WALTER and Ilja Dragunov lock horns in Cologne as wXw continue towards the end of 2016.
Rico Bushido’s in the studio as ever, as we’re told that Marty Scurll didn’t make it to Cologne, so WALTER issued an open challenge. One that was spoiled on the wXw NOW page with this show on! But first, we recap Alpha Kevin beating a one-night-only minion of Marius van Beethoven… and then it’s straight to action.
Hakeem Waqur vs. Alpha Kevin
I’m HOWLING at the “Matt Fact” for Alpha Kevin this week. It simply read “went to wrestling despite the FC game.” He missed nothing – they drew 0-0 with Augsburg on that day…
Jeremy Graves is on the call as Kevin started by taking down Waqur at the bell, following up with shoulder charges in the corner as a fellow Cologne fan at ringside tried to unfurl a flag. Mounted punches ended when Hakeem shoved Kevin away, before Kevin made a comeback, only to find an Exploder get elbows away. A forearm stuns Waqur as Kevin got the Exploder off anyway, getting a near-fall, before more shoulder charges in the corner keep Waqur at bay. Kevin goes back to the mounted punches before he knocked Waqur loopy with a jab. Hakeem recovers as he throws Kevin to the mat, following up with a slam as Marius van Beethoven watched on from ringside. An Irish whip dumps Kevin in the corner, but Kevin got back up and went after Marius at ringside.
Of course Hakeem takes advantage, attacking Kevin with a suplex before a big boot dropped him for a near-fall. A camel clutch follows, with van Beethoven taunting Kevin from ringside, but Kevin makes it to the ropes for the break. Another comeback from Kevin sees him go back to the shoulder charges, before a spin-out back suplex gets a near-fall… only for Waqur to respond with a cross-legged Falcon arrow for a near-fall of his own. Dusty punches from Kevin sting Waqur and drop him in the ropes, leaving him prone as Kevin went up for a… Coast to Coast? Goddamn, he dives through Waqur’s face with it and that’s plenty to get the win. A solid match as Kevin continues to fight through Marius van Beethoven’s minions en route to their eventual match. **¾
Post-match, Marius wallops Kevin from behind with his crutch. He even splits it in two so he can have double the fun, until Melanie Gray ran out to spear him away. Karsten Beck wanders out too, noticing that Marius didn’t seem to need his crutch… and apparently a paramedic backstage told Karsten that “if Marius can walk without a crutch, he can compete.” Sounds like that paramedic may not “get” wrestling…but Marius’ freakout here was a sight.
Next week in Hamburg: Marius and Alpha Female face Alpha Kevin and Melanie Gray… then, a week later, Marius faces Kevin at the anniversary show.
Back in the studio, Rico Bushido shows us footage from Cologne of John Klinger addressing Ilja Dragunov, reminding him how Cerberus isn’t exactly helping him on his losing streak. Reminding Ilja that on his own, he was “unbesiegbar,” Klinger seemed to annoy Dirty Dragan, who tried (and failed) to attack, before Klinger offered a handshake to Ilja. Before Dragunov could accept, Julian Nero runs in to attack, with Ilja joining in as Cerberus wiped out Bad Bones.
Nico Schmidt’s running down upcoming shows – with wXw heading to Berlin “next weekend.” Hey, do you want to know how this is dated in 2020? There’s a reference to the wXw app on Windows Phone. That’s one for the techies there… “Tomorrow” wXw is in Hamburg, with Klinger vs. Dragunov, Marius van Beethoven & Alpha Female vs. Alpha Kevin & Melanie Gray, Chris Brookes vs. Dave Crist, David Starr vs. Chris Colen, Rosemary vs. Toni Storm, WALTER & Jurn Simmons vs. A4, plus the main event of Axel Dieter Jr. vs. Da Mack… which led to a replay of the trailer for the match, that they debuted last week.
Emil Sitoci vs. Tengkwa
Emil continues to fight for Dutch supremacy here, but he was on the defensive early as Tengkwa kept taking him down, almost winning with some early roll-ups and a Superman body press.
Tengkwa keeps pushing on with chops, before taking Sitoci into the buckles, but Emil’s able to respond, taking Tengkwa outside and into the side of the ring. Back inside, Tengkwa float out of a back suplex and hits an O’Connor roll for a near-fall, before Sitoci came back with an atomic drop and a clothesline. It’s good for a near-fall, as Sitoci hits back with a pendulum backbreaker for a couple of near-falls. A Fisherman suplex keeps Sitoci ahead, as he proceeded to wear down Tengkwa’s arm, only for his change of tack to backfire as Tengkwa dropkicked him away. That momentum comes to a crashing halt as Tengkwa leaps into Sitoci’s knees, allowing Emil to build back again with an attempt at a superplex. Tengkwa shoves him down and leaps in with a crossbody for a near-fall,. Before he went for an armbar on Sitoci… but Emil got to the ropes to force a break.
