We’re back to Hamburg as David Starr found himself in tag team action for his latest tilt at WALTER.
This was from 2018’s wXw & PROGRESS weekender – we’re not going to touch the PROGRESS portion in this feature, since their match had Starr and WALTER on the same team. Yeah…
RINGKAMPF (WALTER & Timothy Thatcher) vs. David Starr & Ilja Dragunov
Did someone say unbesieg-starr? Originally this was meant to be Sexy Starr up against RINGKAMPF, but Jack Sexsmith had to drop out late on because of a family emergency, so Ilja was the surprise replacement.
It was Starr and Thatcher who got us going though, two men who know what it’s like to have mish-mashed partners as of late, and they pick up where they left off at OTT, going to the mat… but Starr was able to get to the ropes as Thatcher threatened to stretch him early on. Ilja wants in, and so we get Dragunov/Thatcher, with all the intensity you’d expect from those two on “just” a tie-up into the corner. Thatcher nonchalantly puts his hands up to block a chop, but he struggled as Ilja squirmed out of a gutwrench… which means we just get a tag in from WALTER, and my God, there’s confirmation that this is an all-star tag match. Dragunov clings onto a headlock on WALTER, dragging him down to the mat, before opting to try for some shoulder blocks… which end badly as WALTER just scoop slams him with ease.
Dragunov has to be alert as WALTER looks to throw some chops, but he ducks them as David Starr blind-tags himself in… and we’ve the next chapter in David Starr’s chronicles of doom. The first words in that chapter were “David takes some forearms from WALTER”, but he manages to rebound with some chops before WALTER just swats him away as Timothy Thatcher looked on with glee from the apron. There’s a sweet leapfrog and a big boot from WALTER as Starr’s snuffed out… with things not improving as Timothy Thatcher comes in to capitalise on the downed Product. Thatcher scores with the gutwrench for just a one-count, and then brings in WALTER who cuts the ring in half, acting like a human wall between Starr and Ilja. A human wall that chops and squashes you, that is… Timothy’s back to drop a few elbows on Starr, as RINGKAMPF were proving remarkably efficient. Starr keeps trying to chop his way back into it, but the comebacks are short lived… so Ilja wanders in and tries to chop away a Boston crab that WALTER had on… only to get a chop and a boot aimed his way. Thanks for coming, Ilja!
Finally Starr manages to outfox RINGKAMPF and work his way into a tag… but Ilja’s right into the proverbial frying pan as he has to chain together a series of strikes and a DDT to bring down Thatcher. A side headlock keeps Thatcher down as Starr tagged back in, perhaps a little too soon, but his falling headbutt keeps Thatcher down as Starr tried to play some mind games. Ground and pound proves to be the order of the day as Felix Schultz has to separate Starr and Thatcher, which just leads to Ilja coming in to pick up the pieces, scoring a near-fall from a back senton.
Starr’s lariat nearly puts Thatcher away as the crowd started to rally behind RINGKAMPF… and they were duly answered when an errant clothesline saw Starr wallop Ilja, allowing WALTER to get the tag in. Der Ringgeneral’s able to outdo both Starr and Dragunov, and pop up from a clothesline-assisted German before dumping both of them at once with lariats. Thatcher’s in with a noggin knocker to Unbesieg-Starr, but the Product blocks a RINGKAMPF belly-to-belly as they finally hit those duelling lariats and kick. The Blue Thunder Bomb from Dragunov nearly puts Thatcher down for the count, but WALTER returns to make sure all four men were in the ring as some haymaker-like chops were thrown. Oh, and a massive shotgun dropkick to Starr, who then gets powerbombed into an uppercut as Ilja flies in with a back senton of the top to save the match. GOOD LORD!
More chops follow as WALTER and Ilja clubber each other, but Dragunov 619’s out of an attempted throw to the outside… only to come right into a Gojira clutch as RINGKAMPF almost fell to a double-pin as double Gojiras were rolled out of. That just earns them some more chops as a Parade of Moves ends with WALTER eating a Dragunov tope, before Starr’s Blackheart Buster almost puts away Thatcher! In the end though, Starr looked to finish off Thatcher with the Han Stansen, only for it to get caught and turned into an armbar, which Thatcher rolls through into a pinning predicament… and there’s the win! Holy crap. If you looked at these four names on the card, you probably would have had a match in your head… well, this exceeded what I had in my head. Carve out 20 minutes from your day and watch this. NOW. ****½
Hey, we even got a bit of air guitaring WALTER afterwards. That’s how happy he was with his night’s work! Next up is a trip across the pond as this feud teases us in the US on a Halloween-themed show for PWX of all places…