We move back to Hamburg as Big Daddy Walter gets his big time rematch with Karsten Beck.
Quick Results
Ivan Kiev, Axel Dieter Jr. & Da Mack pinned Vincent the Beast, Boggy Gunns & Peter Fischer in 14:59 (***¼)
Michael Schenkenberg pinned Jurn Simmons in 7:24 (**½)
Ilja Dragunov pinned Tommaso Ciampa to retain the wXw Shotgun Championship in 11:53 (***½)
Tables Match: Damian O’Connor defeated Mike Schwarz in 12:11 (**)
John Klinger pinned Demolition Davies, Michael Dante & Scotty Saxxon in 9:13 (**)
Tommy End pinned Matt Sydal in 16:03 (***½)
Karsten Beck pinned Big Daddy Walter to retain the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship in 22:44 (***¾)
We’re back at the Markthalle as slightly-misspelled words were all the rage back then… and my word, das Powercrowd is HOT.
Hot And Spicy (Axel Dieter Jr. & Da Mack) & Ivan Kiev vs. Die Schilds (Bobby Gunns & Vincent The Beast) & Peter Fischer
Some Fire Pro randomness on these teams… Hot & Spicy are out first to bask in the hometown reaction. We’ve a jump start as Fischer came out first on the stage, distracting from the Schilds hitting the ring before the match was made official.
Gunns tries to light up a cigarette at the start as he wrung Da Mack’s arm… Mack slaps the cigarette out of his mouth and into the crowd as he began to knock Gunns around with clotheslines and a Slingblade. Ivan Kiev’s in with a diving kick and a standing moonsault for an early two-count.
Mack and Junior combine for a high/low on Gunns, then an assisted splash as Junior kept Gunns grounded for the bridging hammerlock. Vinny and Fischer hit the ring to break that up before some triple-teaming on Junior… but Axel recovers to take the Schilds outside, before the tag champion was caught with gamengiri and a dropkick into the corner.
Dives follow as a froggy crossbody from Mack took things outside, ahead of a pescado from Kiev… before Gunns kicked out Junior’s knee to stop a plancha. Gunns maintained control until he ate a running uppercut from Junior, who brings Mack back in… only for Mack to get swatted away. Vinny’s in, but has to kick out of a sunset flip before the Schilds wiped out Mack in the corner with a step-up dropkick for a near-fall.
Fischer’s in to score a slam and a legdrop on Mack for a two-count, before Mack found a way in with a dropkick on Gunns. Ivan Kiev’s in next to put the boots to Gunns, while a crossbody off the top almost got Kiev the win on a defiant Gunns. Mack’s back for his clappy kicks and moonwalk PK, before Junior came back in with uppercuts.
Tags bring us to Vinny hitting a kick-assisted slam to Kiev for a two-count, while Fischer’s shoulder charges kept Kiev in the corner. A T-Bone follows out of the corner for a two-count, but Kiev forces an opening with a clothesline before tagging in Da Mack, whose clotheslines cleared the way. Double-teaming with Junior clears out the Schilds, before Fischer was hiptossed into them in the corner ahead of a dropkick from Kiev.
Fischer blocks a suplex as we end up with a six-way suplex that ended up with the good guys winning out. A Tower of Doom follows as they tried their luck with four people wobbling on that middle rope, before Vinny ate the Patteuse… Ivan adds a frog splash, and that’s your lot – a pretty decent opener to get us going. ***¼
Jurn Simmons vs. Michael Schenkenberg
Last time in Hamburg, Schenk beat Timothy Thatcher… now he’s got another “before they were big in wXw” name.
Schenkenberg starts out hot, catching Jurn with forearms to take him into the ropes… before Jurn caught him out with a hotshot into the ropes for an early one-count. A bodyslam’s next from Jurn, then an Irish whip into the corner as he was overpowering Schenkenberg with ease.
Jurn’s chinlock keeps Schenkenberg down, but he fights free… only for a follow-up crossbody to get caught and turned into a slam. It’s back to the chinlock, but this time Schenkenberg fought free and went back with strikes, knocking Simmons into the ropes with forearms before he got thrown onto the apron.
