MLW Intimidation Games 2024 HOT TAKE
Intimidation is the name of the Game for Leap Year 2024 in NYC and beyond as TrillerTV subscribers congregate via their devices across the globe to see the next chapter in grappling, grit, gore and greatness presented by Major League Wrestling!
Major League Wrestling has attacked 2024 with a furious anger, a resurgence that has seen some of the most celebrated combat sports stars from all corners of the globe invade MLW, empowering the promotion in a renewed manner that has brought intense excitement among TrillerTV+ subscribers and fans across the world.
On Leap Day 2024, the most important pro wrestling event held on this unique moment of the calendar since Brian Pillman and Jushin Liger battled in Milwaukee at WCW's Superbrawl III will be held. Once more, New York City will be the scene of the crime as some of the most dangerous and lethal combatants anywhere converge inside the infamous Melrose Ballroom, bring the violence, the frights, the brutality, The Intimidation Games live for a global audience waiting with baited breath for the next chapter in MLW greatness unfold in this latest chapter of madness and chaos.
AN INTERNATIONAL INCIDENT!
Satoshi Kojima shocked the world at MLW Superfight when he regained the MLW World Championship two decades after he first won the title and legitimized it on a global scale. Now, Kojima returns to the city where he initially won the championship - New York - looking to make his first successful championship defense of 2024.
While Kojima is extremely popular worldwide for his exploits inside the ring, his challenger at Intimidation Games 2024 is indeed a lethal one. Minoru Suzuki is literally considered a Japanese God by the most die-hard international combat sports fans. The angry master of ground and pound has competed in MMA and professional wrestling rings in all corners of the world, using his twisted striking skills to splinter the fighting spirit of his opponents into tiny shards, enjoying the process of enforcing his will against anyone who dares face him.
While Suzuki may be celebrated as one of professional wrestling's most sick and twisted brawlers, Kojima is seen as more of a pure hero by the MLW worldwide audience. Kojima has always fought the good fight, mixing his excellent technical acumen with hard-hitting lariats that shock and awe the opposition. Kojima is enjoying the moment, having hit the apex of a very long journey back to the World Championship, but at Intimidation Games, he'll have to dig deep to battle against and overcome one of the blackest souls in all of combat sports.
On Thursday February 29th, MLW will literally present an international incident in New York City as two of the most celebrated fighters in modern Japanese professional wrestling history will go toe to toe, blow for blow with the most prestigious championship in Major League Wrestling history hanging in the balance, live TrillerTV+ subscribers!
A POWER STRUGGLE, LUCHA LIBRE STYLE!
Salina de La Renta believed that she had all the power. After returning to Major League Wrestling, de La Renta had grasped the lucha libre world by the throat and acted as if she was the power broker of all power brokers, with the ability to promote (or even present) the best luchadors in the world in Major League Wrestling, meaning all had to bow to her, acquiesce to her wishes and bend to her demands - and those who did not, like Ichiban, would be victiming at her hand.
Little did Salina realize that there were cracks forming all around her, with the first sign being that someone was bringing lucha libre superstar Mistico from CMLL to Major League Wrestling, circumventing her wishes. While Salina attempted to neutralize the interloper involved, the last person she expected to see resurrected was Dario Cuerto, the leader of Azteca Underground and a long-time scourge of Boyle Heights, Los Angeles. With his shocking return at MLW Superfight, Cuerto sparked a new lucha libre war, a battle for power not just in Major League Wrestling, but across the entire professional wrestling world.
The next chapter in this battle for untold riches and fortunes will commence inside the Melrose Ballroom at Intimidation Games as Mistico, one of the most popular lucha stars of all time will enter NYC to challenge Rocky Romero for the MLW Middleweight Championship.
