Block A’s feature match this week sees this year’s 16 Carat Gold winner return to action against a former Shotgun champion.
Once more, we’ve got Metehan joining Nico Schmidt and Dään Jokisch in the expert’s panel… Metehan’s staring daggers through Dään… and lunges for him when he brought up Metehan’s loss in the first week to Cara Noir. Metehan doesn’t care who’ll win, because he’ll beat Avalanche next week as Metehan’s seemingly having a breakdown.
Interview time: Andy Jackson’s with Avalanche brings up how Avalanche wasn’t surprised by going the distance with Hektor Invictus last time out. Of course, Avalanche was on the verge of victory when time ran out… a win for Avalanche puts him top of the block, but it’ll be a tough ask against Cara Noir, who’ll be bringing a lot of unpredictability.
Catch Grand Prix 2020 – Block A: Cara Noir vs. Avalanche
Of course, they absolutely nail the entrance again…
Round 1: Cara goes for a shotgun dropkick at the bell, but Avalanche just swats him away… and that seems to have shaken the Carat winner, whose plan A was quickly thwarted. Avalanche works a wristlock, but Cara reverses it, only for Avalanche to roll him to the mat as he regained the hold. Using his bare foot, Cara rubs Avalanche in the face to break free, but those were just mind games as Avalanche came back looking for an armbar, only for Noir to take him down in a waistlock. Avalanche’s up with a headlock takedown, but Noir goes in with headscissors on the mat as the first round came to a close.
Round 2: Avalanche pulls Noir into a front facelock to start, but Cara rolls to the mat and counters into a hammerlock, grabbing the other arm as he then tried to roll Avalanche to the mat, getting just a one-count. An arm wringer from Avalanche is rolled out of as Noir pushed his way free, before he eventually finds a way in with a front kick… but he then throws it away, looking for a suplex that Avalanche countered. A right hand from Avalanche takes Cara into the corner for some boots as a Beele throw tosses him across the ring. Wash, rinse, repeat, but then Noir cracks Avalanche with a headbutt before a package piledriver’s countered with a back body drop. Noir tries to hide in the corner, but can’t avoid a right hand as the clock ran out.
Round 3: Noir tries for a running dropkick to start the round again, but Avalanche side-steps it. He’s caught in the ropes with some forearms though, before Noir ran into a Samoa Joe-like uranage. Avalanche misses a back senton, but catches a crossbody as he tosses Cara across the ring with a fallaway slam, only for the Dreissker Bomb to be aborted as Noir rolled away. Instead, Avalanche slams and splashes Cara Noir for a two-count, before elbows took Cara back into the corner, with an Irish whip taking Cara into the opposite corner chest-first for a two-count. A side headlock from Avalanche keeps Cara down, but he fights to his feet, only for a headlock takedown to put them back to square one before Noir rubbed his wrist in Avalanche’s cheek to break free. A head kick and a Rude Awakening neckbreaker suddenly have Cara on top for a near-fall, before he went for the Madame Guillotine over-the-knee brainbuster… but he can’t get a pin, and barely locked in a rear naked choke at the end of the third round.
Noir didn’t let go of the hold at the bell, but doesn’t get a fine or a yellow. So much for the strict refereeing!
Round 4: Noir runs in with a Blackout sleeper at the bell, but Avalanche throws him off. A splash in the corner lands, but Noir runs back to catch Avalanche in the corner with the dropkick. He sidesteps another charge, but can’t get up quickly enough as a Dreissker Bomb to the back lands, and that’s enough for the win! A very strategic match, with Avalanche seemingly having scouted Cara Noir enough to avoid the early surprises – and eventually found a way in with his signature move.
Result: Avalanche pinned Cara Noir in 0:26 of Round 4 (***½)
Post-match, Andy Jackson notes that Avalanche has beaten the 16 Carat Gold winner, but Avalanche tried not to get carried away, saying that the win gets him the same two points he’d have gotten against anyone else.
Your standings…
Block A
Avalanche (2-0-1; 5pts)
Bobby Gunns (2-0; 4pts)
Hektor Invictus (1-1-1; 3pts)
Cara Noir, Metehan (1-1; 2pts)
Fast Time Moodo (1-2; 2pts)
Anil Marik (0-3; 0pts)
Block B
Senza Volto (2-0; 4pts)
Prince Ahura, Marius al-Ani (1-0; 2pts)
Tristan Archer, Vincent Heisenberg (1-1; 2pts)
Norman Harras, Emil Sitoci (0-2; 0pts)
Disciplinary: €1485 of fines; ten yellow cards and one red card.
On Thursday, the block B action starts for the week, with Marius al-Ani defending his long winning streak against Norman Harras.