by Hugh Zeitlin 
Exclusive to OnlineOnslaught.com

After 15 minute delay in start---

1)  Jerry Lynn (w/ Christopher Daniels) vs. Kid Romeo.  According to t.v., this was supposed to be the start of a Young Lions challenge between Lynn and Paul London...but Lynn cut a promo to start the show, saying London was not there because his father was in the hospital...JL then proceeded to rip London to shreds, saying he didn't have the same heart that Lynn has.  Romeo accepted an "open invitation" to wrestle Lynn, and the two had a very grood match.  The 1,500+ people were into it from the start.  After plenty of near-falls, Lynn won with the cradle pile-driver.

2)  Michael Shane (w/ Francine) vs. Homicide.  Francine looks good...has gotten a nose job it appears...and a little more "junk in the trunk".  Shane is the "supposed" nephew of Shawn Michaels...I haven't heard that it's true or not.  A good match, but it did get sloppy at times.  Shane definitely is athletic enough, and tries to use the Shawn Michaels' move set.  Homicide looks a bit like Nu Jack, but can wrestle a bit more...and hit a couple of high flying spots too.  It appeared Shane was going to win with a "superkick", ala his uncle, but Homicide would block it and pull off the upset victory.

3)  Los Maximos vs. SAT.  No introductions for this one, as Los Maximos ran into the ring with a chair, being chased by the Samoans...imagine 3 Minute Warning, but barefoot.  This was one that went a bit quicker than the rest.  For the majority of the match, the big guys beat up on the little guys...as one would expect.  Eventually the bigger Samoan fought with one of the Maximos into the back.  A minute later, the Maximos returned and the duo used a steel chair on the remaining member of SAT to pick up the victory.

4)  Christopher Daniels (w/ Jerry Lynn) vs. Billy Fives.  Fives looked like a mini-Rhyno, and hailed from North Carolina.  I was hoping to see more of Daniels' arsenal (which I've heard a lot about), but he only did one really cool spot...leaping from the 2nd rope to the top, for a springs board moonsault.  Crowd was a bit dead for this, since we had already seen Daniels earlier in the evening. Daniels wins in a solid match.

5)  Norman Smiley (w/ G.I. Ho) vs. Kenzo Suzuki.  I don't know what it is, but for the 2nd straight show (including the RAW at the America Airlines Arena 2 weeks ago) Smiley got a HUGE reaction from the South Florida crowd.  G.I. Ho is an attractive blonde, gorgeous body, who I believe is in the Women's Extreme Wrestling, which appears on PPV.  Crowd really got behind Smiley in this one.  Suzuki is an impressive sight...a very big/built Japanese wrestler...but his arsenal was taken right out of the Scott Steiner playbook...lots of chops, and not much else.  Smiley hit the big wiggle to everyone's delight, but following a good looking spear from Suzuki, Smiley did the job...to the crowd's disappointment.

6)  C.W. Anderson & Simon Diamond (a.k.a. the Extreme Horsemen) vs. Dr. Death Seve Williams & D. Lo Brown.  This started out as a ceremony to crown the Extreme Horsemen as the 1st ever Tag Champs in the company, but Dr. Death came out to break up the festivities.  He said he was going to take the belts away from the team, with his new partner...and to the crowd's surprise it was D. Lo Brown making his MLW debut!  Thank goodness D. Lo can wreslte, because Williams is past his prime, doing nothing but shoulder tackles and running clotheslines.  D. Lo hit the Sky High, got just a 2 count, went up for the Lo Down, but missed the frog splash when Diamond pulled C.W. out of the way.  C.W. hits his spinebuster on Brown and the rest is history...the champs retain their gold.

