The fourth week of the Catch Grand Prix kicks off with Bobby Gunns up against the man with the quickest tournament win so far – Fast Time Moodo.
For the first part of the week, Nico Schmidt and Dään Jokisch are joined inside Oberhausen’s Steffy by Hektor Invictus. They run down the standings, and note how a win for Bobby Gunns here would put him top. However, Fast Time Moodo needs the points to not drift too far away from the leaders – but Hektor doesn’t feel that Gunns will lose. A man of few words, is our Hektor.
Unlike Dään, who’s with Fast Time Moodo backstage. They bring up his 17-second win last week, and Moodo promises to use that momentum going forward. He knows he needs to deliver though…
We then jump to Dään with Bobby Gunns, and asks him how he plans to overcome Avalanche’s points total. Simple. Just win! They bring up Moodo’s quick win, but Gunns says that he’ll be able to grab any limb and make him submit.
Sebastian Hollmichel, as usual, is on commentary…
Catch Grand Prix 2020 – Block A: Fast Time Moodo vs. Bobby Gunns
Given how long’s left on the VOD, something tells me this is going much longer than seventeen seconds…
Round 1: We’ve a tentative start as Gunns grabbed a front facelock as he tries to take Moodo down, but the 23-year-old delays things as he backed into the ropes. Gunns tries to dive in with a kick, but instead went back on Moodo’s wrist, only for Moodo to flip free and land an elbow strike to the arm. A drop toe hold from Gunns takes Moodo down, with a stomp to the elbow following, then an arm wringer before Moodo managed to escape with a headlock takedown. Some mat-based stuff sees Moodo try and sneak a pin, before he avoids Gunns’ dropkick… coming back in with a Black Belt Kick, but Gunns rolls to the outside to avoid being pinned, and stayed out there as the time ran out.
Round 2: Moodo tries to feint some kicks to start the second round, taking Gunns into the ropes for a break. He returns with an uppercut, then a front kick off the ropes as Moodo responds with some kicks to the legs. Back elbows and chops rock Gunns, who gets his legs swept… but Moodo’s kick is caught as he’s dragged down into a heel hook that ends in the ropes. Gunns stomps the arm in the ropes, but doesn’t get any fine or warning… so Gunns uppercuts the arm some more before he tries to kick away at Moodo in the corner. Moodo kicks and punches his way back, but gets caught in a chinlock before an arm breaker and another kick left Moodo in the corner, wondering if he’d had his mouth busted open. More kicks just fire up Moodo, who launches into Gunns with a forearm and a knee in the corner as the second round comes to an end.
Round 3: Gunns is on the defensive from the off, with Moodo leaping into him in the corner with kicks and a sliding punch. Moodo heads up and lands a double stomp to the back for a near-fall, before a triangle armbar on Gunns was broken up as he stomped Moodo’s head. Kicks in the ropes keep Gunns on the back foot, and eventually earn him a yellow card for repeated foul play. Gunns tries to take advantage of the distraction, but gets dumped high on his back with a release German suplex… then returned with a clothesline as both men were left laying. Another kick from Moodo’s caught, as Gunns runs right back with a lariat, spinning him to the mat… then followed up in the corner for a superplex that lands for a near-fall. A leg lock follows as the clock ticked away, with Moodo clinging on to take it to a fourth round.
Round 4: We start with a striking battle as Gunns’ European uppercuts earned him knees and kicks from Moodo. Gunns ducks down and applies a rear naked choke, but he’s thrown off as Moodo returned to the kicks, including a rear spin kick to the arm, and a head kick before another rear naked choke caught him out. Gunns lets go and hits a PK out of the corner, before he was caught with a suplex from Moodo! A second Black Belt Kick misses, with Gunns coming right back with an Octopus stretch for the submission. I dug every second of this, with Moodo clearly taking advantage of Gunns seemingly underestimating him – having the champion on the ropes several times (literally!), but Gunns’ long-term game plan paid off in the end. My match of the tournament so far!
Result: Bobby Gunns submitted Fast Time Moodo at 1:22 of Round 4 (***¾)
Post-match, Gunns is told that if Metehan beats Avalanche on Wednesday, then Gunns will end the week on top of block A. Gunns didn’t care, saying that he’s not dependent on Metehan – and that he’ll win the tournament on his own… before predicting Metehan will beat Avalanche for a third time this year. Meanwhile, Moodo is backstage with Dään, unhappy with the loss. Moodo knew what to expect, and got it… but was disappointed that he didn’t take the chances that were there to win.
Your standings, then:
Block A
Bobby Gunns (3-0; 6pts)
Avalanche (2-0-1; 5pts)
Hektor Invictus (1-1-1; 3pts)
Cara Noir, Metehan (1-1; 2pts)
Fast Time Moodo (1-3; 2pts)
Anil Marik (0-3; 0pts)
Block B
Senza Volto (3-0; 6pts)
Marius al-Ani (2-0; 4pts)
Tristan Archer (2-1; 4pts)
Prince Ahura (1-1; 2pts)
Vincent Heisenberg (1-2; 2pts)
Emil Sitoci (0-2; 0pts)
Norman Harras (0-3; 0pts)
Disciplinary: €1855 of fines; thirteen yellow cards and one red card.
Tomorrow, Cara Noir takes on Anil Marik in a match that ought to be straight-forward… but could easily be another banana skin in this tournament.