was channel surfing after a terrible RAW and happened to notice an Independent Show being televised. I wasn't sure of the company, but once I saw Joey Styles, I had a feeling it was a new ECW, except on a local television station where censorship is very strict.

 

For those unfamiliar, MLW would tape one big show a month and air it on Television over the next weeks until the next one. Of course some matches are too violent to air in full, so that's where the DVD's of MLW Come in handy for the extremists who need everything. The MLW Champion is King of Old School, Steve Corino, and coincidentally, the team of Simon Diamond & C.W. Anderson are the Global Tag Team Champions. I say coincidentally because they are known as The Extreme Horsemen.

 

The Extreme Horsemen have a thing for beating up Legends. Just ask Dusty Rhodes, The Sandman, Dr. Death Steve Williams, and especially Terry Funk. Funk & Corino and co. have been feuding for most of MLW's existence. Williams has had problems with the tag champs ever since they won the vacant titles after ending the career of his tag partner P.J Friedman. Williams tried several times with other partners including D'lo Brown & The Sandman, but keeps coming up short.

 

That covers the main gist of the MLW. Also Mikey Whipwreck (yay!) is in a feud with Sabu, even though it was originally La Parka vs. Sabu, but that was changed for some reason. And for those Three Minute Warning Fans, Former WWE wrestler Jamal (Ekmo I think) will be making his debut at the upcoming show titled War Games, scheduled for September 19th I believe. The only downside with MLW is that you'll occasionally see some guys you never heard of, but you get use to it.

 

One final note, I do believe this is the finally airing from the Rise of the Renegades, and next week the Summer Apocalypse with start airing. For those who care, here are the results...

 

(Credit to several members in the Misc. Promotions Board for the results)

**In an impromptu match, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams and The Sandman defeated Simon Diamond and CW Anderson with the stipulation added that if Williams & Sandman defeated the Extreme Horsemen, Anderson & Diamond must defend the Global Tag-Team Crown championship August 22nd. The ending saw Funk come in with the rope still around his neck and stun all three horsemen followed by a top rope Sandmanton. Funk, The Sandman, and "Dr. Death" all then drank and partied with the fans through out the arena to end the show.

 

**MLW World Heavyweight Title Match: MLW World Heavyweight Champion Steve Corino pinned "Gladiator" Mike Awesome to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. At the end of the match, the Extreme Horsemen ran into the ring to attack Mike Awesome leading to Terry Funk returning to the ring attacking Corino with a garbage can. After the match, the Horsemen roped Funk by the neck and hanged the Hardcore Legend before he was helped out by MLW officials.

 

**CM Punk & Michael Shane (with Francine) defeated Norman Smiley (with GI Ho) and Raven.

 

**Richard Criado pinned Nosawa with a modified Michinoku Driver 2.

 

**Mikey Whipwreck (with The Sinister Minister) pinned Sabu (Bill Alfonso) after The Sinister Minister threw a fire ball into Sabu's eyes leading to Whipwreck pinning Sabu.

 

**GTC Challenge (both Williams & Sandman must defeat the Extreme Horsemen in singles competition in order to advance to a tag team title shot on 8/22): Simon Diamond pinned The Sandman with the Gem Cutter.

 

**In the impromptu Young Lions Challenge: "Notorious 187" Homicide pinned Jerry Lynn (with The Sinister Minister) with a reversed sunset flip.

 

**GTC Challenge (both Williams & Sandman must defeat the Extreme Horsemen in singles competition in order to advance to a tag team title shot on 8/22): "Dr. Death" Steve Williams pinned "Enforcer" CW Anderson with the backdrop driver.

 

**Samoan Island Tribe and Da Hit Squad went to a no contest.

 

We open up with Joey Styles pimping MLW.com and Summer Apocolypse on DVD already. The Legends of MLW have challenged the Extreme Horsemen in WAR GAMES!!! Two rings surrounded by a steel cage! Tonight Terry Funk versus Abdullah The Butcher, but due to graphic violence, the censors will only show parts of it. Next week, Terry Funk goes up against Jerry "The King" Lawler! If Funk wins, he gets a World Title Match against the Champion, Steve Corino. But Still, Funk has to survive War Games on September 19th.