Schenkenberg’s gamengiri surprises Jurn ahead of a crossbody off the top rope… which almost gets the win. A powerslam turns it around for a two-count for Simmons, as did a Gunnslinger, before Schenkenberg stole the win with an inside cradle out of a suplex. **½
wXw Shotgun Championship: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Ilja Dragunov (c)
A match that’s never been repeated since, despite the pair (at time of writing) now being in the same place…
Ciampa wants a hug… Ilja doesn’t, so that becomes a chant as we get going with Ciampa taking Ilja into the corner to escape a side headlock. Switching waistlocks on the mat, we lead to Ciampa going for a triangle armbar… but things end in the ropes as Dragunov scurried away.
Trying his luck with another side headlock, Dragunov’s shoved off… but he charges down Ciampa ahead of a chop that’s laughed off. Ciampa chops back, before some near misses saw the pair seek solace in the corners. A kick to the midsection drops Ciampa as Ilja began to put the boots to him, only to get caught with an elevated Flatliner from Ciampa moments later for a near-fall.
Chops from Ciampa pin Dragunov into the corner, as the pair then traded charging forearms until a Torpedo Moscau surprised the challenger for a near-fall. Dragunov takes the piss out of the crowd’s “Ciampa” chants as he grounded him with a chinlock, before a neck crank kept Ciampa down. Biting his way free, Ciampa’s quickly met with a snap suplex for a two-count, before Ciampa elbowed out of a Saito suplex.
Ciampa takes too long to follow-up as he’s charged into the corner, but he’s able to swat away a springboard Torpedo with a leaping knee strike. Ow. Taking Dragunov up top, Ciampa throws some more chops before Ilja shoved him down… only to get caught with an Air Raid Crash for a near-fall.
Chops from Ilja look to set up for that Saito suplex again, which finally comes off for a near-fall. The pair trade chops from there before Ciampa surprised Ilja with a roll-through into a knee strike. More shots take Ilja into the ropes ahead of a front suplex/G2S variant… before a Project Ciampa was escaped and countered into a uranage for a near-fall. Pushing on, Ilja nails the Grüße aus Moscow lariat… and that’s enough to get the win in a match that was heating up nicely throughout. I’m amazed that’s never been run back… ***½
Tables Match: Damian O’Connor vs. Mike Schwarz
Well, they didn’t hold back from the off, trading strikes and shoulder blocks in the early going.
A leaping clothesline from Schwarz takes down Damo, taking him outside as the pair fought around ringside. Schwarz whips Damo into the side of the ring, before the fans began to pull out materials for a table from under the ring – we’re still working with sawhorses and boards here as Thommy Giesen warned the fans not to help out.
Schwarz heads back up to the stage but his stage dive through Damo came to nought as the pair went back inside, with Schwarz teasing a suplex from the ring through the table. Instead, Damo fights free and boots Schwarz off the apron, sending him through the table… but that’s not the end as we’re told this is a best of three tables match.
A fan gives Schwarz a beer, but Damo slaps it away as he went back under the ring to find more stuff for tables. Meanwhile, Mike’s chugging beers by the stage. Things don’t pick up for him back in the ring as Damo stayed on him – literally, standing on Schwarz ahead of a delayed back senton at one point.
Stretching Schwarz did little to help with a direct result, but a superkick did as Damo then looked to lift Schwarz up top… only for Schwarz to powerbomb the Ulsterman through a table to equalise things. It’s sudden death now, so things head back out into the crowd, where Damo whacks Schwarz with a chair in the crowd. Up on the stage, Schwarz returns the favour, then went backstage for more table materials, with the crowd again helping out.
