wXw returned to Hamburg as the distinct possibility of RISE leaving with all the gold loomed on.
We’re in the Markthalle in Hamburg as the much vaunted “Power Crowd” are in fine voice. Sebastian Hollmichel and Dään Jokisch are on German commentary for this latest stop on the Fight Forever tour. If you’re listening in English, you’re treated to Rico Bushido and Christian Michael Jakobi, who’s making a rare appearance on commentary.
Francis Kaspin vs. Dirty Dragan
For some reason Dragan had Young Money Chong out with him to make a nuisance at ringside. Dragan starts by taking Kaspin into the corner before showing off his mermaid-inspired tights, as Kaspin responded with a headlock takedown.
Dragan escaped, but takes too long to follow up with an elbow, so Kaspin stays in charge… at least until Young Money Chong got up to… pin Dragan to the ropes? It sorta works as Dragan’s able to take Kaspin down again, and wear away with a rear chinlock.
Another Kaspin escape’s quickly thwarted when Dragan lands a hip attack, then a Bronco Buster… and this may be the most offence Dragan’s had in quite some time! The celebration was short-lived as Kaspin snaps in with a Fisherman’s suplex for a two-count, before rolling away from Dragan’s frog splash… and instead returning fire with a missile dropkick. Forearms from Kaspin follow in the corner, before he chases away a threat of interference from Chong… but then Dragan takes advantage with an X-Factor as the penny drops for me. He’s a Dutch X-Pac!
Dragan than calls for Chong to get involved – and he just holds up a piece of paper with EMIL written on it. I guess it’s to make Sitoci proud… but instead Kaspin shoves Dragan into Chong, then hits the Ranhei (Kofi Kingston’s old SOS) for the win. A decent opener, but it was what it was with Dragan. **¼
RISE (Lucky Kid & Pete Bouncer) vs. A4 (Marius al-Ani & Absolute Andy)
For some reason Tarkan Aslan wasn’t dressed to compete, and my German falls flat here – Aslan claims he’s broken something (don’t shoot me if that’s wrong), so instead we’re getting a standard tag match with A4 against RISE… but first, Ivan Kiev and Bad Bones attacked A4 and Kim Ray on the stage.
A4 were thrown into the ring, but it was a 2-on-4 beatdown as RISE (minus Aslan and the not-there Chris Colen) beat down the former tag champs, before Kim Ray made the save from some Wrecking Ball Knees that were to be aimed in the way of Absolute Andy, as he cleared house on Bad Bones with some kicks. Of course.
A chairshot from Ivan Kiev puts paid to Kim Ray though, whose knee is targeted with more shots as we’re finally left with Bouncer and Kid against a beaten-down A4. Absolute Andy tries to make a comeback, but is quickly punched to the outside and fights away from some double-teaming as we continued to await the referee’s arrival. Finally, Tassilo Jung wanders in as Lucky Kid eats an F5 and a frog splash – but the delayed bell ring still doesn’t make this a short one as Kid kicked out! A double-team A4 Stunner follows, but Pete Bouncer pulls out Andy as Kid escapes and nearly wins with a roll-up, then again with a back elbow.
Bouncer sets up for a rope-hung neckbreaker to al-Ani, but that’s only good for a near-fall, before Kid grounds “Mr. No Bullshit” in some headscissors. The RISE onslaught continues, but Marius fights back, laying out Kid with a spinning heel kick before turning a slingshot into a crossbody that’s caught.
Marius fires back with a suplex though, and brings in Andy with the hot tag to clear house… laying into Lucky Kid with plenty of chops. Andy walks around with Kid in a one-handed suplex, then finally puts him down for an Absolute Knee Drop. Andy can’t follow up as Pete Bouncer cuts off a superkick… but that only delays the superkick to Kid as Bouncer ends up eating an F5 before a Sharpshooter tried to force a submission.
Lucky Kid revives and climbs onto Andy to break it up, but he just gets another F5 – this time onto Bouncer – as Tarkan Aslan returns with the tag title belt for a distraction. Lucky Kid uses the belt, but it’s still not enough! The same happens when Bouncer hits a reverse DDT, and this seems to get the crowd going.
