MLW Fusion ALPHA Report: Richards vs. TJP in the Opera Cup Finals

John Siino reviews MLW Fusion ALPHA featuring the finals of the Opera Cup with Davey Richards taking on TJP in the main event.

Photo Courtesy: MLW

MLW Fusion ALPHA #11

December 1st, 2021

2300 Arena – Philadelphia, PA

By: John Siino

Commentary: Rich Bocchini & Joe Dombrowski

KC Navarro vs. Warhorse

Navarro goes right at Warhorse, knocking him to the outside where he dives onto him. Back inside, Navarro hits a missile dropkick knocking Navarro to the corner. Warhorse starts banging his own head against the turnbuckle and catches Navarro for a crossbody. Warhorse keeps Navarro in the corner with stomps and chops, keeps him on the ropes, and blocks Navarro’s attempt at a sunset flip. Warhorse starts working on the ankle of Navarro with the Blackfoot Death Lock, but Navarro grabs the rope. Navarro comes back with a dropkick and a splash in the corner, followed by a tornado DDT for a two count. Navarro goes to the top but misses, hits a superkick but runs into a lariat by Warhorse for a two count. Warhorse now goes to the top and misses and gets hit with a sunset bomb for a two, followed quickly by the Jesus Piece (a running Sliced Bread) by Navarro for the pin and the win.

Winner: KC Navarro by pinfall at 5:32

Police Ass Questions

Emilio Sparks ran up to Myron Reed outside and asked him if he purposely sent Calvin Tankman after Alex Kane to help him win the ladder match. Reed said Kane losing that match is his gain 100% and says Sparks is asking ‘police ass questions’ and said he’s not doing this anymore and walks away.

They announce due to their brawl from a couple of weeks ago, next week it will be a Philly Street Fight for the MLW World Tag Team Championship with Los Parks defending against 5150.

We go back to Emilio Sparks who is live streaming Cesar Duran coming out of his office counting money while wearing Matanza’s key over his neck.

Top Dogs (Davienne & Skylar) vs. Sea Stars (Ashley Vox & Delmi Exo)

Willow Nightingale joins commentary for this Featherweight tag team match. Top Dogs make their MLW debut and attack Sea Stars from behind before the bell rings. Sea Stars come back with a double backbreaker knocking the Top Dogs to the outside where they are met with a double dive. Davienne and Exo end up being the official starters as Davienne gets a two count after a body drop, before tagging in Skylar who keeps Exo in their corner with a boot to the throat. Willow on commentary calls out Holidead after what happened to her and says she blacked out when she got dragged under the ring by Holidead. Top Dogs keep Exo in their corner and take turns tagging in and out while delivering offense to Exo including a sliding dropkick for a two. Exo is able to dodge and make the hot tag to Vox who comes in with a double missile dropkick and trades chops between Top Dogs, hitting a clothesline on Skylar for a two. All four come in and start brawling, but the Sea Stars hit the Tidal Wave as Vox gets the pin on Skylar for the win.

Winners: Sea Stars (Ashley Vox & Delmi Exo) by pinfall at 4:49

Holidead makes her way to the commentary table and she and Willow start brawling from the apron all the way to the back.

We go back to Emilio Sparks’ livestream where we see Cesar Duran’s henchman showing Duran the mask of Matanza in a box.

Bomaye Fight Club

The new MLW National Openweight Champion Alex Kane is at a table with Mr. Thomas doing a press conference-style interview and says today marks the dawn of a new era. Today he is establishing the new Bomaye Fight Club which means ‘finish him’, ‘kill him’. Just like when Muhammad Ali won the Rumble in the Jungle, the whole Republic of Congo chanted it. Kane will finish every opponent in his ring quickly and efficiently just like he did with Calvin Tankman. He’s done here as he has a new contract to sign for a new gym in Atlanta. Kane starts chanting Bomaye as Mr. Thomas holds up the title.

They announce next week Alex Hammerstone will face a mystery opponent.

