The 25th Anniversary tour rolled into Frankfurt, with Joseph Fenech Jr. looking to upset his former High Performer Ltd. stablemate and leave FFM with some gold.
Quick Results
Alex Duke & Aleksander Bellamy pinned Aeron & Conn Kelly in 5:46 (**)
Elijah Blum pinned Alan Angels in 11:11 (***)
1 Called Manders pinned Shigehiro Irie in 12:25 (***½)
Ava Everett pinned Madison Marley in 8:54 (**½)
Robert Dreissker & Marc Empire pinned Nick Schreier & Laurance Roman to retain the wXw World Tag Team Championship in 16:30 (***¼)
Dennis Dullnig pinned Zoltan to retain the wXw Shotgun Championship in 9:25 (***)
Ahura pinned Dieter Schwartz in 16:16 (***½)
Peter Tihanyi pinned Joseph Fenech Jr. to retain the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship in 20:08 (***½)
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We’re back at the Batschkapp in Frankfurt for this one – English commentary coming from Mett Dimassi on what could be an eventful night in the 069…
We start with the Fight Forever pre-show, which had Norman Harras welcoming back Alex Duke backstage. Duke, whose facial hair makes him look like a cross between Mark Jindrak and WWE-era Evan Bourne, was returning with a new tag partner here… Aleksander Bellamy? Bellamy and Harras used to team together, but it seems they’re both fed up with Norman’s antics.
10/10 Next Level (Alex Duke & Aleksander Bellamy) vs. Roadkill (Aeron & Conn Kelly)
I’m not sure how much that name for Duke and Bellamy is going to grate on me…
Aeron’s got some fatigues instead of his usual black trunks, which is a better fit for his team. Kelly started off bright against Bellamy, while Alex Duke had some trouble against Aeron. It led to a big elbow drop from Kelly for a near-fall, before a kick to Duke’s shoulder opened up the door for some cheating.
Bellamy helps Kelly on his way out of the ring before getting some shots in as Next Level looked to be pushing on… but Bellamy faltered as Aeron almost put him away with a brainbuster. An eye rake from Bellamy helps, before a Magic Killer laid out Aeron for the win. A little truncated, but a win for the debuting tandem always helps… no matter how rough around the edges it was. I’d perhaps cool my jets on proclaiming Next Level “worked better than the Big Bucks ever did” given, you know, the Bucks once were tag champions! **
Onto the main show…
Elijah Blum vs. Alan Angels
Angels was brought in as a “hitman” by Robin Christopher Fohrwerk, just in case Elijah Blum was ever able to figure out a way past the “you can’t ever face Tihanyi” contract.
Angels came unstuck early on when a barrage from Blum sent him outside and into the path of a plancha – but Blum still had his neck taped up. Fohrwerk interjected himself as he grabbed onto Blum to stop a springboard, but that just got Fohrwerk ejected… and created an opening for Angels to kick the ropes into Blum as his turnaround sprang into life.
That tape on Blum’s neck became a target as Angels homed in on the neck and back… but Blum’s able to make his way back in with a springboard moonsault press out of the corner. Angels manages to escape the Total Depravity as a half-and-half suplex and a big splash almost caused the upset, but Angels isn’t able to add an Angel’s Wings as Blum swung back in… only to get caught with a Mistica into the Halo Stretch submission.
Blum’s able to escape, but a quick Halo Strike kick led to one more turnaround… with a sliding D and the Parting Gift finally getting the win in a nice back-and-forth opener. ***
After the match, a fan asked Blum to sign something… but it’s a ruse as Robin Christopher Fohrwerk came out from the back and hit Blum with a chair, before paying off that fan.
They’re running clips of iconic moments from wXw’s history throughout the tour – the first one tonight: Ilja Dragunov’s surprise comeback at 16 Carat Gold 2018. Dig out the original footage of the return… that always brings back the goosebumps.
1 Called Manders vs. Shigehiro Irie
Manders wanted to run through as many former wXw champions as he could en route to his rematch with Peter Tihanyi… so this is a heck of a good place to start, with a battle of two “imports” that wXw fans have taken to their hearts. They’ve met once before, just over two years ago on an Inner Circle…
Some tomfoolery early on gave way to the pair of them trying out shoulder tackles, spilling onto the floor before Irie almost POUNCED Manders into the front row. Back inside, Irie just goes bombs away with a falling back senton to squash Manders, who returned with a slam and a springy elbow drop to keep the impact high.
