MLW Fusion: Kross-Bishop Brawl, Chicago Street Fight Set For SuperFight

MLW Fusion, taped in Philadelphia and airing Thursday, October 22, packed in championship fallout, international statements, and one ugly real-world update as the promotion barrels toward Saturday Night SuperFight on November 7 at Cicero Stadium.

The most sobering news of the night came away from the ring. MLW Insider detailed the extent of the injuries CJ Gallows suffered in the Glasgow Boys On Top assault: a concussion, a fractured jaw, damaged teeth, and a bruised lung. With his jaw wired shut, the young rookie’s in-ring return is on hold while doctors monitor him, and Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson cut short an overseas trip to be at his side. MLW CEO Court Bauer hit GBOT with a significant fine and left the door open to terminating their contracts outright. Making matters worse, Joe Coffey — with Mark Coffey and Wolfgang at ringside — beat Andrew Everett and then dedicated the win to the hospitalized Gallows before setting his sights on Trevor Lee’s Southern Crown Championship. The Good Brothers answered from outside CJ’s hospital room, confirming they’ll defend the MLW World Tag Team Championship against GBOT in a Chicago Street Fight at SuperFight — a stipulation that all but guarantees the simmering grudge boils over into real violence.

Elsewhere, Josh Bishop flattened Rich Moya with Exit 187, but the real story was Donovan Dijak trying to install himself as the Skyscrapers’ de facto leader and claim the next World Heavyweight Championship shot for himself. Bishop had other ideas, grabbing the mic to call out champion Killer Kross directly. Kross showed up looking for blood, and by the end of the night the two were brawling in the parking lot and into the street, giving fans a violent preview of their Last Man Standing title match at SuperFight. Dijak’s instructions clearly aren’t landing.

In the Opera Cup, Austin Aries outlasted a furious Trevor Lee through sheer gamesmanship, needling Lee’s neck and back before framing him for a disqualification, blasting him with the IED, and finishing with a brainbuster to steal the win and advance to the semifinals. Aries also shut down Matt Riddle’s title challenge earlier in the show, adding one more name to his growing list of problems.

On the women’s side, STARDOM’s Saya Kamitani survived Lady Frost’s “murder gymnastics” and a near-fall off the Chiller Driller to pick up the win, but the aftermath turned into chaos. Women’s World Champion Shotzi called out Kamitani, Frost and H.A.T.E. closed in, and Scarlett and Zamaya waded in to even the odds in a six-woman brawl that signals the title picture is about to get crowded.

MLW also dropped two major SuperFight bombshells: IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yota Tsuji is heading in from New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and Tessa Blanchard sent word from Mexico that her debut at the sold-out Cicero Stadium show will be a statement. With the Opera Cup resuming next week and Aries watching closely, MLW’s biggest card of the fall is shaping up fast — and personally, for more than a few of the people involved.