Our look back at Shotguns of old continue, as Jurn Simmons defended his wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship against a visiting Paul London!
wXw is days away from their feature show in Weyhe, so we’ve got a lot of set-up here… but first, Rico’s all about that Axel Dieter Jr. vs. Da Mack match in a few weeks’ time. He pitches to clips from their last match in September, which Mack won… despite Junior’s increased aggression. From there, Da Mack’s backstage with “Moustache Man” Tyler Bate, congratulating him on winning the Shotgun title. Mack wants to regain the title, and teases invoking his rematch clause… which is one of the things that made Tyler tell him “I have no idea what you just said.” The curse of multi-lingual promos! Tyler reiterates what Mack said, and offers the match… (spoiler: it never happened!)
Nico Schmidt’s in the Event Center, hyping up the 16th Anniversary show. He runs down the names announced for the show, confirming the 3-way for the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship, then pitched to the Broken Rules trailer.
Emil Sitoci’s backstage, having a flashlight shone in his face by Karsten Beck… he’s mad he’s not being featured prominently. Karsten’s got an answer: a match against Johnny Evers. Emil… isn’t happy with that, but gets talked into giving him a “good experience”.
Emil Sitoci vs. Johnny Evers
We’re in Lippstadt for this one, as Evers is back for the first time since losing to Bobby Gunns two months earlier. Jeremy Graves is on the call, as we’ve got Emil rather nonplussed at everything here.
When we get going, Sitoci backs into the ropes to break a wristlock… and from the restart, Evers decided to take the initiative, reversing a wristlock before hitting a big boot, a back senton and a quick Exploder suplex as he surprised Sitoci. A leaping knee to the back from Sitoci takes Evers outside, and he follows in with an axehandle off the apron before charging Evers into the side of the ring. Sitoci uses the top rope and drops Evers across it throat-first before he began to wear down his fellow Dutchman with a chinlock. Elbows follow in the corner, but Evers fought back, leaping across with some elbows of his own before a German suplex attempt was turned into a near wheelbarrow roll-through by Sitoci.
Emil keeps going with a wheelbarrow attempt, but instead changes it into a facebuster for a near-fall. Another forearm lays out Evers as Sitoci had his way with him, throwing Evers against the edge of the ring before stretching him some more. A snapmare driver’s pushed off as Evers tried to stay in it, following in with a springboard crossbody out of the corner as he gave himself some hope. Evers keeps going with a brainbuster and some elbows, getting a near-fall for his troubles… but Sitoci catches him with a side-Russian legsweep and a split-legged moonsault as he started to take things seriously. A Fireman’s carry gutbuster is next, then a top rope elbow, before Sitoci again went for a Snapmare Driver, only to get caught with a German suplex.
One more fightback from Evers sees him almost nick it with a Northern Lights suplex, before Sitoci countered a pendulum backbreaker into the Snapmare Driver for the win. This was fine, but Sitoci taking Evers lightly didn’t connect muich with this crowd, who never seemed to buy Johnny as a serious competitor. **½
Backstage, Emil and Johnny are in the locker room. Evers offers a handshake, but Emil didn’t take it as he told Evers that he had no respect for him. Calling himself the “best Dutch wrestler” meant that Sitoci was compared to Tommy End, which didn’t sit well with Emil, who hit out that Tommy was just well known “in the wrestling bubble”, while his name was known across Holland.
Rico runs through more wXw NOW releases, including Conversations with Absolute Andy, and the upcoming Weyhe show. Speaking of Weyhe, they were meant to get Alpha Kevin vs. Marius van Beethoven… and that’s the pitch to an interview with Kevin. Thommi Giesen asks Kevin about his recent past, where he refused to attack Marius… something Kevin called a mistake. We then got the news that Marius wasn’t cleared to compete in Weyhe, and instead he was being replaced by Drake Destroyer.
Nico’s back to confirm what we just heard, with a big handful of cynicism… Weyhe also gets RINGKAMPF & Jurn Simmons vs. A4 & Marty Scurll… Da Mack was meant to face Tyler Bate (in a match that changed…), Francis Kaspin & John Klinger vs. Cerberus. Münster had Absolute Andy vs. WALTER, Axel Dieter Jr. vs. David Starr, and Jurn Simmons vs. Marius al-Ani.
More shows: Gotha with John Klinger vs. Jurn Simmons vs. Axel Dieter Jr… David Starr vs. Tyler Bate and Cerberus vs. A4. Halle has Klinger vs. Andy, WALTER vs. Al-Ani, Axel Dieter Jr. vs. Johnny Rancid. Cologne with Cerberus vs. Colen & Klinger, WALTER vs. Scurll, and Tengkwa vs. Sitoci.
Rico’s back in the studio as they recapped John Klinger’s assault at the hands of Cerberus… Bad Bones is backstage with Thommi Giesen, recalling how this isn’t the first time he was left laying in his own blood, looking forward for revenge. Klinger’s coming for all of Cerberus, except for Ilja, noting how he wanted no part of Julian Nero’s drugs binge on Shotgun last week. I may have exaggerated that last part… Klinger tells Ilja to stop wasting his talent, then walks off.
