MLW Roundup: Matt Cardona open contract, former ROH TV champ revealed as mystery man, more!

Time to catch up on the week in news from the world of Major League Wrestling.

Slaughterhouse is around the corner on Saturday, October 14. Matt Cardona has been added to the card, and he is offering an open contract. Keeping with the Halloween theme, Cardona is dubbing it the Fright Night Challenge.

The Cardona match will be part of the MLW Fusion TV taping before the live Slaughterhouse PPV.

The Slaughterhouse card received a minor tweak when B3CCA was pulled from the women’s title bout. In the pop star’s place will step in The Phantom Challenger to face Delmi Exo. The storyline states that the record company banned B3CCA from wrestling until she finishes her album. MLW offered Exo the night off, but the God Queen wants to be a fighting champ. There are no hints yet about the identity of The Phantom Challenger.

More details have been shed on Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal when Rickey Shane Page defends the openweight title against 1 Called Manders. The Iowa Hawkeye will spin the wheel to determine the match stipulation. There will be thirteen options, and the graphic lists a handful with Bullrope Match, Spike Match, I Quit Match, Star of Death, Barbed Wire Match, Falls Count Anywhere, Prince of Darkness, and Coal Miner Glove.

The Slaughterhouse lineup for October 14 in Philadelphia currently includes:

• MLW World Heavyweight Championship: Alex Kane (c) vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr.
• MLW vs. NJPW: Jacob Fatu vs. Minoru Suzuki
• Chamber of Horrors: Mance Warner & Matthew Justice vs. The Calling’s Talon & Cannonball
• MLW Women’s World Featherweight Championship: Delmi Exo (c) vs. The Phantom Challenger
• MLW National Openweight Championship: Rickey Shane Page (c) vs. 1 Called Manders in Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal
• MLW vs. CMLL: Akira vs. Rocky Romero

The live Slaughterhouse broadcast will be available for streaming through the Fite+ package on Fite TV.

The Fusion TV taping portion includes:

• Matt Cardona’s Fright Night open challenge
• Ichiban vs. Love, Doug

Those bouts will air on a later date.

Moving over to the latest edition of Fusion (episode 184), a mystery man was revealed. A hooded individual had been seen speaking with TJ Crawford. The surprise was former ROH TV champion Tony Deppen.

Crawford was in three-way action against Alex Price and Kevin Blackwood. Down the stretch, Blackwood lifted Crawford for a powerbomb, then Price flew in uninvited to make it a teamwork blockbuster.

Price took charge with a leg lariat and a plancha to the outside. That’s when the hooded figure rushed to the ring to attack Price. Meanwhile, Blackwood leaped from the turnbuckles, and Crawford countered with a lethal spinning head kick to connect midair for a dope finish.

After the match, Deppen revealed himself to be the mystery attacker. Deppen stomped on Blackwood’s ankle with a chair.

The main event was a street fight for the MLW World Middleweight Championship. Jimmy Lloyd cut weight to compete against Akira. When Lloyd was trapped in an armbar, he lifted Akira to slam on top of tacks. Rickey Shane Page made a beeline for the ring, but Matthew Justice cut him off at the pass to brawl to the back. Lloyd capitalized for a package piledriver on tacks. Akira kicked out. Lloyd had grand plans for a move on top of open chairs, however, Akira countered for a DDT onto the steel to win.

In the opener, Tiara James handled business against Zayda Steel. A spinebuster paved the road to a double-arm DDT for victory.

On the promo tip, Salina de la Renta announced the first match between MLW and CMLL. She is bringing in Rocky Romero to battle Akira in champ versus champ. (Update: The match has been upgraded to title versus title for the CMLL World Historic Welterweight Championship and the MLW World Middleweight Championship.)

MLW ran an exposé on the World Titan Federation. The angle was investigating if Mister Saint Laurent has ideas to poach talent and start his own rival promotion. MSL had other business on his mind. In preparation for Davey Boy Smith Jr. challenging Alex Kane for the world heavyweight title at Slaughterhouse, MSL arranged a mystery opponent for Kane on the next episode of Fusion.

Matt Cardona tried to stream a social media hangout, but it was interrupted by Maki Itoh and Mance Warner. Calamity ensued.

Closing with the new intro package aired by MLW. No politics, no billionaires, just wrestling.

Share your thoughts on the happenings in MLW.