We head over to Germany for something unexpected – a special “celebrity wrestling” style show featuring Claudio Castagnoli, Peter Tihanyi, Metehan and more.
Quick Results
WTF Tag Team Championship Tournament First Round: Rene Casselly & Peter Tihanyi pinned Fabian Hambüchen & Metehan in 12:04 (***¼)
WTF Tag Team Championship Tournament First Round: Matthias Mester & Erkan Sulcani pinned Simon Gosejohann & Axel Tischer in 22:46 (**½)
WTF Tag Team Championship Tournament First Round: Pascal Spalter & Claudio Castagnoli pinned Evil Jared & Toni Harting in 17:45 (***)
WTF Tag Team Championship Tournament Final: Rene Casselly & Peter Tihanyi defeated Pascal Spalter & Claudio Castagnoli and Matthias Mester & Erkan Sulcani in 16:28 (***¼)
We’re coming from the Studio Köln-Mülheim in Cologne for this one – those of you with a long memory will recall ITV’s “Celebrity Wrestling” back in 2005. Twenty years on, they’ve done it properly by Germany’s ProSieben, with the wrestling being actual wrestling, rather than the show being something akin to Gladiators.
The set-up for this is very glossy, with a proper wrestling ring (none of that converted boxing ring stuff), with commentary in German, of course. Hey, we’ve an “auf die Fresse” chant too… does that mean we have to cover it on the podcast? Anyway, commentary comes from Peter Rütten & Sebastian Hackl.
We start with… the Undertaker’s dong? I’m getting WrestleMania 20 flashbacks here as the Undertaker’s druids have relocated to Cologne, and the Undertaker’s morphed into… ring announcer Sebastian Pufpaff with a wacky gameshow theme. Is this what it feels like to be on drugs?
Anyway, the premise here is we’ve got a tournament to crown the first, and presumably the only Wrestling Total Federation Tag Team Champions. I will say, that title belt looks lot nicer than most indie belts do. Evil Jared Hasslehoff from the Bloodhound Gang is one of the celebrities involved, and has a bit of a cheat code since he’s something of a regular for Berlin’s GWF, who had a hand in this. Hey, Sebastian owes Michael Buffer some Euros for stepping on that trademark!
Pufpaff introduces the commentary team – addressing Hackl as a wrestling legend – before joining the desk himself.
We’ve got an explainer of the rules of wrestling, complete with footage from the wXw academy of M4 tagging in and knocking the lights out of the cameraman before a jump cut sees… Robin Christopher Fohrwerk counting the pin on him. Fohrwerk also misses a blatant chairshot as someone’s definitely messed with my coffee today.
There’s another training montage, with footage from the GWF’s shows and school as well, before taken backstage to Fabian Hambüchen and Metehan. Hambüchen is an Olympic gold medallist, and you shouldn’t need an introduction to Metehan if you’re a regular reader here. They’re interrupted by Peter Tihanyi and Rene Casselly, who look resplendent in their sparkly outfits. Casselly’s a dancer, but perhaps best known for being a part of Ninja Warrior, and promises to “punch the baldy in the face.” Literal translation.
More video packages, as we’ve got the contract signing and face-off ahead of the opening tournament match. Of course there’s a pullapart, with security being sent through a table before the good guys of Hambüchen and Metehan were left standing tall. I’m only fifteen minutes in total and the look and feel of this is stomping all over every “mainstream” wrestling project the UK’s had in the past twenty years.
Introductions now, as the Reckbreakers of Hambüchen and Metehan pass the torch to each other, because Olympics. The Highflyers, on the other hand, got soundly booed as they came out after a long entrance with fire dancers, flaming scythes, and the Prodigy.
WTF Tag Team Championship Tournament First Round: The Reckbreakers (Fabian Hambüchen & Metehan) vs. The Highflyers (Peter Tihanyi & Rene Casselly)
Tihanyi’s acknowledged as the wXw and GWF champion going in here, but Casselly’s playing the bad guy here as he refused to face Hambüchen after all of their apparently beef on social media.
Instead it’s Hambüchen and Tihanyi who start us off, with Hambüchen eventually connecting with a handspring elbow and a standing moonsault for an early two-count. On the outside, Rene Casselly’s got a fire extinguisher and threatens to put out the quasi-Olympic-torch that Hambüchen had lit during his entrance.
