SuperFight (2019) was a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...

produced by

Major League Wrestling Major League Wrestling (MLW), is an American professional wrestling promotion based in New Rochelle, New York. The promotion was founded in 2002 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by former WWE writer Court Bauer. The promotion markets its product as ...

(MLW). It took place on February 2, 2019, at the

2300 Arena 2300 Arena is a multipurpose indoor arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania used primarily for professional wrestling, boxing, mixed martial arts, and concert events. Originally known as Viking Hall, the venue has since been named Alhambra Arena, The ...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. The event aired live on television as a two-hour special episode of ''

Fusion Fusion, or synthesis, is the process of combining two or more distinct entities into a new whole. Fusion may also refer to: Science and technology Physics *Nuclear fusion, multiple atomic nuclei combining to form one or more different atomic nucl ...

'' on

beIN Sports beIN Sports ( ) is a global network of sports channels owned and operated by the Qatari media group beIN. It has played a major role in the increased commercialization of Qatari sports. Its chairman is Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and its CEO is Yousef O ...

, and it was the first event under the SuperFight chronology. Fourteen matches were contested at the event, with nine matches being taped for future episodes of ''Fusion'' while three matches were broadcast live on SuperFight. The live broadcast notably featured two title changes as

Tom Lawlor Thomas Joseph Lawlor (born May 15, 1983) is an American professional wrestler, retired mixed martial artist and podcast host. He is best known for his time in Major League Wrestling (MLW), where he was a former one-time MLW World Heavyweight Cham ...

cashed in his

Battle Riot Battle Riot is a professional wrestling event produced by Major League Wrestling (MLW). The event is named after the Battle Riot match, a multi-competitor match type in which wrestlers are eliminated until one is left and declared winner. The ma ...

opportunity to defeat

Low Ki Brandon Silvestry (born September 6, 1979) is an American professional wrestler of Italian and Puerto Rican descent, better known by his ring name Low Ki. He is known for his time with Impact Wrestling, Ring of Honor and Major League Wrestlin ...

to win the World Heavyweight Championship and

The Hart Foundation The Hart Foundation is the name of several derivative tag teams and stables composed primarily of members and close friends of the Hart wrestling family. The name originated in the World Wrestling Federation in 1985 with the original Hart Foundat ...

(

Davey Boy Smith Jr. Harry Francis Smith (born August 2, 1985) is a Canadian professional wrestler, best known under the ring name Davey Boy Smith Jr. and his real name Harry Smith. He currently performs for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), where he was o ...

and

Teddy Hart Edward Ellsworth Annis (born February 2, 1980) is a Canadian-American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Teddy Hart. He currently wrestles on the independent circuit. He wrestled on a National scale for Major League Wrestling ...

) defeated

The Lucha Brothers The Lucha Brothers, also known as The Lucha Bros or Los Lucha Bros, are a Mexican professional wrestling tag team consisting of brothers Penta El Zero Miedo/Penta Oscuro and Rey Fénix, and their manager Alex Abrahantes. They currently compete ...

(

Pentagon Jr. In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simpl ...

and

Rey Fenix Rey may refer to: *Rey (given name), a given name *Rey (surname), a surname * Rey (''Star Wars''), a character in the ''Star Wars'' films *Rey, Iran, a city in Iran * Ray County, in Tehran Province of Iran * ''Rey'' (film), a 2015 Indian film *The ...

) to win the

World Tag Team Championship The world tag team championship is the name usually given to the primary tag team championships in professional wrestling promotions. Nomenclature The name of the promotion is often preceded to the term "world tag team championship" as the ...

Production

Background

In July 2017,

resumed promoting events for the first time since the promotion's original closure in 2004. The success of these events lead MLW to secure a television deal with

for a new program, ''

MLW Fusion ''MLW Fusion'' is a professional wrestling television program produced by Major League Wrestling (MLW) that originally premiered on April 20, 2018 on beIN Sports USA. On November 10, 2022, the series began streaming on Pro Wrestling TV. A thir ...

'', which debuted on April 20, 2018. On October 8, MLW announced that it would be holding an event titled ''SuperFight'' on February 2. On November 9, MLW announced that the event would be held at the famous.

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Storylines

The card consisted of matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed

villains A villain (also known as a "black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character as ...

heroes Heroes or Héroes may refer to: * Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good Film * ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama * ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film Gaming * ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...

, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches, with results predetermined by MLW's writers. Storylines were played out on MLW's television program ''

''.

won the first-ever Battle Riot match at the namesake event on July 19, 2018, thus earning the right to challenge for the

MLW World Heavyweight Championship The MLW World Heavyweight Championship is a world heavyweight championship owned and promoted by Major League Wrestling (MLW). It is the promotion's principal championship. The championship was established on September 26, 2002 during the MLW Re ...

at any place and any time of his choosing within six months. On the October 19 episode of ''Fusion'', Lawlor defeated former champion

Shane Strickland Stephon Strickland (born September 30, 1990) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs under the ring name Swerve Strickland and is a former AEW World Tag Team Champion (with Keith Lee). ...

to cement his status as MLW's

franchise player In professional sports, a franchise player is an athlete who is both the best player on their team and one that the team can build their "franchise" around for the foreseeable future. Overview In the United States, outstanding players were refe ...

and then announced that he would challenge

for the title at SuperFight. This led to the beginning of a feud between Lawlor and Ki's group Promociones Dorado as Lawlor would be attacked by

Sami Callihan Samuel Alton Johnston (born September 1, 1987) is an American professional wrestler and promoter, better known by the ring name Sami Callihan, currently signed with Impact Wrestling and is a former Impact World Champion. He also wrestled for Luch ...

on the October 26 episode of ''Fusion'', whom Lawlor defeated in a Street Fight on the November 16 episode of ''Fusion'' and then Lawlor's teammate

