More from the GWF’s Three Count, as we settled into a more standard wrestling show – and a blossoming friendship between Chris Colen and Orlando Silver.
We open with recaps from last week, featuring Angry Tarkan Aslan and Pascal Spalter’s decision to quit the GWF. There’s no titles, and we resume with Spalter – dressed differently – in Rambo’s different office… as Rambo seemingly is trying to talk him out of the move. Whatever happened to continuity?! Rambo tells Spalter that once he beats Orlando Silver he can close the door on this all… but Pascal’s still salty that GWF’s given him a lower quality opponent. Hey, I’d just be happy with the tomato can, but Spalter’s thrown a bone – if he beats Silver, he can pick his own opponent for October. There’s an ominous tone there, as we cut to…
Orlando Silver eating with his mum! She’s mad that Orlando didn’t tell her Chris Colen is back in Berlin, and just in case you can’t tell he’s meant to have a Mexican gimmick by the moustache, he asks her to do some enchiladas when Colen comes to dinner. O-kay…
Cut again! More shots of Berlin, as Ahmed Chaer and Crazy Sexy Mike are talking. Chaer’s a little worried because they had to kick some people out of the GWF, and I guess he thinks he’s next? Mike tries to reassure Ahmed, and it’s off for some food as we go to outside Huxley’s Neues Welt, as Dover’s talking about merch to Tarkan Aslan? Eh, at least Dover’s sort-of from the Chris Brookes train of thought when it comes to quality of garments…
Here’s Lucky Kid, as he wants to talk to Tarkan… but Aslan isn’t interested. They’ve had a falling out, and Aslan just blows him off, while Dover’s a little more heavy handed.
We’re inside Rambo’s office as a guy called Vincenzo is polishing title belts. Not a euphemism. Apparently it’s the tag title belts the pair of them hold, and yes, Vincenzo’s character is borrowing more than a little from Italian stereotypes. Rambo reminds Vincenzo that he’s been Loserweight champion… but Vincenzo does the same, which riles up Rambo. Speaking of, in comes Martin Guerrero with the ugly Loserweight title belt, as he’s wanting to prove himself again.
Guerrero’s a little upset that the fans just see him as “the YouTube guy”, but Rambo just tells him to “deal with it” as everyone makes their excuses and leaves… which is just a ploy for Vincenzo to offer Guerrero some help. He wants to help Martin turn him from being a Loserweight champion into a proper champion, so they agree to training.
We switch to Huxley’s Neues Welt now, where Cash Money Erkan and Ali Aslan are talking about betting on the graps. Chris Colen casually walks in as Ali talked about breaking Tarkan Aslan’s leg before the match, just for the bet. Colen’s pissed at the concept of gambling, and threatens Erkan if he finds out he’s taking bets on his matches. Erkan and Aslan approach a pair of trainees, identified on the subtitles as Kevin and Tom, asking them if they want to bet on the Senza Volto vs. Kris Jokic match later. Tom doesn’t gamble, while Kevin’s peer pressured into it on odds of 2-1 for Jokic. Those look like suspicious odds. Cue the show titles (at 11 minute sinto the show), and I guess we’re heading towards the wrestling portion of the show now.
Adam Krüger vs. Tarkan Aslan
Krüger is apparently a “radiation victim from Chernobyl”, and bedecked in a wacky mask that covers one of his eyes. His goal? To beat Tarkan Aslan for the Berlin title… way to truly think big!
He’s got Aslan today, but it’s non-title… Aslan has no fear about going after the “contaminated” Krüger, knocking him down with a shoulder tackle before stomping on him as Aslan clearly felt that Krüger was beneath him. After some stalling, Krüger makes a comeback with clotheslines and a crossbody off the middle rope, but it doesn’t even get a one-count as Aslan cuts him off, throwing him into the corner for a Yakuza kick and some knees.
Aslan picks up Krüger by his singlet before clubbing away on his head some more, before a death valley driver ends it all. A total squash, which is how it probably should have been given these two are on opposite ends of the spectrum in GWF. **
We’re backstage next as Kati was summoned to see Rambo. She’s been made GWF’s vice-president, but like Felix/Gefreiter Weber, she too is a patsy. Tarkan Aslan comes in, angry he’s having to face “jobbers”, and wants a big star… work is work, is it not?
Next: Orlando Silver and Chris Colen backstage, with Colen telling Silver that he’ll cash in his Four Nations Cup if Orlando wins the GWF title… but he’ll not be going after Orlando’s newly-won belt. Instead, he wants the Berlin title, then the tag titles as the pair want all the gold.
Kris Jokic vs. Senza Volto
We’ve got more intro packages as they tell us more about the wrestlers. Jokic wants to pay his dues and win a nonspecific title – while representing Croatia – while Volto wants the Berlin title.
After a handshake we got going, with the pair working a very flippy style, quickly going into duelling backflips a la Ospreay/Ricochet. They resume with back-and-forth armdrags, before they exchange faked-out moonsaults from the top rope, then the mat, and then the duelling dropkicks as we tick our standard “Indy spots that get cheers without making contact” stuff. The pace remains high with ‘ranas, as Volto’s taken to the outside, where Jokic crashed into him with a plancha, coming up with all sorts of shiny tickertape stuck to his back. Senza’s got some too as they go back into the ring, but Volto’s straight out with a tope con giro as he celebrated with his fans in the front row.
The pair fight around ringside for a spell, with Volto landing an armdrag before breaking the referee’s count, just because. He puts Jokic on the apron, but gets caught with a rolling death valley driver onto the apron after taking so long, before returning to the ring as they trade forearms and duelling headkicks as they both crashed to the mat. A pair of kip ups led to them resuming their striking game, before Volto’s awkward standing Spanish fly drew a near-fall. Senza tries to finish off with a shooting star press, but Jokic got back to his feet and countered with a lumbar check, before a corkscrew moonsault off the middle rope drew a near-fall for the Croat.
Volto’s back with a headkick and a springboard reverse ‘rana… but he doesn’t go for the cover because he wants to fly again, and this time the shooting star connects for the win! A little rough and cliched in places, but the crowd loved this match, so you can’t complain too much. ***½
Post-match, Volto offers a handshake, which is eventually accepted.
We go backstage next as Orlando Silver vows to become champion. Rambo shrugs it off, as Orlando gets whacked in the face with a pipe by a blurry attacker as the show comes to a close.
Episode two of Three Count was a lot more like a regular wrestling show – and that’s not a bad thing. Keeping the soap opera stuff largely ringfenced from the action is a good move, as was the call to not bombard us with a litany of characters. A mixture of in-ring action and storylines is never a bad thing – we’ll keep on following the first series of this, and (eventually) the new second season that’ll have been taped by the time this goes up.