wXw’s final big show of 2016 saw them return to Oberhausen for their 16th Anniversary event – a show which had plenty of surprises by the end of the night!
What didn’t air was a number-one contender’s match for the wXw tag team titles, as the live crowd saw Moustache Mountain – Tyler Bate and Trent Seven – overcome wXw Shotgun champion Chris Brookes and his partner-for-the-day… Pete Dunne.
The show opened with a vignette from Christian Jakobi, talking about how the promotion started on Christmas Eve 2000 with the likes of Claudio Castagnoli (now Cesaro), and went from running 10 shows a year, to running shows in England, Japan and the USA – in addition to Germany (of course!). Sadly, this was another promo without English subtitles… but my limited German could tell that Jakobi was treating this event as “his present to wXw”.
Another promo package followed, as Karsten Beck set-up the wXw tag title match – a best-of-three-falls outing between A4 and Ringkampf, and then built up a triple-threat for the wXw title as Jurn Simmons defends against Adam Cole and Marty Scurll.
Alpha Kevin vs. Marius van Beethoven
The former “Reich und Schön” (Bold and the Beautiful) finally meet after Marius’ turn earlier this year, along with his endless attacks and of course, the run-in on Kevin’s wedding to Melanie Gray during the World Tag Team League. This was set-up after Karsten Beck outed Marius as faking his knee injury after it’d healed…
Van Beethoven’s entrance includes a golden shower… of glitter, and he’s adding his name to Sebastian and MVP in wearing the Power Rangers bodysuits – something the Oberhausen crowd eagerly pointed out. “MVB”, as I’ll shorten it to, scarpered outside almost immediately and took his time in locking up, and my word it’s not Irish Alan on commentary, it’s Rico Bushido… that’s not a criticism or anything, but I was not expecting to hear excitable Rico.
Kevin pounded on MVB in the corner, before Marius attacked Kevin from behind as the referee pulled Kevin away. Yet again, Kevin was frustrated as MVB left the ring, before leading chase on a brief run around the ring. MVB leapt over a shoulder charge in the corner, before missing a dropkick off the middle rope, as Kevin once again took over, this time with mounted corner punches.
MVB slipped out of a bodyslam before heading into the ropes, where Kevin used the middle rope as a pivot to punch him back and forth, before Marius eventually spilled back to the floor. Van Beethoven took the microphone and headed onto the stage, before walking out on the match. Kevin gave chase, and came back with the “Goldjunge” as the pair fought some more in the aisle.
Kevin slammed MVB on the catwalk, before he was pushed into the ringpost as he tried to lawn-dart his former partner. MVB hit a chop block on Kevin’s knee, and tried to follow-up with a figure four, but Kevin quickly pushed away and drilled MVB with a forearm strike. An Exploder, then a uranage slam followed as MVB took a beating before blocking a package piledriver… only to take a powerslam for the win. That felt like a sudden ending, and far from a blow-off. Decent, but not the sort of match I was expecting from this blood feud. **
After the match, MVB grabbed a chair and attacked Kevin with it, before smashing it over his head (without any protection). Marius then set-up Kevin’s ankle in the chair, but Melanie Gray came out to make the save and stop him from having his ankle Pillman-ized. Melanie didn’t remove the chair, and instead got punched as Marius then leapt onto the chair, before locking the damaged leg in a knee-bar.
Chris Colen vs. Emil Sitoci
Colen started off on fire, working on Sitoci in the corner with chops and punches, before the Austrian was backdropped onto the apron, where he ended up being brought back in the hard way courtesy of a deadlift superplex.
Sitoci took a lot more offence in the corner before finally mounting a comeback by yanking Colen off the middle rope, and then landing a neckbreaker. A spike DDT got Sitoci a near-fall, as he started to wrench away at Colen’s neck and bite away at the Austrians’ fingers. Colen fought back with a spinning back suplex for a near-fall, before Sitoci replied with a Fireman’s carry gutbuster (“Brokeback Mountain”) and a split-legged moonsault to get another two-count.