Mistico is one of the most legendary luchadors of the 21st century, having captured the hearts and minds of fans across the world with his breathtaking brilliance, flying through the stratosphere to take out the opposition and raising the hearts and spirits of the international followers who live vicariously through his in-ring adventures. For Mistico to once again make history and win championship gold, he will have to upend Rocky Romero, the grizzled veteran who has proven himself against and again to be one of the most resilient and versatile competitors anywhere in the world with endless victories in MLW, AEW, CMLL and New Japan Pro Wrestling. Should Romero retain the belt, this championship encounter provides him a unique springboard to even more international acclaim.
This attraction effectively brings the main event ambiance of Arena Mexico from Mexico City all the way to Long Island City, Queens. This dream lucha libre battle allows the world to see two of the most talented competitors in the world take to the stratosphere as they unleash their aerial arsenal upon the other to prove their supremacy…but how will Cuerto and de La Renta react when they are once again face to face?
STYLES CLASH!
Alex Kane is seeking redemption and a path back to the MLW World Championship he lost at Superfight to Satoshi Kojima. Don King's prizefighter, the leader of the Bomaye movement is seeking to take his anguish and frustration out on everyone, wanting to drop everyone on their heads as he targets a future championship opportunity against Kojima.
Before that can happen, Alex Kane will have to bring all of his grappling might to the ring in NYC against the debuting Bobby Fish, a master kickboxer who has proudly held championships in Ring of Honor and WWE NXT, among other promotions. Fish is looking to make his mark worldwide with a debuting victory over a former MLW World Champion, seeking to slingshot his way to the upper echelon by taking down Kane and showing the world there's a new fighter to contend with, not to mention the monstrous Mr. Thomas lurking outside the ring.
MLW has always been built around the premise that different fighting disciplines will spark competition and controversy and in this explosive bout, the world will see whether a grizzled grappling background can cut down the momentum of a fearless kickboxing specialist with educated feet or whether the newest member of the MLW roster can perhaps score a TKO on Alex Kane, something that would have seemed unthinkable just a few short weeks ago.
This bout is about opportunity and redemption. The first competitor to take advantage of this opportunity will redeem themselves in the eyes of the global wrestling community. For Kane, redemption means he's once again in pursuit of the MLW World Championship. For Fish, it means he's exploded back on the professional wrestling scene in a major way, taking out one of MLW's most lethal competitors, which means no one is safe.
NYC STREET FIGHT!
The Calling began as Raven's vision and as insane as it may be to read this, soon twisted away into something even more demented than the former ECW World Heavyweight Champion. Under MLW National Openweight Champion Rickey Shane Page and augmented by the delusions of Sami Callihan, The Calling has become something of a hydra featuring an endless horde of twisted souls ready to go to war at the behest of Page, all in service of his own demented dreams of destruction.
While many have stepped up to wage war against this cavalcade of evil, it has been a former member of this cult who has risen as the point person trying to take down this unfathomable threat. A veteran of international death matches who has immersed himself in blood-soaked violence and carnage to prove his worth, AKIRA now fights for the greater good, the destruction of The Calling.
In recent months, AKIRA has been a ronin, a dark knight in service of no one, standing alone against the endless odds. That all changed when Jake Crist, a former TNA X-Division Champion who intimately knows Callihan's demented ways better than anyone, migrated to MLW, immediately joining the war at MLW Superfight. Two combat sports warriors are certainly better than one, but can even these talented fighters stand tall against an endless mass of evil?
Long Island City, where Intimidation Games will be held, is no stranger to fights and violence. Shadowed by the island of Manhattan, violent crime there is up 122% in recent years. When The Calling, AKIRA and Crist brawl out of the Melrose Ballroom and into the streets, the locals won't even bat an eye. It's an average Thursday, at least until the barbed wire comes out.
With no rules, no regulations and not even the stringent Athletic Commision able to quell the waves of insanity sure to come from this war, Intimidation Games may mark the moment where the momentum of the war changes - or where the war is fought and won, once and for all. But can anyone truly stop the Calling? Not even the reemergence of Raven has quelled that evil fire ... .so all we can do is predict crimson running in the streets, live for TrillerTV+.
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.