Jun Akiyama made his return to wXw for the first time since 2005 as part of a stuffed line-up in Oberhausen.
Quick Results
Axel Tischer pinned Katsuya Murashima, Dieter Schwartz & Dennis Dullnig to retain the wXw Shotgun Championship in 8:51 (***)
Kanji submitted Orsi in 10:40 (***)
Marc Empire & Robert Dreissker pinned Luca de Leone & Nordino and Brendan White & Danny Jones to retain the wXw World Tag Team Championships in 11:27 (***¼)
Dog Collar Match: Jane Nero defeated Dani Luna via referee stoppage in 11:56 (***)
Eddie Kingston pinned Peter Tihanyi in 12:05 (***½)
Jun Akiyama & Ahura pinned Thomas Shire & 1 Called Manders in 23:03 (****)
Elijah Blum pinned Laurance Roman to retain the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship in 20:05 (***¾)
— Check out the Auf Die Fresse podcast for further wXw coverage… Links to stream are available at AufDieFresse.co.uk
We’re inside a packed Turbinenhalle 1 – the bigger hall – as the stacked line-up for this year’s Drive of Champions forced the upgrade. The European title match will be a part of this week’s Shotgun… and with that in mind, onto the show. Mett Dimassi is once again running solo on the headsets.
wXw Shotgun Championship: Dieter Schwartz vs. Katsuya Murashima vs. Dennis Dullnig vs. Axel Tischer (c)
After his shenanigans accidentally took him to a time limit draw against Axel Tischer in Hamburg, Dennis Dullnig maneuvered his way into this match for the title… which puts the Axeman at a heck of a disadvantage.
Dullnig got booted in the face at the bell as he’d spent the entire pre-match with ants in his proverbial pants. We’re quickly boiled down to Murashima and Tischer trading forearms before Dullnig and Schwartz came in to take over. Exit Murashima as we’re left with the bald lads for a bit, with Tischer taking a suplex before Dullnig began to focus on Tischer for a spell.
A backbreaker nearly won the title for Dullnig, who focused on keeping the ring clear of anyone not called Axel Tischer, but that backfired with Schwartz going ham with German suplexes when the ring began to fill up again. Schwartz’s European uppercut’s countered into a rear naked choke by Tischer, before Murashima press slammed Dullnig onto the pile to break it up.
We’ve a nice back body drop as Murashima sent Dullnig into Schwartz, before clotheslines trapped the pair of them in the corner. Murashima loses the lead as Tischer came back in with a clothesline off the top, before an X-Plex almost dumped Schwartz on his head amid a Parade of Moves. All four men stay in the ring, with Dullnig booting Tischer… only to get caught with a cutter from Murashima, who couldn’t follow-up as he got caught up top. That turned into a Tower of Doom, and not much later Tischer managed to put away Murashima with a Ligerbomb – a solid match that if anything could have gone a little longer, as this felt a little too truncated. ***
Backstage, the Greedy Souls are plugging t-shirts and their 8x10s for the merch stand, but they’re getting interrupted by CSI, who really wanted that wifi password to be seen on camera. CSI act like they’ve had no screen time before the Greedy Souls chased them away… eventually realising that Nordino had nicked Brendan’s bum bag. Luca returned to steal the 8x10s, just for the fun of it…
Orsi vs. Kanji
This is the first time that Orsi’s been on a wXw show outside of a festival weekend since December 2022… and it’s a welcome return for Kanji after her impressive showing over Carat weekend.
Opening with a knuckle lock, Orsi managed to take Kanji down to her knees before a flip over just gave Kanji space to trap the Hungarian in a cravat. Orsi tries to go for a sidewalk slam to break it, but Kanji torqued the head some more before Orsi struck her way out of trouble.
Orsi tries for some World of Sport stuff, but Kanji just blocked the crawl through before taking Orsi into the corner for a Yakuza boot. A second one misses, but Kanji’s able to roll Orsi down for a kick to the back of the head as Orsi was having trouble stemming the tide. Just as I type that, she pulls Kanji in for a fallaway slam, following up with a hip attack in the corner and a back senton for a near-fall.
Chops from Orsi were brushed off by Kanji, who hit back with some of her own before she was Bret Hart’d into the turnbuckles. A Boston crab follows, but Kanji’s able to counter out with a cradle before an ankle lock almost forced the stoppage. Orsi tries for a tombstone, but Kanji rolls her down for the Kanji Sabre Jr. neck twist, before Kanji trapped Orsi in the ropes for kicks to the back.
