The second week of the Catch Grand Prix wraps up with newcomer Vincent Heisenberg taking on one half of the former wXw tag team champions, Prince Ahura.
We’re once again in the Steffy in Turbinenhalle with Nico Schmidt, Dään Jokisch and Marius al-Ani. Once again, Marius called it right yesterday, which he crows over, and also got some digs in at Archer for taking “so long” to beat Norman Harras. There’s a dog joke in there too, as Marius then loses his temper at Nico Schmidt, who took offence to Marius saying that Archer “isn’t in his league.”
Things calm down, as Marius talks about today’s match… noting Heisenberg is “physically superior” to Ahura, who is “fresh… and nothing else.” He jokes that this “would be fitting” for something like a fifth place play-off… and then predicts Ahura to win “because he’s fresh.” Picking up where Francis Kaspin left the baton, clearly…
Backstage, we’ve got Andy Jackson. First with Vincent Heisenberg, who says he’ll use the powerslam again because it worked first time around. As for Prince Ahura, his first tournament action here has him vowing to not fall for the upset like Tristan Archer did last week.
Catch Grand Prix 2020 – Block B: Prince Ahura vs. Vincent Heisenberg
Round 1: Ahura offers a handshake, but Heisenberg doesn’t want it… nor does referee Tassilo Jung. So Tass gets a bandana instead, then the rest of Ahura’s gear as he claimed to be playing fair. Eventually we get a handshake with the ref, then with Heisenberg, as that yellow card wasn’t needed after-all. Finally they get going with a lock-up into the ropes, before Ahura’s side headlock was pushed off… with his resulting shoulder tackle having no effect. A second try sees him bounce off of Heisenberg, before he caught the Hamburg native with a dropkick, sending him rolling outside to wind down the remaining seconds.
Round 2: Heisenberg splashes a distracted Ahura in the corner at the bell, then squashed Ahura as he went for a mounted sleeper. Ahura heads up top for a stomp to the back of the head after he’d booted Heisenberg, getting a two-count, before an armbar in the corner led to Ahura taking Heisenberg’s back… but he’s thrown off. He tries again, and takes Heisenberg onto all fours, before getting thrown off once more. Wash, rinse, repeat once more, before Heisenberg picks up Ahura for a slam… but Ahura wriggled onto the apron and hit a springboard dropkick back in… but Heisenberg lands in the ropes. Dragging him away, Ahura rolls Heisenberg in for a Camel clutch to make Heisenberg humble, but it’s blocked as the clock runs out.
Round 3: A running dropkick takes Heisenberg into the corner to start, then another, as I suspect Ahura likes spamming moves. He follows that up with a springboard in, but Heisenberg boots him out of the sky, before hitting a pair of lariats, spinning Ahura down for a two-count. Ahura floats out of Heisenberg’s slam, then poked him in the eye, earning an obvious yellow card. Heisenberg recovers, but he’s swinging at thin air before a headbutt knocked him down, as Ahura then set up for the camel clutch… the referee’s checking Heisenberg’s leg in the ropes for a break, but it means he misses some eye rakes from Ahura, before Ahura used a Gedo clutch to get the win. A pretty methodical performance from Ahura – he had his game plan – try and put Heisenberg to sleep, and when that didn’t work, cheating did!
Result: Prince Ahura pinned Vincent Heisenberg at 2:07 of Round 3 (**½)
Post-match, Andy Jackson interviews Ahura, who mocks Heisenberg’s trainer. That’s happening a lot, eh? Ahura straight up admits to cheating, and his surprise that the referee missed it… you and me both! Meanwhile, backstage, Heisenberg’s fuming over Ahura’s fake “change of heart” before noting that next week he’ll try and ground Senza Volto.
Then we see Norman Harras with Metehan. Harras hasn’t dealt with “their problem,” but he’s nudged to go and deal with it… Bobby Gunns. Speaking of which, he’s in our next match on Monday, taking on Hektor Invictus.
Then we see Norman – all dressed up – with Bobby, talking about how Gunns and Metehan are in the same group. Bobby wants the old agreements to be stuck to – and it seems he’s talking about Bobby making it to the finals and then splitting the cash, rather than clearing the way for Metehan. Poor Norman’s got to take that news back… and we fade away.
So, after two weeks, here’s how the tables look – we’ve joint leaders at the top of one block, and one man alone at the top of block B.
Block A
Avalanche, Hektor Invictus (1-0-1; 3pts)
Bobby Gunns, Cara Noir (1-0; 2pts)
Metehan (1-1; 2pts)
Anil Marik, Fast Time Moodo (0-2; 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: €1285 of fines; eight yellow cards and one red card.
That ends a second week of Catch Grand Prix action – and while we’ve not got any clear favourites yet, it’s clear that block A is where the obvious stories are going to be told, as Metehan looks to smooth his path to the finals.