MLW Reload results: Matt Riddle in action, Satoshi Kojima vs. Sami Callihan

MLW’s first free signature event of the year aired Saturday with Reload, taped earlier this month as part of the Kings of Colosseum tapings from Philadelphia's 2300 Arena with Joe Dombrowski and Matt Striker on the call.

A "Sessions with Saint Laurent” segment featuring MLW Champion Alex Kane kicked things off. Saint Laurent tried to sign Kane to his WTF stable, even giving him a custom WTF entrance song to try to tempt the champ. Kane didn’t buy into Saint Laurent’s elaborate promises and ended up tearing up the contract presented to him.

Zayda (w/ Saint Laurent) defeated Notorious Mimi

Striker mentioned both competitors being heels and the fans not liking either, but Mimi worked as the babyface and had the fans shouting “yay” in a boo/yay strike exchange. Moments later, Zayda tried to pull a fast one and get a pin with her feet on the ropes.

Mimi hit a nice back kick for a two count and had momentum in her favor as she climbed to the top, but Zayda knocked her off and hit an Unprettier to pick up the win.

After the match, Dombrowski tried to get an interview with Zayda but Saint Laurent took over and pushed him to the side. In a long line of WTF comparisons to mid-90s WWF, we were told “The Federette” was America Online’s most downloaded person in all of 2023 before she said she wanted a Featherweight title shot. 

However, that might interfere in Saint Laurent’s business dealings with Salina de la Renta, so he said he would handle it and talk to Salina.

- Mistico will take on Averno at MLW Superfight on February 3rd. Other matches announced include Alex Kane vs. Satoshi Kojima for the MLW title, Sami Callihan vs. AKIRA in a “Callihan Rules” match, Yuji Nagata vs. Jacob Fatu, and Ichiban vs. Rocky Romero for the Middleweight title in a two out of three falls match

- Minoru Suzuki was announced for Intimidation Games on February 29th from New York City.

Good Brother #3 defeated Steph De Lander (w/ Saint Laurent)

De Lander cost Mance Warner his “MLW career” when she interfered in his loser leaves MLW match against Matt Cardona. But, luckily a close friend of Warner, the masked Good Brother #3 who bears a striking resemblance to Warner, was quick to step into Warner's shoes to try to exact some revenge for his fallen Southern friend.

De Lander offered a handshake and then kissed Warner, I mean Good Brother, before rolling him up for a sneaky fast two count. Moments later, she crashed into the ring post on the outside which let GB set up some weapons in the ring.

Inside the ring, De Lander tried to give GB a lap dance but he quickly swapped positions, got on the mic, had some music play, and began stripping down. As he was getting into it, De Lander kicked him low, rammed his face into the chair, and used another chair to crack across his skull.

De Lander speared GB through a board in the corner, but only got a two count. GB blocked a Cardona-style boot in the corner and got a two count of his own after throwing a chair at De Lander.

Another low blow slowed GB down. De Lander then got on the mic and said they shouldn’t fight but instead, they should show love. GB got on the mic and said he thought he had found the one and even proposed to her to which she said yes.

After toasting with a cold beer, GB asked for a kiss so she closed her eyes and puckered up, but when she opened them, she received an eye poke from the Eye Poke God and rolled her up to pick up the pinfall win.

- In front of their 80s-inspired green screen and neon WTF banner, Tom Lawlor and Josh Bishop took turns hyping up what each other was going to do to Matt Riddle and Alex Kane, eventually settling on "just watch."

- A bloody AKIRA, fresh off his Taipei death match with Ricky Shane Page, told Sami Callihan he is ready for him at Superfight.

Ichiban defeated Jimmy Lloyd

In what could be seen as a clash of styles, Ichiban started with a tope con hilo but early on, Salina de la Renta and Jesus Rodriguez came out to distract their foe. Lloyd took advantage with a big neckbreaker.

Rodriguez took a cheap shot from the outside, but it only motivated Ichiban to fight back and hit Lloyd with a stunner, missile dropkick, and his custom Code Red. He tried to hit Lloyd with a dive but got caught mid-air and was dropped on his head on the floor.

Lloyd brought out two ladders but another distraction by Rodriguez cost Lloyd the match when he accidentally got knocked off the apron. That led to Ichiban hitting Lloyd with his face-first finisher after jumping from the top rope and catching Lloyd climbing a ladder in the ring.

Nao Kakuta defeated Moka Miyamoto

This was advertised as a Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling showcase match and did not disappoint in the short time it got.

Striker was doing his usual best to take away from those in the ring as after a lock up and wrist lock, he said it was nothing he hadn't seen before.

Some differences I noticed from other featherweight division matches were the stiffer strikes, or so they seemed, and the more brutal underhanded tactics by using the hair, kicks to the head, and upper body.