All that caused Metehan to get annoyed, but he ties up the ref as Casselly choked Hambüchen in the corner, before a tag brought in Metehan as the pace quickened. There’s a definite jump in quality with the professionals here, which you’d expect! Metehan works the arm, then brought in Casselly for a double-team spin-out flapjack on Tihanyi… which isn’t what I thought I’d be seeing on this show!
Tihanyi tags out as Hambüchen and Casselly face off… but Casselly vaults over the top rope to the floor before his game of cat and mouse ended with him getting caught with a dropkick from Hambüchen. If you want to be nitpicky, the strikes aren’t great, but what do you expect?
A Codebreaker out of a monkey flip attempt from Casselly has Hambüchen on the back foot, ahead of a double-team suplex from Tihanyi, who quickly tagged back out as Casselly ran Hambüchen into the buckles. Hambüchen recovers with a crossbody as tags bring in Tihanyi and a fired-up Metehan, who walloped Tihanyi with a swivelling lariat.
Casselly’s back with a lovely satellite into a Final Cut on Metehan, who found himself trapped in the wrong corner. A snap suplex from Tihanyi keeps his team ahead, as did an enziguiri before Metehan found a way out with a suplex. Tags bring in Hambüchen and Casselly, with Hambüchen running wild with clotheslines… a spinning headscissor takedown has Casselly in the ropes for a 619, but Tihanyi’s able to break up the pin.
Tihanyi sneaks in a superkick to lay out Metehan before he distracted the referee as Casselly’s low blow and shooting star press (?!) got the win. This was surprisingly good for what it was – and any quibbles about “these celebrities shouldn’t be doing high-flying moves” perhaps could be shot down given the backgrounds of those involved. ***¼
Post-match, Casselly put out Hambüchen’s not-Olympic flame, as medics rushed to the ring to check on the former Olympian. Cue an ad-break, replays, and then we’re backstage for an interview with Simon Gosejohann… he’s not there, but Matthias Mester is, decked out in his Blutsbrüder cut.
Video package time as we’re introduced to paralympian athlete Matthias (Matze) Mester and the comic Simon Gosejohann. There’s clips from Simon’s Instagram making fun of Mester, and some in return as we’re introduced to their partners – Mester’s got Erkan Sulcani, while Gosejohann’s got Axel Tischer… calling themselves the “Prankensteiners.” I wonder what an Axeman comedy show would look like?
The face-to-face, which apparently took place on Christmas day, sees Gosejohann chuck a Lego head at Mester among some other comedy skits that saw Matze sign his large contract with a massive pen, before Erkan lifted him up so he could slap Simon in the face. Because short.
WTF Tag Team Championship Tournament First Round: Blutsbrüder (Erkan Sulcani & Matthias Mester) vs. The Prankensteiners (Axel Tischer & Simon Gosejohann)
This is absolutely not the Blutsbrüder theme you’ll have been familiar with from the GWF…
Gosejohann’s calling himself the “Si-monster”, and is wearing an evil clown mask as we got going with Erkan taking him into the corner. After a shot to the midsection, Gosejohann scarpers under the ring, with a suspiciously different person coming out the other side, charging in with clotheslines to Sulcani ahead of a missile dropkick. Mester gets the tag in as he easily ducked under the Si-monster, only to get caught with a neckbreaker before the Si-monster disappeared under the ring.
Returning to get a one-count, the Si-monster’s quickly backing off as Sulcani went after him… but this time the switcheroo’s blown as the second monster came out too soon. Twin magic isn’t quite so magic, but Axel Tischer’s happy with it… at least until Mester scored a froggy crossbody into the three of them on the floor.
Mester removes the mask to show Gosejohann’s face as the other monster’s sent to the back… and we come back from break as Simon’s getting worn down in the corner by the Blutsbrüder. Knee drops from Sulcani slow things down a little as Gosejohann was taking a beating… and a choking from the shin of Mester.
Finally Gosejohann makes the tag out to Tischer, who finds a way through with a leg lariat to Sulcani, ahead of a flying clothesline that left Erkan laying. Mester slaps Tischer from the apron, and gets dragged back into the ring for his troubles… only for Sulcani to save his partner and turn him into a battering ram.
Kicks from Mester just wind up Tischer, but he took too long sizing up Mester for a punch as it ends up missing… with Tischer eating a bulldog instead. An X-Plex from Tischer bought some time after Sulcani made the tag in, before Gosejohann finally got the tag back in… so he could Hulk Up on Sulcani with hiptosses.