 

- Rich Criado vs. "Canadian Dynamite" Josh Daniels:

Criado was trained by Afa the Wild Samoan and wrestled in WWC ran by legend Carlos Colon. Last time he defeated Nosawa in his MLW Debut. Daniels apparently models his career after wrestling legend the Dynamite Kid. To be honest I have never seen nor really heard of either of these guys, but the name Josh Daniels rings a bell for some reason. Throughout most of the match, it seems to me Rich Criado is fairly new to professional wrestling, as most of his offense is done in slow motion, or he applies holds such as The Dragon Sleeper or an Abdominal stretch way too loosely that makes it look like crap. Josh Daniels on the otherhand, seems to be a decent worker, but a little too sloppy in his own right, as he kind of botched the finish with a poorly executed Full Nelson suplex where Criado was standing on the second rope. These two probably need some more work to become anything good, or maybe it's just that these two don't have good chemistry in the ring together. One of the low lights is the crowds hate for Rich Criado even though he was only at an MLW taping once. Poor match quality, crowd heat for the wrong reason and very little flow in the ring gets a 1/2*. I expected much better from someone who supposedly is trying to be the next Dynamite Kid and Chris Benoit.

Winner: Josh Daniels via pinfall with Full Nelson-Suplex (6:28)

 

Styles reminds us again for the Funk/Butcher match. We find out the main event for tonight is Los Maximos (Jose & Joel Maximo) against Jimmy Yang & Tony Mamaluke. Los Maximos trade off English & Spanish in their promo. Fast Foward material here.

 

Backstage we have the Extreme Horsemen. They say they are a much better team then the Legends, because they can't get a long, and Sandman & Funk use to be hated rivals. They question how they can be partners. C.W. Anderson makes a pretty bad joke at the expense of the late Terry Gordy, and remembers he's dead and brings up the only way you can ask him anything is if you brought a shovel with you. I'm shocked Steve Corino has never been offered a contract by WWE, but maybe he enjoys working Independents and Japan too much to give that up. Extreme Horsemen are always great in these promos and are definitely the bright spot on the show.

 

- The Sinister Minister James Mitchell talks about how he and Mikey Whipwreck broke Sabu's arm. Los Maximos come in to see Mikey because he trained them. Whipwreck goes crazy because he's told everyone hundreds of times to never interrupt him. I don't know who's crazier, Mitchell, or Whipwreck. I was never a big fan of ECW, but the only times I ever saw Mikey Whipwreck was in 1994-95 when he had terrible mic skills and looked like a 15 year old. I guess people can change that much.

 

- Remember, September 19th The J-CUP U.S.A Will take place to crown the first Junior Heavyweight Champion of MLW in a Single Elimination Tournament.

 

- Terry Funk vs. Abdullah The Butcher:

Don't expect this to be too long, because from what I've read about it, the censors will probably clip it down to 30 seconds. This is a Bounty Hunters Match, as The Extreme Horsemen have hired Abdullah to take out Terry Funk so he doesn't get a chance at the title. I'm sure everyone knows who Abdullah The Butcher is, but in case you don't know, he's probably the sickest wrestler I've ever seen, as his trademark is stabbing people in the face with a fork. Plus his tits over flow more than an Incorrectly pored Beer. Funk wants to know where the fat ass is. Steve Corino claims he called off Abdullah's appearance. At 212 years old, Funk should have retired 160 years ago. Crowd laughs when Corino tells Funk not to break a hip. Funk goes after Corino and Abdullah The Butcher comes out and hammers on Funk. Funk is sent face first into a table and The Butcher cuts up Funk with a broken glass bottle!! (CLIP) Butcher does more of the same as his tits jiggle. The action finally gets in the ring and Abdullah stabs the arm, but we don't see it (CLIP) Funk is bleeding on his arm as Abdullah strikes again. (CLIP) Funk throws a series of chair in the ring. We actually see Abdullah stab him, but its from a bad angle. Funk takes a shot from the fork and blocks a second. He stabs Abdullah and hammers away at Butcher in the corner. Funk is a bloody mss. (CLIP) and Funk with a SERIES of low blows and some more stabs to the head. Funk grabs a chair and he does his best Kid Kash impression. (CLIP) Abby has the fork AGAIN And does some more carving as we go to break. We're back and Abdullah drops an elbow for two. Funk comes off the ropes with a high cross body and that gets the pinfall. I decided to do PBP for this one because I have never called an Abdullah match and always wondered how terrible he is. Crowd was pretty hot here, but everything else failed in each department, so this one gets a DUD. Even though I'm a Terry Funk fan this match was terrible.