Miyamoto took two attempts, but she eventually hit her big standing chop to Kakuta for a two count. However, the ever-aware Kakuta immediately tried to hook her arms and roll her up, showing she was still aware of her surroundings.

Miyamoto locked in an abdominal stretch as she began to try her comeback but Kakuta cut her off, hit her with a flatliner and then a twisting fireman's carry into a stunner to pick up the win. 

After the match, Love Doug came out to console Miyamoto and tell her she was brave and show her how brave he was by asking her out. He asked the Philadelphia crowd if they thought she should say yes. They agreed, and so did Miyamoto, so the lovebirds left together.

Delmi Exo defeated Tiara James

James has still to be pinned in MLW while Exo has been flirting with the idea of joining Salina de la Renta’s Promociones Dorado after coming off two recent big defeats. Azteca henchmen stood guard at the side of the stage during the match.

Striker questioned Exo’s ability, saying something was missing as of late and even pointed out she didn’t keep an early hold on or didn’t have the ability to keep it on.

Exo went for the Delmi Driver early, but James powered out and hit a running clothesline. Exo slid out the back and quickly rolled up James to pick up a surprise win. This was a bit of a letdown since they were hyping up James’ undefeated streak throughout the short match.

Afterward, Exo called out Featherweight champion Janai Kai who obliged De la Renta and came out to the ring. Kai seemed fine with fighting Exo there and then, but Zayda and Saint Laurent then came out. A quick war of words followed but De la Renta ended up slapping Saint Laurent,

Exo took down Kai and Saint Laurent shook it off to hold Zayda back from De la Renta (who she was aiming for in the first place). As she was leaving, Exo was handed a key by the Azteca Henchmen.

Alex Kane & Matt Riddle defeated WTF (Josh Bishop & Tom Lawlor) (w/ Saint Laurent)

The two former UFC fighters (Lawlor and Riddle) started with a mat battle that ended with Lawlor hitting a side Russian leg sweep and locking in an Octopus hold. Riddle escaped and just missed a big penalty kick to the head.

Kane came in and helped Riddle moonsault on to Lawlor before unloading his array of suplexes. Bishop was in next to use his size and power to ground Kane.

WTF worked over Kane but he fought back and was close to tagging in Riddle, but Lawlor ran around the ring and pulled him off the apron. Kane then took Lawlor out with a dive to the floor which let Bishop wait and grab Kane with a big Bossman slam. Lawlor added insult by DDT’ing Kane on the floor, too.

WTF then used old-school heel tag team tactics by enraging Riddle to distract the referee so they could illegally tag each other in and out, just because they could. Lawlor hit a Bronco Buster to rile up the fans and Riddle even more. He got cocky and tried a second, but Kane moved and Lawlor went crashing where no man wants to crash.

Kane slipped out of an Outsider Edge and hot-tagged Riddle. He hit a Bro-ton splash, penalty kick and German suplex to Bishop while Kane suplexed Lawlor. Richard Holliday tried to interfere, but Kane suplexed him too. Riddle went up top and won the match for his team after a Super Bro-ton bomb from the top rope. 

After the match, there was a backstage brawl between the World Titan Federation and the Second Gear Crew.

Satoshi Kojima defeated Sami Callihan

As Kojima was making his entrance, Callihan jumped him and the fight was underway.

Callihan introduced some weapons from underneath the ring and papercut the webs of Kojima’s fingers and the sides of his mouth. The bell rang for the start of the match which sprung Kojima into life with a big clothesline.

Machine gun chops followed on the outside to which Callihan responded with some hard chops of his own. Inside the ring, Callihan went after the fingers of Kojima, used his hair to move him around, and used his fingernails to scratch at his skin. He even lobbed a mouthful of spit towards the referee.

The spit followed as he lubricated his hand before chopping Kojima’s chest, but moments later, Kojima fired back and unloaded more machine gun chops.

Kojima tried to go to the top rope, but Callihan caught him and drove him to the mat with a death valley driver for a close nearfall. Callihan then tried a piledriver, but Kojima blocked it and dropped him with a DDT.

Callihan blocked a Koji Cutter and hit a backdrop driver. Kojima responded by absorbing a pair of lariats and then hit a Koji Cutter for a one count.

Callihan defiantly got in Kojima’s face and was met with a big lariat, but Callihan kicked out at two. He could not kick out of a running lariat as Kojima picked up a big win ahead of his MLW heavyweight title fight at Superfight. 

After the match, Kojima told us he ate bread this morning and that he will eat some after the match. If we were not aware, he loves bread. 

The show finished up with Alex Kane who dismissed Kojima’s chance at taking the title from him. Kane talked through his six successful title defenses and told Kojima he would be another of his successful defenses. He said what he will do to Kojima at Superfight will make the crowd uncomfortable.

As the show was going off the air, a quick flash of an old logo we have not seen for a long time appeared on screen: that of CONTRA Unit.