Sitoci nearly lost after a springboard off the ropes was caught by Colen, who turned it into a bridging deadlift German suplex. A Spanish Fly off the top rope saw the momentum swing the other way, but Sitoci could only get a two-count a well, before a springboard from the Dutchman was caught and turned into a uranage for another near-fall, this time from Colen. Out of nowhere though, Colen took the win with a double underhook facebuster, bringing a good, albeit short, outing to an end. ***
Street Fight: “Bad Bones” John Klinger vs. Ilja Dragunov
The next step of the Bad Bones vs. Cerbereus storyline continued here, after Cerberus had left Bad Bones bloodied at Broken Rulz back in October. This time, it was the “Moscow Missile” Dragunov who would be providing the opposition as Bad Bones continued his onslaught against the druggies in Cerberus (seriously, that’s the inference Rico Bushido made on commentary!)
The match started with both men laying into each other before the bell, as Dragunov took Klinger onto the apron, where the pair slugged it out as Dragunov’s diving uppercut knocked both men to the floor. A tope from Ilja was quickly wiped out as Bad Bones grabbed a chair and used it to block the dive, before Klinger set up a pair of chairs on top of each other, and shoved them to their side for a most painful landing area… one that Klinger quickly experienced, as Dragunov suplexed Klinger onto the two folded-out chairs.
Dragunov took a chair to Klinger before grabbing some more chairs for a chair-assisted back senton that hurt Ilja as much as Klinger… who hit back with a low-pe as Ilja spent too much time parading with a chair on the floor. Klinger hobbled around after that impact, seemingly landing awkwardly on his ankle, but that didn’t stop him from hurling Dragunov into the crowd.
Dragunov returned the favour, and hit a cannonball into a seated Bones… who then teased a crucifix powerbomb into the chairs, but instead dropped the Russian with an apron crucifix powerbomb. Up next were a pair of tables that Klinger propped against the turnbuckles, but Ilja dragged a pair of Kendo sticks from under the ring and whacked Bad Bones with them to the point where one of the sticks snapped into two!
Bones hit back with a low blow as Dragunov slowly tumbled to the mat, before the unbroken Kendo stick came back into play, this time with Bones giving out a few receipts. Another pile of chairs were set up, this time with the chairs not folded out, before dumping Ilja into the pile with a vicious belly-to-back superplex… only getting a near-fall when Bones made the cover.
The crowd started to soften towards Dragunov as he kept kicking out, and the Russian hit back with a series of lariats – including one to knock away a steel chair – before getting a near-fall. A back suplex from Dragunov sent Bones into one of the tables, which didn’t give… neither did it break from a pumphandle bomb as the wood bent, but ultimately Bad Bones bounced off them for another near-fall.
Annoyed with the tables, Dragunov went back to the Kendo stick, but he was quickly caught in a crossface Rebel Lock as he spent too long talking down to Klinger… before that Kendo stick was used to wrench back further on the hold. Dragunov rolled back into a near-fall as he eventually freed himself, before a Coast to Coast dropkick was countered as Bad Bones met him with a Code Breaker in mid-air.
A superkick got Bones a near-fall, before the Wrecking Ball knee strike sent Ilja into the tables face-first – again, they didn’t break – busting the Russian open for another near-fall, before Klinger hit the Shadow Driver for an out-of-nowhere win. As plunder matches went, this had plenty of it without overtly relying on the stuff, and it created a suitably-violent atmosphere for the pair. Great stuff ***¾
After the match, Dragunov pulled himself to his feet, courtesy of a steel chair that Bad Bones set up for him, before bumping fists with Bad Bones. Once Klinger had left, Ilja absorbed the cheers from the crowd, before Adam Polak and Dirty Dragan made their way to the ring to argue with Dragunov.
