Ahura and Elijah Blum teamed up against Cowboy Way – just about a month out from their latest clash over the Unified World Wrestling title.
Quick Results
Peter Tihanyi pinned Ricky Sosa in 11:50 (***¼)
Dieter Schwartz submitted Laurance Roman in 13:13 (***¼)
Jane Nero pinned Kade Brasher in 5:59 (**½)
Axel Tischer pinned Dennis Dullnig to retain the wXw Shotgun Championship in 16:00 (***¼)
Tornado Tag Team Weapons Match: Aeron & Conn Kelly defeated M4 & Tim Koslowski, Aleksander Bellamy & Alex Duke, and Niklas Bock & Hugo Brand in 8:41 (***)
Robert Dreissker & Marc Empire pinned Conn Kelly & Aeron to retain the wXw World Tag Team Championships in 6:39 (***)
1 Called Manders & Thomas Shire pinned Ahura & Elijah Blum in 24:14 (***¾)
— Check out the Auf Die Fresse podcast for further wXw coverage… Links to stream are available at AufDieFresse.co.uk
Europe’s getting hit by the heat again, and the Batschkapp’s air conditioning is getting a test here as wXw’s staccato summer brings us the penultimate show before the Pro Wrestling Grand Prix. English commentary comes from Mett Dimassi and Norman Harras… the boys are back together!
Peter Tihanyi vs. Ricky Sosa
Tihanyi’s coming into this off the back of some big matches… albeit matches that ended in defeat.
After some mind games with Sosa to start, Tihanyi avoided an early dropkick as he looked to dictate the pace, taking Sosa into the corner for chops, before kicking away the Belgian’s attempt at a fight back.
A cheap shot from Sosa gets the crowd on his back, before he uppercutted away a dive from Tihanyi and hit a neckbreaker through the ropes as the Hungarian tried to make his way back in. A dropkick to the back almost puts Tihanyi away, but Sosa stayed on his man with a full nelson.
Eventually breaking the hold, a flash roll-up almost got Tihanyi the win, before the pair teed off with back-and-forth shots… Sosa tries for the Blue Thunder Bang, but countered a counter into the Drip Drop (Styles Clash) for a near-fall. That’s followed up with a plancha to the outside that just about cleared the ropes, but a cutter from Tihanyi cuts off Sosa’s leap back inside before a 450 splash finished things off. Sosa’s over-confidence proved to be his undoing here – as Tihanyi got his first win since April (at least on these marquee shows.) ***¼
“Earlier today,” Suzu’s interviewing Dieter Schwartz… who promised to show that he’s the best technical wrestler in Germany. Except Laurance Roman interrupted him mid-sentence, pointing out that he’s won titles with submissions, so he wanted to make their match today a submissions-only outing.
Submissions Match: Dieter Schwartz vs. Laurance Roman
Roman’s dug deep into his wardrobe for his 16 Carat Gold basketball jersey – just to rub his past successes in Schwartz’s face.
Roman tried to capitalise on an early distraction from the crowd to catch Schwartz off guard, but Dieter’s able to take him into the corner before a waistlock takedown had Roman on the deck. Looking to get under Schwartz’s skin, Roman does the shushing that led to the “gas leak” match back in Oberhausen, before he lit up Schwartz with a chop in the corner…
Schwartz was able to grab a crucifix roll that he turned into an arm trap attempt, since pins were off the table here. Roman’s response saw him target the back, until Schwartz hit back with a diving uppercut.
Schwartz wrung the arm ahead of a side suplex as he looked to follow up with a half crab… but Roman rolls out and kicks his way free before Schwartz countered a Burning Nail with an eventual Alabama slam. A full Boston crab follows, before Schwartz followed Roman to the outside, using the ring post to throw the arm into as he finally turned his attention to those limbs.