In the midst of that, Marius al-Ani gets the tag back in to clear house, laying into Bouncer with forearms ahead of a tornado DDT, before the leaping seated splash puts paid to Kid. Pete Bouncer tries to avoid an F5, but instead takes a big boot from Andy… who then catches a handspring from Lucky Kid and tries for another F5… but Kid slips to the outside, where al-Ani’s tope wipes out the tag champ!
All that’s left is for Andy to get a measure of payback with a belt shot to Bouncer… but Tarkan Aslan breaks up the cover… and instead of that being a DQ, he’s just ejected. With everyone distracted, Lucky Kid tries another sneak attack, but comes up short as Bouncer takes a double-team cutter, giving A4 the win. With the pre-match beat-down, this felt long, but also a crucial step in the story as the wXw “home team” finally drew some blood against RISE. ***¼
World Tag Team League Earworm Time – with promises (or threats?) of wXw karaoke too! They run through the names for the Femmes Fatales tournament, and the World Tag Team League too. We’ve listed them in all of our Shotgun reviews, so go back and check. Yes, we’re very excited to be there in a month’s time!
Bobby Gunns vs. Timothy Thatcher
Gunns is out with his Werder Bremen scarf to troll the Hamburg crowd some more. Last time he was here, he beat the hometown hero Da Mack – and ensured that he couldn’t wrestle in Hamburg anymore (although Mack was in a pre-show segment where he’s taken up the Nero Consultancy services… so look out for that on Shotgun).
Today though, Gunns has a rematch with Timothy Thatcher – continuing their series from last year which saw the pair trade wins and losses against each other; although the spotlight went on Thatcher’s successful EVOLVE title defence in Munich a year earlier. As you’d expect, Thatcher shot for a takedown early, but this remained largely grounded, with Gunns getting in some shots as he tried to stop Thatcher from working over the arm.
Gunns tied up Thatcher as he looked for a Muta Lock… before instead changing tack… and ended up easily getting reversed into a single leg crab. Shouldn’t have done the Rick Rude, eh? A bow-and-arrow hold sees Thatcher stretch Bobby for a moment, before Gunns flipped out as we went back to square one.
Gunns decided to switch tactics and move to the striking game… but Thatcher was more than ready to trade uppercuts, before they reverse hiptosses so much that both men ended up on the outside. A flying back elbow finally gets Gunns into the lead, which he followed up on by grinding his elbow into the side of Thatcher ahead of a Dragon sleeper… which was flipped out of as Thatcher just rained punches down on Bobby.
The back-and-forth continues with Gunns stomping away on Thatcher’s arm, then his ankle, as he tried to make sure that Timmy couldn’t get into any threatening position. It didn’t work straight away, as an enziguiri takes Bobby down again, before Thatcher suplexes his way out of an attempted guillotine. A belly-to-belly gets Timmy another two-count, as he moves to gutwrench suplexes as the match became more and more even.
A sleeperhold from Thatcher’s escaped, but Gunns can’t get off a side suplex, before he’s forced to switch out of a German suplex, before scoring a near-fall out of an O’Connor roll. Thatcher tried to get a rear naked choke out of that from the kick-out, but Gunns switches out into the cross armbreaker – and there’s your submission! I really enjoyed this outing – and with Thatcher being based at the wXw Dojo for the rest of the year, I’d not be surprised to see more rematches – and if they’re all as good as this… bring them on! ***¾
Street Fight: Avalanche vs. Ilja Dragunov
This looks to be bringing the Cerberus feud to an end… and with the winner getting the next shot at the wXw title, it really is high stakes.
Ilja charges the ring and starts this off hot, teeing off on Avalanche with punches before he’s thrown into the corner as Avalanche tries to make his size count. Of course, it doesn’t faze Ilja, who brings the fight to Avalanche… mostly with chops and forearms in the initial stages. Clotheslines rock the Monster of a Man, and finally put him down as Ilja followed with a back senton off the middle rope, only for Avalanche to easily pick him up for a slam as the match crept outside.
Already some of the crowd are chanting for tables, but instead they see an attempted dive from Ilja cut-off with a forearm, then a back suplex onto the apron as Avalanche then heads under the ring for some chairs and a Singapore cane. Ilja uses the chair first, then flies to the outside with a tope as he tried to keep Avalanche at bay, before he’s charged down with a clothesline on the stage.