Ilja clocked Dragan with a right hand, but before he could get his hands on Adam Polak, out came the injured Julian Nero to remonstrate. Ilja shoved his former partner… before “the Avalanche” Robert Dreissker made his return… and sided with Cerberus by knocking down Ilja before wiping Dragunov out of Cerberus with a Blue Thunder Bomb. The face turn is complete – and there’s Ilja’s 2017 sorted: the small matter of retribution against Cerberus!
wXw Shotgun Championship: Da Mack vs. Pete Dunne vs. David Starr vs. Chris Brookes (c)
Brookes won the Shotgun championship from Starr at a wXw show in Berlin just a week earlier, as the title continued to be something of a hot potato.
As the match started, someone in the crowd started a chant for Tyler Bate – whose 34-day reign is the longest of any champion since Da Mack lost it during the World Tag Team League weekend – but sadly, Bate was not to re-appear after being involved in the pre-show.
Brookes and Mack worked in the ring, with Rico suggesting that Brookes’ regular taped-up shoulder attire was to protect against a recent injury. Dunne swapped out and took down Mack with a shoulder-tackle, but this match was frenetic with plenty of two-in, two-out spots. We got a Human-Centipede of head triangles, before Starr freed himself and turned the other three over into a Boston crab that saw Dunne roll into the ropes.
Starr found himself getting bitten by Brookes and Dunne, who followed up with a pair of wet willies for the most absurdly funny spot in quite some time. Da Mack returned and dropped Dunne and Brookes with a double dropkick, before he was saved from a double-team suplex by Starr… who was then used as a springboard for a Mack plancha onto Dunne. The match turned into a parade of moves for a spell, with Brookes getting a near-fall on Mack with a Michinoku driver, only for the “Urban German” to hit back with a springboard senton out of the corner.
A Fujiwara armbar from Mack nearly ended the match, but Brookes and Dunne’s dropkicks broke it up… as Dunne landed another forearm to take down Mack. The Englishmen worked together with a spike tombstone piledriver, before David Starr came in and pelted them with forearm strikes in the corner. Starr followed up with repeated topes to Brookes and Dunne, before dumping Da Mack with a DDT on the apron and then scoring a near-fall with a crucifix pin on Dunne.
Dunne blocked a strait-jacket German suplex and went for a tombstone, but Starr rolled through just as Brookes flew in to spike him… and after an errant bicycle kick to Dunne, Brookes took a rolling forearm then the Product Placement deadlift straight-jacket German suplex for the win. Fast-paced, good action from all four guys – and hopefully this brings to end the short-term title reigns! ***½
After the match, Starr got chants of “you are the cream in my coffee” from the Oberhausen fans (it’s to do with his nickname, rather than anything weird). Starr told off the crowd for “what”ing him during his promo, and noted that he’d gone from being a tag team champion… to Shotgun champion… and promised that he’d be back in March to win the 16 Carat Gold tournament.
Ahead of the next match, Rico Bushido translated the pre-match promos, telling us that if Ringkampf won the tag titles, Karsten Beck would have to give up his newly-gained position of Director of Sports at wXw.
Best-of-Three-Falls for wXw World Tag Team Championship: Ringkampf (WALTER & Axel Dieter Jr) vs. A4 (Absolute Andy & Marius Al-Ani) (c)
This went really long – almost half an hour, in-fact… Emil Sitoci joins commentary for some reason, except he was inaudible, making for some weird half-conversations with Rico Bushido.
In the ring, Marius Al-Ani worked over Axel Dieter Jr’s arm, as A4 tried to isolate Dieter Jr from the much bigger WALTER. When the big guy came in, he easily swatted Al-Ani, only for Absolute Andy to provide a much sterner test. A dropkick took Ringkampf to the outside, but Al-Ani had to stop short of diving as his targets moved away.
WALTER came in and easily slammed Andy, before being taken down by a missile dropkick from Al-Ani for a near-fall. Al-Ani utilised his speed to knock down WALTER, who then popped back up to flatten Al-Ani once more as he went for a leapfrog splash on Dieter Jr. That opened the match for Ringkampf, but neither side was able to maintain an advantage as Al-Ani and Dieter traded moves, before WALTER came in and clobbered Al-Ani with cross-arm strikes to the chest.