Tengkwa keeps on Sitoci, rolling him through into a grounded Octopus, but Emil rakes the eyes to free himself and quickly lands a Snapmare Driver… for a near-fall! A Fireman’s carry gutbuster looked to be next, but Sitoci had to pull Tengkwa off the ropes… and after doing so he scooped up the masked man for a tombstone. It’s countered into an Octopus, but Emil counters back into a neckbreaker slam before a tombstone got the win. A fun back and forth match, as Tengkwa was coming to the end of his main run in wXw. ***
Nico’s back to run down the 16th Anniversary show some more, and he even mentions that Jurn Simmons won the World Wrestling Championship tournament that wXw, Beyond, PCW and CZW held in Preston a few weeks earlier (the show that PCW replaced their co-promoted shows with ROH with after ROH opted to tour the UK solo…). Anyway, in addition to the 3-way for the wXw title, we’ve got a 3-way for the Shotgun title with Pete Dunne and Da Mack challenging David Starr. Chris Colen vs. Emil Sitoci, Alpha Kevin vs. Marius van Beethoven and A4 vs. RINGKAMPF round off the card.
Next: we catch CMJ on the cross trainer with Karsten Beck… Jakobi’s extremely moody with Karsten for that as Beck told him that the tag title match will be a best-of-three falls match. Beck’s told that making those decisions is “above his pay grade,” as Jakobi told Beck that he needed a favour: he’d only agree to it if Beck put his job on the line as well.
That’s the end of Shotgun… but first, we’re taken back to Cologne for WALTER’s open challenge. WALTER runs through his usual “three categories” speech. The open challenge gets answered by Ilja Dragunov, whose graphic tells us he “used to be defeated for over two years.” Ouch.
WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov
Of course, since this match, these two have had a BIG series of matches, and at time of writing are set to face each other in NXT UK after things get back to normal. In 2016 though, Ilja was on the verge of breaking out.
We’ve a tentative start as Ilja was playing stick and move with WALTER, catching him with an early chop… then another as WALTER tried to swing for the fences. Ilja keeps poking the proverbial bear with his chops, but ends up getting cornered and obliterated with a chop. Ah, I miss hearing those. More chops from WALTER have Dragunov punch-drunk, but he’s able to roll out of an early Gojira clutch ahead of another chop that took WALTER down. Heading outside, Ilja chops WALTER again, but a response from WALTER turns it around as he threw Dragunov back inside and began to stomp a mudhole through him. A slam and a sit-out splash squishes Ilja for a near-fall, before he restrained Dragunov with an overhead wristlock. Dragunov tries to sneak back with a Saito suplex, but has to float out of a powerbomb as he ran into a damned chop to the head, before a clothesline dropped WALTER for a near-fall.
More chops from WALTER subdue Ilja, but Dragunov chops down WALTER out of a superplex before hitting a back senton for a near-fall. A tope from Dragunov is swatted away by WALTER, who powerbombed him onto the edge of the ring for good measure, following up with clubbing crossface punches in the ropes. A dropkick knocks Dragunov off the apron, before WALTER just booted Ilja in the face after he’d been spat on. The standing ten count just sees Ilja pull himself back to his feet as WALTER continued to dominate, but Dragunov held his own as the pair trade chops with seemingly no end in sight. Dragunov has to fight off another Gojira clutch, but he’s just ragdolled into a German suplex, as a butterfly suplex followed up for a near-fall.
We’re back to the blistering chops as WALTER takes Ilja up top, finally landing a butterfly superplex for a near-fall. Another Gojira clutch is applied as Dragunov hit a desperation Saito suplex to break free, only for WALTER to roll outside to prevent a pinning attempt. Dragunov joins him on the apron for more chops, but WALTER joins in and lifts Ilja back into the ring… only for Dragunov to recover and knock him back to the floor for a tope. WALTER beats the count to get back in, before Adam Polak hit the ring randomly to try and get into it with WALTER. Dragunov’s distracted by it as WALTER rolls him up for a near-fall… WALTER goes for Polak, and almost loses to a schoolboy, before a big boot and a murderous lariat led to another near-fall for the Austrian. WALTER tries for a powerbomb, but Polak climbs to the top rope to distract again… and it works as WALTER goes for him, allowing Ilja to counter with a powerbomb out of the corner for a two-count.
Polak’s back as he offers Ilja a pill (or two), but Dragunov slaps it away, and promptly gets destroyed with a shotgun dropkick as WALTER proceeds to force the stoppage with a Gojira clutch. A heck of a match, which put the work in place for that rocket Ilja was to have strapped to his back. I wasn’t crazy with the Polak-heavy finish, but it’s all storyline and preparation work! ***¾
A really good Shotgun this week as wXw prepared for their final few shows of the year, setting things in place for a really eventful 2017…