A Final Cut out of the ropes ends that series, before Kanji levered out Orsi’s arm ahead of a modified Octopus stretch… but Orsi powers free, only to get rolled up. A rebound clothesline and a powerslam’s next from Orsi for a near-fall, before Orsi set up for a Glitter Bomb… but Kanji blocked and rolled her back down to the mat for a Kimura for a quick submission. This was solid enough, with some brief moments where the pair perhaps weren’t on the same page – but worked through it for a match that I’d hope would be a springboard for both of them here. ***
We’ve another backstage clip as… Dani Luna’s been laid out… Jane Nero’s laughing about it, saying she’s ready for their match later. HMM. Who did it – Jane, Aleksander or Alex?
wXw World Tag Team Championship: CSI (Luca de Leone & Nordino) vs. Greedy Souls (Brendan White & Danny Jones) vs. Planet Gojirah (Robert Dreissker & Marc Empire) (c)
CSI got themselves inserted into this one by shoving Robin Christopher Fohrwerk’s face into some tiramisu on Shotgun last month. We’re told at bell time that this is under elimination rules too… and of course, CSI’s got the Greedy Souls’ stuff. There’s also a suspicious pizza box in Luca’s hands, that gets shoved under the ring…
The Greedy Souls chase CSI away during the entrance… but they end up trapped by the stage as Planet Gojirah came out. The match got going before the champions hit the ring as Brendan got his bum bag back, but of course it’s been emptied of everything but a single Euro.
Robert Dreissker tagged himself in as CSI tried to steal pins, but they’re smothered for a spell as the Greedy Souls kept Nordino isolated. A double-team suplex from the Souls almost took out CSI, before Luca de Leone finally got the tag in and… was promptly squashed with a clothesline from Jones. The Souls’ pair of back sentons gets another two count as Planet Gojirah were having fun just watching all this unfold.
Marc Empire’s tagged in as the Greedy Souls got fed up of doing the heavy lifting. Problem was, that didn’t lead to a turnaround in fortunes for CSI, as de Leone was kept on the back foot by the champions, with a slam and a splash from Dreissker almost putting Luca out of the match. Laughter from the Welsh lads just got them tagged back into the match… and finally CSI caught a break as they managed to sneak out a tag to make this Souls vs. Gojirah for a spell.
Jones is able to pull the champions into each other before a short piledriver spiked Empire on his head. A blind tag from de Leone is instantly punched away by Dreissker, who went on to eat the Souled Out… but of course he’s not legal. The Greedy Souls argue, and of course Luca rolls up Brendan White for the elimination at 9:19. Oberhausen liked that.
That leaves us with CSI and Planet Gojirah… but with referee Felix Schulz escorting the Welsh lads to the back, we see Nordino take out the bin lid from the pizza box. It’s whacked over Dreissker’s head, but Robin Christopher Fohrwerk pulls out the referee mid-count to stop the title change. CSI go after him with a Benny Hill chase, but it ends with Dreissker clobbering the pair with a double clothesline, before a F5 from Dreissker and a big splash from Empire ended things. So close, but so far for the Italians, who have easily been elevated into cult hero territory here. ***¼
Post-match, Planet Gojirah continued to put the boots to CSI, with Empire hitting some repeat powerbombs on de Leone before the champions exited stage left.
Jane Nero vs. Dani Luna
We’re finally getting the match originally slated for Dead End back in February… although after Dani was laid out earlier, we had fresh question marks. But first, Aleksander Bellamy doing his ring announcing, and Thommy Giesen’s retraction over the status of the wXw Women’s title.
At bell time, we’re told of some extra stipulations… 10/10 Next Level are banned from ringside, and this… is a dog collar match. UH OH.
Dog Collar Match: Jane Nero vs. Dani Luna
Nero’s kept on a leash early on with the dog collar and chain, as her attempts to escape ended with her getting pulled into the ring post before Dani dove on her at ringside. Chops from Dani kept Jane on the back foot, but she used the ring and the chain to her advantage, rolling in and out before pulling Dani into the same ring post.
We’re only three minutes in and Dani’s bleeding, not helped by Jane essentially hog tying Dani to the ring post with that chain. The defenceless Dani’s jabbed with a chair, but was able to kick away a chairshot before Jane untied her and took things into the ring.
