Tommy End’s final match in wXw took centre stage on our latest look back at retro Shotgun!
We’re still getting matches from Cologne’s Club Bahnhof Ehrenfeld, but after the titles we’re joined by Rico Bushido and his old Twitter handle in the studio. It’s the go-home show for FAN.. and Rico runs down what’s on this week’s show, including the main event of Tommy End’s final match in wXw, and the farewell ceremony.
But first, Rico tells us that the comeback of Reich und Schön was cancelled because Marius van Beethoven’s knee wasn’t healed up. So instead, Alpha Kevin had a singles match instead…
Ashley Sixx vs. Alpha Kevin
Jeremy Graves is on the English call, and we start with the Canadian Sixx taking Kevin into the corner. The crowd get on Sixx’s back as he raked and chopped Kevin, before Alpha Kevin found form with some leg sweeps as he tried to snatch a pin.
Kevin busts out John Cena’s spinning back suplex, but Sixx comes back with some sneakiness, trapping Kevin into the corner with shoulder tackles. A roll-up sees Kevin’s head bounce off the bottom buckle, which kept him down, with more kicks following from the veteran Sixx. Sixx grounds Kevin with a chinlock, as Jeremy acknowledges the crowd’s chants towards him. I always got a chuckle out of Jeremy sidestepping anything close to swearing on Shotgun. Kevin fought back with some Dusty punches, but Sixx’s snotrockets stop that before he got dumped with a Blue Thunder bomb. An elbow drop’s next for a near-fall, with Kevin building up momentum on the way to an Alpha Bomb tease…
An enziguiri and a back cracker gets Sixx free, but Kevin kicks out at two as Sixx goes up top. He blew a kiss to Eddie Steinblock at ringside – whose presence wasn’t acknowledged on the English feed – before leaping into an Alpha Slam, and an Alpha Driver (a package piledriver) as Kevin got the win. A perfectly fine match between a visiting baddie and a local favourite as Kevin celebrated with Eddie after the match. **¾
Backstage, Kevin is celebrating with Melanie Gray and Marius van Beethoven. Kevin takes it as a promotion, going from the 8th division into the Champions’ League… Marius didn’t seem thrilled as Kevin seemed to have aspirations of being “just like Jurn”. On cue, Jurn walks in and slaps him to put his delusions of grandeur at bay.
Pop for Jurn using the word “lolligagging”, by the way. Jurn leaves, and so does Kevin, as Melanie takes him away to celebrate. Poor Marius eventually hobbles away too…
They play the Best of the More Than Wrestling tour promo – that’s still on wXw NOW… and then we cut to Nico Schmidt in Event Center. He announces matches for upcoming shows including Sasa Keel & X vs. Axel Dieter Jr. & X in Ludwigshafen, which also gets Absolute Andy vs. Hakeem Waqur. Fulda gets Timothy Thatcher vs. Bad Bones, Marius al-Ani vs. Axel Dieter Jr… Saarbrücken gets a new venue, along with Alpha Kevin vs. Da Mack, and an offer match from the local cOw promotion.
Promo time builds up Marty Scurll vs. Emil Sitoci… focusing on their history as a tag team, Marty’s desire to be a singles star… and how Emil told him to “act like a villain”. Famous last words, eh?
Back in the studio, Rico pitches the Da Mack vs. Jurn Simmons title vs. title match… and now, Da Mack with a sitdown interview with the wonderfully-named Yannick Assmann. They bring up Mack’s match at the Cruiserweight Classic, and how Mack’s returned to wXw to show off what he’s learned.
They move onto the title vs. title match, with Da Mack calling out Jurn for stealing Karsten Beck’s nickname… then Yannick almost throws shade on Da Mack by comparing him to the likes of ZSJ and Absolute Andy, whom Simmons has already beaten. Mack insists Jurn is underestimating him, and that’ll cost him…
They keep the cameras rolling after the interview as Axel Dieter Jr. drops by to give Mack a pep talk, telling him he’s finally got the attention he deserves, before they go off for more training.
Christian Michael Jakobi’s back in the Event Center, plugging wXw NOW. I’m guessing this portion of the show was also part of their YouTube output. CMJ puts over some of the original content that went up on wXw NOW, as wXw were really pushing their service as “more than just a back catalogue”, along with their rapid turnarounds.
WALTER vs. Francis Kaspin
No context given – Kaspin was barely a year into his career here, but was still rocking the bright colours in 2016, well before he went through the Pop Culture Wrestler phase.
WALTER went for Kaspin’s wrist early on, before a headlock takedown snapped Kaspin to the mat. The wristlock follows as he had Kaspin at bay, but Francis spins his way free and returns the favour to WALTER. Despite breaking free, WALTER’s back in trouble as Kaspin outfoxes him on the mat, but after a crossbody was caught, Kaspin’s quickly slammed to the mat.
