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- On the Intimidation Games fallout show Fusion #24 [aired 21st June] Court Bauer would reveal that Major League Wrestling had come to an agreement with Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks and that the promotion would have a presence at the independent event All In on the 1st September and was now able to announce that the match for the MLW Women’s World Championship would take place at that event. Bauer would then make the point that so far Priscilla Kelly and Tenille Dashwood were confirmed as participants at that event - but as promised two further ‘Star Tokens’ would be up for grabs at Battle Riot on the 21st July live and exclusive on FITE TV.
- He would also announce that in the build up to All In, Fusion episodes #33 & #34 would be a special edition of the program known as ‘Fury Road’ and would serve as build up to the independent event on the 1st of September and suggested that talent from other promotions might be present on MLW as part of this build up. Court would clarify that further qualifying matches would take place - and that at Battle Riot a Four Woman Two Falls match would take place and that the two women that secured a fall would each claim a ‘Star Token’ of their own.
- One qualifier would take place each week for four weeks with the results as following: Mia Yim defeated Diana Dahlgreen [Fusion #24], Sumie Sakai defeated Jenny Rose [Fusion #25], Santina Garret defeated Zheda Zang [Fusion #26] and in the final match Taya Valkyrie would make her MLW singles debut to pick up a victory over Stella Grey [Fusion #27] to take the final spot in the Four Way Match at Battle Riot.
Four Women Two Falls Star Token Match
Sumie Sakai vs. Mia Yim vs. Santina Garret vs. Taya Valkyrie
Act Three: Part Two
- It was announced during the go-home show, that on the next week’s episode of Fusion - Juice Robinson would finally be granted his shot at the NEVER Openweight Championship in a match against Hirooki Goto in Fusion #25’s main-event. The match itself [aired 28th June] would prove to be a captivating contest and Juice would pull all the stops out of the bag in an impressive performance that would see him round off the night by forcing Goto to by way of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Clutch (Back mounted cobra clutch) to win the match and begin his first reign as the NEVER Openweight Champion.
- A week later [Fusion #26] Juice would cut a heartfelt promo in which he would make it clear that by becoming the NEVER Openweight Champion he had raised his stock once again and this had led to his contract with New Japan being renewed. Juice though would make it clear that he was thankful for the opportunities that Court Bauer had made available to him by involving him in booking plans and that he would be in possession of this title if it wasn’t for Major League Wrestling. Juice promised to give the fans what they wanted though and that was one final match before he returned to Japan full-time with the NEVER Openweight Championship on the line, but that as things stood an opponent was yet to be decided - but he had been given permission to hand pick a worthy opponent of his own choosing.
- It would be at the start of Fusion #27 [aired 12th July] that it would be announced that a three contest between Fred Yehi, Matt Riddle and Joey Janela would take place and that the winner of the contest would be set to challenge Juice for the championship at Battle Riot. In an explosive contest, which would offer an opportunity of a lifetime for all involved. The victory would be achieved by Matt Riddle who would end the contest by hitting Janela with the Bro Derek (Jumping Tombstone Piledriver) to win the contest. After the match he would be joined in the ring by Juice Robinson who would state that he had been impressed by what he had seen in the back and was looking forward to going toe-to-toe with Riddle at Battle Riot.
NEVER Openweight Championship Juice Robinson (c) vs. Matt Riddle
- As was the benefit of winning the Tag Team Turmoil match - GT Force (Gresham & Taven) would be given their non-title singles match against newly crowned champions The Midnight Triggermen (ACH & Trey Miguel) on the fallout show [Fusion #25]. Taven and Gresham were starting to show some promise as a team, but ACH and Trey would remind everyone why they had been the best team in the tournament and had gone on to become the MLW World Tag Team Champions. After the match ACH would take a microphone and cut a promo and state that he was impressed with what Matt and Taven had brought to the table - and that if they got a few more wins on their back they would consider giving them another shot at Battle Riot.
