Kings of Colosseum (2019)
Kings of Colosseum (2019) was a professional wrestling supercard event produced by Major League Wrestling, which took place on July 6, 2019 at the Cicero Stadium in Cicero, Illinois. It was the first event under the Kings of Colosseum chronology. The event aired live as a two-hour special episode of MLW's weekly television series, "Fusion", on beIN Sports. Fourteen matches were taped at the event, with three matches airing live, and the other eleven matches shown on later episodes of "Fusion". In the main event of the live broadcast, Jacob Fatu defeated Tom Lawlor  to win the MLW World Heavyweight Championship. In other matches on the undercard, Alexander Hammerstone retained the MLW National Openweight Championship against Kotto Brazil and Myron Reed took on Rey Horus. Production. Background. On February 18, 2019, MLW.com announced that it would be holding an event in Chicago at the Cicero Stadium in Cicero, Illinois on July 6. The event would be titled "Kings of Colosseum". It was announced that the event would air as a special episode of "Fusion" on beIN Sports. Storylines. The card consisted of matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, 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 "Fusion". At Intimidation Games, Tom Lawlor successfully defended the MLW World Heavyweight Championship against Low Ki in a steel cage match and then Lawlor's former Team Filthy teammate Simon Gotch joined forces with the team of newcomers Jacob Fatu and Josef Samael to attack Lawlor after the match and formed a faction known as Contra Unit. At Battle Riot II, Contra Unit attacked Lawlor  again during an interview after his successful title defense against Jimmy Havoc. On the April 20 episode of "Fusion", Lawlor challenged Contra Unit to a match. Contra Unit attacked Lawlor again on numerous occasions throughout the next few weeks. On the June 8 episode of "Fusion", it was announced that Lawlor would defend the World Heavyweight Championship against Contra Unit member Jacob Fatu at Kings of Colosseum. On June 29, MLW.com announced that a middleweight match would take place between Rey Horus and Myron Reed at Kings of Colosseum. On July 2, it was announced that Alexander Hammerstone would defend  the National Openweight Championship in a Star Sprangled Hammer Challenge at Kings of Colosseum. Event. Preliminary matches. The opening match of the event featured Alexander Hammerstone issued an open challenge, putting the National Openweight Championship on the line. Kotto Brazil answered the challenge to begin the match. Hammerstone executed a superplex and a "Nightmare Pendulum" on Brazil to retain the title. After the match, Hammerstone's The Dynasty teammate Maxwell Jacob Friedman issued a challenge to The Hart Foundation for the World Tag Team Championship. Next, Myron Reed took on Rey Horus in a middleweight match. Reed's ally Jordan  Oliver distracted Horus enough to allow Reed to execute a "Louisville Slugger" on Horus for the win. Main event match. In the main event, Tom Lawlor defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Contra Unit member Jacob Fatu. Near the end of the match, Lawlor avoided a moonsault by Fatu and hit him with some strikes but Fatu superkicked Lawlor and then nailed a pop-up Samoan drop and a double jump moonsault to pin him to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Aftermath. Dynasty received their title shot against Hart Foundation in a ladder match for the World Tag Team Championship  on the July 13 episode of "Fusion", which Dynasty won. Tom Lawlor received his rematch for the MLW World Heavyweight Championship against Jacob Fatu on the August 31 episode of "Fusion", where Fatu retained the title with the help of his Contra Unit teammates and then Lawlor was assaulted by Contra Unit after the match until Low Ki and The Von Erichs (Ross Von Erich and Marshall Von Erich) made the save for Lawlor. This led to a War Chamber match pitting Von Erichs, Lawlor and Low Ki against Contra Unit at War Chamber, which Team Von Erichs won. Kings