We take a look at the first part of a new tournament from Project Nova Wrestling – the Collision Cup.
Quick Results
Collision Cup Block A: Pahlevan Nima pinned Joshua Amaru in 7:08 (**½)
Collision Cup Block A: Nick Schreier pinned Nino Bryant in 7:31 (**¾)
We’re coming from die Weiße Rose in Berlin, and we open with a parade of entrants for the 8-man Collision Cup tournament, which is running a two-block format. Like a very mini G1! Commentary comes from Virgile Defour and Sepp Hammer.
Block A
Nick Schreier – who you’ll have seen on wXw’s academy shows and Fight Forever spots…
Joshua Amaru – a regular in Berlin’s GWF, as part of the Black Guerrilla Army (at least, last time I watched!)
Nino Bryant – hey, it’s someone from the UK scene! Bryant’s done a lot of shows for the family-friendly groups like Rumble Promotions, alongside Wrestle Carnival, DEFEND and Purpose Wrestling
Pahlevan Nima – another regular with the GWF, as part of the Kendo Boys with Arash.
Block B
Kuro – from France’s APC, you’ll probably have seen him over this year’s 16 Carat Gold weekend as part of the showcase…
Bik Nik – a legit former basketball player, he’s another GWF regular, and part of the Lazarus Pit group here in NOVA
Alex Duke – the Prosecco Playboy, who’s starting to get more dates with wXw this year
David Adili – Part of the newly-rebranded Fightback promotion in Frankfurt, Adili used to be known as Shahrouz Ben Reza for those who’ve gone deep into their Euro Graps
We then cut to a profile piece of Joshua Amaru – and holy heck that’s the old Knucklelocks training school in London. Amaru (I presume) talks about his career to date, set against a lot of footage from Nova… and we then switch to Pahlevan Nima, who fills in the blanks for us in English, with the Iranian telling us he originally trained at the Nordisch Fight Club in Hamburg. Nima’s been wrestling for 18 months, and of course he wants to win Collision!
Collision Cup Block A: Joshua Amaru vs. Pahlevan Nima
Amaru’s accompanied to ringside by Abdul Kenan and Aytac Bahar, part of the Baklava Club, while Nima doesn’t seem to have won over a lot of folks here. Even more after Abdul decided to freestyle Amaru’s introduction…
Amaru overpowered Nima early on, forcing Nima to try and switch things up… scoring with a shoulder tackle and some roll-ups for a couple of two-counts. An enziguiri takes Amaru outside, recovering as he chopped Nima back to the mat. Moving away from the power game put Amaru on the back foot briefly, as Nima almost snatched the win with a Fisherman’s neckbreaker. The pair trade pinning attempts ahead of a dropkick into the corner from Nima, but Amaru’s able to mount a comeback, landing a neckbreaker, then a spinebuster for a near-fall. A diving kick followed, but Nima crucifixes Amaru to snatch a near-fall, before a Zig Zag got the win. This was a good, even outing, with Nima getting the relative upset in pretty short order. **½
Backstage, Nima put over Amaru, then promised to “slaughter” Nino Bryant and Nick Schreier in his remaining matches. Amaru was a little more downbeat, as his new gear and music didn’t yield a win here.
We see Nick Schreier and Nino Bryant warming up… then cut to the promo pieces. Hopefully Nino doesn’t bottle it like Arsenal seem to be! He’s been training for 8 years and on shows for five… he’s training now at Rev Pro’s London School of Wrestling, and is looking to use the Collision Cup to judge his staying power. Must not repeat the Arsenal dig! Schreier tells us his back story, he’s trained in Dresden and has worked a few times for NOVA, and that’s where my German fails me again.
Collision Cup Block A: Nino Bryant vs. Nick Schreier
Sadly, we don’t get Nick’s wXw theme – the one that sounds like a knock-off of the Inbetweeners theme.
The pair trade wristlocks to start, before Bryant hit the ropes for a springboard corkscrew armdrag that drew an early two-count. Schreier decides to leave his feet in response, landing a wheelbarrow armdrag as the pair continued to try and one-up each other.
A tense handshake breaks down as Bryant gets hung up in the ropes, allowing Schreier to take over. Bryant fights out of a chinlock, then caught Schreier on the top rope ahead of a superplex attempt… it’s fought out of as Schreier dropped down to hit a regular suplex for a two-count. Bryant’s headbutt to the midsection gives him an opening, as our second diving kick of the night almost wins the match for the Londoner. Schreier returned with a facebuster out of the corner, before he gave the thumbs up for a crossbody off the top to seal the win. Another decent match with a pretty snappy run time… and a match I’d like them to run back at some point outside of a tournament format. **¾
Schreier raises Bryant’s hand after the match as the credits roll… then we pitch to Nino’s post-match promo as he tells us his first match in 2023 didn’t go the way he wanted, as his tape-watching of Schreier didn’t get results. Nino’s got to regroup for his remaining matches… while Schreier is happy to have gotten his first win.
After one round of matches in block A, we’ve got these standings:
Nima, Schreier (1-0 / 2pts)
Amaru, Bryant (0-1 / 0pts)
The show fades out from there – we’re back next week with I presume block B matches, but those weren’t trailed here…
I quite enjoyed Collision as a self-contained show. Nova did a good job of introducing everyone in the field, but more specifically those who were wrestling on the show – so you can come in not knowing anyone involved and get something of a feel for them. The short match times might not be your cup of tea, but matches are matches – and with the Collision Cup showcasing some of Nova’s best, at the very least we’re going to be given some insights on what lies in store in these guys’ futures.