Back inside, Schwarz suplexes Damo, before a death valley driver through a table was escaped… with Damo instead opting to knock Schwarz towards a board in the corner, cannonballing him through it to get the win. Yeah, table matches don’t really age well, especially when the set-up looked like they’d just stopped a bunch of people from hanging wallpaper. **
Post-match, Damo continues to attack Schwarz… he then went after the ref, who’s impervious to right hands, so he just threw him through the ropes to the outside before Ivan Kiev made the save with a missile dropkick to put Damo through another board. That set up a Kiev/Damo match for August’s FAN…
Demolition Davies vs. Michael Dante vs. Scotty Saxon vs. John Klinger
You can’t search Demolition Davies on Cagematch, but this was his final outing for wXw – and was previously around in October 2014 for a Shotgun title match against Klinger. Most of his wXw outings (five of them) seemed to involve Bad Bones, curiously…
Saxon’s bravado sees him have to fight off Davies first, only to get overwhelmed with a body attack. Michael Dante tries his luck, taking the big man into the ropes before he too ate a body attack, before Klinger’s shoulder tackles ended with him getting thrown onto the apron ahead of a missile dropkick to take Davies into the corner.
Davies charges back with an avalanche to squash Klinger, before Saxon… bounced off of Davies. Dante runs into an elbow as Davies was in cruise control here… and there’s the cue for Dante to break up some choking in the ropes. Ah, another shoulder tackle bounces him as this was virtually a handicap match with Davies making relatively light work of the other three.
Dante tries his luck with a suplex, but even the help of Klinger doesn’t get it off as the pair ended up taking Davies to the outside with a pair of dropkicks. Klinger chucks Dante out next, with Saxon waiting with a crossbody off the apron. He’s caught though, so Klinger finishes the job with a tope before picking up on Davies back inside.
Running forearms into the corner led to shoulder tackles before Davies fell back on Klinger amid a bodyslam. Saxon breaks up the pin, then connected with double sledges off the top that briefly had Davies down to a knee. They’re eventually slapped away though, as Davies then pulled up Saxon for something… but instead Saxon slips out and tries a Rainmaker.
More clotheslines stagger Davies, before Dante’s shoulder block helped a sunset flip… even if it seemed to hurt Saxon more. Davies stops a spear as a chokebomb almost got the win over Dante, before Klinger’s Wrecking Ball Knees and somehow, a death valley driver got the win. An impressive finish to a match that a fair amount of the crowd seemed to struggle with. **
Tommy End vs. Matt Sydal
It’s been a few months since Tommy’d been seen in wXw – after Dead End and Tonbridge, he took two months off, returning for this co-main event. In the spirit of Dragunov/Ciampa… these two have met three times since (at time of writing in April 2024) – all of them on AEW Collision. Huh.
End tries to take things to the mat to start us off, before the pair began to give each other dead legs with kicks. It led to Sydal going down as End looked to control things with a grounded hammerlock… Sydal gets up, but is quickly forced to defend an armbar, which he escaped before he was forced to grab the rope to avoid an armbar. Armdrags and a tijeras took End outside as Sydal sent him back towards the stage with a baseball slide dropkick, before End bailed as Sydal teased an Asai moonsault.
Sydal swings as End made it back inside, connecting with a spinning heel kick for an early two-count, before a Kitchen sink knee out of nowhere left Sydal in a heap. Kicks from End keep Sydal on the back foot, while shoulder tackles and uppercuts keep Sydal cornered. A second Kitchen Sink’s countered with a roll-up for a two-count, as End came right back in with an elbow to retain control.
End continues to rough up Sydal on the apron, drawing some boos from the crowd, as Hamburg really seemed to want to see a Sydal win. Problem was, Sydal’s unable to create much for a while as a grounded waistlock kept End in control. Exchanging kicks gave Sydal an opening, before he countered a side suplex attempt, then followed up with a series of kicks that had End loopy into the corner.
Sydal keeps going with a clothesline and a diving knee into the corner… a caught kick sees Sydal take down End for a standing moonsault, before Michael Dante popped up on the apron for a distraction. End knocks him off as Sydal side-stepped… before things headed outside with Sydal flying into the pair of them with a crossbody off the top rope.
Back inside, a seated senton off the top keeps Sydal ahead, before a leaping knee’s caught and turned into Snake Eyes as End effortlessly turned it around. A German suplex nearly won it for End, who pelted Sydal with a PK for another near-fall, before standing switches ended with a Final Cut from Sydal for a near-fall.