- The two teams would find themselves being interrupted by the New Era Hart Foundation with unmasked members Jack Evans and Teddy Hart standing at the front of the group. Jacks Evan would raise the point that he and his partner had also lost to TMT in the second round of the tournament - after having already beaten GT Force in the first round. Miguel would make a joke that Jack Evans' partner must be really ugly if he was still hiding underneath a mask. The comments would get a reaction and from the back line one of the men would reveal themselves as Ted DiBiase, Jr. TDJ would argue that if himself and Jack were able to prove themselves as the better team then they should be the team that got to challenge for the gold. ACH would nod his head and agree to terms and wish both teams the best of luck - because no matter who proved themselves the better the team, the real challenge would take place at Battle Riot.
- Both potential challenging teams would be booked in a match each in the weeks that followed. Hart Foundation (Evans & TDJ) would pick up a win of Team Janelope on Fusion #25. The following week GT Force would pick an impressive win over the losing tag team tournament finalist Filthy Factory (Gotch & Young) which put both prospecting teams at one win apiece.
- With only two weeks left until Battle Riot, the Hart Foundation would pick up another win [Fusion #27 aired 12th July] this time beating the Lucha Bros in an impressive performance, in which they would push both luchadores to their absolute limit. On the go-home show [Fusion #28] GT Force would be pitted against Violence Unlimited and it would prove to be a very close match, with Gresham looking on the verge of picking up the win - only for two masked members of New Era Hart Foundation to slide into the ring and proceed to attack Tyler Bateman result in the match ending via DQ and Violence Unlimited being awarded the win. In a post-match fight - the masks of both men would be removed in what would become a three on two fight with Brody King siding with GT Force, with Davey Boy Smith, Jr. and Brian Pillman, Jr. revealed as the two attackers as they would eventually be forced to retreat from the ring.
- Brody King would grab the microphone and in anger state that he didn’t know what the hell just took place, but that Battle Riot he was taking things into his own hands and so he would be teaming up with Taven and Gresham to take on Pillman, Smith and their stooge of a leader Teddy Hart in a Lucha Rules Six-man Tag Team match. King would then whisper something to Gresham and Taven that they would seem to agree with and end by stating from this day forth GT Force would always be recognized as Violence Unlimited seeming to confirm that both tag team had merged to form a unit of their own.
- It would also be confirmed later on in the evening, that the New Era Hart Foundation combination of Jack Evans & Ted DiBiase, Jr. would challenge The Midnight Triggermen for the MLW World Tag Team Championship at Battle Riot.
MLW World Tag Team Championships
The Midnight Triggermen (ACH & Trey Miguel) (c) vs. Hart Foundation (Evans & TDJ)
Lucha Rules Six-Man Tag Team Match
Violence Unlimited (Gresham, Taven & King) w/ Tyler Bateman vs. Hart Foundation (Hart, Pillman, Jr. & Smith, Jr.)
- On the Intimidation Games fallout show [Fusion #25] reigning MLW World Heavyweight Champion Satoshi Kojima would open the episode by offering high praise of Shane Strickland, despite the bad blood between them leading to their match over the weekend. However, Kojima would make it known that he was a fighting champion and he had been massively impressed with Sami Callihan’s performance and so he had decided there was no needed to wait around and that in the evening’s main-event he would put his belt on the line against the rightful number one contender.
- Sami was still shown cuts and bruises from his intense battle with Tama Tonga and when the fighting began it didn’t take very long for some of those cuts to open up again and blood to start flowing. Sami though looked extremely focused and would seem to push through the pain and really push Kojima to the limit. The champ would look genuinely shocked when he would connect with what looked like a perfect Lariat, only for Sami to raise his shoulders off the mat before the referee could reach two on the pin count. The men would battle for a few more minutes, until finally Satoshi would bring the match to a finish by leaping off the turnbuckle to nail Callihan with the Kojima Cutter to take the victory. In the aftermath both men looked exhausted, and it was clear that Satoshi had very much been tested.
