The show opens with a nice hype package promoting the upcoming championship match between the incumbent Willie Mack and the defending champion Alex Kane. This included highlights from Alex Kane winning the championship originally as well as a recap of Willie Mack’s journey in MLW so far.
Counting down to Fury Road
This is the go home show to MLW Fury Road and the entirety of the episode was centred around promoting the event as detailed below. First segment was a general hype package promoting Fury Road and the main three matches on the show. This was formatted similarly to the style of promotion frequently seen in promotions for MMA or professional boxing, and it was treated seriously.
Alex Kane cut an impassioned and intense promo discussing his Fury Road title defence against Willie Mack. The promo made Willie seem like a credible threat to his championship, though Alex Kane still came across as a wrestler who is confident and capable of defeating Willie Mack.
Both combatants were built up to look like stars.
Replay: Alex Kane vs Alexander Hammerstone
We then go to a complete replay showing the match where in Alex Kane dethroned the long reigning former champion, Alexander Hammerstone. This was an incredibly competitive match and showed off well why Alex Kane is the current MLW champion.
The analysis from the commentators is very sports like and it adds to the credibility of the product as being a legitimate combat sport. Showing this match is a great way to familiarise newcomers who is who in the main event scene. Very nice.
This was a great match that looked realistic and made sense.
B+
Replay: Willie Mack vs John Hennigan vs Lio Rush
Willie Mack took on John Hennigan and Lio Rush next, which was mostly there to showcase Willie, but everyone looked good. This was a modern style triple threat with a lot of high flying and high spots generally. This match over all was not as technically sound as the previous match but was effective in showing Willie Mack is deserving of his upcoming championship match.
C+
Conclusion
The overall theme of the episode was building the title match between Alex Kane and Willie Mack on Sunday at Fury Road, and this promotion was executed quite effectively by MLW in terms of creating anticipation for the event.