Ilja recovers and wanders to the back… returning with a table! He teases a back suplex through it, but Avalanche elbows free and instead obliterates Ilja with a pumphandle slam through the wood! They return to the ring, where those chairs await the Invincible one, who chops Avalanche into a chair… but can’t follow up before he’s hiptossed into it. My God, that looked brutal!
The pain keeps up as Avalanche uses the Singapore cane with glee on Dragunov, swatting away a Torpedo Moscau attempt by whacking him in the goddamned head. OUCH. Still, Ilja keeps coming back, chopping the breath out of Avalanche, who responds with a charge and a cannonball to pick up a near-fall in the corner.
Ilja pops straight back up and comes back with more chops, before flipping out of a back suplex and finally dropping Avalanche with a deadlift, delayed back suplex of his own! Instead of a cover, Ilja keeps up the pressure, placing a chair across Avalanche ahead of a Coast to Coast dropkick for a near-fall. Just like that though, Avalanche hits back with a Samoan drop, then a big clothesline as Ilja refuses to stay down… hitting a discus lariat instead before Avalanche nailed Boulder Dash (think a Boss Man Slam into a Blue Thunder Bomb) to almost snatch the victory. After the kick-out, Avalanche heads back outside again.. And returns with a bullrope with a COWBELL?!
Where the hell do you get those in Germany?
Anyway, whomever wanted more cowbell got it as Ilja took several shots, before he’s choked with the bullrope, only to power up and fall backwards to squash his way free. Ilja gets the rope and bunches it on his hand for a discus lariat… but it’s still not enough! So Ilja pulls out another table from under the ring, which he almost broke whilst setting up… but nevermind, Avalanche reverses the suplex and Ilja crashes into the side of the table.
Nope, it didn’t break… so Maffew, get your German Metallica ready!
Plan B sees Avalanche cannonball Ilja through the table – which cracks the wood off of the metal frame, but doesn’t quite break… and somehow, Ilja is still standing! A chairshot to the head from Avalanche just pops Ilja into the ropes for a Torpedo Moscau for a near-fall, before Dragunov piles up some chairs… and gets caught up top as Avalanche threatens a superplex.
Instead, Ilja slips free and powerbombs a somehow-bleeding Avalanche into the chairs… one Torpedo Moscau later, and it’s finally enough to get the win! It’s been a while since we’ve seen blood in wrestling it seems! This was a war – plenty of plunder, and lots of hard hitting as Ilja again returns to the “step below the summit”. Question is… is unbesiegbar enough to dethrone RISE? ***½
wXw Shotgun Championship: Ivan Kiev vs. Flip Gordon vs. David Starr (c)
Despite three-ways being inherently no-DQ, RISE didn’t come all the way down to the ring with Kiev, as this one started on fire with David Starr making a beeline for Kiev, taking him to the corner as Flip Gordon watched on in bemusement.
Eventually the crowd favourite took on Gordon, who instantly broke into his Cossack-style hand-walk, which confused the Shotgun champ.See-saw kip ups did the same job as ordon got the crowd going… just in time for Starr to tease a kip-up and chop Gordon instead. That bickering just gave Kiev an opening though, as a simple clothesline put down the Americans.
Gordon and Starr managed to work together for long enough to superkick Kiev away as they went back to work on each other, leading to a tope that knocked Kiev further back into the crowd. Flip flies next with a body press off the top rope, but he ends up taking a neckbreaker out of the ropes as Kiev surged back into life.
A pumphandle slam dumps Starr onto the turnbuckle, before Kiev slapped Gordon off the ring apron – awkwardly spilling the flippy one to the floor below. Back inside, a fallaway slam off the middle rope gets Kiev a two-count on Starr, as the RISE member was doing a decent job of keeping the other two at bay. That is, until David Starr unleashed on him with a Violence Party! A senton bomb from Gordon breaks up a pinning attempt as Starr has to deal with more flips, before Gordon chained together a Finlay roll on Kiev into a DDT on Starr for a near-fall. Kiev’s top rope leg lariat connects with Gordon, but again Starr rebounds with a Product Recall in the ropes, before a Blackheart Buster gets a near-fall too.
Starr keeps Kiev at bay with some chops… but a superplex attempt is stopped as Gordon flips up into a superkick on the top rope, before a reverse Finlay roll and a running shooting star press gets him a two-count, thanks to Starr superkicking away that cover. Kiev returns to interrupt some forearms… but a double superkick takes him down yet again as Gordon then flips away from Product Placement, only to get taken outside for a flying body press from the champ!
