The hot potato that was the Shotgun title took centre stage as wXw headed into their 16th anniversary show!
Rico’s back in the studio as he previews what’s coming up, starting with Karsten Beck’s order last week that Marius van Beethoven had to return to action. We’re taken to Marius somewhere as he proclaimed himself to be the “golden future” of wXw. He’s buoyed by having Alpha Female by his side, as would anyone in his shoes. They replay the finish of the mixed tag from Hamburg, which saw Marius punch out Melanie Gray before he chop blocked Alpha Kevin’s knee en route to the submission win… with Karsten Beck following up afterwards by confirming their match for Oberhausen the following week. We get a video package to build up this match, starting with Baby Alpha Kevin and Baby Marius van Beethoven from Shotgun in 2015 when they were Reich und Schön, jumping through to the big turn in Hamburg earlier this year, all the way to Marius being forced to return to the ring.
We get clips of David Starr retaining the Shotgun title over Emil Sitoci and Chris Colen last week… which led to clips of Sitoci and Colen arguing backstage.over Sitoci adding himself to the match. It keeps things bubbling for their singles match in Oberhausen…
wXw Shotgun Championship: David Starr (c) vs. Dave Crist vs. Chris Brookes vs. Ilja Dragunov
This one’s from that stacked show in Berlin we mentioned a few weeks ago, and we’ve got Alan Counihan on the call for this.
Things start out hot as Starr and Brookes paired off, while Dragunov got thrown outside by Dave Crist. Starr’s taken outside too as Brookes and Crist went at it, with a dropkick taking Brookes outside, as Starr came back in to trip Crist en route to a pinning attempt. It’s all very rapid and very fluid, as you’d expect from a multi-man match.
Dragunov returns to take his shots, but the two Daves combine to catch out Ilja as a leaping knee rocked the Russian. All four men end up outside for a scrap, with Dragunov and Crist heading up to the stage as Alan took a shot at Chris Brookes’ “little wolf friend.” A superkick sees Ilja trust-fall into Brookes and Starr on the floor as Crist dove into the pile for the hell of it. Back in the ring, Crist ducks a rolling elbow and nailed Starr with a hooked Cross Rhodes for a near-fall. Starr’s back to crotch Crist in the ropes as he attempted a rope-walk, following up with the Edgucator – what’d become the Republican Remorse. Dragunov breaks it up by raking Starr’s eyes, before Brookes came in and gave everyone a wet willie.
Of course, Ilja and Starr chop him to pieces for that, as a Parade of Kicks broke out, ending with a double clothesline from Dragunov to the Daves. Starr and Crist boot away their opponents so they can resume hostilities – a Pretty Pumped from Starr drops Crist, before a Chernobyl Bomb from Dragunov left Starr laying. Brookes capitalises with a rope-hung neckbreaker, before he got wrecked with a flying cutter from Crist that Dragunov breaks up the cover on. Starr responds with a Violence Party on Dragunov, trapping him in the ropes before throwing him outside for a tope. A second one follows, as did a third, before Chris Brookes saw an opportunity and snatched it, shoving the ref into the corner to mask him punting Dave Crist low, before a Michinoku driver led to the unlikeliest of wins. An action packed four-way – perhaps a little too breathless – but a match that left the 16th Anniversary show up in the air. ***½
Backstage, Da Mack quizzes David Starr about losing the title… but he’s more concerned with what’s going to happen at the anniversary show. In walks Chris Brookes, as they ask him if he’s going to fix that creaking floorboard. Sorry, I meant “will he honour the stipulation everyone’d agreed to beforehand”. Starr seems to corpse at the floorboard, as Brookes went off to speak to Karsten Beck.
WALTER vs. Absolute Andy
We’ve a heavyweight contest to wrap up this week’s Shotgun. WALTER doesn’t accept a handshake as he takes Andy into the corner, playing mind games early on.
Andy chops away at WALTER, taking him into the corner before the Austrian took him down with a headlock takedown. Shoving WALTER into the ropes, Andy tried his luck with a shoulder tackle, as we wash, rinse and repeat on the way to a leaping shoulder tackle that did the trick, sending WALTER to the outside. Following him outside was a bad idea, as Andy’s dumped onto the ring apron, allowing WALTER to take over back inside, dropping Andy with an uppercut and again with a simple bodyslam. Bullying Andy to the outside, WALTER looks to force a count-out win, and of course… it doesn’t work. Andy returns as he had to roll out of an armbar, before finding a way through with some right hands that took WALTER into the corner.
