The Shotgun title’s in the main event on this latest look back, as Tyler Bate defends against David Starr.
As always, Rico’s in the studio as wXw headed towards their winter break… but first, a tease for the Hamburg main event as we have Axel Dieter Jr. in action.
Axel Dieter Jr. vs. Johnny Rancid
Alan Counihan’s on the call as he tells us that Rancid trained with Junior, and we’ve a little aggravation early as Junior took Rancid into the corner early on.
A cross chop to the throat decks Rancid, who then had his wrist worked over before he made a comeback with a dropkick. Some kicks keep Junior in place, before he countered a tiltawhirl with a facebuster. Junior’s running enziguiri into the corner, then a suplex out of it gets a near-fall, as the RINGKAMPF man began to assert himself. Rancid tries another comeback, but gets caught with a diving uppercut as Junior keeps the momentum, landing another uppercut for a near-fall. A floatover attempt from Rancid is caught as Junior went for a Hamburgerkreuz, but it’s escape as Rancid tries another fight back, only to get caught with a knee and another uppercut, this time off the middle rope.
Some chops from Rancid were his latest glimmer of hope, as were some headscissors, but a springboard gets caught as the Hamburgerkreuz lands for a near-fall. Rancid flips out of a Landungsbrücke, but charges into the ring post as Junior caught him in the ropes with a dropkick, before the Landungsbrücke and an Axel Dieter Special forced the submission. A fun little match – Rancid got perhaps way too many spells on offence, but Junior was extremely effective in snuffing him out. **¾
We get a video package recapping Hot & Spicy’s history, through to their match earlier in the year, where Junior effectively turned his back on Da Mack, and the fall-out from there as they have their rematch in December…
Next up, WALTER in a dress shirt. He puts over Axel Dieter Jr., and tells us that he feels Junior will win the rematch with Da Mack. WALTER calls Da Mack a showman, while Junior has grown up and evolved in the few months he’s been part of RINGKAMPF.
Laurance Roman vs. WALTER
This one’s from Gotha, and yeah, we don’t get Laurance’s music. I don’t fancy his chances, to be fair.
Kicks from Roman try to sting WALTER early as Laurance had to stick and move. WALTER catches one of them though and proceeded to dump Roman with a slam, before missing the sit-out splash as Laurance almost nicked the win. Straight from the kick-out, WALTER chops Roman to smithereens, before Roman slipped out of a slam and found himself having his face kicked off. Clubbing forearms keeps Roman down, before he went for a springboard crossbody. It doesn’t quite work as WALTER just throws him off, but Roman manages to eke out a DDT as WALTER went for a powerbomb, before throwing himself back into the ring with a missile dropkick off the top.
That barely gets Roman a two-count, as he proceeded to anger WALTER with kicks. Chops from WALTER get ducked, but Roman runs into a Gojira clutch and earns himself a RINGKAMPF German suplex for good measure. A butterfly suplex follows, but WALTER pulls up Roman at two so he could finish him off with a powerbomb and another Gojira clutch for the submission. A very efficient squash. **½
After the match, Rico hypes up the A4 vs. RINGKAMPF tag title match at the anniversary show, and reminds us that Marius had emergency dental surgery not too long ago. So we get Absolute Andy with Christian Bischof, as Andy recaps how winning the tag titles was the best moment of his career. Even if he knew RINGKAMPF were going to be coming for them straight away…
Following a trailer for the Weyhe show, Rico reminds us of Francis Kaspin upsetting Ilja Dragunov, before reading out a message supposedly from Julian Nero, who’s “concerned about the state of (Adam Polak)”, and said that change was needed. Next, John Klinger’s trying to make gym plans with Francis Kaspin, as they whisper so much. Klinger’s asked what he wants to happen with Ilja, and it turns out he just doesn’t want Ilja making the same mistakes he made. Turn your speakers back down…
Last week: Alpha Kevin asked Karsten Beck to “investigate” Marius van Beethoven’s doctor’s note. Now: Marius stops by to speak to the “poverty-stricken” Shotgun audience. Hey! He tells us he’s going to give us the opportunity to see the “most awesome wrestler in the world” this week. Marius tells us next week, Hakeem Waqur faces Alpha Kevin – and Marius reckons that losing in his home town means that Kevin will never want to show his face again.