Winner: Terry Funk via pinfall after a Cross Body Press. (5:31)

 

We are reminded that next weeks main event will be another Bounty Hunter Match between Terry Funk and Jerry Lawler. Styles speculates if Satoshi Kojima will ever return to the MLW and come back for his World Title. Kojima was the longest World Champion to date for anyone not sure of this. More pimping of MLW War Games on September 19th.

 

- Los Maximos (Jose & Joel Maximo) vs. Jimmy Yang & Tony Mamaluke:

This is the first time I've seen Mamaluke since his last TNA appearence earlier this year. For those who skipped an earlier statement, Los Maximos was trained by Mikey Whipwreck. Crowd is plenty awake for this one. Mamaluke and Joel really wanna go at it for some reason. Los Maximos are a mixed bag, as they can be very good, or very bad. Sadly, I've seen them in TNA more and they haven't impressed me. Jimmy Yang and Joel do a nice wrestling sequenced to start, and Yang is definitely more superior to him. Action spills outside where Yang nails an awesome corkscrew pescado on the fallen Maximo. Crowd is Super crazy for this match. Mamaluke works on Joel for a moment until the Maximos take over. Jose is a house of fire with a leg lariat on Mamaluke and sends him outside with a clothesline. Yang with a leg lariat sends him and Joel over the top rope. Jose finishes things off with an Asai Moonsault on everyone and the crowd explodes! Los Maximos pull of their sweet simultaneous Boston Crab/Camel Clutch submission on the opponents as a nice touch. Nearing the end Los Maximos go crazy on everyone nailing a SUPER SWEET Springboard Moonsault/Reverse DDT combination, but Yang breaks the pin on it. Another awesome spot where Mamaluke is set up for a doomsday device but catches Joel with a powerslam off Jose's shoulders. Yang is taken out, as is Mamaluke, and the Maximos impress me further with the excellent Spanish Fly off the top rope to end things. Crowd was crazy hot for this one, as Los Maximos pulled out all the stops here. Never a dull moment really as the match was filled with nice ring work as well as working in the occasional spot, but not too much to make it a Spotfest. With another Five or so Minutes, this could have been better. ***1/2 That may seem a little stingy, but really, you know when you see a 4-star match, and this wasn't one.

Winners: Los Maximos via pinfall when Joel pinned Mamaluke (9:17)

 

- We get a video package of Satoshi Kojima wrestling in Japan and killing his opponent with a vicious as fuck lariat. I'm guessing MLW is hyping his return, although I seem to remember seeing this before. Kojima Count: 2-0. Kojimania Established 2003.

 

And on that note, we are out. Overall, It's an enjoyable show, even though the only match of note work rate wise was the tag team match. Fans who love hardcore garbage like Funk/Abdullah will find it ok, and the opening match sucked. Next week remember, Jerry Lawler makes his MLW debut, meaning he will be on WWE & MLW Television back-to-back, and possibly at the same time in RAW over runs long enough.

[Jack_Bauer 0]

That just made me think. Lawler v Raven for Glory By Honor II ?!?! Sounds like a good something for everyone show and well recapped by the way.