We Ain’t Afraid of No Ghosts

5150 cut a promo in the ECW Arena bathroom by the mural and Slice Boogie starts by saying ‘they done fucked up’ by giving them a title shot as they just got here and don’t have to go through all the bullshit wrestling politics and wait for years. Dr. Julius Smokes chimes in and says ‘we ain’t afraid of no ghosts’. Konnan says everybody knew that something was different, and something was going to change, and it did. Rivera ends it by saying no tag team could fuck with them and next week it’s going down.

We get yet another Emilio Sparks live stream where he gets a close-up of Cesar Duran and his henchman at a door. Duran takes his key out and says, ‘my brother, it’s time to unleash havoc’, as he opens the door. Duran steps in the door with the mask in the box as Sparks runs away.

2021 Opera Cup Finals: TJP vs. Davey Richards

They show a promo from TJP before the match bringing up Richards’ four knee surgeries and says he never loses two matches in a row, as Richards got the first win on the premiere of Fusion ALPHA. Richards comes back and says steel sharpens steel and we’re going to find out who has the sharper blade. The crowd is fully behind Richards as commentary mentions TJP is the only person to compete in all three Opera Cups since MLW brought it back. Richards takes TJP to the mat, as they trade submissions and pin attempts. Richards works on the wrist of TJP, but TJP is able to escape out as they circle each other in the ring. They go back to trading submissions on the mat, including a head scissors by Richards. TJP keeps trying to escape with a headstand, but Richards counters with mini sitting piledrivers. TJP finally escapes and stretches back the legs of Richards, transitioning into a bridged submission. TJP keeps Richards in the corner with his boot as the boos rain down on him. Richards reverses it and does the same but gets dropkicked on his knee and knocked to the outside. TJP joins him and drops Richards face-first into the apron as they go to the commercial.

When we come back, they are still brawling on the outside, with TJP being kicked against the barricade before they go back inside. TJP goes right after the legs of Richards and gets a two count before applying a chin lock. TJP applies a figure four, but Richards is able to reverse it before TJP grabs the rope. TJP hits a slingshot senton, but Richards puts his leg on the rope on the pin attempt. They start trading strikes and kicks until Richards knocks TJP down with a clothesline, falling down himself in the process. They go back to trading strikes before Richards traps TJP with a Dragon Screw on the rope. Richards climbs the top, but misses a dive, quickly going into a Trailer Hitch submission, before TJP breaks it on the ropes. They start trading waist locks until TJP hits the Detonation Kick for the two. They start fighting on the apron, ending in TJP hitting a suplex, followed by the frog splash, but Richards kicks out. TJP hits a boot in the corner, goes for another one, but gets stopped with a kick to the chest by Richards. Richards goes to the top, howls, and hits a double stomp, followed by another one but TJP kicks out at out. Richards hits a brainbuster for a two, followed by an ankle lock, TJP gets out, rolls up Richards for a two, but Richards turns in into another ankle lock as TJP taps out.

Winner: Davey Richards by submission at 18:49, to win the 2021 Opera Cup

The Hunt Never Dies

Cesar Duran comes to the ring and presents the Opera Cup to Davey Richards. Richards gets on the mic and says he feels like he’s known Philadelphia forever. He looks around and doesn’t see fans or a paying customer, he sees the only family that he’s ever known. They were there when he was starting out when his family died when he became world champion and here when he won the Opera Cup. Richards said he was told to dedicate this to someone very special to him, but he doesn’t follow the script so he dedicates it to Philadelphia, and as long as he can, he will step in this ring and every night will give him every penny they’ve spent as this hunt never dies.

Next Week

  • Philly Street Fight / MLW World Tag Team Championship: Los Parks (c) vs. 5150
  • Nzo vs. Matt Cross
  • Alex Hammerstone in action
About John Siino 412 Articles
New York native and reporter at POST Wrestling. He is also Associate Producer at POISONRANA, co-host of 'Collision Course' and the host of the 'Shot in the Dark' podcast.