A rear spin kick from End keeps him on top after another furry, before a Dragon sleeper was fought out of, with Sydal turning it into that Randy Orton backbreaker. Sydal keeps going with a knee strike, then a running reverse ‘rana… before a shooting star press off the top came up short, as a leaping knee from End shut this one down in a hurry. Yup, this was pretty damn good – even if Sydal was spamming the knees at the end as End picked up a huge win on his first singles outing since Carat. ***½
wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship: Big Daddy Walter vs. Karsten Beck (c)
Unless you count the tour stop in Prague, this was essentially Walter’s rematch after losing the title to Beck back in January…
Walter cut off Beck’s usual pre-match spiel to insist they get to the meat of things. When we get going Reich und Schön are very conspicuous by their absence, as Beck tried to offer a handshake. Axel Dieter Jr’s furiously pointing to the RINGKAMPF badge on his jacket, as if to tell Walter to use his brain… which he did as Walter slapped the handshake away, before he laid into Beck with chops to send the champion scurrying.
Beck demands the crowd give him silence, but ended up getting thrown into the corner as Walter wasn’t letting him get his mind games going. A big boot off the ropes, then an Earthquake splash gets a two-count before a delayed bodyslam added another two-count for the challenger. Beck rakes the eyes as he took Walter into the corner for some mounted punches, but Walter’s able to take him to the outside – with a nasty spill onto the Markthalle floor – before Beck decided against bailing for the count-out and stormed Walter with some mudhole stomps into the corner.
Shrugging it off, a dropkick from Walter drops Beck like a stone, before Beck came back with a nasty chop block to the knee. Stomps follow as Beck targeted that knee, hyper-extending it in the corner… which led to a €20 fine for unsporting conduct. More of those €20 fines followed, and unlike earlier in the tour, the fans weren’t exactly clamouring to pay them for Beck…
Walter’s forced to grit his teeth as Beck torqued away on the knee, following up with more kicks to the knee as I was losing count of those fines. A DDT to the knee follows as Walter thought he’d kicked Beck away, before he tried a bodyslam… and had Beck fall back on him for a two-count.
Switching up from his tactic of continually aiming for the knee, Beck threw some shots at Walter… who eventually fought back with a death valley driver after Beck had hit the ropes. Keeping the momentum going, Walter scores with some right hands of his own, then with a German suplex to take Beck into the corner, before a low dropkick from the champion targeted – where else – the knee.
Beck stays on that knee with a half crab, letting go before Walter got to the ropes so he could go for a knee drop… only for a follow-up piledriver to be countered with a back body drop. Another German suplex puts Walter back in contention, while a short-range lariat decked Beck for a near-fall. That prompted Walter to head up top – a rare move even back then – and it’s quickly snuffed out as Beck dove into the corner.
Walter’s able to knock Beck down out of the corner as he finally ended up landing that big splash off the top, but it’s still not enough! Walter goes for a powerbomb, but Beck pulls out the legs and DDT’s the knee again before he began to pound on that leg. It leads to a half crab that had Axel Dieter Jr. and Da Mack playing to the crowd to gee up Walter… and it worked as the bottom rope forced a break.
Beck tries a half crab again, but Walter kicks him into the ropes as a rebound small package nearly won it, before a shotgun dropkick caught Beck into the corner. Another crack at the powerbomb finally comes off, but Beck’s still able to kick out. Strikes between the pair end with a Beck lariat, before a big boot and a lariat moments later saw Walter fall just shy of Beck, with a delayed cover almost forcing the title change.
With both men almost spent, Beck’s able to dig deep and stomp away on the knee of Walter, earning him a more severe €50 fine as he’s now probably in debt from this match. Another piledriver attempt from Beck’s initially countered with a back body drop, but the knee gave out as Beck returned instead with a Flatliner. Walter kicks out at two, but Beck’s got more in him… pulling the challenger right back up for a piledriver, and that’s too much for Walter to come back from. A successful defence – and a fairly clean one for Beck – as he finally put Big Daddy Walter in the rear view mirror. ***¾
Post-match, a change in the overdub music signals the appearance of Tommy End, who acknowledged his history with Beck… then said he was coming for Beck’s belt as End looked like he was close to taking his Carat title shot.
Broken Rulz was a real mixed bag of a show – swing by for the two main events and you’ll have a whale of a time… but that was a real rough undercard for Hamburg.