Then they dialled it up some more. Chops. An Angle Slam. Lariats. Then… headbutts. Dear God, the charging headbutts on all fours.
Irie busts out almost a Hidden Blade to send Manders into the corner for a cannonball, before Manders tried to fight back with an avalanche slam, eventually landing an Oklahoma Stampede. It’s back to chops and elbows from there, before an Auf Die Fresse heart punch almost got the win.
Manders cuts off a follow-up Beast Bomber as the tension rose – Irie somehow rolling out from a Boss Lariat cover to grab a near-fall, before one more Boss Lariat finally put Shiggy away. This was exactly what I wanted to see in this spot – two big lads knocking seven shades out of each other, without getting too nasty. More, please? ***½
Backstage, Planet Gojirah ran into the Grind as they were warming up – and there still looks to be ill feeling between Roman and Schreier.
Ava Everett vs. Madison Marley
This was the first time we’d seen Ava Everett in wXw since October 2024 – but Ava’s gone back to her first theme. No more Y2Kuties here.
Side headlocks were the order of the day early on, before Marley’s dropkick ended a brief shoving match. A missile dropkick off the middle rope keeps the Dane ahead, at least until Everett found a way in with a neckbreaker.
A double facebuster leaves both women down, but Marley’s able to respond first, landing a series of kicks before a crossbody off the top almost ended it. Everett blocks a Codebreaker as she was able to return fire with a superkick, before Marley headed up top… Jane Nero’s out to distract, allowing Ava to land a second superkick for the win. **½
Post-match, Nero attacked some more… before her offer of a handshake to Ava proved to be a ruse. Nero’s got a hell of a demonic look about her…
wXw World Tag Team Championship: The Grind (Nick Schreier & Laurance Roman) vs. Planet Gojirah (Robert Dreissker & Marc Empire) (c)
After tables came into play in their match in Bielefeld, Laurance Roman demanded a “clean” rematch…
Nick Schreier’s back to wearing trunks and, uh, I don’t have a good feeling about that switch.
Schreier started us off, but quickly found himself isolated at the hands of Planet Gojirah… and when Laurance Roman found his way into the match, he had to deal with that familiar problem also. A discus lariat cracked Empire for an early two-count, allowing Nick back in with his mounted punches as the Grind looked to isolate Empire for a spell.
Dreissker’s back senton breaks up a Schreier pin with some aplomb, which sparked a brief scuffle between Dreissker and Roman on the outside… and allowed the champions to take control once more, with Schreier yet again having issues getting past the big lads. When Nick did forge an opening, Roman had been targetted to the point where he couldn’t tag in… which led to Schreier getting squashed with a Dreissker crossbody out of the corner.
Schreier kept getting cut off every time he found an opening, but eventually a back body drop from Schreier helped clear the way for Roman to have a go. That hot tag from Roman saw him go a step ahead of Marc Empire, leading to the neckbreaker/splash combo from the Grind.
Robert Dreissker’s back to dump Roman onto the apron to stop the Grind’s resurgence, before he tagged in to stop Schreier up top. An avalanche fallaway slam brings Schreier down the hard way, but the Grind were able to stem the proverbial bleeding and come close once more, before a flying shoulder tackle from Empire knocked the Grind down.
The see-saw momentum of the match continued, but Roman’s tope took Empire down on the outside, leaving Schreier alone to hit a missile dropkick on Dreissker. Roman avoids the Dreissker crossbody, but a blind tag in from Schreier quickly goes awry as Dreissker rolled up Nick with such a big handful of tights, you’d think he was trying to forcibly strip him. A sour end to a solid match – the Grind’s screwed again, and at some point you’d think the “you cheated, we want a rematch” train has to hit the buffers. ***¼
wXw Shotgun Championship: Zoltan vs. Dennis Dullnig (c)
Zoltan recently lost his wXw Academy championship – to the Breezy Bruiser (formerly Zeritus) – so could this chance at fresh gold be an ideal bounce back for the Hungarian?
Dullnig kept faking out a pre-match belt shot, but Zoltan saw the real one coming and managed to beat the champion to the punch before a quick flurry took Dullnig to the outside for respite. After that break, Dullnig found a way in, raking at Zoltan’s face as he took the upper hand.
Zoltan’s thrown into the middle turnbuckle as Dullnig seemed to be wanting to go for an injury stoppage, rather than a traditional win, as he gave Zoltan plenty of chances to call things off after almost every move. A series of shots to the lower back softened up Zoltan for backbreakers, which pretty much cast the die for the remainder of the match.
