wXw rolled into Rostock for the first time in their history… let’s take a look!
Quick Results
Kim Ray pinned Scotty Saxon in 9:39 (**¼)
Kay Lee Ray pinned Melanie Gray in 8:19 (**½)
Toby Blunt & The Rotation pinned Kevin Roadster & Marius van Beethoven in 9:27 (**½)
Damian O’Connor pinned Carnage in 8:45 (***)
Laurance Roman & Franz Engel pinned Dragan Spazic & Andrei Ivanov in 12:12 (**¾)
Ilja Dragunov pinned Toby Blunt to retain the wXw Shotgun Championship in 9:38 (***)
Da Mack pinned Marty Scurll in 15:56 (**¼)
We’re at the Allround Arena in Rostock for this one – for what was the first live wrestling show in over 20 years there, according to wXw. It was the first of what’d be three events in Rostock in 2015… and none from wXw have happened there since.
There’s names that you may want to skip through, but I’ll be mentioning those as little as I can here…
Scotty Saxon vs. Kim Ray
That’s a worrying number of empty seats opposite the hard camera…
Saxon and Ray take to the mat early on, with Kim having to escape some headscissors, eventually making it to the ropes, where he caught Saxon with a cheapshot elbow. Saxon eventually fought back with a hiptoss, ahead of running Kim into the turnbuckles.
Kim powders to the outside to try and take the sting out of things, and after he’d hung up Saxon in the ropes, returned to take over, wearing down Saxon as a low dropkick helped him on the way to a two-count. Saxon’s leaping clothesline sparked a comeback, along with some bodyslams, only for Kim Ray to hit a Snow Plow out of nowhere for the win. **¼
Promo time follows, I’m hitting fast forward through this cookie cutter stuff, but not until I’ve heard someone in the crowd shout “shut the f… up, bigot.” Da Mack interrupts and built up to the main event… before introducing Kay Lee Ray for our next match.
Melanie Gray vs. Kay Lee Ray
A rematch of sorts from Carat a few months earlier…
When the bell finally went, Gray’s backing away… until she got caught with a dropkick into the corner as Kay Lee Ray took the upper hand early on, snatching a near-fall with a roll-up following a slingshot back into the ring.
Gray’s rolled to the mat for a low dropkick before she managed to force an opening, throwing Kay Lee back by the hair. A running knee meets Kay Lee in the corner before she was pulled out of it… only for a double arm stretch to get reversed back-and-forth.
Kay Lee tried to mount a comeback, but got pulled off the top rope as Gray nearly forced a win with a German suplex. Another attempted comeback from Kay Lee Ray finally bears fruit though, leading to a springboard spinning heel kick for a near-fall, only for an attempted Gory bomb to be elbowed out of.
Gray hits back with a swinging sidewalk slam for a near-fall of her own, only for Kay Lee Ray to return fire with a springboard missile dropkick for the win. **½
The Rotation & Toby Blunt vs. Reich Und Schön (Kevin Roadster & Marius van Beethoven)
The crowd were getting on Reich und Schön’s back from the off, as we started with Kevin charging Blunt into the corners.
Tempers flared as Kevin tagged in Marius van Beethoven, who instantly fell to a neckbreaker and some armdrags from Blunt, before some swinging headscissors from Rotation kept Marius in trouble.
Blunt’s back after a dropkick from Rotation took down Marius, before a reversed whip into the ropes allowed Kevin to kick Blunt in the back. That opening’s quickly shut down though, as Marius was taken into the ropes for a Tiger Feint kick to Kevin and Marius, before Marius stopped a slingshot back into the ring and countered it into a jawbreaker.
Kevin’s tagged in, but it’s his turn to fall behind as Blunt took the upper hand once more, leading to a double legdrop from Blunt and Rotation. Kevin thought he’d ducked a kick from Rotation, but ends up eating a leg lariat to the back of the head for a near-fall, before Marius tripped up Rotation in the ropes.
That allowed Kevin to finally get some offence in, but Rotation’s kicking out too easily. Marius tags back in to try and wear down Rotation with a chinlock, but it’s fought out of… as a clothesline from van Beethoven spun down Rotation for a two-count. Kevin’s back, and eventually manages to drop Rotation with a Michinoku driver for a two-count, before Rotation manages to avoid some double-teaming and tag in Blunt.
A neckbreaker and a superkick from Blunt helps clear the way, before a satellite DDT from Rotation took care of Kevin… ahead of a senton bomb from Blunt for the win. The story here seemed to be that Kevin just wasn’t on his game – despite having things served up for him many times… **½
Damian O’Connor’s out afterwards to wipe out Blunt and Rotation with clotheslines, then a Samoan drop/fallaway slam combo. The air he got on Blunt… anyway, Carnage is out to make the save, and we have an impromptu match!
Damian O’Connor vs. Carnage
The crowd’s firmly behind Carnage, who dragged Damo over the top rope to the outside with some headscissors early on.
Keeping up outside was tricky with the single hard cam not keeping track, but we just about saw Damo get posted. Back inside, Damo took over as he literally walked all over Carnage, ahead of a slam as Damo was taking his time here.
Carnage fought back out of the corner, but had his eyes raked as Damo looked to shut him down. Aiming for the leg, Carnage rolled Damo down to the mat for a heel hook, but it’s quickly broken in the ropes… as Damo hit right back with a superkick instead. Clotheslines from Carnage seemed to have little effect, but he was able to pick up Damo for a bodyslam ahead of a running knee into the corner.