Luna’s able to block a kick to the head before she used the chain to trip up Nero for a two-count. Nero retaliated by whipping the chain into Dani’s face… and after my feed dropped for a bit, we return with Dani inventively using the chain to clothesline Nero with. Like a literal clothesline. Okay, not literally, there weren’t any t-shirts hanging off it…
A series of snap German suplexes fold up Nero, ahead of the rebound Blue Thunder Bomb for a near-fall, before a turnaround saw Nero whipping Luna with the chain. From there, a DDT onto the chain gets a near-fall, before Luna tried to tie up Nero with the chain again. That looked to lead to the Luna Landing, but Nero escaped before a chain-assisted punch and a chain-aided Twist of Fate led to Luna winning via stoppage. The chain felt a little too long – it made for some weird moments outside of the times it was used for tying the other up. This also wasn’t helped by a crowd that, like for most of the night, has felt rather off the boil… ***
Just before the interval, we’re told that Aja Kong’s going to be over for 16 Carat Gold weekend next March, as a part of the Sendai Girls show on the Saturday.
Peter Tihanyi vs. Eddie Kingston
Last time Eddie Kingston was in Germany, he was a part of 16 Carat Gold back in 2020 – the before times – going out in the semi-finals to eventual winner Cara Noir. Better buckle up…
Hey, that’s where the loud crowd’s been!
The Turbinenhalle were mostly behind Kingston to start, with Tihanyi having to float out of a wristlock before he just walked over Kingston. He’ll regret that. Like seconds later, when he took a couple of chops and a floaty butterfly suplex…
More chops stifle Tihanyi, who’s forced to fight out of a chinlock before he scored with a crossbody off the top. Kingston’s right back on the Hungarian after that though, throwing more chops and getting some back before things descended into a hockey fight. A moonsault press out of the corner nudges Tihanyi ahead, as did a superkick and an enziguiri, before a running Meteora almost ended things.
Kingston’s sent outside for a flip senton, with Tihanyi taking things back inside for a slingshot cutter after he’d ducked a backfist. Kingston needed to hook the rope to break up the pin, and was able to retaliate with a uranage and a lariat that almost ended things in a hurry. An Exploder followed as Kingston again came close to the win… that prompted Eddie to look for an avalanche Exploder, but Tihanyi broke free and powerbombed Kingstom out of the corner, only to miss a 450 splash.
From there, Kingston connects with a pair of backfists… then a snap DDT… and that’s your lot. Tihanyi’s been coming up short in these big matches, but this was a good showing against the ever-popular Mad King. ***½
Post-match, Kingston plugged Ring of Honor as he spoke of his fears of the crowd forgetting him because he’s not on TV much. After thanking the crowd, Kingston put over the “future” in Peter Tihanyi, then left Tihanyi to take the crowd’s applause.
Cowboy Way (1 Called Manders & Thomas Shire) vs. Ahura & Jun Akiyama
This was Akiyama’s first appearance in wXw in over 20 years – last appearing in November 2005 at the Turock in Essen. Shire’s sporting an All Japan t-shirt as a nod to Akiyama’s past, while Manders was thrilled to be back in a ring against Akiyama once more.
We start with Manders and Ahura, who share a spitty handshake before locking up. Manders is in a playful mood. Something which Ahura returned the favour on. Things quickly got serious with a shoulder tackle from Manders, before Shire tagged himself in and called his shot on Akiyama.
Akiyama didn’t want the tag in though, shoving Ahura away before the Carat winner sparked an exchange of shots with Shire. That was perhaps a bad idea, with Ahura just blasting Shire with a right hand that rang around the Turbinenhalle. Bloody hell. Ahura adds a springboard missile dropkick to keep Shire down, and now here comes “Uncle Jun.”
Shire and Akiyama trade shoulder tackles before Akiyama worked a toe hold on the mat. Akiyama maneuvered Shire down to try and get a cover, but Shire kept pulling the shoulder up before Ahura returned to kick Shire in the midsection. A quick turnaround had Ahura on the defensive, with Manders returning to light him up with chops in the corner, before he just dumped Ahura into the ropes to cut off a comeback.
More stern chops from Manders left Ahura in a heap as Akiyama could only watch on from the apron. A brief comeback from Ahura quickly ends as Manders pulled Akiyama off the apron to prevent a tag, and we’re back to split-screen mode as all four men scrapped on the floor, with Ahura dumping a beer over Shire.
We stay in split-screen mode as Shire suplexed Ahura into the crowd, while Akiyama bowled Manders into some chairs, then spat some beer on him as we’re long past the point of the referee being lenient with count-outs. Manders threatened to smack Akiyama with a chair before he had beer punched out of his mouth by Ahura… who ended up back in the chairs courtesy of a back body drop seconds later.
Finally things return as Ahura’s lifeless body was dragged by Manders into the ring… but Akiyama’s back also and got the tag in as Manders lost sight of Ahura for a split second. A sliding clothesline from Jun nearly ends this in a hurry, ahead of a guillotine choke. That’s broken up as Akiyama went looking for an Exploder instead, only to have to trade chops and headbutts with Manders.