7)  Sabu (w/ Bill Alfonso) vs. Mikey Whipreck (w/ Sinister Minister).  This was a disappointment before the match started, because it was supposed to be Sabu vs. La Parka...Whipreck came out dressed as La Parka, but the Minister walked up from behind, and pulled off the mask to reveal it was actually Whipreck.  From an entertainment standpoint however, the two ECW alums did not disappoint.  The duo...more Sabu than Mikey...flew around the ring, hitting high spot after high spot.  Finish saw Mikey submit to Sabu's camel clutch, with a chair used for leverage.  The scary spot actually came after the match...Alfonso was celebrating in the ring with Sabu, and threw his water bottle up in the air...it hit one of the lights and the falling glass nailed Fonzi in the face, near his eye...he was cut BADLY, and appeared to faint on the entrance ramp.  He was assisted to the back, and was okay, as he was bandaged up and back for a brief autograph signing during a LONG intermission.

8)  Raven vs. C.M. Punk.  This one was more brawl than it was wrestling match.  Raven took the early advantage, as he threw Punk into barricades on all sides of the ring.  It continued to go back and forth, until Raven eventually hit his evenflow DDT.  But before he could get a 3-count, Michael Shane ran out and pulled off some interference.  Punk would then hit an evenflow of his own, and stun the crowd by pulling off the upset and pinning Raven.  Shane and Punk continued to double-team Raven after the match, ramming his head into a steel chair twice before Norman Smiley ran out to make the save.  Smiley chased off Shane and Punk, and then he and Raven proceeded to challenge the duo to a tag-team match down the line...presumablly next month's show in Orlando.

9)  Mike Awesome vs. Kojima, for the MLW Heavyweight Title.  Kojima won the championship a couple of months back, in the finals of a tournament against Jerry Lynn.  Awesome still hasn't lost the gut he put on somewhere during his "fat chick thriller" and WWE run.  This match featured a lot of chops, but seeing them slap the hell out of each other was enjoyable.  Awesome had an answer for just about all of Kojima's offense.  He eventually hit his top rope splash, but only got a 2 count...he then hit his running power bomb, also a 2 count.  Finally, a table is brought in, and Awesome power bombs Kojima through the table and gets the pin....Mike Awesone is your NEW MLW Champion....

But hold the phone, out comes Steve Corino to congratulate Awesome on the victory.  Listing the competitors he's beaten (including Terry Funk...who he actually didn't wrestle until after this promo!!!!), Corino says he's the number 1 contender and deserves a shot at the title...but not next month in Orlando...he wants it now!!!

10)  Steve Corino vs. Mike Awesome, for the MLW Heavyweight Title.  Awesome didn't show much tiredness at all, and Corino took some nasty bumps...including an irish whip that sent him sailing over the barricade and into the fans.  Things picked up as there was a ref bump when Corino was lifted up by Awesome for a power bomb.  The rest of the Extreme Horsemen (CW and Diamond) run out to beat up on the champ.  Corino hits his finisher and the ref counts 3...stunning everyone.  Steve Corino is your NEW MLW Champion...and the Extreme Horsemen now hold all of the gold in MLW.

Following the match, we were subjected to an HOUR LONG INTERMISSION!!!!  The crew had to take down the ring ropes and put up the barbed wire around the ring for Corino's next match, against Terry Funk.  This process started at 10:35pm...we didn't get the introductions for the final contest until 11:45pm!!!  MLW tried to pass the time by having the wrestlers come out for autographs and pictures, but still...asking fans to wait over an hour is a bit ridiculous.

11)  Steve Corino vs. Terry Funk, in a Barbed Wire match.  I'll be honest here...the match started, we were excited, then 5 minutes into it...we were bored.  Sure they got bloody from the barbed wire...sure it was Terry Funk...but we had been in the War Memorial for over 5 hours...it was time to go.  We didn't stay for the end of the match, but reports from the show have Funk winning the non-title contest...the Extreme Horsemen punking out Funk after the match...Dr. Death Steve Williams trying to make the save, but the Sandman made his MLW return to make sure the Extreme Horsemen were sent away.

Overall, it was a very fun show...until 10:35pm.  Then, things went south.  All I can say is that I won't be attending shows with barbed wire matches anymore...not very exciting...especially when you have to wait that long to see it.  MLW is about as close as you'll get to the now defunct ECW...and it was a very good audience, that was into the show the whole time.

That was our MLW experience...talk to ya soon...

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