Damo’s quickly back in with a Fisherman buster though, before a Carnage spear meant that the momentum remained fluid… in the end though, Damo’s able to catch Carnage off the top rope, bringing him back down with a Finlay roll before a series of bicycle kicks finally put Carnage down for the count. ***
Andrei Ivanov & Dragan Spazic vs. Waschbären Auf Koffein (Franz Engel & Laurance Roman)
Holy debut, Batman – this was the first appearance of Dirty Dragan in wXw (although announced as Dragan Spazic, commentary just called him Dirty Dragan from the off)… and a return for Laurance Roman after injury.
Dragan and Roman get us going, with an early bodyslam from Dragan putting him ahead, at least until Roman found a way through with some uppercuts. Clotheslines out of the corner bounce Dragan to the mat, ahead of a tag that brought in Franz Engel to land a dropkick. Some double-teaming sees Roman get a two-count after an Engel moonsault.
Andrei Ivanov comes in and instantly countered Roman’s mounted sleeperhold into a sidewalk slam. A splash follows in the corner, but Ivanov’s nonchalant cover is easily kicked out of, so he follows up with a front kick… for another nonchalant cover as he just trust-fell onto Roman for the two-count.
The song that haunts Lauri to this day’s sung in Rostock as Roman hit back with a leaping knee. Roman’s taken into the corner as Dragan snuck in some cheapshots while the ref was distracted, before Dragan came in and got kicked out of the corner.
He’s able to shrug that off and take down Roman with a side suplex though, before a clothesline clipped Roman to the mat. Roman returned with one of his own, before Engel and Ivanov got tagged in… a crossbody off the top nearly wins it for Engel, before Engel was pulled out of a Fireman’s carry by Roman.
A sandwich of low dropkicks squash Ivanov’s head, but the referee refused to count the pin because it came from a double-team move. Engel and Roman lose track of Ivanov, who tagged in Dragan… but Dragan eats a pair of superkicks that the referee didn’t mind counting a pin on. Hey, how about some consistency here?
Ivanov breaks up the pin, but Dragan remained in trouble as Roman caught him in a back cracker, holding him ahead of a top rope elbow from Engel as the Waschbäre got the win. **¾
wXw Shotgun Championship: Toby Blunt vs. Ilja Dragunov (c)
Double duty for Toby Blunt here, who answered the open challenge. There’s nothing like giving yourself a mountain to climb…
Blunt looked to work over Ilja’s arm early on, taking him down to the mat before he caught Dragunov with a dropkick and some back elbows. Headscissors take the champion outside but Blunt’s still feeling the effects of his earlier match and couldn’t immediately follow-up, allowing Dragunov to take him to the outside.
When Blunt returned to the ring, an arm whip sent him down as Ilja began to work over the arm as well. An attempt at the Grüße aus Moskau clothesline is avoided as Blunt began to mount a comeback, leading to a Northern Lights suplex for a near-fall, only for a Russian Bottom uranage from Ilja to cut that all over in return.
A knee lift from Blunt allowed him to land a thrust kick for a near-fall… before he fought off Ilja on the top rope. Second time was the charm for Dragunov though, whose arm whip on the top rope led to a nasty landing for the challenger, ahead of a stiff Grüße aus Moskau lariat out of nowhere for the win. ***
Marty Scurll vs. Da Mack
Mack found himself on the defensive in the early going as he was stomped into the corner, then given a tour of the other three corners as he struggled to get into gear.
Clotheslines from Mack help him build up some momentum, ahead of a dropkick as he took things to the corner for some mounted punches. Getting a bit ahead of himself led to Mack eating a superkick, before headscissors in return took things outside as Mack found his tope knocked away in the ropes.
A trip up top from Da Mack rudely ends with him getting shoved down to the floor, which led to him taking a bit of a beating back inside as he’s hung up in the ropes… then uppercutted back down to the floor. The fixed hard cam meant we missed whatever it was Da Mack did on the outside to get the crowd going, but he’s cut off again back inside with an uppercut.
Eventually Mack’s able to capitalise on the lackadaisical pace, dropkicking his opponent into the corner… but again Mack’s on the back foot as the referee had to force a separation as Mack was being stomped on. The ref gets pushed around for that, as Mack yet again attempted a comeback that got cut-off in short order.
A grounded chinlock’s fought out of by Da Mack, before he managed to chain some offence together after connecting with an enziguiri out of the corner. After telegraphing a back body drop, Mack’s slingblade helps him to pick up a two-count, before a moonwalk’d PK led to another near-fall…
Mack’s cut off yet again though, this time with a finger snapper and a reverse suplex, before a sneak roll up nearly stole the win for Da Mack… a backslide keeps it going, as did a Michinoku driver, before Mack accidentally splashed the ref in the corner. Of course, with the ref down, we’ve got my absolute favourite thing – the good guy going for a pin despite knowing there’s nobody to count it.
With the ref still down, Mack’s cracked with an umbrella… and of course, the ref comes to just in time to count a near-fall. A second umbrella shot’s decked as a cutter from Mack ends up landing for the win. Yeah, this wasn’t my cup of tea at all – real house show fodder. **¼
Not helped by a light crowd, particularly in the first half, Rostock’s first wrestling event in twenty years wasn’t much to write home about.