We see clips of Hakeem Waqur beating Francis Kaspin, before Nico Schmidt runs down some upcoming events. Cologne gets Waqur vs. Alpha Kevin, as we already knew, plus Cerberus vs. Klinger & Colen, along with WALTER vs. Marty Scurll. They also get the debut of Jaxon Stone vs. Absolute Andy, in addition to Chris Brookes vs. Marius al-Ani and Tengkwa vs. Emil Sitoci. That’s a stacked line-up!
wXw Shotgun Championship: Tyler Bate (c) vs. David Starr
This became a title match after David Starr talked his way into it last week… Alan on commentary tells us how they were room mates in the wXw wrestling academy at the start of the year, as the pair started off by taking their time.
Starr uses a knuckle lock to make Bate bridge, but Tyler kicks out of a cover and found a way to take down Starr with an armbar, before the pair swapped headlocks and headscissors to try and force an opening. A side headlock from Starr has Tyler on the defensive, before they reset and traded shoulder tackles. So. Many. Shoulder. Tackles.
Eventually Starr knocks down Bate after some misdirection, before he went to work on Bate’s left arm, trapping it for a Magistral cradle for a near-fall, and then back into an armbar. Focusing on the wrist, Bate’s taken to his knees, before he recovered… and was right back where he started. A monkey flip doesn’t get him free, as Starr torques the wrist some more, then rolled Bate back to the mat to apply another armbar. Bate’s able to get up and take himself into the ropes as he seemed a little agitated with the challenger. If only he knew what was to come, eh? Bate manages to force an opening though, catching Starr with a dropkick before he booted Starr from a headlock. A trip quickly turns things around briefly, as Starr lifts Bate onto the apron ahead of a springboard clothesline.
Starr aborts a tope as Bate instead flew off the apron with a knee strike, before Starr was thrown back inside… and came right back out with a tope! With both men fighting onto the apron, they trade jabs before a cheeky Cherry Mint DDT trapped Tyler through the ropes. Bate’s back to his feet as Starr took too long getting to the top rope, and after going for a superplex, just ended up catching a flying Starr with an uppercut. A deadlift German suplex follows for a near-fall for Bate, before he signalled for an Airplane Spin. Starr slips out early though, only to run into a punch before waffling Bate with a lariat. Pretty Pumped followed for a near-fall, before an attempt at a Blackheart Buster was nullified by the champion. Instead, an elbow smashes Bate, who replies in kind as they had another scrap, with Tyler boxing his challenger into the ropes.
Only to run into some elbows as Starr refused to go down. A Violence Party of forearms and chops wore down Bate, as did an exchange of big boots until a Koppo Kick caught Starr out. Bate goes for a suplex, but Starr countered with a Blackheart Buster, before rolling elbows to the back of the head left Bate prone for an attempt at Product Placement. Bate wriggles out, but eats a third rolling elbow as the Product Placement followed for the win. We’ve got a new champion as Gotha sees an unlikely title change – a definitive win from Starr who largely had his own way throughout. ***½
Backstage, Starr celebrates with his newly-won title… while Tyler Bate eats a banana. Bate’s not too fussed about losing, it seems, as he’s heading back to the UK once he’s done with his fruit. Starr asks Tyler to pass a message to Pete Dunne ahead of their match at the 16th Anniversary Show, and that’s it for the two of them.
We’re back with Nico Schmidt who runs down some updated cards as we find out that Starr’ll defend the Shotgun title vs. Da Mack and Pete Dunne at the 16th Anniversary show. He reminds us of Sitoci vs. Colen, A4 vs. RINGKAMPF, and the three-way for the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship with Jurn Simmons defending vs. Adam Cole and Marty Scurll. Nico pitched to Johnny Rancid having a can slapped out of his hand by Jurn Simmons. Jurn has a thing about “cruiserweights”, and tells Johnny they don’t matter, before he lashed out at Marty Scurll for not being in Weyhe. Simmons vows that Marty’s win at Broken Rules over him was a fluke, and claimed he was faking being hurt to boot. Rancid tries to walk away, which angers Jurn, who then… walked off.
They replay the 16th Anniversary trailer, as Rico signs off for another week – wrapping up a show with two fun RINGKAMPF squashes, and a fine main event that saw David Starr win his first singles gold in wXw.