After going back for a half crab, Schwartz ended up getting kicked away as Roman’s knee strike stopped Dieter in his tracks. An overhead kick from Roman followed as Dieter was scrambling… but a second overhead kick got caught and turned into an ankle lock. Roman rolls out into a crossface instead, but an eye rake from Schwartz breaks it up – without any backlash since there were no DQ’s in this match.
Rolling to the outside didn’t buy Schwartz much respite as Roman stayed on him, pulling Schwartz into the ring post. Back inside, Schwartz spits in Roman’s face and got the expected reaction, before he pulled Roman back into the ring post and started one last onslaught, leading to the arm trap for the eventual submission. Roman’s aggression didn’t really get him too much of a negative reaction here, but the two meshed really well here – leading to perhaps Schwartz’s biggest win of his wXw career. ***¼
Jane Nero vs. Kade Brasher
Nero’s still parading around with the wXw Women’s title belt, while Aleksander Bellamy is still introducing her as the reigning champion. Not quite…
It’s a live stream debut for Brasher, who faced Diana Strong in Obertraubling about two months ago. Nero and Brasher trade strikes to start, with the fight spilling to the outside as Nero found the upper hand. Brasher finds a way in with a suplex, before pulling Nero in for a slam… but Nero slips free and hits a DDT instead.
Nero stays on top from there, stomping a mudhole in Brasher in the corner… but referee Tassilo Jung refused to count a pin immediately after that, so Nero just followed up with a chinlock.
Breaking free, Brasher took Nero into the corners for a shoulder charge, before pulling up Nero into a fallaway slam for a two-count. A distraction from Alex Duke took Brasher’s mind away from things as she missed a top rope elbow drop… before Nero hit a Twist of Fate to get the win. This one didn’t really get going, but the result never felt in doubt. **½
We’re outside with Nordino, who’s asked for his pick in the four-way weapons match later on for a shot at the tag titles…
wXw Shotgun Championship – No Ropes, No Time Limit, Two Refs Match: Dennis Dullnig vs. Axel Tischer (c)
We’re Buckaroo’ing things with stipulations, as Dullnig’s removing every way he’s been beaten by Axel Tischer in recent times.
Tischer jumped at Dullnig to start, going for a double leg takedown before effortlessly shoving Dullnig off the ring and into the front row. Clearing the front row, Tischer telegraphs a powerbomb, but Dullnig wriggles free and instead dove from the ring to take the Axeman into the second row.
Turning things around, Tischer marched Dullnig around the ringside area, only to get thrown into the ring post. Dullnig finds… a piece of padding from under the ring, and tries to use it on Tischer, but the tables turn as the Shotgun champion whipped Dullnig with it for a spell. After spanking Dullnig with the padding, things switch up again as Dullnig pulled Tischer to the outside, before Tischer was smothered with a chinlock back inside.
Elbows from Tischer brought a brief respite as a DDT from Dullnig kept him ahead, before he went outside and grabbed the ring bell. Of course it’s used on Tischer, who managed to beat a standing ten-count before his powerbomb attempt was turned into a ‘rana. An X-Plex from Tischer sees him cut off his challenger, but Dullnig rolls to the floor, landing on his feet to technically break the standing ten-count.
A charge at Tischer sees Dullnig back body dropped back into the ring, where some rolling German suplexes on Dullnig ended with Dullnig using the bell hammer. Another hammer shot leads to a gutwrench powerbomb that almost led to a title change, before a belt shot was blocked… Dullnig instantly added a low blow, followed by an instant beg for mercy, only to realise there was no DQs anyway.