Simon Gotch Seth Lesser (born October 18, 1982) is an American professional wrestler better known by the ring name Simon Gotch. He is best known for his time in WWE, where he held the NXT Tag Team Championship as one-half of The Vaudevillains along with Aid ...

turned on him by setting him up to get attacked by Promociones Dorado. On the December 28 episode of ''Fusion'', Low Ki defended the title against

Konnan Charles Ashenoff (born Carlos Santiago Espada Moises; January 6, 1964),''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'', Dave Meltzer, ed., May 10, 2010, issue.Sims, Steve"Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame/Founded by Dave Meltzer - Konnan". Accessed August 1, 2016. O ...

in a

no disqualification match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or " gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

which ended in a no contest after Promociones Dorado members attacked Konnan until Lawlor made the save. On the January 11, 2019 episode of ''Fusion'', Low Ki defeated Lawlor's

Team Filthy ''Team Filthy'' is a professional wrestling stable, performing in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and previously Major League Wrestling (MLW) . The group was formed on October 5, 2017 during One Shot by "Filthy" Tom Lawlor. History Major League ...

member

Fred Yehi Fred Yehi is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in Full Impact Pro, Major League Wrestling and Evolve. Professional wrestling career Evolve and Full Impact Pro (2015–2020) Yehi made his Evolve debut at E ...

while

Salina de la Renta Natalia Class (born February 6, 1997) is a Puerto Rican professional wrestler and valet better known by her ring name Salina de la Renta. She is a free agent most recently signed to Major League Wrestling (MLW). As Salina de la Renta she has rec ...

tried to set up Lawlor for an attack by Sami Callihan but Lawlor foiled the plan and attacked Callihan with the hammer. This set up Ki and Lawlor's title match for SuperFight. On November 20, MLW announced that

(

and

) would defend the

against

(

and

) at Never Say Never on the basis of Hart Foundation's dominant streak in the tag team division. However, Fenix suffered a groin injury and the title match was postponed for a later date. On December 27, MLW announced that Lucha Brothers would be competing at SuperFight. On January 3, it was announced that the originally scheduled World Tag Team Championship match between Lucha Brothers and Hart Foundation would be taking place at SuperFight. On December 21, it was reported by MLW that Kotto Brazil had been attacked by an unknown assailant at a nightclub in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

and was consequently hospitalized. Promociones Dorado member Ricky Martinez was later revealed to be the assailant and the MLW management suspended him on the December 28 episode of ''Fusion''. Shortly after Brazil recovered from his injury, a match was made between Brazil and Martinez at SuperFight.

Event

Preliminary matches

The first match that opened the live broadcast featured

(

and

) defending the

against

(

and

). Smith ripped off Pentagon's mask, allowing Smith and Hart to nail a '' Canadian Destroyer'' to Fenix to win the titles. Next, Kotto Brazil made his return to MLW against Ricky Martinez. Brazil had applied a submission hold on Martinez making him tap out but Martinez' valet

distracted the referee, which led to Brazil grabbing her and Salina sprayed Brazil's eye with a Pepper Spray, allowing Martinez to roll him up for the win.

Main event match

In the main event,

defended the World Heavyweight Championship against

. Ki nailed a ''Warrior's Way'' on Lawlor but got a near-fall. Ki tried to apply a ''Dragon Clutch'' on Lawlor but Lawlor countered it into a

rear naked choke The rear naked choke (RNC) is a chokehold in martial arts applied from an opponent's back. The word "naked" in this context suggests that, unlike other strangulation techniques found in jujutsu/judo, this hold does not require the use of a keikogi ...

to make Ki pass out and win the title.

Reception

''SuperFight'' received mixed reviews from critics. Jordon Lawrenz of ''PW Ponderings'' rated the event 4 out of 10, appreciating the World Tag Team Championship match considering it to be "pretty good, but even that could’ve been better, and was easily the best thing on the show." He panned the singles match between Ricky Martinez and Kotto Brazil as well as the quick ending to the World Heavyweight Championship match, citing that the match was "SEVEN MONTHS in the making and all they get is basically a seven-minute squash match". Arnold Furious of ''WrestleTalk'' considered it to be a "Very, very disappointing show". ''Cageside Seats'' staff appreciated the show, considering it to be "dynamite". According to the staff, "All three matches lived up to their marquee billing" and "Both title matches had a big fight feel." They considered the World Tag Team Championship match to be "mighty fine in terms of excitement" and "The finish was curious from a booking and rumor perspective." According to them, the World Heavyweight Championship match was "thrilling" and "complimented the story that had been told to that point" but "the finish was abrupt."

Aftermath

Tom Lawlor and Low Ki continued their rivalry after SuperFight as Lawlor would defend the World Heavyweight Championship against Low Ki in a steel cage rematch at Intimidation Games. On the February 16 episode of ''Fusion'', Teddy Hart defended the

World Middleweight Championship In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

against

Maxwell Jacob Friedman Maxwell T. Friedman (born March 15, 1996), better known by his ring name Maxwell Jacob Friedman (often abbreviated to MJF), is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the current AE ...

, who had been stripped off the title in 2018 due to an injury. Hart retained the title but MJF and Richard Holliday assaulted Hart in the backstage area during a post-match interview. MJF and Holliday formed an alliance called The Dynasty and began feuding with the Hart Foundation, which led to a match between the two teams for the World Tag Team Championship at Intimidation Games.

Results

References

External links

SuperFight official website
{{MLWPPV, SuperFight Major League Wrestling shows 2019 in professional wrestling Professional wrestling in Philadelphia February 2019 events in the United States 2010s American television specials 2019 American television episodes 2019 in Pennsylvania Events in Philadelphia