MLW Fury Road 2023 HOT TAKE
"The finest fury is the most controlled." ― Christopher Hitchens, Love, Poverty, and War: Journeys and Essays
Major League Wrestling is on the road to triumph and destruction all at once, as it will present FURY ROAD 2023 on Sunday September 3rd, live for FITE+ subscribers from the infamously seedy yet spectacular 2300 Arena, the pulsing center of professional wrestling, South Philadelphia.
MLW proved during its debut on FITE+ that it does indeed NEVER SAY NEVER, shocking the world with the debut of legendary fight promoter Don King, the ascension of Alex Kane as the new MLW World Heavyweight Champion and The Calling's shocking, defiant victory over The Samoan SWAT Team for the World Tag Team Championships.
All of that emotion and anger has only boiled over, multiplied many times over into infinite fury as Major League Wrestling began drift racing from State to State, city to city, highway to highway until all roads delivering MLW's combatants to South Philly and the warfare that can only be waged on a major event like Fury Road.
Indeed, for a promotion that incorporates the unique and distinctive majesty of every professional wrestling style, Major League Wrestling has seen the emotions boil over as championship wars have given way to street attacks, backstage machinations and embittered, bloody brawls. For the MLW competitors, Fury Road isn't paved with the best of intentions, but instead fire, brimstone, lava and hate are mixed together, primed and set for a clicking countdown clock that can only mean the combatants of MLW are once again going to war!
Fury Road on September 3rd will be headlined by the following momentous showdowns!
MLW CHAMPIONSHIP!
Alex Kane has finally won the big one, carrying the entire BOMAYE Fight Club to the championship valhalla in the process. Undoubtedly pleasing Don King, one of the greatest fight promoters in the entire world, Kane now finds himself the ultimate fighter in all of Major League Wrestling, the World Heavyweight Champion, the center of the universe, a king among men.
Surrounded by a big time fight team and all the majesty that comes with being the champion, Kane may have bested Alexander Hammerstone, but his fight isn't done. When Kane is marched to the ring at Fury Road, he'll be surrounded by countless minions, but his challenger is a man who stands alone, one who has fought every step of the way from Los Angeles to Philadelphia seeking his fame and fortune without forgetting exactly who he was when he started this journey.
Indeed Willie Mack is the blue collar champion, at home in the ring as he is back home in the neighborhood. A self-made man who brought all the fighting skills he's developed alongside the aerial gifts he was born with, Mack has shocked every single fan who's ever watched him for the first time. Expecting a burly brawler, instead they, one by one, are awestruck by his insane aerial abilities. Mack has built an army of fans by sheer work ethic and by out-shining everyone's expectations and at Fury Road, he has the chance to match that with his first-ever MLW World Championship victory.
To do so, Mack is going to have to shock a game Alex Kane, who has been primed and trained for his championship moment. Now that he's ascended to greatness, he's going to fight with every fiber of his being to hold onto what he's earned - but no one, no one ever, should ever discount the fighting might of Willle Mack. Fury Road will either be the story of a champion triumphant or a champion crowned, live on FITE+.
"I understand a fury in your words" - William Shakespeare, Othello
KISS MY FOOT MATCH
Mance Warner and The Second Gear Crew are among the most beloved MLW personalities, having earned the respect and adulation of Major League Wrestling fans with every fight fought, every drop of blood spilled and every bone broken. Hard fighting and hard drinking, ol' Mancer and his crew have evolved into the gatekeepers of MLW, protecting the sanctity of the promotion from interlopers inside and beyond the promotion.
But, not even Mance Warner expected that his back and forth with World Titan Wrestling promoter Mister Saint Laurent to lead to this twist of fate. Having engaged with a war of words with the scheming walrus, Warner agreed to throw down with the debuting Matt Cardona, a soul so disrespectful he's already been banned in the 2300 Arena but yet still keeps arriving to compete, learning after the fact that Laurent slipped in a special stipulation: The Loser will have to kiss the foot of the victor.
Cardona is looking to march in MLW to pillage and plunder every championship and ruin every fan's hopes and dreams, seeking to elicit his own orgasmic joy through others' misery. If he can defeat Warner, he'll force one of MLW's most beloved to live through the indignity of the ultimate humiliation. However, if Cardona falls to Warner, as so many have before, it will be Cardona becoming entrapped by a creation of his own making - having to pucker up and taste Bucksnort's finest feet.
"Great fury, like great whiskey, requires long fermentation." ― Truman Capote, Music for Chameleons
WORLDS COLLIDE
If there are two supremely talented professional wrestlers who have lived two very distinctly different lives, they have to be B3CCA and Maki Itoh.
Making her official debut at Never Say Never, B3CCA, the self-proclaimed pop star and the master of an amazing 450 splash, has taken down countless opponents while singing up a storm and creating a furor among her devoted followers, including Love, Doug. B3CCA has brought an amazing intensity and arrogance to the ring, but nothing, nothing compared to "The Fired Idol", the vulgar and insane Maki Itoh.
The Japanese star has headlined worldwide, making headlines in The United States, Canada, Japan and elsewhere before making her way to MLW's Featherweight Division. Having already carved her name infamously across the globe, Itoh now takes the chaotic firefight to B3CCA in Philadelphia.
Having already captured The DDT Pro Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion and the Tokyo Joshi Pro International Princess & Tag Team Championship titles, Itoh is seeking Delmi Exo's MLW Featherweight Championship, but to do so, she'll have to stomp and maim B3CCA. Will that be the pop star's fate or will she shock the world and find herself instead inching closer to championship dreams?
PURE WRESTLING EXCELLENCE
Ichiban vs. Tracy Williams. Yes, you read that right. "Hot Sauce" vs. the proud top graduate of the NumberOne Dojo. Two of the greatest in-ring wizards competing today facing off in one of the finest master chess matches one could ever hope to witness, live as it happens on FITE+.
Williams battled to the finals of the Opera Cup before falling to Davey Boy Smith Jr. He is seeking to rebound from that loss while reminding the world why he's been one of the most talked about pure professional wrestling stars battling around the globe today. Over the last year, Ichiban has exploded upon the scene and now graduates from the independent circuit to the Major League, looking to shock the world as he carves his path to greatness. Only FITE+ fans will witness this technical masterpiece that will set the stage for MLW's future.
As if all that wasn't enough, the countdown clock is on for what appears to be yet another massive international superstar coming to MLW as well as the premiere edition of The Sessions with Mister Saint Laurent, as the fight promoter and his mystery guest find themselves live before the 2300 Arena, the most vicious audience in all of professional wrestling!
The next chapter of Major League Wrestling will kick off when Fury Road roars into Philadelphia. The masters of every combat sport style will be represented as once again, MLW rises like a phoenix from the underground to every FITE+ subscriber across the world. MLW has proven they will Never Say Never and now, Fury Roads explodes as the empire of MLW strikes back, bringing forth the most vicious and hardest-hitting fighters anywhere in the world!
Mike Johnson is the lead reporter for PWInsider.com and has been writing about professional wrestling since 1996. He can be found on Twitter @MikePWInsider and MikeJohnsonWrites.com.