Mester’s back, but Gosejohann plays keepaway before pulling him down to the mat as the professionals came back in… only to start a Human Centipede of headscissors. Gosejohann completes it with a Boston crab, but Mester’s already in the ropes as it’s all for nought. Tischer straight up boots Mester in the face as a Parade of Stuff clears the ring, leaving us with the celebrities as a drop toe hold and a running splash off the ropes almost got Mester the win.
Ripping of the bottom turnbuckle sees Mester distract the referee as Sulcani slides in a chair… but Mester pulls the Eddie Guerrero, only for Gosejohann to do the same as the pair ham it up. An argument with Mester and the referee masks a powerbomb from Tischer to Sulcani, leaving Mester alone… but a tijeras from Mester took care of the Axeman before Mester snatched the win with a roll-up! This was a lot more what you’d expect from the concept of “celebrity wrestling” – not bad, but definitely a touch too long once you took the gimmicks away. **½
More video packages, as we’ve got the Bloodhound Gang’s Evil Jared getting into it with Sebastian Pufpaff over social media. Jared took exception at Pufpaff using his name to promote TV Total, and promised to beat him to take control of the show. Jared’s got a partner – the (then) GWF World Heavyweight champion, Toni Harting, while Pufpaff’s got another name from the GWF – Pascal Spalter. Unfortunately, Pufpaff’s not going to be wrestling… he got injured, and luckily they’ve got footage of Harting and Jared attacking them during a practise session. I’d have thought the loose canvas would have done it, personally.
The brawl spills onto the set of TV Total, with Jared spearing Pufpaff through the set – like Rhyno gore’ing Chris Jericho through the SmackDown mini-tron. Yeah, I’m dating myself with those references. The fight scene ends with “security” being thrown off a balcony onto a suspiciously-bouncy equipment case.
Pufpaff apparently was going to give it a go, but we’ve got ANOTHER backstage attack from Jared and Harting. This time, the good guys overcome it with some handy TV props, like a vase to the face of Harting, who then got his fingers ironed. Don’t try this at home, kids! Harting recovers to slam Pufpaff’s head in a locker door, before a fella dressed like Kane appeared. Those bloody fake Kanes are spreading like Gremlins. Who fed them after midnight?
We’re told Yellow Kane is Big Nik, a former basketball player who’s a regular in the GWF, as Pufpaff gets a swirlie in a portable toilet, before Yellow Kane charged the portaloo through a curtain. Anyway, with Pufpaff unable to wrestle, we need a replacement… and while the crowd were chanting for Sebastian Hackl to take over, we instead get the introductions for our final first round match.
WTF Tag Team Championship Tournament First Round: Evil Devils (Evil Jared & Toni Harting) vs. Total Package (Claudio Castagnoli & Pascal Spalter)
The Bloodhound Gang platinum record title belt is a lovely touch… as was the musical interlude of “I Hope You Die.” I didn’t have Toni Harting playing “Rock & Wrestling Hulk Hogan” on my 2025 bingo card. Meanwhile, the “Total Package” opponents had Pascal Spalter out holding his ribs, before he introduced Pufpaff’s replacement – it’s only bloody Claudio Castagnoli. A worldwide TV star!
So yeah, this one started off hot with all four men in the ring, settling down to Toni Harting taking a pair of shoulder tackles from Spalter and Castagnoli. Jared comes in, but meets a similar fate, before a Spalter crossbody left Jared down ahead of the Toilet Seat and a clothesline to the back of the head.
Heading outside, Jared grabs a chair from the crowd, but it’s all a distraction as Yellow Kane returns to clothesline Claudio and Spalter. I find it really weird his commentary call him Big Nik when he’s under the Kane get-up…and can only assume it’s a way to avoid a direct copyright hit?
A Pit Stop from Jared leads to a reverse DDT on Spalter for a two-count, before some overhand chops from Jared trapped Spalter in the corner. Spalter finally breaks free to make the tag to Castagnoli, whose leaping stomp to Jared almost shut this down in a hurry. Harting tags in, but his crossbody off the top’s caught and rolled through as Claudio’s death valley driver forced Jared in to break it up.
Yellow Kane’s back, but this time he’s taken care of as Spalter’s clothesline left him laying ahead of a truly Giant Swing from Claudio. Kane’s ejected from ringside as we crash into and out of a break, returning with the Total Package on top… aided by a back body drop from Spalter to Harting.