WALTER blocked another aerial attack from Al-Ani, but fell to a DDT after a powerbomb was countered. Axel Dieter Jr knocked Absolute Andy off the apron as he was about to make the tag to Al-Ani… but Andy finally made the tag after Al-Ani wriggled out of a powerbomb attempt. The momentum kept shifting as a blocked suplex from Andy was eventually turned into a spinebuster on WALTER for a near-fall, before a superkick was blocked and turned into a sleeper, then a German suplex.
Andy caught Dieter Jr in a Sharpshooter, but Axel was able to make the tag out to WALTER, who just blasted Andy with a big boot to break the hold. Regardless, Andy hit back with an impressive F5 to WALTER for a near-fall, before Dieter fought out of one and took a superkick for another near-fall. Dieter blocked another F5, but quickly took another spinebuster and a Sharpshooter, before Al-Ani caught WALTER with a flying rana and a cross armbreaker to counter the run-in… only for WALTER to break up everything by powerbombing Al-Ani onto Andy. That led to the referee ruling the first fall as a double knock-out, and awarded one fall to each team.
The final fall began with WALTER tagging in and levelling Andy with a forearm, before dropping a big boot and waiting for the referee to count Andy down. That didn’t happen, and instead Andy fought back with a shoulder tackle, before WALTER took the leapfrog splash onto his lower back, as Dieter ate a wheelbarrow suplex.
Al-Ani followed with an across-the-turnbuckle plancha to Ringkampf on the floor, as WALTER then took a hanging vertical suplex, before Dieter made the save after a superkick. That swung things back towards Ringkampf, as they dropped Andy with a powerbomb/diving uppercut for a near-fall, before Marius Al-Ani was unceremoniously dumped onto the runway.
Andy hit back with a back cracker as Al-Ani returned… only for his frog splash to land on WALTER’s knees. Dieter and Andy fell into the front row as Andy’s suplex led to both men tipping over the top rope, before Al-Ani and WALTER exchanged shots, only for Christian Michael Jakobi to run in and cause a distraction on the apron. Karsten Beck knocked Jakobi down, but that distraction led to WALTER hitting Al-Ani with a powerbomb for a nearfall.
Al-Ani responded with an overhead belly-to-belly superplex to WALTER, then a death valley driver as he looked to follow up with a frog splash – and connected this time to get the win. A fine, fine tag match… sadly hurt by the audio problems which led to the commentary (at least on my Roku) being a second-or-so ahead of the video by the end of the match. ***¾
The audio issues worsened as we went into a promo for the main event, listing the victims of Jurn Simmons’ piledriver – including Jeff Jarrett and Zack Sabre Jr. I’m switching to the German video for the main event, and luckily, that’s fixed the sound. Which featured the crowd booing the name dropping of Christian Jakobi.
wXw Unified World Championship: Marty Scurll vs. Adam Cole vs. Jurn Simmons (c)
Simmons started the match by being chopped to the outside as Scurll and Cole opted to start off against each other… only for Simmons to return and go after the Bullet Club member.
They did a lot of “two-in, one-out” stuff early on, with Scurll and Cole trading headlock takedowns before the Villain’s early finger break attempt and chicken wing effort both being blocked. Simmons missed a shoulder charge in the corner, but recovered as Cole tried to take over, and instead Jurn decked Cole with a clothesline in the middle of the ring.
Scurll took over after crotching Simmons on the top rope, before finally bringing Jurn and his scaly-trunks down with a superplex. Simmons absorbed a combination of body slows before Scurll went for the chicken wing, only for Cole to drag the Villain out of the ring and post him. A diving knee from Cole got a near-fall, but Jurn elbowed free of a Fireman’s carry… only to take another diving knee for another two-count.