That leaves Kiev by himself in the ring, but Starr’s attempt at Product Placement’s stopped when Bad Bones headed onto the stage. For some reason Starr falls for the distraction and actually heads towards Bones… whilst Gordon rolled up Kiev for a near-fall. From the kick-out, a head kick and a sit-out death valley driver to Gordon was enough… and Ivan Kiev completes the collection of titles for RISE! Distraction finish aside, they at least gave Star an out as he’s able to say that he wasn’t pinned… but this was a pretty good match until that ending. Your milage will probably vary! ***¾
RISE came out onto the stage immediately as Kiev returned to the fold with his newly-won Shotgun title. Now all that’s left is for Bad Bones to defend his wXw strap! Poor Pete Bouncer, the only one there without a title…
wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship: Jurn Simmons vs. “Bad Bones” John Klinger (c)
Jurn’s got his one-on-one rematch, and he goes straight for Bones at the bell as we start with the champion on the back foot. Repeated shoulder blocks in the corner are topped off with Irish whips, as Jurn tries to end this nice and early.
A running knee to the gut stopped Simmons in his tracks… but his attempt at a low-pe is also cut-off, and we end up on the stage once again! Chops await both men as referee Tassilo Jung tried in vain to get them back to the ring, and could only watch as Bad Bones dumped the Dutchman with a suplex.
Back in the ring, the offence continues from Bones, at least until Jurn powered up with a scoop slam, then some release throwing suplexes for good measure! The hattrick puts Bones down on the mat, but the champ responds by shoving Jurn into the ref and following up with a low blow for a near-fall.
Bones mounts Simmons for some punches on the mat as the ref threatens a DQ, but that doesn’t faze Klinger, who throws Jurn around with a couple of German suplexes for another near-fall. A sunset bomb from Bones takes Jurn into the bottom turnbuckle for a near-fall as the crowd gets on Bones’ case.
Jurn pops up with a dropkick as Klinger climbed the turnbuckles, allowing the former champ to hit a superplex instead as they followed up with back-and-forth punches. Simmons ends that series with some clotheslines, before he looked to go for the Oklahoma Stampede… and eventually gets it off… for just a two-count!
That near-fall was the cue for more RISE interference, as they came to the ring… and were knocked away… before Lucky Kid grabs the referee, allowing Ivan Kiev to hit a death valley driver onto Jurn… but that’s still not enough! Finally the equalisers come out in the form of A4, who clear away the interferers, just in time for Simmons to hit a uranage!
Jurn looks to go for a piledriver, but Lucky Kid’s slipped back in… and gets thrown onto some steps in the crowd by Absolute Andy. That looked nasty enough for the ref to check on him, allowing Absolute Andy to superkick Bones… but that “good guy” interference is also only good for a two-count.
Bones makes another comeback, but runs into the Massive Kick before blocking a piledriver, turning it into a lungblower for a near-fall. A4 are still hanging around since you can’t trust RISE, and they watch as Simmons counters a lungblower into a powerbomb for yet-another near-fall!
Another ref bump follows as Bones charges Simmons into Tassilo Jung in the corner to avoid a piledriver, as both men collide into each other with clotheslines. That’s the next cue for interference, but A4 instantly cut-off RISE, only to get out-numbered, as a belt shot from Ivan Kiev leaves Jurn open for a double-arm DDT from Bones… and that’s enough for the win. A screwy finish, and all my questions about “where was Kim Ray?” would have been dealt with had I paid more attention to the earlier beatdown before the planned trios match, as he was apparently hospitalised after RISE used a chair to attack his leg. The match was what it was – Bones rarely felt in danger, especially with the wildcard of RISE always hanging around. ***
Finally the locker room emptied a little as David Starr and Ilja Dragunov chased off RISE – and you’ll have to watch Shotgun this week to find out where that’s leading!
All in all, wXw’s FAN was another solid showing that continued to build the dominance of RISE – who now hold all of the (male) gold in the company. Despite a slight chink in their armour showing when A4 beat them, RISE ended the night on top, with no sign of things changing. Next up for wXw is a stop in Frankfurt at the end of the month, before Oberhausen hosts the World Tag Team League weekender!