A spinebuster puts WALTER down, but an Absolute Knee is stopped as WALTER hits a German suplex instead. WALTER keeps going with a butterfly suplex, getting a near-fall before he stopped to survey the scene. A powerbomb gets another two-count, as WALTER looked to dominate, keeping Andy at bay with forearm after forearm after forearm as Andy bounced off the ropes. Andy fights back with a flying shoulder tackle as he took WALTER back into the corner with right hands, before an Irish whip and a back body drop sent WALTER flying. A suplex is next, as Andy just about got the Austrian up… the Absolute Knee follows, before WALTER escaped the F5, as a superkick wipes out referee Tassilo Jung. With no ref, WALTER clotheslines Andy, then tied him up in the ropes a la Andre the Giant so he could unload with some more right hands and boots.
WALTER poses with Andy’s tag team title belt, but the belt shot doesn’t come off as Andy gets free and rolls WALTER into a Sharpshooter. Andy lets go so he can check on the referee, before he proceeded to catch WALTER with a superkick as nobody seemed too fussed about Tas’ plight. WALTER’s tied up in the ropes next as he gets some receipts from earlier, but Tas is back to his feet… and gets shoved down for trying to enforce the count. Andy’s caught using the belt to lay out WALTER, and there’s the DQ as the road to the A4 vs. RINGKAMPF title match at the anniversary show continued. ***½
Post-match, Axel Dieter Jr. hit the ring and put the boots to Andy, before Marius al-Ani made the save with a missile dropkick to the pair of them as the two teams brawled… as we fade away to a hype video for the tag title match.
Then, we’re taken backstage as A4 meet Karsten Beck – they give him a pep talk as Andy called Beck the “true hero of wXw,” mostly because he’d put his own neck on the line here. Andy vowed that A4 would win because they’re fighting for wXw, while al-Ani said the same heart that got him to the top in his first year would help out. They’re still pushing the WOW Movement via t-shirts, but it’s very telling that the WOW Movement got very little traction outside of it being an unofficial “uniform” of sorts…
They replay the John Klinger/Ilja Dragunov stuff from last week – this time set to music – as Rico then pitched to clips from their match in Hamburg, which ended with interference from Adam Polak. The seeds, they keep being sewn… as we follow Ilja and Adam backstage, with Ilja telling Polak he wanted nothing to do with him.
That segues into a video package on the fall of Cerberus, via Adam Polak’s infatuation with John Klinger… then we see Chris Brookes trying to weasel his way out of defending the Shotgun title as he told Beck he wanted to be no part of any multi-man matches. Instead, Brookes wanted to be added to the tag title match (which would have been… a multi-man match). Beck tells Chris that he’s not able to change title matches, and told him to “go to Jakobi.” So he does. Jakobi put over Brookes’ editing work, as this turned into a sneaky plug for the 16th Anniversary lineup. Brookes wants “the same opportunity” as other fly-ins as he tried to talk his way into the tag title match. Jakobi shoots that down instantly, and suggested Brookes do his tag team thing in the pre-show, facing Moustache Mountain for a shot at the tag titles at some point. Oh, and the Shotgun title match is still on. Needless to say, Chris wasn’t happy at the extra work he’d talked himself into.
Nico Schmidt’s back to confirm the four-way for the Shotgun title… it’s Brookes defending against Da Mack, Pete Dunne and David Starr. We’ve also got the pre-show match with Moustache Mountain vs. Chris Brookes & X, a Street Fight with John Klinger vs. Ilja Dragunov, Alpha Kevin vs. Marius van Beethoven, A4 vs. RINGKAMPF in a best-of-three falls match for the tag team titles (and Karsten Beck’s job), plus the three-way for the wXw title as Jurn Simmons defended against Adam Cole and Marty Scurll.
We’ve a segment with Jurn next as he wanders into… a ballet studio? He was looking for Marty Scurll, who’s not been around since Broken Rules. Jurn promised to confront Marty, because he wanted to know if he’d fall silent at his mere presence, but instead he’ll have to wait until the 16th Anniversary show to do so. A hype video for the three-way main event follows, focusing on all the names Jurn’s beaten for the title, as they built up both Scurll and Cole as big threats. Of course, something much more unexpected ended up happening, as Rico signed off by looking forward to the tour finale!