The first ever pay-per-view for MLW featured a variety of matches and a fantastic main event for the world title.

“Saturday Night SuperFight” was the third time this year Major League Wrestling returned to the Chicagoland area at the Cicero Stadium. The promotion came back on March 2 for its “Intimidation Games’ special and Fusion television tapings (check out the recap and photos). MLW were at Cicero Stadium again on July 6 for its “Kings of Colosseum” event and another set of Fusion tapings.

Saturday Night SuperFight was available live on pay-per-view and is still on demand through Fite TV for $19.99.

The doors opened at 5:30 p.m. Central Standard Time for ticket holders that weren’t VIP. The pre-show started at 6 p.m. with the main PPV starting at 7 p.m.

Date: Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019

Place: Cicero Stadium (1909 South Laramie Avenue; Cicero, Illinois 60804)

Ticket price: $20. 15 total (General admission: $15; $3.19 fee, $1.96 sales tax)

Impressions and Observations:

• Match of the night: LA Park vs. Jacob Fatu in the main event for the MLW title.
• The pay-per-view was definitely worth $20, especially for the main event. Go out of your way to check the show out. SuperFight is one of the better shows of the year.
• There were different match styles and types of wrestlers that made the show come together well with a great variety of action.
• Jacob Fatu is going to be a huge star. He’s awesome and has something really special about him.
• The building didn’t start to fill up until closer to the PPV start time, especially the general admission bleachers opposite the hard camera that were almost totally empty by the time I took my seat. When I get there at around 5:30 p.m. I thought it was going to be a weak crowd turnout but the building filled up around 7 p.m. It wasn’t a full sell out but it was still a good crowd for the show.
• The crowd was hot for most of the night. Cicero Stadium always draws a good crowd for MLW. They always get a good mixture of people too, not just the super hardcore fans but also families and casual fans.
• Cicero Stadium is great for wrestling shows because even if you sit in the bleachers you can see all the action.
• They probably don’t have the budget for this and/or the limitations of the building don’t allow for it, but for these type of events they should play videos for the live crowd. After every match the crowd did temporarily lose their steam while the home audience is on commercial break or being shown a promo package for the next match. In the building nothing is being shown so the fans are just sitting there waiting around. The ring announcer and referee would have to keep pumping up the crowd before the show returned to live action.
• Gino Medina is a good get by MLW. I saw him live at VIP Wrestling in Dallas, Texas this July and thought he had something to him.
• Myron Reed had his “Injustice” sign spelled wrong when he came out into the crowd during the pre-show with the rest of his group, which was hilarious. The fans chanted, “You can’t spell” at him.
• Hijo de LA Park was pretty over with the crowd. They loved him.
• Salina de la Renta had a good line on the pre-show when she said good evening ladies and gentlemarks, which I thought was pretty funny.
• The crowd building up in unison for several “puto” chants at Josef Samael was great because he kept taunting them more and more. Samael is really great at getting people to legitimately hate him. He comes across as a maniac. He threw a drink into the crowd too and was arguing with fans in the front rows.
• MJF had a lot of heat before the tag title match taunting the crowd and the Von Erichs, calling them fake Texans who actually live in Hawaii. Richard Holliday had a great line that the Von Erich brothers are a bunch of losers that can’t even afford shoes.
• The Von Erichs winning the title was a good opener. They have a lot of potential.
• Gringo Loco was really over with the crowd. He had loud chants of his name during his entrance and throughout the match.
• Myron Reed did a sick ace crusher to Gringo Loco from inside the ring all the way to the floor.
• The crowd was more into the trios match and the guys involved than I thought the quality of the match was. It was alright but the crowd was really into it.
• Teddy Hart was really over with the crowd too. His match with Austin Aries felt long but it did pick up during the last several minutes.
• The Low Ki and Brian Pillman Jr. match was hard hitting. Both guys were pretty stiff. The crowd wasn’t super into the match but it was decent.
• The Tom Lawlor and Timothy Thatcher match was great. The crowd was quiet for most of it though. It’s definitely a much different style than what most of the people in the building are probably into. Some people sitting around me chanted boring or “End the match.” By the last few minutes some of the crowd did get into it. I liked all the submissions, grappling and stiff shots.
• The Stairway to Hell match was pretty crazy. I thought it was awesome. The crowd was super into it. All three guys did some creative stuff. Jimmy Havoc and Bestia 666 almost killed themselves going back and forth slamming each other onto the edge of a chair. Mance Warner was all bloodied from the barbed wire in the match.
• Bestia 666 did have a lot of fans chanting for him, a lot more than I expected. MLW always draws a good Hispanic audience and you could tell those fans were into him.
• The finish of the Openweight title match between Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Alexander Hammerstone didn’t look good live. Hammerstone rolled up Smith for a pin and grabbed the tights to get the three count. It was so close to the ropes though that it looked like Smith should have actually been safe by a rope break. The fans kind of crapped on the finish afterwards as Smith argued with the referee. It was a good, hard hitting match otherwise.
• The main event between LA Park and Jacob Fatu was incredible. The crowd was insanely hot right from the start of LA Park’s entrance. The whole building was seriously loud. Everyone was going nuts. Even though it was the end of the night, the whole building really came alive for the match. It was a fantastic atmosphere and the energy was off the charts. The fans were going nuts for LA Park. He had a great babyface-style match. He got beat up for most of it, got bloodied with his mask ripped, staged a comeback but ultimately ended up losing. The ending sequences was great. Josef Samael taking out the referee by lighting a fireball that then led to LA Park accidentally spearing Salina de la Renta through a table shocked the crowd. Fatu just comes across like a total killer. It’s definitely one of the best matches I’ve seen live and one of my favorite matches of the year. It was an awesome match anyway but the crowd added a lot to it as well.
• MLW is consistently putting on good shows and matches. People shouldn’t be sleeping on the promotion. Even with all the competition and wrestling on television or streaming online (like NWA) almost every night of the week, MLW is worth following on a regular basis.

Results:

Pre-show (free on YouTube, Fite TV, BeIN Sports and pay-per-view providers):

Leo Brien defeated Savio Vega

Gino “El Intocable” Medina (debut match) defeated Air Wolf

Hijo de LA Park defeated Zenshi

CONTRA Unit (Simon Gotch & Ikuro Kwon) defeated Spirit Squad (Kenny Dykstra and Mike Mondo) and Dominic Garrini & Douglas James by pinning Mike Mondo

Saturday Night SuperFight main PPV card:

The Von Erichs (Marshall and Ross) defeated The Dynasty (champions, Maxwell Jacob Friedman and Richard Holliday) in a Texas Tornado match for the MLW tag team titles

Injustice (Myron Reed, Kotto Brazil and Jordan Oliver) defeated Septimo Dragon, Gringo Loco & Puma King

Teddy Hart (champion) defeated Austin Aries to retain the MLW Middleweight title

Low Ki defeated Brian Pillman Jr. by referee stoppage

“Filthy” Tom Lawlor defeated Timothy Thatcher by submission

Mance Warner defeated Bestia 666 and Jimmy Havoc in a Stairway to Hell match

Alexander Hammerstone (champion) defeated Davey Boy Smith Jr. to retain the MLW National Openweight title

Jacob Fatu (champion) defeated LA Park in a No DQ match to retain the MLW heavyweight title

 

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