Going back to the hammer, Dullnig took too long and got low blowed… but he’s got the hammer again and almost won the title with another hammer shot. From there, Dullnig stomped Tischer’s face against the Shotgun title belt, only to miss another stomp… as a belt shot to the head from the Axeman, coupled with a Ligerbomb got the win. This looked as definitive as you could get, and I’m hoping I’m not jinxing myself with that. The match made use of the stipulations they gave themselves to play with… except bringing a second ref into play… but I’m more than ready for new blood in this title picture. ***¼
Weapons Tornado Match: 10/10 Next Level (Alex Duke & Aleksander Bellamy) vs. Swole Patrol (M4 & Tim Koslowski) vs. Roadkill (Aeron & Conn Kelly) vs. Quick & Dirty (Hugo Brand & Niklas Bock)
The winner gets a shot at Planet Gojirah for the tag titles later on, and if you’ve looked at the card, you can probably guess they’re going to get short shrift. Quick & Dirty came out with their street fight jeans, and made a beeline for the Swole Patrol as this one started off with a full ring.
A crossbody from Brand off the top killed the lights briefly as Quick & Dirty proceeded to grab a ladder, which they used to swipe into Roadkill… only for 10/10 to lay them out with chairshots to the back. There’s a New Jack-esque trolley full of goodies out there, but things quickly return to the ring as 10/10 isolated the returning Koslowski. At least until they stopped to grab some 10 signs from the crowd, which they used to batter Aeron with.
Conn Kelly drives the trolley into 10/10 to cut them off, with basement dropkicks before M4 and Koslowski returned to whip everyone with their weighlifting belts. Quick & Dirty have belts too and steal the idea, but road signs from Roadkill stop that as we’re all about the plunder.
10/10 return to hit a back suplex/neckbreaker on Aeron, forcing Kelly in to make a save, before thing spilled outside, where Swole Patrol chucked a handful of protein powder at 10/10. Someone remembered Ahura and Mike D Vecchio in Hamburg! Problem was, M4’s aim is a bit off and he ends up blinding Koslowski with it when he repeated the trick, before Quick & Dirty climbed the ladder for a froggy crossbody from Bock into the pile.
Bock and Brand pull out a table from under the ring, but M4 counters a suplex as they threatened to put him through it… Kelly uses a stop sign to prevent M4 from putting Aeron through the table, before Roadkill took the win after Aeron’s splash almost put M4 through the table via a likely stop-off with James Hetfield. He’s kinda the table? ***
wXw World Tag Team Championship: Roadkill (Aeron & Conn Kelly) vs. Planet Gojirah (Robert Dreissker & Marc Empire) (c)
There’s no rest for the wicked as Planet Gojirah race out with more plunder to get their title defence going, with Aeron getting a bin to the skull as everyone was caught off guard. Marc Empire’s got an almost-Hercules chain on him these days too,
Chair shots and baking trays lay out Roadkill as I guess we’re running under the same weapons rules here. Heading outside, Kelly’s whacked over the head with a baking tray, while Aeron met a similar fate from Empire. That barely-used table from earlier’s brought back into play, but Aeron reverses things and tossed Dreissker through the wood before a small package almost led to the mother of all upsets.
Shrugging off the table, Dreissker’s throwing more plunder into the ring, as a bin’s smashed against Aeron’s midsection for a two-count. From there, Planet Gojirah set up some chairs for a makeshift crash pad, but it’s Dreissker who eats it courtesy of a back body drop from Aeron, before a double-team facebuster took Empire out of action.
From there, Roadkill hit a double-team powerbomb to Dreissker out of the corner, before an Aeron splash and a Kelly frog splash drew a late kick-out from Dreissker. In the end, Roadkill’s pressure stopped sharply when their attempt to go all Hardy Boyz on Empire saw Kelly get dumped onto Aeron, before a spinning Death Valley Driver from Dreissker finally ended things. It was fun while it lasted for Roadkill, but the mountain was simply too much for them to climb on this night. ***
Post-match, Nordino’s out to attack Planet Gojirah with his CSI flag… he’s running solo here, but ends up chasing after Robin Christopher Fohrwerk, and you can guess what happens here. Dreissker and Empire make the save as Nordino threatened to give Fohrwerk a shoeing.
