MLW Genesis
Genesis was a professional wrestling supercard event produced by Major League Wrestling (MLW), which took place on June 15, 2002 at the Viking Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the inaugural event by MLW and featured an eight-man single elimination tournament to crown the inaugural World Heavyweight Champion.[1]
| Genesis | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Promotion | Major League Wrestling | ||
| Date | June 15, 2002 | ||
| City | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | ||
| Venue | Viking Hall | ||
| Event chronology | |||
| |||
Nine professional wrestling matches were taped at the event with seven matches of the World Heavyweight Championship tournament being televised. The tournament concluded with Shane Douglas defeating Taiyo Kea and Vampiro in a three-way match in the finals of the tournament to win the title.[2]
Event
Quarterfinals
| Role: | Name: |
|---|---|
| Commentator | Joey Styles |
| Referees | John Finnegan |
| Mike Keiner | |
The event featured a tournament to crown the new MLW World Heavyweight Champion. The opening match of the tournament took place between Jerry Lynn and La Parka. After avoiding a corkscrew moonsault by Parka, Lynn executed a tornado DDT off the ropes for the win.
In the next match, Vampiro took on Christopher Daniels. After avoiding a lariat by Daniels, Vampiro hit a lifting side slam to Daniels for the win.
Next, Taiyo Kea was scheduled to take on Bam Bam Bigelow but Bigelow did not show up and was subsequently replaced by The Wall. Kea countered a powerbomb by Wall into a hurricanrana and executed a bridging Northern Lights suplex on Wall for the win.
It was followed by the last quarterfinal match between Shane Douglas and Steve Corino. Corino attempted to deliver an Old School Expulsion to Douglas but Douglas reversed it into a belly to belly suplex for the win.
Semifinals
The first semifinal match in the tournament took place between Jerry Lynn and Shane Douglas. Douglas countered a cradle piledriver by Lynn and nailed a Pittsburgh Plunge to Lynn for the win.
The second semifinal took place between Taiyo Kea and Vampiro. Near the end of the match, Kea nailed a Hawaiian Smasher to Vampiro but the 17-minute time limit expired and the match ended in a time limit draw. Vampiro demanded five more minutes but Shane Douglas showed up to begin a three-way dance against both Vampiro and Kea.
Final
The tournament final three-way dance took place between Shane Douglas, Taiyo Kea and Vampiro. Kea and Vampiro quickly took down Douglas and then Vampiro attempted to hit a spin kick to Douglas but Douglas countered it and Vampiro accidentally hit Kea which allowed Douglas to hit a belly to belly suplex to Vampiro to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Douglas then insulted the MLW title belt by spitting on it and throwing it down in a repetition of him throwing down the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on August 27, 1994. Referee John Finnegan threatened to suspend Douglas if he did not defend the title.
Aftermath
In light of Shane Douglas' controversial actions, he was stripped off the World Heavyweight Championship on September 13.[3][4] A match was set up between Jerry Lynn and Satoshi Kojima to determine a new champion at Reload, which Kojima won.[5] MLW later refused to acknowledge Douglas' reign as champion and officially recognized Kojima as the first-ever MLW World Heavyweight Champion.[6][7]
Results
| No. | Results | Stipulations | Times[8] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jerry Lynn defeated La Parka | MLW World Heavyweight Championship tournament quarter-final match | 7:04 | ||
| 2 | Vampiro defeated Christopher Daniels | MLW World Heavyweight Championship tournament quarter-final match | 13:56 | ||
| 3 | Taiyo Kea defeated The Wall | MLW World Heavyweight Championship tournament quarter-final match | 6:43 | ||
| 4 | Shane Douglas defeated Steve Corino | MLW World Heavyweight Championship tournament quarter-final match | 9:40 | ||
| 5D | Prince Nana, Super Hentai and Ultra Taro Jr. defeated Abunai, Devon Storm and Rising Son | Six-man tag team match | 26:39 | ||
| 6D | PJ Friedman defeated Shirley Doe | Singles match | — | ||
| 7 | Shane Douglas defeated Jerry Lynn | MLW World Heavyweight Championship tournament semi-final match | 7:32 | ||
| 8 | Taiyo Kea vs. Vampiro ended in a time limit draw | MLW World Heavyweight Championship tournament semi-final match | 17:00 | ||
| 9 | Shane Douglas defeated Taiyo Kea and Vampiro | Three-way dance for the MLW World Heavyweight Championship | 1:15 | ||
| |||||
Tournament brackets
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | ||||||||||||
| Jerry Lynn | Pin | |||||||||||||
| La Parka | 7:04 | |||||||||||||
| Jerry Lynn | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Shane Douglas | 7:32 | |||||||||||||
| Shane Douglas | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Steve Corino | 9:40 | |||||||||||||
| Shane Douglas | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Taiyo Kea Vampiro | 1:15 | |||||||||||||
| Taiyo Kea | Pin | |||||||||||||
| The Wall | 6:43 | |||||||||||||
| Taiyo Kea | Bye | |||||||||||||
| Vampiro | 17:00 | |||||||||||||
| Vampiro | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Christopher Daniels | 13:56 | |||||||||||||
References
- Bob Colling (June 27, 2010). "MLW Genesis 6/16/2002". Wrestling Recaps. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
- "The "OH MY GOD!" Review Presents… MLW "Genesis" 6/15/02". Crazy Max. October 25, 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
- "MLW HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE HISTORY". Solie's Title Histories. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
- "Major League Wrestling World Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
- Bob Colling (July 26, 2010). "MLW Reload 9/26/2002". Wrestling Recaps. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
- Bauer, Court (November 21, 2019). "Different title. June 2002 tournament was for the MLW Championship. Different belt and lineage from the MLW World Heavyweight that we established in September 2002".
- "World Heavyweight Championship". Major League Wrestling. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
- "MLW Genesis". Cagematch. Retrieved 13 December 2020.