WALTER tries the Earthquake sit-down splash, but it misses as a crucifix gets a near-fall, before Kaspin’s monkey flip was shoved away ahead of that sit-down splash. That turns the tables, despite Kaspin’s attempts to stay in the fight as WALTER out-struck him, before a series of chops from Kaspin led to his doom.
A Boston crab’s next from WALTER, but he leans back too much as the pair end in the ropes. More chops follow back-and-forth, then forearms, before a release butterfly suplex threw Kaspin across the ring for a near-fall. Kaspin’s back with dropkicks and diving forearms for a near-fall, before a mis-step climbing the turnbuckles led to WALTER trying for a butterfly superplex.
Kaspin frees himself, but ends up missing a diving forearm. He has more luck with a springboard crossbody though, before he ate a big boot. Francis was able to duck a swinging lariat though, but WALTER quickly took him down with a bully choke… and there’s the submission. A lot more competitive than you’d expect given Kaspin’s level, but this was a solid outing as WALTER ends up leaving with the W. ***
Promo time for A4 vs. RINGKAMPF. We’ve footage of WALTER bullying Marius al-Ani during his Shortcut to the Top promo, which led to WALTER being squatted out of the ring by al-Ani. Absolute Andy has Marius’ back, and it turns out this match is for a spot in 2017’s World Tag Team League.
Backstage, Dragan (not yet dirty) is counting money when he’s interrupted by John Klinger. Bad Bones calls Dragan out for dealing, and kicks Dragan out of the locker room. The biggest reveal was that Dragan was hiding Ernie on the door…
CMJ’s back with an Event Center, running down the card for FAN… including a new match: Cerberus vs. Legion for the wXw tag titles. Adam Polak and Dragan are backstage, and Adam seems to be having withdrawals… but Dragan holds it over Polak’s head, as he seemed to ask for help with his “John Klinger problem”.
Tommy End vs. Ilja Dragunov
They’ve got Alan Counihan on the call for this farewell, and we start with some strikes that have Ilja powdering to the outside… and they’re straight to the bar as End punts Dragunov around.
A distraction from someone in the crowd gives Ilja an opening, as Dragunov hooked End by the bar for a chop… only for a knee to take Ilja down again. Back in the ring, Ilja snuck in a Final Cut for just a one-count, as Dragunov tried to wear down the departing Dutchman.
Chops from End trap Ilja in the corner, but Dragunov’s able to reply with a snapmare and a back senton for a near-fall. A sunset flip, rolling through into a stomp gets End back in it, before what would become Black Mass would counter an attempt at a Torpedo Moscau out of the corner. Cologne’s all for End, who pratfalls Ilja on the way to a running knee as the near-falls continued to rack up.
End misses a stomp off the top, but returned to pelt Ilja with kicks, only to get dumped with a Saito suplex as the Russian almost ended Tommy’s run on a down note. A roll-up from End gets a near-fall, before a spinning backfist took Tommy to the outside, but End fires back with kicks in the ropes to Ilja, which led to Ilja diving into a knee strike from End.
A moonsault off the apron meets Dragunov on the floor, but Ilja rushes back in to return out with a tope, before a pumphandle Blue Thunder Bomb almost gets Dragunov the win. From there, Adam Polak runs in… but he’s restrained by Ilja, and eventually persuaded to leave as it looked like a fan was going to do the same. Ilja tries for a death valley driver, but the Anti-Cross from End catches him out as the modified Octopus looked to get the win, but Ilja gets out and after a flurry, drops End with a lariat for just a one-count! Torpedo Moscau follows, and that’s all folks! So Tommy End’s final wXw match ends in defeat, after an enjoyable scrap… ***½
We cut from there to the farewell ceremony, with just about everyone in crisp wXw NOW shirts, including the future Isla Dawn. CMJ’s interrupted by the crowd chanting “we will miss you” at Tommy, before he managed to put over Tommy as someone who never stopped bettering himself… and helping others do the same thing.
From there, Tommy held court with the roster in the ring, bringing up an anecdote about how he learned to “tell stories with his character”. He went on to restate his goal of always being better, then shared a hug with Tengkwa and Emil Sitoci, before he credited wXw for getting him where he’s going.
We cut back to Rico in the studio as he plugs the Best of Tommy End compilation on wXw NOW, as we sign off with the trailer for that…
As a “go home” show, this episode of Shotgun was overshadowed by the Tommy End farewell – but we had plenty of build for FAN… and on the next Shotgun, we’re getting a taster of FAN as well!