At least until a rising clothesline stopped Akiyama in his tracks, that is, as Shire returned to help double-team with a series of elbow drops for a two-count. More strikes from Shire earned him a leaping knee from Akiyama, before duelling rear naked chokes caught the Cowboy Way on the back foot.
Ahura’s got Shire down to a knee, while Akiyama DDT’s Manders on the apron… from there, Ahura floats in for a Destino on Shire, while a DDT from Manders left Jun laying. Ahura tries to capitalise with a Divine Sandstorm, but Shire cuts off the Carat winner with a UFO, before Manders obliterated Ahura with a Boss Lariat that came within a hair’s breadth of ending this one.
From there, Manders pulls Ahura back to his feet as Shire joined in for a spot of bullying… but just like last year, Ahura crossed his arms and offered himself up for a lariat. Instead, he drops down as Manders wiped out Shire. Akiyama’s Exploder took care of Manders, before Jun tagged in as an Exploder to Shire wrapped things up… with Ahura’s Divine Sandstorm sending him and Manders into the front row to prevent any saves. This was a wild outing, to say the least, with this one falling into the brawling-heavy matches that Ahura’s starting to lean on a lot in big time spots. ****
wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship: Laurance Roman vs. Elijah Blum (c)
Roman’s pinfall over Blum in Hamburg last month led to the challenge being made – with Roman looking to regain a title that he originally won on this same show in 2024. Roman’s unbeaten in singles matches at Drives of Champions, but when it comes to singles matches against Elijah Blum, Roman’s only gotten one win – and lost the other three, including a match in Bielefeld for the Shotgun title.
Opening with a lock-up, Roman and Blum head into the ropes before an arm wringer from Blum took Roman to the outside. Blum targeted that arm throughout the early going, stopping to mock the old AMBOSS pose… Roman mocked Blum’s taunt in return before Blum just sparked him up with some chops in the corner.
Crossface punches in the ropes follow, at least until the referee forced some separation. Roman couldn’t capitalise on that though as he’s quickly met with a dropkick, before Blum mocked the AMBOSS thing again, and got caught with an overhead kick for his troubles. That set something off in Roman, as we’re back with the hockey fight, before Roman kicked Blum’s leg out of his leg. It’s been too long since I’ve been able to say that.
Roman keeps Blum grounded with a chinlock, before he telegraphed a swinging DDT that Blum countered with a roll-up. Snapping back, a back elbow dumps Blum as the challenger retained control, at least until Blum lifted him over the top rope and down to the floor for a swift plancha. A froggy crossbody back in took us over the ten-minute mark, as Blum found his second wind, building up to a flip neckbreaker and a moonsault press out of the corner for a near-fall.
A Parting Gift out of nothing keeps Blum ahead, but Roman’s able to snap back with a swinging DDT to turn it back around. Blum’s back body drop counters out of a piledriver, but he’s caught on the top rope as Roman looked to cut off the comeback… and send Blum down with a superplex, only for Blum to roll back up with an instant retort in the form of a brainbuster.
Both men got back to their feet, albeit barely, as they resume trading blows, but it’s Blum who’s able to pull ahead… until Roman’s roll tripped up referee Felix Schulz near the corner. A shotgun dropkick from Blum squashes Schulz some more, and meant that Roman’s low blow went unpunished. Roman’s Burning Nail seconds later is for nought as we have no referee… at least until Rainer Ringer sprinted out to count a near-fall.
Roman misses a punt to the head of Blum, who returned with a Torpedo Moscau seconds later… before a Total Depravity almost ended things. As Ringer checked on Felix Schulz, Blum goes low on Roman with a kick, before a sliding D to the back of Roman’s head got the win. I don’t think many were really expecting a title change here, but Blum’s making a habit of getting payback on folks who take the low road on him… and I have a feeling that near-instant gratification may bite him in the rear one day. ***¾
We’re not done though… Ahura’s music interrupts Blum’s celebration as he returned to ringside with his two trophies in hand. I thought Ahura felt that the 16 Carat Gold and König der Catcher trophies were a greater accomplishment than the big one? Well… something’s changed, because Ahura placed his trophies either side of the belt… and a few words later, our big match is on! Ahura. Blum. Shortcut to the Top. And if it’s anything like their König der Catcher match, this is going to tear down the Turbinenhalle.
All being said, Drive of Champions was a proverbial show of two halves, with the first half being solid bell to bell, albeit somewhat muted and rough around the edges in terms of crowd response… while the marquee matches in the second half all delivered.