The final week of the Catch Grand Prix gets going as Cara Noir stakes his claim for top spot against Hektor Invictus.
Four men can win the block – but it could well come down to Wednesday’s Metehan/Bobby Gunns match. If Avalanche, Gunns and Cara Noir win this week, Avalanche goes through on tie-breakers – but a win for Metehan on Wednesday puts it beyond anybody else’s reach. Got that? We’ll go through the tie-breakers after each match in block A…
For the first part of the week, Nico Schmidt and Dään Jokisch are joined at the Steffy in Oberhausen by Fast Time Moodo. He finished his campaign last week with a 2-4 record, but could slip to a second-off-bottom finish today if Hektor gets the win here.
The panel run through the current standings, with Dään calling out the importance of each match this week. Moodo reckons Cara Noir’s recent tournament experience will be the edge for thim today.
Dään’s with Hektor Invictus backstage before the match. Hektor reckons by beating the Carat winner, his name will be among the stars, so he’s going to make a name for himself tonight. And for some reason, Dään is ring announcing too today… he’s taking over the show!
Catch Grand Prix 2020 – Block A: Cara Noir vs. Hektor Invictus
Round 1: Hektor charges out with a big boot at the bell, then went to work over Cara’s arm. A whip takes Cara into the corner, bouncing him to the mat as the wing work looked to follow as Hektor grabbed the arm… spinning him to the mat for an armbar, holding on as the Carat winner tried to get free. All that looked to annoy Cara, but he just couldn’t get free as Hektor trapped him in a cobra clutch, before he monkey-flipped Cara with one arm. Hektor remains resolute with his focus on the arm, pulling Cara in for shoulder tackles before a stomp to the elbow finally broke them free, with Cara scurrying into the ropes… but Hektor follows there and wraps the arm in the ropes, earning him a €20 fine as the first round came to a close.
Round 2: Cara tries to hide an arm behind his back as the second round started. It didn’t take long for Hektor to find it, but Noir headbutts him back before he found an opening with a series of kicks. A rebound German suplex is blocked as Hektor pulls Cara down in a Kimura, but Cara escapes and applies a cross armbar… which is escaped as Hektor rolled through. Noir escapes the powerbomb attempt and lands a neckbreaker for a two-count, but Hektor’s able to respond as he slips out of a suplex, and hangs Cara’s arm on the rope. There’s a yellow card right there for you. The tactical booking, if you will. Hektor stays on top of Cara with some kicks, but Cara rolls outside to try and buy himself some time… but Hektor rolls outside and throws Cara’s arm into the ring post, before heading back inside as Cara just about wound down the clock enough.
There’s some shoving between rounds, which gets Hektor a €50 fine. Today’s proving to be very expensive… and knowing Cara Noir’s recent third round form, this could be ending very soon.
Round 3: Cara ducks a big boot, but gets flipped over… he can’t land a package piledriver, as Hektor slips out and hits a kick to the arm. A gourdbuster followed, but the deadlift German is blocked as Cara counters into a small package and nicks the win! A solid gameplan for Hektor’s undone by a crafty inside cradle, and books his spot at the top… now all he can do is wait.
Result: Cara Noir pinned Hektor Invictus at 0:39 of Round 3 (***)
Post-match, Hektor’s congratulated on his showing by Nico backstage… he still has the same plans for 2021 – to climb to the top.
Standings
Block A
Cara Noir (4-1-1; 9pts)
Metehan (4-1; 8pts)
Avalanche, Bobby Gunns (3-1-1; 7pts) * Avalanche leads in tie-breakers
Fast Time Moodo (2-4; 4pts) * eliminated
Hektor Invictus (1-4-1; 3pts) * eliminated
Anil Marik (0-5; 0pts) * eliminated
Block B
Marius al-Ani (5-0; 10pts)
Tristan Archer (4-1; 8pts)
Senza Volto (4-2; 8pts) * eliminated
Prince Ahura (2-3; 4pts) * eliminated
Norman Harras; Vincent Heisenberg; Emil Sitoci (1-4; 2pts) * eliminated
Disciplinary: €4155 of fines; thirty yellow cards and one red card.
Tomorrow sees Avalanche try to book his spot in the final – but he’s got a potential banana skin of an opponent in student Anil Marik.