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Unknown shocks on Major League show
By
CHRIS SCHRAMM -- SLAM! Wrestling
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ORLANDO, FLA. -- Surrounded by some of pro wrestling\'s biggest
independent stars, Paul London, who was called a \'jobber\' by the crowd,
stole the show in Orlando on Friday\'s Major League Wrestling card.
London, who trained at the Texas Wrestling Academy, turned on the crowd
with a mix of high-flying and innovative moves. He upset Jerry Lynn,
which before the match seemed like an impossibility, in a match that
started the show. \'Fallen Angel\' Christopher Daniels, who tried to help
Lynn during the match, helped beat down London after the bout.
The crowd was hot, following the first match upset, and they never died
down. The Tabu Night Club, in downtown Orlando, was the location for
MLW\'s fourth show. The place contained no seating and two giant bars
took up part of the floor. The poor location was not suited for
wrestling, and MLW may reconsider coming back. The location had a fire
code limitation of 600 fans, but only 400 showed up.
A three-way followed the hot opener, with three competitors from the
Texas Wrestling Academy: Masada, Don Juan and Fast Eddie. The match
contained a lot of errors, with Masada getting the quick win.
Vampiro, who was to take on Christopher Daniels, cancelled his
appearance because of personal reasons. Homicide took his place. The
match was solid, and Homicide got the win. Jerry Lynn, who was at
ringside, helped Daniels beat down Homicide after the match. MLW is most
likely building up Daniels and Lynn as tag team contenders for the newly
formed GTC Tag Titles.
MLW, who has recently been airing on the Sunshine Network across the
U.S., worked television angles into the show. A recent episode featured
Los Maximos being beat down but two mystery men. The Samoan Island Tribe
were revealed as the culprits. The Samoans, who looked like 3-Minute
Warning, were just too big for the Maximos. A Samoan drop from the
second rope got the three count and the win for the Samoan Island Tribe.
Norman Smiley, who got one of the biggest pops of the night, was
defeated by Michael Shane. Shane was accompanied by former ECW valet
Francine, while Smiley brought out Taylor Vaughn, the former B.B. Bush
in the WWE. The two ladies added very little the match, and distracted
the crowd from the very entertaining bout. Smiley, who started in Japan
and Mexico before making it in the WCW five years ago, recently wrestled
a dark match with the WWE.
Raven, making his MLW debut, won a very uneventful match over C.M. Punk.
The ending was very predictable, and was used to get Raven over as a
competitor for the MLW World Championship.
Fuego Guerrero, MLW\'s creation consisting of Amazing Red under a mask,
defeated Michinoku Pro\'s Ikuto Hidaka. The two had an amazing match, but
did nothing other than what was expected. It led to a very disappointing
reaction from the crowd. The match was highly expected to be one of the
best of the night, and expectations were just too high.
Steve Williams and P.J. Friedman lost in the finals of the MLW Global
Tag Team Title tournament to Simon Diamond and C.W. Anderson. Friedman
was laid out early in the match with a chair, when he recovered, he was
quickly pinned. Williams then took out his tag team partner for his effort.
FMW and ECW have seen dozens of Mike Awesome and Masato Tanaka matches
over the years. This was their first match in over three years. Nothing
was lost. The two battled with chair and stiff shots all over the
ringside area. Awesome got the win after Tanaka accidentally hit the
referee with a chair shot, but the most amazing spot of the night took
place after the match when Awesome powerbombed Tanaka from the ring,
over the top and through a chair set up at ringside. Tanaka somehow
recovered to receive a well deserved applause from the already standing
crowd.
La Parka and Sabu, who stole the show at MLW\'s December 2002 show, had a
rematch. La Parka came out with a newer-looking outfit, including a
giant skull that he took off before the match started. Sabu was
accompanied by legendary wrestler out of Puerto Rico, The Cuban
Assassin. The two broke tables, jumped into the crowd, and when it was
over, La Parka got the win.
The last match of the evening was between Terry Funk and Steve Corino.
The two bled and battered each other through tables and chairs. Funk got
the roll-up on Corino for the win, and C.W. Anderson and Simon Diamond
came down to beat down Funk. Steve Williams made the save for the
legendary wrestler.
Corino, blood covered, then challenged Funk to a barbed wire death match
for next month\'s show. The show is set for June 20 in Fort Lauderdale.
Also announced for the show is Mike Awesome vs. MLW World Champion
Satoshi Kojima.
MLW is still trying to separate itself from being a new ECW. Using
workers like Paul London and the Samoan Island Tribe will help establish
this.
The group plans to run monthly to help film matches for their weekly
television show. More information on the group can be found at their web
site, www.mlw.com.
Chris Schramm has been writing for SLAM! Wrestling since 1997. He
currently works for Highspots
Wrestling Merchandise and lives in Charlotte, NC.