John Klinger & Francis Kaspin vs. A4 (Marius al-Ani & Absolute Andy)
This was non-title, and we start with Andy taking Francis Kaspin into the corner amid the wonky lighting. A headlock takedown keeps Francis down, before Kaspin tried a headlock of his own, and rolled with it as Andy tried to throw him into the ropes.
We get a clean break though, as Andy snapmares Kaspin ahead of a kick to the back, before shoulder tackles saw Andy bulldoze through the rookie. A leaping shoulder tackle forces Kaspin to tag out, as Marius al-Ani also joins the fray, scrapping with Klinger on the mat as he looked for a body part before the pair rolled into the ropes. More grappling sees al-Ani hammerlock Klinger, only to get taken into the corner as things broke down into a striking contest, with uppercuts from al-Ani earning him a dropkick from Klinger. A scoop slam off the ropes gets Klinger a near-fall, before Kaspin returned to help with a double suplex on al-Ani, following in with a hold that forces Marius into the ropes.
al-Ani recovers as he rolled Kaspin to the mat, then held him for a chop from Andy… with a massive suplex flinging Kaspin across the ring. Andy keeps that going with more chops, as A4 began to exchange quick tags as Kaspin took his lumps. Another tag brings in Klinger to try and turn it around, as Bad Bones hits Andy with a suplex, only to tag Kaspin right back in… and the pair end up getting suplexed by Andy. Clotheslines and right hands see Andy clean house, but an Exploder from Klinger changes the momentum, as does a Bonespear. A back body drop from Andy gets him free as Marius returns with dropkicks and a spinning leg lariat to Klinger, following up with a frog splash that whiffs. Kaspin’s back to capitalise with leaping forearms, following up with a Fisherman suplex right by Absolute Andy that’s easily broken up.
Irish whips from Andy hurls Klinger into the corners as more chops blister Kaspin. A pendulum backbreaker’s next for Kaspin before Andy turned around into a missile dropkick… with Klinger taking a suplex as the ring stayed full. Kaspin and al-Ani exchange shots, before a series of armdrags from Kaspin just earned him an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. An electric chair into an atomic drop from al-Ani has Kaspin on the mat, as did a big boot from Andy, before Klinger tried to force his way back into the match. They trade spinebusters until a double clothesline had both men on the deck. Suplexes follow back-and-forth as the referee has long since lost control, leading to Kaspin getting lifted to the outside, before a crucifix buckle bomb from Klinger just left him open for a clothesline from Andy.
The Parade of Moves keeps going as Andy, then Klinger dive to the outside. Klinger teases a crucifix bomb into the ring post, but al-Ani dives into Bad Bones to stop him before Kaspin was rolled back in as an F5 and a frog splash from A4 get the win. A solid outing, with the newcomer Kaspin continuing to look good in his early days. ***½
Backstage, Andy bumps into Jurn Simmon… vowing that when he meets Jurn in Weyhe, it’ll go differently to last time. Marius al-Ani wanders in too, and gets branded the “vanilla ninja” by Jurn, who threatened to put him on the shelf.
We go backstage again, as Paul London introduces himself to Jurn… who didn’t take Paul’s comedy well.
wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship: Jurn Simmons (c) vs. Paul London
It’s bodysuit-era Paul London! He surprises Jurn at the bell with kicks, then with chops and an atomic drop before a ‘rana took Simmons outside.
A through-the-ropes dropkick sees London meet Jurn outside, before they’re quickly back inside as a slingshot splash from London got a near-fall – as I thought he was perhaps going for a senton. Simmons recovers to charge London into the corner, before an overhead belly-to-belly flung the challenger into the buckles for a near-fall. Jurn keeps up on London with a suplex throw for a delayed two-count, as the champion looked to assert himself on the match. A shoulder tackle sees London spin to the mat a la Rikishi for a near-fall, before he began to fight back with more kicks, only to get hurled hard into the corner. Simmons misses a big boot in the corner, as London fought back with a neat monkey flip, before he caught Jurn on the top rope with chops as a death valley driver out of the corner left both men laying.
Jurn gets taken to the apron as London tries to suplex him back to the ring… instead, he just sweeps the leg and dumps Simmons onto the edge. London follows in with a stomp as Jurn was getting back to his feet. A second monkey flip is pushed away as Jurn came in with a DDT instead for a two-count, following that up with a uranage as London just about kicked out. A stalling Fisherman suplex keeps Jurn ahead, as he built up for a superplex… but London pushes him down and hits a shooting star press off the middle rope as he almost snatched the upset. We’re back outside the ring in the darkness, with the pair brawling through the Stuttgart crowd as London got lifted onto before diving off the bar.
The pair eventually fight back towards the ring, passing it on the way to the entrance stage, as London fought back with superkicks before a death valley driver was countered into a piledriver on the stage. Finally heading back to the ring, Jurn ordered the count-out start… London beats it, but walks into a second piledriver as the champion retained. A fun little main event – although the crowd brawl felt longer than it was because of the darkness. Not the band. ***¼
That’s a wrap for another Shotgun – keeping the hype going for the 16th Anniversary show, while also building up upcoming live events. It’s something that’s easily lost in all of the fond memories of Shotgun – in how presenting an easily-digestible weekly show, wXw were able to keep so many plates spinning at one time. Of course, (pre-pandemic) the wXw touring schedule was a lot different in 2020 than it was in 2016, but it’s impressive how so much was done by a company so (relatively) small…