Week three of the Catch Grand Prix wraps up with a battle between a former tag team champion, and a former Cruiserweight Classic competitor.
For the final time this week, we’re at the Steffy in Oberhausen with Nico Schmidt, Dään Jokisch and guest Emil Sitoci. As usual, they run through the standings in block B, mentioning how Senza Volto’s win guarantees him the top spot for now. Sitoci picks Tristan Archer, noting how he’s a veteran while Ahura’s a “tag team guy in a singles tournament.” Solid logic.
Backstage, Andy Jackson is with Prince Ahura, who nicks Essa Rios’ old name. Ahura reckons he broke the rules in a limited and specific way, both for his advantage… and to give Vincent Heisenberg an important lesson last week. Andy notes how Ahura picked Archer to win his match when Ahura was on the panel, but Ahura has no worries…
As for Tristan Archer, he’s over the upset in week one, but knows how he has to keep winning to not fall too far behind.
Catch Grand Prix 2020 – Block B: Prince Ahura vs. Tristan Archer
Round 1: There’s no handshake from Ahura, who tries to surprise Archer with a kick… but it’s caught, so Ahura backs into the ropes for a break. Ahura gets distracted by the crowd, then tries to block a waistlock takedown, which doesn’t work as Archer prepared for a front facelock, before Ahura snuck out with an elbow to the top of the head. That gets a warning, but nothing more, before Ahura tried to wrestle down Archer… and had to kick out as the Frenchman went for a pin. The tentativeness continued as Archer wrestled Ahura down for another one-count, before Ahura grabbed a side headlock… and got rolled up once more. Ahura reapplies the hold, then pushes off the bottom rope, but Archer rolls him up… and the referee doesn’t count because of the rope use earlier. Hang on, that’s not an advantage if you use the ropes and get rolled up. Anyway, that persistent cheating from Ahura gets him a yellow card as time runs out.
Ahura chews some old gum at the break, then charged at Archer with a running kick… that’s another yellow card as this match is getting dirty.
Round 2: Archer returns the favour with a kick of his own, before he clung onto a side headlock. It’s turned into a headlock takedown as Ahura tries to avoid being pinned… then tried to roll Archer down, but to no avail, as they got back to their feet. Body blows and knees from Ahura take Archer to the ropes, but the Frenchman’s back with a front kick before he “did a Nakamura”. Yea-oh indeed. He sidesteps as Ahura tries to run in with a kick, sending him sailing outside… before a tope from Archer kept Ahura down. Back inside, Archer lands some elbows before he kicked Ahura in the corner… following up with a springboard lungblower for a near-fall. Archer looks to put Ahura away, but instead he heads to the corner for some shots to the back, then a Northern lights suplex for a near-fall, before a side chinlock on the mat wound down the remaining seconds in the round.
Ahura undoes his necklace during the break…
Round 3: Ahura comes out swinging, but quickly gets flipped to the mat. He avoids a Falcon arrow, but seems to tweak the knee on the landing… but Archer doesn’t show mercy, and takes him into the corner. An Irish whip across the ring seems to stagger Ahura, who was then checked on by the referee… Ahura offers a fist bump, but it’s a con as he grabs Archer’s fist and pulls him into the buckles, and of course, the knee’s fine. He heads up for a springboard dropkick which connected for a near-fall, before a running step-up dropkick lands… again for a near-fall. Another Irish whip gets reversed, but a spinning forearm from Ahura lands for a near-fall, before Ahura’s attempt at a slam was countered with an inside cradle for another two-count. Ahura’s right back with a kick, but doesn’t go for the cover as he instead stomps down Archer as time ran out.
Round 4: Ahura throws his bandana at Archer at the bell, which earns a €20 fine… as referee Tassilo Jung refuses to count the follow-up pin from a dropkick. Archer’s right back with a back elbow and a Pele kick, before a back senton squishes Ahura for a two-count. A running European uppercut caught Ahura in the corner, but Ahura charges out to take Archer’s back… it’s broken up in the corner, but he jumped on him again with a rear naked choke, dragging Archer down to the mat, only for him to power up and counter with a backpack stunner. From there, Archer goes for his finish, but Ahura ducks out and hits a rising headbutt, before Archer countered a slam into the tombstone gutbuster for the win. Once more, Ahura tries to bend the rules on his way to a win, but ended up being outsmarted this time by the veteran Archer.
Result: Tristan Archer pinned Prince Ahura at 2:24 of round 4 (***¼)
Post-match, Nico Schmidt congratulated Archer, who felt like he was finally finding form. Meanwhile, Ahura wasn’t happy with “being embarrassed” because he wasn’t able to win a match using someone else’s finisher, and reckoned he was distracted by not being a tag team champion anymore…
Your standings at the end of week three:
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 (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: €1755 of fines; twelve yellow cards and one red card.
But wait, we’re not done! The saga of Norman Harras continues, as he’s with Bobby Gunns, who’s discussing “how to best use our resources”. Norman’s a little flustered at how his tournament’s gone so far, then brings up the “Metehan issue.” Gunns is annoyed at how Metehan “wants to renegotiate” an existing deal… even more so because Metehan winning the Catch Grand Prix could open the door for a title shot against Gunns. Realising that, Bobby seems to want Metehan to forego his title shot if he gets his favour… and the boys go off to hatch a new plan.
That’s it for week three of the Catch Grand Prix – we’re back on Monday, starting with Bobby Gunns taking on Fast Time Moodo, in a week that’ll also see Metehan take on Avalanche.