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Joe Dombrowski and Rich Bocchini welcomed us to Charlotte, North Carolina and ran down the card for tonight: Marshall & Ross Von Erich are forced to face their friends in Ricky Morton and his son Kerry, Myron Reed defends his Middleweight title against TJP, plus the return of Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat.

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Cesar Duran came to the ring to open the episode and said Charlotte is no Mexico and is a trash can full of ghosts. He talked foul of the legends and older wrestlers who have graced Charlotte over the years, which of course brought out Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat to confront him.

Steamboat told us all that he was the guest matchmaker for tonight as Duran is under investigation by MLW. As Duran was being led away by security, a masked henchman tried to attack Steamboat but "The Dragon" got the better of him.

Steamboat was about to tell us some good news, but Richard Holliday and Alicia Atout decided to interrupt and try to get Steamboat to announce Holliday as the number one contender. Atout said her man wants "a big match." Steamboat teased announcing Alex Hammerstone vs. Holliday but instead gave him Matt Cross.

Emilio Sparks caught up with new MLW Tag Team Champions EJ Nduka & Calvin Tankman. Tankman dedicated their title win to his baby daughter. They were then congratulated by Middleweight Champion Myron Reed before his title defense against TJP.

MLW Middleweight Champion Myron Reed defeated TJP to retain his title

In a pre-match video package, TJP said he was bigger, stronger, and better than Reed, and if Reed was to do what TJP did by the time he was 24, Reed would need to live for 100 years. Reed said he didn't care how long TJP had been doing this and it was his job to slay the dragon and get him out of here.

They had a really good match that built slowly and was given plenty of time to reach a hot finish.

After an early exchange, Reed extended his hand -- but TJP took a cheap shot. Reed got his revenge moments later with a dropkick to the face, but the champion's shine didn't last too long as he landed hard on his shoulder and TJP drove him into the ring post.

TJP pulled out his usual repertoire of slow methodical heel traits like boot scrapes mixed in between his crisp fluid transitions and targeted attacks. He kept going back to the shoulder, locking in an octopus hold before switching to a surfboard.

Reed had enough of the cocky TJP, so he took his chance and hit a huge dive to the outside to swing the match in his favor. Inside, Reed hit a leg drop while the challenger hung on the middle rope, then hit a big enzuigiri to floor TJP.

Reed tried to hit his running cutter to the floor while TJP was on the apron, but TJP reversed to a neckbreaker on the apron. TJP then hit a frog splash for a close near fall. TJP locked in a Fujiwara armbar after Reed missed a springboard 450 splash, but the champion got to the ropes.

TJP went for a second frog splash, but Reed caught him in mid-air with a cutter out of nowhere to pick up the win and retain his title.

Richard Holliday (w/ Alicia Atout) defeated Matt Cross

Holliday was quick to be the aggressor, but Cross had the crowd on their feet minutes later with a handspring elbow and a dive to the floor.

Cross was tripped while on the middle rope and he dropped back and neck-first on the top turnbuckle. Holliday took him out with a hard clothesline, then Atout added insult to injury with a slap behind the referee's back.

Cross fired back with a springboard crossbody, but Holliday returned with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker as the action started swinging back and forth. Cross reversed Holliday's finisher before he hit his Cross Cutter, but Holliday kicked out.

Holliday hit a pop-up right hand after he dodged Cross' Shooting Star Press. Holliday finally put Cross away with his suplex swinging neckbreaker "2008" finisher.

Bocchini tried to get a word with Holliday and Atout, but Atout stole the mic as she was "the true interview queen." Holliday then told us all that The Dynasty was always about him and that he and Atout now run the show.

We had an in-depth look into Tag Team Champion EJ Nduka as we heard stories from earlier in his life as he pursued a career in football. Nduka spoke about being part of WWE developmental and being released due to budget cuts. Nduka said one of the calls that he got after being released was from MLW, and their vision for the future coincided with Nduka's.

Sparks then caught up with Alex Kane and Mr. Thomas, but they blew off his question when he tried to ask who was funding their Bomaye Fight Club.

Marshall & Ross Von Erich defeated Ricky & Kerry Morton

Kerry Morton and Ross Von Erich had a good early exchange. When Kerry's dad tagged in, the Mortons hit some fan friendly double-team moves in this face vs. face matchup.

The Von Erichs hit the Rock 'n' Roll Express double dropkick finisher, which didn't sit too well with Ricky as the Von Erichs started to show a few small heel tendencies. Moments later, after breaking up a pin, Ricky Morton hit Ross with a Destroyer to the shock of the announce team.

Marshall locked in The Claw on Ricky. Kerry tried to get Marshall to break the hold and shouted "What are you doing?" as the friendly rivalry started turning a bit sour. Ross grabbed Kerry and rattled him with a few right hands before helping his brother hit The Claw Slam to pick up the win.

After the bell, the two teams had a shoving match before Julius Smokes came out and bad mouthed all four competitors, which caused the distraction so 5150 could come through the crowd and attack them from behind.

Even after their heated match, the Von Erichs and Mortons regrouped and sent Rivera and Slice Boogie packing as Fusion went off the air.

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Next Week --

  • Holidead vs. Shazza McKenzie

This article first appeared on F4WOnline.com and was syndicated with permission.

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