Cowboy Way (1 Called Manders & Thomas Shire) vs. Elijah Blum & Ahura
Ahura and Blum face each other for the big one in Oberhausen next month… Manders was pretty cordial, shaking hands with both opponents, whilst Shire wasn’t quite in as good a mood.
Starting with Manders and Blum, in a throwback to the match where Manders won the title last year, we had Manders trying to jump on the “Schnurrbartmann” chants for Blum as the early skirmishes didn’t yield much. Ahura’s in to land some headscissors, before he, erm… thrust his crotch into Manders’ face.
Tempers understandably flared after that, but simmered down as Shire tried to bully around Blum, only to get taken down with a dropkick. Shire didn’t take kindly to that, choosing to mock Blum’s pose before Ahura came in to argue with the referee… creating a diversion as Shire looked to wear down Blum some more. Ahura hit the ring to try and stop Shire, but to little effect as Manders played peacekeeper by… taking Tassilo Jung to one side and starting a fight with everyone.
A clothesline from Shire takes Ahura over the top to the outside as the crowd got a little closer to things, and it’s time for some split screen of crowd brawling, with mixed results for both teams. Ahura broke off from Manders to go after Shire, creating an opening for Ahura to get some revenge by way of throwing Shire into the merch table. Problem was, that gave Shire the opportunity to use some merch as a weapon… including an 8×10 for a papercut, and a lighter.
Finally the lads head back to the ring… with Ahura and Shire wanting to have a Gentleman’s Duel. Ahura double-crosses Shire with a springboard clothesline, only for Manders to clobber Ahura from behind as he celebrated, allowing the Cowboys to again take over. Ahura’s stretched over Shire’s back as the imminent world title challenger’s worn through, at least until Ahura DDT’d his way out of a Stampede attempt.
Blum’s brought back in to make some fresh inroads, taking Manders into the corner for some clotheslines and a moonsault press out of the buckles for a two-count. Ahura’s back to help with a Parting Gift/powerbomb combo that almost ended things, but Shire broke up the count, then flung Ahura into the ropes to recoil his head into the mat. With Ahura down, Blum again has to go it alone, allowing Shire to go for a UFO… but Blum countered out and hit a version of his Total Depravity.
Hey, Ahura’s back to hit Destino out of nowhere too, but Manders slams Blum onto the pile to break up the pin. We reset once more, with all four men trading blows to help clear the ring. Ahura looked to have pulled ahead, following to the outside with the Divine Sandstorm tornillo, before Ahura was beaten to the punch on a Boss Lariat by Manders. That’s almost enough for the win… but Ahura hits his own anyway for just a one-count. More chops between the two end with Ahura almost sacrificing himself, but Thomas Shire comes in to make sure Ahura did just that, holding Ahura in place as Manders repeated last year’s Carat final with the Boss lariat for the win.
Throughout this main event, there were clear layers – Ahura and Blum were getting along, but there were clear moments where Ahura was (perhaps too obviously) willingly taking a back seat so Blum, perhaps letting him wear himself down a little going into their match next month. Meanwhile, Cowboy Way haven’t fully gone “bad” in wXw, but Thomas Shire’s clearly on that track… and with the way he inserted himself into the ending, perhaps some of that “by any means necessary” influence is rubbing off here. ***¾
We’re not done… after the Cowboys headed to the back, Elijah Blum returned to the ring to stand over his next challenger, then eventually pull him to his feet. Of course the pair get into an argument over their loss, exacerbated by Ahura snatching Blum’s title. Security finally hits the ring to separate the pair before things blew up… but that looked to have been what lit the proverbial match as Blum and Ahura laid out security before the show ended with Blum raising his title in Ahura’s face…
With such a big main event already signed off for Shortcut to the Top, Broken Rules was always going to feel like a proverbial warm-up show… just perhaps not intended with the weather they got in Frankfurt! With a main event that gave little away for next month, Broken Rules was pretty solid show from top to bottom – with some key wins and showings from the likes of Dieter Schwartz and Roadkill lifting up the undercard as well.