We’ve a hattrick of matches from Bielefeld as our look back at Shotgun continues!
We skipped a few weeks, thanks to us being spotty in our earlier coverage of Shotgun… this one dropped in November 2016, and we’re dealing with “just” an hour. As ever, Rico Bushido’s hosting… with a Harambe t-shirt?? Rico talks about the attack from the “drug addict Adam Polak”, who set Cerberus on John Klinger, using a spike to bloody him up last week. We’re taken to Polak and Cerberus, with Polak crowing over the deeds he’d done. Dragan “rewards” Polak with some pills, which looked like they may be minty fresh… but Dragan still wants the money for them. A few cents seemed to be all Adam could muster given that Cerberus aren’t champions anymore, so he gives Dragan his credit card.
Polak tries to give Julian Nero one of his pills “to help him relax”. Ilja Dragunov tried to talk Nero out of it, but it’s to no avail… and now we know what spawned Nero Consulting all those years later!
Bobby Gunns vs. Jurn Simmons
So this was set up by Jurn breaking up one of Bobby’s Smoking Breaks. We’ve Jeremy Graves on the call as we start with Jurn taking a boot into the corner, before Gunns floated over him… as a referee made it to the ring in time to make a two-count from an O’Connor roll.
A shotgun dropkick takes Jurn into the corner as Gunns followed up with a back elbow off the top rope for another two-count, but Jurn then tosses Gunns to the outside. It doesn’t help, as Gunns came back with a hanging armbar in the ropes, then he proceeded to drag the champion outside for a scrap. Jurn took over as he dumps Gunns onto the edge of the ring with a spinebuster, but Gunns pulls Jurn into the ring post in retaliation as he looked to snatch a count-out win over “Chewbacca”. Gunns tries to leap off the top, but gets charged down with a clothesline as Jurn took over, slamming Gunns with ease before hurling him into the corner.
A shoulder tackle knocks down Gunns, who’s then mocked ahead of a suplex throw from Simmons for a near-fall. Gunns makes a comeback, working over Jurn’s arm by stomping on it, before he followed up with some hip swivelling as he made Jurn, erm, look at it. That pissed off Jurn as much as you’d expect, as he got back up and dropkicked Gunns, before the pair went back and forth with some strikes. A powerslam from Jurn keeps Bobby down, as did a series of clotheslines as Gunns gets taken into the corners. Simmons keeps going with a uranage/chokeslam, before a stalling Fisherman buster drew another near-fall.
Spitting at Simmons, Gunns manages to surprise with a cross armbar, but Jurn’s able to roll up and powerbomb his way free. From there, a Massive Boot obliterates Gunns, before a piledriver puts him away. A fun little match as Jurn keeps himself strong going into the Anniversary show. ***
Nico Schmidt’s in the Event Center, building up the Anniversary show as it’s been confirmed Jurn’ll defend against Marty Scurll and Adam Cole. Pete Dunne’s also going to be part of the Anniversary show, as we get a promo from him as he wants to regain the Shotgun title, having lost it to Tyler Bate a few weeks earlier.
Rico reminds us that Alpha Kevin refused to attack Marius van Beethoven last week – which led to an argument with Melanie Gray. Footage of Marius has him celebrating a little, promising to take Hakeem Waqur to a club before doing a little jig. Alpha Kevin’s outside the room, saying that there’s always a big surprise behind every door… as he then walks in on Dancin’ Marius. Now he wants to have a scrap with him, before Hakeem made the save by giving Kevin a shoeing.
Super Excited Rico announces Marius vs. Kevin… we’ll find out more later with Nico Schmidt, but first, we’ve got a match.
Da Mack vs. Lio Rush
Lio was in the midst of a brief European tour here, packing in five matches for wXw… we get going with Rush getting taken into the corner as Mack broke cleanly.
Wash, rinse, repeat… but Rush switches around before Mack grabbed the arm as they went back and forth on the limb. Mack rolls free and sweeps the leg, giving Rush an uncomfortable landing, before he worked the wrist. Rush gets free by tripping Mack, moving into a front facelock… that Mack of course escaped via headstand. A dropkick from Mack knocks Lio into the corner, but Rush knee slides under a clothesline and come back with a ‘rana. Lio keeps going with a leg lariat to knock Mack outside, following up with some flashiness as he gets cut off with a palm strike. Double-handed chops from Mack keep the match going, while a back elbow nearly knocks Lio’s head off.
Rush knocks Mack to the apron, but can’t avoid a springboard lariat as Mack returned for a near-fall. A slam follows, but Lio’s able to rebound with a springboard enziguiri off the bottom rope that almost steals him the win. Mack catches a kick and eventually caught out Rush with a Slingblade, before a Rolling Thunder squishes Lio for a near-fall… A flurry of back and forth strikes leads to Mack hitting a knee to the face, but a springboard clothesline misses as Rush countered with a standing Spanish Fly for a near-fall. There’s an ardent CZW fan in Bielefeld, who tries to sing the old CZW intro theme, before Mack crashed into Rush with the Mack Magic Upside Down Crack Smash for a near-fall.
Rush responds with a springboard reverse ‘rana out of the corner, then a roundhouse kick before a second attempt at a standing Spanish Fly was caught, with Mack countering back with a cutter for the win. A little spotty, but an entertaining little match nevertheless. ***¼
Backstage, we’re with the WOW Movement – Da Mack, Marius al-Ani and Absolute Andy. Axel Dieter Jr. in a suit walks in, and Mack seems to think he’s there to “man up” and resolve what happened in the past. That’s not why Junior was here – he was there to accuse Mack of running away from him, and to take digs at Mack’s first-round exit from the Cruiserweight Classic. Junior tells Mack he’s used to falls from grace, and comments on his Mack’s “standing with two dumbos”.