A superkick out of the corner cuts off Dullnig as he spent too long dawdling, but a springboard out of the corner’s quickly shoved away as Dullnig sent things to the outside. A rookie error from Zoltan, surely? Dullnig took his time once again, and almost paid for it as Zoltan found his second wind, finally landing the cutter out of the corner for a near-fall. Pushing on, Zoltan climbs up top, but his splash landed in Dullnig’s knees… allowing the champion to return with a Hektor-knie and a piledriver for the win. This was alright, but Dullnig’s methodical pacing is going to be a struggle… and Zoltan isn’t quite there yet. ***
Post-match, Dullnig celebrated… then attacked Zoltan some more, prompting security to hit the ring. Except they got attacked too, with Dullnig snatching the belt from a security guard for some whipping before Shigehiro Irie of all people came out to make the save.
Time for another trip down wXw memory lane – this time it’s Jurn Simmons forcing Karsten Beck into retirement at 16 Carat Gold 2016… only for Beck to return later that year and win Shortcut to the Top.
Dieter Schwartz vs. Ahura
Schwartz was a late-ish replacement for Metehan, who dropped out with injury. Can he cut the mustard against the new König der Catcher?
Schwartz was in little mood for Ahura’s games, but in his home town Ahura was buoyed by the crowd – where things spilled to early on Schwartz got chopped into the front row. More chops back in the ring forced referee Tassilo Jung to separate the pair, but also created an opening for Schwartz to go after the chopping arm, throwing it into the mat and the side of the ring as he looked to neutralise his foe.
Ahura used Schwartz’s beard to try and break a wristlock, but Ahura still had work to do to create separation, paintbrushing Schwartz before landing what was almost a Boss Lariat to leave both men laying. While that bought Ahura time, Schwartz still had fight in him, before Ahura looked to go for the Karsten Beck-like piledriver.
Ahura’s arm couldn’t lift up Schwartz, so it was time for plan B… with a swivelling lariat. From there, a one-armed powerbomb almost won it for Ahura, before Schwartz realised that he was having to avoid the bigger moves… Salamandra’s escaped, but the pair trade German suplexes, with Schwartz’s bridge almost winning it, before Ahura’s DDT took things back outside.
Ahura followed with a wild Divine Sandstorm tornillo that almost ended horribly (it certainly did for that fan’s drink…), before things returned to the ring, where Schwartz managed to surprise Ahura with a Fujiwara armbar. Despite that, Ahura’s able to roll free and haul up Schwartz for the Salamandra… and that’s enough for the come-from-behind win – a good showing here from Schwartz, but Ahura was able to dig deeper in his home town here. ***½
wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship: Joseph Fenech Jr. vs. Peter Tihanyi (c)
Tihanyi was dealing with the remnants of High Performer Ltd. here – last time in Frankfurt, Fenech dispatched of Anil Marik in a bodybag match, prompting the dissolution of what was left of that group.
Robin Christopher Fohrwerk was sent to the back before the bell, and when things got going Fenech was almost put away inside 90 seconds as part of a see-saw pin exchange. Shaking that off, Fenech spooked Tihanyi to the point where the champion bailed to the outside… which became a bit of a theme.
A dropkick through the ropes kept Tihanyi on the outside, as did a handspring kick, which was followed up with a dive into the aisle as Fenech tried to close this one out… but a hurried handspring cutter back inside was stopped with a dropkick to the back. Another dropkick, this time from Fenech, sent Tihanyi back outside, but another turnaround saw Tihanyi nail a DDT as he was almost having to hang on here.
A superplex caught out Tihanyi, as did the handspring cutter… but Tihanyi avoids a moonsault as a running Meteora almost swing the match back in his favour. Tihanyi’s apron death valley driver looked to set up for another slingshot cutter, but Fenech blocked it… Tihanyi goes for the ref, masking a low blow, before Fenech’s own draping DDT set up for that slingshot cutter for the win. This was perhaps hurt a little by the crowd not really believing Tihanyi would lose, but this was a solid main event with Fenech coming close. ***½
Wait, we’re not done! 1 Called Manders interrupts Tihanyi’s celebrations… the Hungarian scurried as Manders made it to the ring, before confirming he’d face Tihanyi in Hamburg on November 21 for the title. Except Ahura had something to say… not that he wanted in on that match, but he’s waiting for the champion at the 25th Anniversary show in Oberhausen.
wXw’s latest trip to Frankfurt was an extremely strong show – with plenty set up for the rest of the tour, as Ahura seems to have his sights on giving himself an early Christmas present in Oberhausen.