- It was announced on Fusion #26 [aired 5th July] that the three men to have previously competed against Kojima with the world title on the line would face off in a triple threat number one contender’s match - and that the winner would face Kojima for the belt at Battle Riot. The match would see Strickland, Cobb and Callihan feature in a great contender’s match - but it would be the finalist of the original Heavyweight Tournament Jeff Cobb who would claim the victory after hitting Strickland with the Tour of the Islands.
- A week later Jeff Cobb would cut a promo about not wasting second opportunities and that at Zero Hour he had been reckless and not acted with enough respect towards Kojima, but this time round he was more than ready and that he would do everything in his power and that unlike a lot of other pretenders he actually deserved to have a shot at the gold. He would be interrupted by MVP - who seemed to have taken exception to what Cobb was saying, with the number one contender making his intention clear. That next week on the go-home show he was going to kick Montel’s ass in the ring and then he was going to then wrestle later on in the night and get a win over the man that had embarrassed MVP at Intimidation Games Toki Makabe.
- And at Fusion #28 Jeff Cobb would do exactly that by first claiming a squash victory over MVP at the start of the show, before battling with the Japanese veteran Makabe and picking up a strong win to become the first man in MLW history to win two matches on one episode of Fusion. After the second match, Kojima would offer his hand to Cobb and wish him luck. Cobb though would say that until he claimed a win of Kojima, he didn’t deserve his respect
MLW World Heavyweight Championship Satoshi Kojima (c) vs. Jeff Cobb
Act Three: Part Five
- On the Intimidation Games fallout show Fusion #24 [aired 21st June] Court Bauer would reveal that Major League Wrestling had come to an agreement with Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks and that the promotion would have a presence at the independent event All In on the 1st September and was now able to announce that the match for the MLW Women’s World Championship would take place at that event. During the same promo Court would explain that at Battle Riot - the main-event would be a match of type of the same name and that it was a “Rumble” style 40-person battle royal in which participants enter at one minute intervals and are eliminated via pinfall, submission or by being thrown over the top rope and that the winner would be awarded a shot at the MLW World Heavyweight Championship. Bauer would then explain that in this instance, the shot for the title would take place at the All In event and that the winner would battle for the title against the winner of Kojima and Cobb and that entrants would be announced over the next few weeks in the build up to what he hoped would be MLW’s biggest SuperShow since the promotion’s relaunch.
The following thirty names would be announced as official participants for the Battle Riot match:
MVP
SHANE STRICKLAND
SILAS YOUNG
JOEY JANELA
JOHNNY FUSION
TOGI MAKABE
FRED YEHI
PENTAGON, JR.
TOM LAWLOR
REY FENIX
MIKE PARROW
RICOCHET
JIMMY YUTA
SIMON GOTCH
JASON CADE
SAMMY GUEVARA
HOMICIDE
CHUCK TAYLOR
SONJAY DUTT
MJF
DONOVAN DIJAK
DARBY ALLIN
BRODY KING
MATT RIDDLE
TAMA TONGA
SAMI CALLIHAN
MATT TAVEN
JONATHAN GRESHAM
FLAMITA
BANDIDO
It was also announced that ten mystery entrants would also be entered into the Battle Riot - and that all wrestlers would draw their entry order on the night of the Battle Riot.
MVP
SHANE STRICKLAND
SILAS YOUNG
JOEY JANELA
JOHNNY FUSION
TOGI MAKABE
FRED YEHI
PENTAGON, JR.
TOM LAWLOR
REY FENIX
MIKE PARROW
RICOCHET
JIMMY YUTA
SIMON GOTCH
JASON CADE
SAMMY GUEVARA
HOMICIDE
CHUCK TAYLOR
SONJAY DUTT
MJF
DONOVAN DIJAK
DARBY ALLIN
BRODY KING
MATT RIDDLE
TAMA TONGA
SAMI CALLIHAN
MATT TAVEN
JONATHAN GRESHAM
FLAMITA
BANDIDO
BONUS: Guess 5 of the surprise entrants (if you previously selected entrants - obviously you can't guess your selection.
[Predictions welcomed - winner will get to pick to make entrant suggestion for the next tournament]