Junior keeps the digs going, saying that he’s with Absolute Andy, who can’t stand “due to his increasing and continuing obesity”… which forced him to “recruit” al-Ani “who’s unable to speak more than two consecutive sentences.” Ow. Mack shot back at Junior, claiming he had ideas above his station… particularly since Junior lost to Mack earlier in the year. They’ll rematch on December 2 in Hamburg.
Nico Schmidt confirms that… as we’re back to the not-event center. Lippstadt gets some matches announced: Jurn Simmons vs. David Starr, A4 vs. John Klinger & Francis Kaspin, Alpha Kevin vs. WALTER. Erfurt on the next day is an all-standing show, with Absolute Andy vs. Ilja Dragunov, David Starr vs. John Klinger, and Francis Kaspin vs. Hakeem Waqur. A debut in Münster brings Absolute Andy vs. WALTER, Axel Dieter Jr. vs. David Starr, Marius al-Ani vs. Jurn Simmons. Weyhe’s got a feature event, with RINGKAMPF & Jurn Simmons vs. Marty Scurll & A4, while that feature event also has Alpha Kevin vs. Marius van Beethoven. Cerberus vs. Klinger & Kaspin’s also on that card.
Nico keeps going! Gotha gets Klinger vs. Simmons vs. Axel Dieter Jr… Halle has WALTER vs. Marius al-Ani… and Cologne has Cerberus vs. Klinger & Chris Colen. That’s a lot of matches!
Rico shills more wXw NOW releases, with Conversations with David Starr & Shane Strickland… Felix Kohlenberg has a Power of Three outing…
We then go to Marty Scurll in a corridor, as he walks in on Axel Dieter Jr. and WALTER… WALTER mocks Marty for his gymnastics, leaning into one of CMJ’s older digs, before Marty cut him off. Marty’s still annoyed at what happened to Karsten Beck at World Tag Team League… but before he can talk about their trios match in Wyhe, WALTER shuts him up and walks off.
WALTER vs. David Starr
We covered this a little while back in our look at the long feud between WALTER and David Starr… who’s learned not to go for WALTER instantly, but he manages to get the first chop of the match in… and circles the big guy to prevent an instant response.
WALTER instead takes him down with a headlock, before missing a seated splash as Starr tried a fightback. The trip works, before some legscissors led to a near-fall… as WALTER hits back hard with a series of chops, before connecting with that Earthquake-like splash for a two-count. Starr is egged on to throw chops, but instead he slaps WALTER… and gets whipped hard into the corner for his troubles. A big boot comes next as Starr’s designs on retaliating were cut short, with WALTER trapping him in a grounded wristlock before retaining control by taking Starr back into the corner for a clothesline.
It’s pretty one-sided, but Starr does get some brief glimmers of hope, superkicking WALTER low to take him into the corner for a sliding splash that just gets him a one-count. Starr low bridges WALTER to the outside next, but he takes too long to dive, and he’s again caught… but this time he avoids instantly being dumped on the apron… wriggling out to try for a PK, before instead taking WALTER into the crowd, landing a superkick off the bleachers, then a crossbody off of them! WALTER beats the count back in as Starr unleashes with forearms to the back of the head, before nailing a crucifix for a near-fall as WALTER had blocked a German suplex attempt. Starr takes too long to capitalise, and gets caught in a rear naked choke that gives way to a RINGKAMPF German suplex, dumping Starr on his head, before a double underhook suplex gets another two-count for der Ringgeneral. A fightback from Starr’s quickly shrugged off, but the Product Hulks up, decking WALTER with a rolling elbow, then a knee lift, but WALTER instantly replies with a lariat for a near-fall. The tables turn as Starr gets caught on the top rope, but this time WALTER’s attempt at a butterfly superplex is shoved away, before Starr’s forced to squirm out of a fireman’s carry and take WALTER into the corner with another back body drop.
Starr starts throwing chops and forerarms, while ducking WALTER’s, as a Violence Party took the Austrian into the corner… but a shotgun dropkick puts things right back to normal… only for Starr to counter a powerbomb into a DDT. Somehow he gets WALTER up for a Blackheart driver, picking up a near-fall in the process, before catching him with a Cherry Mint DDT on the apron. Another rolling elbow rocks WALTER, and Starr looks to be setting up for Product Placement… but WALTER goes into the ropes and returns with a rear naked choke, dragging Starr to the mat, forcing the referee to call off the match as the arm-drop deal didn’t generate any response out of the Product. An entirely different match to their outings in Fulda and Hamburg, with Starr having learned from his mistakes… but ultimately not enough to get past a more vicious WALTER. ****¼
We wrap up in the studio as Rico promises an interview with John Klinger next week, before he leaves us with the trailer from Broken Rules. As wXw came towards the end of 2016, Shotgun continued to bear fruit as the weekly show did a solid job of keeping fans up to date – and served as an excellent vehicle for promoting upcoming shows. That being said, the days of this current format of Shotgun are numbered – as wXw would move away from producing editions for YouTube and wXwNOW, replacing it with just the wXwNOW version from early 2017. Still, we’ve got eleven more episodes to go before we get there – so stick along for the ride as we continue to fill in our blanks!