Harting crashes the ropes to crotch Spalter up top, before Claudio made the save to turn it into a Tower of Doom. Jared’s in to try and pick up the pieces, but Spalter kicks out from a chokeslam before Harting went under the ring to grab a guitar? Claudio knows the playbook and stops it, laying into Jared with an uppercut before Jared sent Claudio into the ref. You know what’s next…
Except Sebastian Pufpaff comes out to snatch the guitar from Jared and dish out El Kabong to him! That guitar didn’t break, but with Claudio’s bodypress taking out Harting on the floor, it’s left to Pascal Spalter to pick up the pin and send his team through to the finals after an entertaining affair. ***
Pufpaff and Claudio waves the TV Total flag in the ring after the win – which would have been the way to end this, except we’ve got the tournament final next!
WTF Tag Team Championship Tournament Final: Blutsbrüder (Erkan Sulcani & Matthias Mester) vs. The Highflyers (Peter Tihanyi & Rene Casselly) vs. Total Package (Claudio Castagnoli & Pascal Spalter)
We’re shown an inset video of Evil Jared getting the TV Total logo tattoo’d onto his calf as this starts…
Claudio and Sulcani trade uppercuts to start, which is apt, ahead of a stalling suplex from Claudio. We’re under both relaxed and elimination rules by the way…
Peter Tihanyi blind-tags in on Sulcani as he proceeded to wipe out Spalter with a snap running double knees off the ropes. Casselly’s in to hit a double dropkick to Spalter, who then got choked by Tihanyi in the corner ahead of a comeback shoulder tackle from Spalter. Casselly dives out to tag in Matthias Mester, given Tihanyi was down on the floor… and this is where the relaxed rules came into play, as Mester grabbed a chair… and leapt onto it so he could go eye-to-eye with Spalter.
After getting slapped, Spalter just chopped down Mester, before Tihanyi attacked him from behind as the Highflyers took over. Tihanyi does a good job of keeping Mester from tagging anyone in, before Casselly ended up eating a back body drop out of nowhere. A suplex stops Tihanyi from mopping up, as Sulcani gets the tag in and began to bounce Tihanyi around with clotheslines and elbows.
Mester’s quickly brought back in as Sulcani threw Casselly into the air with a lofty fallaway slam. Casselly kicks out of Mester’s splash, then tagged in Claudio, who instantly got his eyes raked by Sulcani… before he returned the favour. A teased Giant Swing ends up being aborted by Mester, who took the swing instead, before a Neutraliser from Claudio eliminated Sulcani. That left us with the Total Package and the Highflyers for the final fall… but chairshots from the sparkly flyers took their TV star opponents to the outside for a pair of topes con giro.
Brawling around ringside just played into the hands of Spalter and Claudio, at least until Casselly got his hands on the fire extinguisher… but Spalter shrugged that off as the Highflyers tried to find a way back in, only to pull out a ladder and have it kicked into them. Back inside, Claudio and Spalter chop away on the Highflyers, before a chairshot from Tihanyi saved Casselly from a Neutraliser.
We’re back outside as the commentary desk’s swiped clear as Claudio’s choked against it… allowing Tihanyi to go climb the ladder. Claudio fights free though and joins him up top before he suplexed the Hungarian through the desk. That left Casselly on his own against Spalter… but not for long as a clothesline from Spalter slipped Casselly inside out.
Casselly goes back to basics with a low blow, stopping Spalter in his tracks before a shooting star press almost cleared the ring for a near-fall. Evil Jared wanders out from the back to snatch the title belt from Sebastian Pufpaff… and used it to clock Spalter in the head as Casselly closed things out with a lovely corkscrew press for the win. ***¼
We’ve pyro and boos to close out the show as Tihanyi and Casselly celebrated with their newly-won WTF titles. So… going in cold with zero knowledge of the German TV stars, this was quite the pleasant surprise. Rene Casselly and Fabian Hambüchen started things off hot, with the pair clearly picking up the athletic/flying side of things well, and while it was never going to maintain that level throughout, we got a good variety of styles on show.
I’d largely tuned out the German commentary, but there had been criticism of the commentary not nailing the tone. Certainly, though my broken German, I did notice how there was more focus on the past WWE accolades of Tischer and Castagnoli (which’d largely be explained by how ProSieben in Germany is the home of WWE there); along with the relative lack of call-outs over “how can you see these professionals elsewhere.” Well, save for the wXw and GWF logos in the background of the training segments.
All in all, this was a special that was just right – any longer and it’d have outstayed their welcome – all of it done without it feeling too patronising or exposing. Both in terms of production and content, this was definitely streets ahead of the UK equivalents of this format.