Cole and Scurll took turns in trying brainbusters on Simmons, breaking each other’s efforts up before a series of superkicks left everyone laying. Scurll recovered and laid out Simmons and Cole with chops, before a schoolboy almost got the win for Cole, who followed up with an ushigoroshi for another near-fall. Simmons returned to drop Cole with a Shellshock for a two-count, before he fell to Scurll’s “Just Kidding” superkick.
Simmons instantly hit back with a Massive Boot, only for Scurll to pop back with a brainbuster and an apron superkick for Cole, before the Villain was caught with a handful of tights as he tried to schoolboy the champion. Scurll and Simmons teased piledrivers, with Cole rushing in at the last minute after Scurll hit his on the champion.
Cole drilled Marty with a “Just Kidding” superkick, before getting rolled up for another two-count, as Simmons then took a chop block as Cole blocked a piledriver. We got a nice spot where Cole had two submissions on the go at once: a crossface to Scurll and a figure four on Simmons, but Marty made the ropes and both holds were relinquished.
We had a ref bump as Simmons rushed into the referee to avoid a German suplex – and in the melee, he mule kicked Cole and landed a DDT to get another near-fall. Jurn then went for his title belt, but Cole stopped him from using it… which allowed Scurll to use his umbrella on Jurn, before Cole hit him with his own belt. Scurll and Cole prevented each other from making the cover, before briefly working together to knock Jurn onto the runway with a pair of superkicks.
Another “Just Kidding” superkick from Scurll was met by a pair of normal superkicks and a brainbuster out of Cole. More superkicks from Cole came Marty’s way, but the Villain countered the barrage by snapping Cole’s fingers, before countering an O’Connor roll into a chicken wing… and Adam Cole tapped (bay bay?)! We have a new wXw champion – and Jurn Simmons’ nine-month reign as champion is over! A largely by-the-numbers triple-threat with some good exchanges and sequences, but for me it felt like there was something holding this back… ***¾
Scurll got a confetti-laden celebration, as Jurn Simmons mysteriously teleported to the back in all of this. However, Marty’s party ended prematurely when Christian Michael Jakobi made another appearance. Jakobi told Scurll that as a champion, he must defend the belt… what, already? Axel Dieter Jr slid into the ring as Jakobi called for a referee, and we have an impromptu bonus match! Is this what he really meant by his present to wXw??
wXw Unified World Championship: Marty Scurll (c) vs. Axel Dieter Jr.
Dieter jumped Scurll from behind, then drilled Scurll with an Air Raid Crash… but didn’t go for the cover!
A diving European uppercut followed for a near-fall, before a bloodied Scurll blocked a Regal plex and went for a finger snap instead. Scurll then targetted Jakobi, slingshotting him into the ring, but Jakobi rolled out as Marty went for a chicken wing, allowing Dieter to get another near-fall from a schoolboy roll-up. In the end, Dieter caught Scurll with his own chicken wing, and held it on for so long that referee Tassilo Jung had no choice but to wave the match off – Axel Dieter Jr leaves as your new champion! (Not Rating)
Ringkampf – and Christian Michael Jakobi – stood tall at the end of the 16th anniversary show, leaving a tonne of questions for where wXw go in the new year, with a new champion and the continued battle between the evil Jakobi and the babyface Karsten Beck.
This was a solid show from top to bottom, with an incredible street fight and a trio of great (advertised) title matches. Sadly, I’d suggest that you avoid the English feed due to the audio sync issues, but if you can get on with two-and-a-half hours of German commentary, you’ll be rewarded with a great show.
wXw’s next big show will be on January 14 for a show which may well feature less prominent UK talent than they may have figured four, as “Back To The Roots XVI” serves as a warm-up for their “We Love Wrestling 2017” tour… a tour which also includes a stop at the Tufnell Park Dome in London!
- This show is available as part of the wXwNow service (wXwnow.de) on the Vimeo platform; and also on the FloSlam network, as this was the first wXw show to appear on that platform.