The night before Carat saw another packed crowd at the wXw Academy – and something extra special in the main event!
Quick Results
Elijah Blum pinned Danny Jones in 9:03 (**¾)
Anil Marik pinned M4 in 3:47 (**)
Anita Vaughan, OSKAR & Yuto Nakashima pinned Reyca, Robert Dreissker & Marc Empire in 13:15 (***¼)
Adam Priest submitted Zozaya in 13:53 (***½)
Laurance Roman pinned Aeron in 5:44 (**¾)
Ryan Clancy pinned Norman Harras in 7:00 (***)
Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura submitted Thomas Shire & 1 Called Manders in 10:34 (****½)
— In the next week or so, I’ll be chatting about this show with Mike Kilby on the Auf Die Fresse podcast. Links to stream that episode when it drops, as well as back episodes are available at AufDieFresse.co.uk
We’re live on tape from the sold-out and red hot (well, at least in our corner…) Wrestling Academy in Gelsenkirchen, with English commentary courtesy of Dave Bradshaw.
Elijah Blum vs. Danny Jones
It could have been a much different weekend for Elijah, who’s at something of a loose end after Peter Tihanyi went down injured.
Jones looked to control Blum from the off, throwing him aside with headlock takedowns before Blum fired back with a crossbody and a dropkick. Blum’s resurgence was short-lived though, as he’s thrown around the ring by the Welshman, then chopped back down to the mat.
Stomps keep Blum down, but he’s able to break out of a chinlock before landing a swinging neckbreaker. Clotheslines follow as Blum built momentum, but Jones manages to chain together some clotheslines and a snap Dragon suplex as he tried to thwart Blum. A Falcon arrow nearly gets the upset, as did a wild lariat… but Blum’s able to counter a piledriver before hitting a sliding D out of nowhere for the win. Jones was a much sterner test that Blum was perhaps expecting, which led to a rather scrappy win. **¾
Anil Marik vs. M4
Robin Christopher Fohrwerk insisted on introducing Anil Marik for this one. Get used to his voice this weekend, even if it wasn’t around as much as it could have been…
Marik dominated M4 to start, but a shoulder tackle helped M4 close the distance, before Marik hit a jawbreaker to counter out of a suplex. A Codebreaker through the ropes gets Marik a two-count, and we’ve got more control as a grounded abdominal stretch was forced out of by M4.
M4 put the brakes on a monkey flip as he began to bounce Marik around with clotheslines and a suplex, but a low dropkick took M4 into the corner as Marik quickly put him away with a double underhook DDT. Decent, but very short. **
Reyca & Planet Gojirah (Marc Empire & Robert Dreissker) vs. Anita Vaughan & Young Blood (Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakashima)
After spending last Carat being OSKAR’s makeshift partner, Anita Vaughan got to team with Young Blood in this latest trios outing.
Vaughan and Reyca start us off as commentary ruminated on whether Vaughan had taken too much on, being a part of Carat and the big Shotgun Bonanza show. Here, Vaughan was able to evade the Hungarian Reyca, meeting her in the corner with an uppercut before a forearm from Reyca stopped AV in her tracks… as she then demanded to face OSKAR.
OSKAR tagged in as we got the visual of the height difference between the two, before Reyca charged under OSKAR’s legs and made the tag out to Dreissker. Those two renewed their previous rivalry from years ago, but this time it was OSKAR who got the upper hand, at least until Dreissker found his way in with the springboard crossbody out of the corner.
Marc Empire gets the tag in and charges into OSKAR in the corner, downing him for a hip attack before an attempted pull-up powerbomb out of the corner was telegraphed. OSKAR’s slam buys him time to tag in Yuto Nakashima, whose running knees in the corner forced Dreissker to break up the cover as the match threatened to get a little fractious.
OSKAR’s back to light up Empire with chops, while Vaughan joined in the fun as well before Yuto got caught with a clothesline. Dreissker’s back to have a go, laying out Yuto with a forearm for a two-count, before Reyca came in for a piggy-backed splash with Dreissker on Yuto for a near-fall.
Dreissker and Empire combine for a double-team hiptoss out of the corner, before tags brought us back to Anita and Reyca… a crossbody from Reyca’s caught and turned into a fallaway slam. A tag brings Dreissker back in as he looked to give AV a fallaway slam of her own, sparking a big ol’ Parade of Moves, ending with Reyca getting caught with a Fisherman Driver from Anita for the win. This was a lot of fun live, especially the closing stretches as AV picked up another win at Inner Circle. ***¼
Adam Priest vs. Zozaya
Well, how’s this for a match that you didn’t know you wanted til it hit the ring?
Priest tried to take the sting out of Zozaya’s bundle of energy by heading between the ropes to start, before he huggled the bottom rope to put some more distance between the two. Using referee Tassilo Jung to get himself up, Priest just as quickly got hauled down with a waistlock from Zozaya as shenanigans with the official threatened to become a factor.
Zozaya wrenches Priest’s arm, sending the Alabaman to the outside… but Priest quickly returns when Tassilo bust out one of his “I’m done with your nonsense” quick counts. Priest’s attempts to work over Zozaya’s leg end with him getting kicked to the outside, with Zozaya keeping him there for a rebound apron PK, then a plancha to the floor in the rather cramped academy.
Back inside, Priest goes back to the leg of Zozaya as he worked up to a German suplex out of the corner as his offence looked precise and almost surgical at times. Slowing things down with a sleeperhold on the mat, while more strikes took Zozaya into the ropes ahead of a retaliatory deadlift German suplex from the Spaniard.
Zozaya’s shoulder charges into the corner lead to a delayed overhead throw for a near-fall, then with a roll-through suplex before Priest charged back with a chop block to the front of the knee. A snap piledriver later nearly seals it, before an exchange of strikes led to a Zozaya dropkick… only for Priest to grab hold of the ref to shield him from a splash off the top.
Priest ends up nicking the win after he grabbed Zozaya’s foot amid a stomp… torquing the ankle before rolling Zozaya into a half crab for the win. This was understated, but an absolute blast to see Priest live and up close. ***½
After some much needed air in the interval (and that damn radiator being shut off) we return…
Aeron vs. Laurance Roman
Oh boy. Roman ought to be making light work of Aeron here…
Roman has control early on, taking Aeron into the corners for chops before a response saw Aeron… get charged down with a back elbow. A back suplex quickly follows for a two-count, before Aeron kicked out a springboard that left Roman with an ugly landing in the corner.
Aeron capitalises with a brainbuster for a quick two-count, but an overhead kick from Roman stopped all that as he proceeded to clatter Aeron with clotheslines en route to a missile dropkick and the Burning Nail piledriver for the win as Roman built momentum as he looked to win back-to-back Carats. **¾
Norman Harras vs. Ryan Clancy
Turns out, Norman’s theme meshes really well with a chant that tells him how the crowd feels…
Harras tried to restrain Clancy with a wristlock early on, but that’s rolled out of before Harras derided the American’s shoulder tackle. A kick to the midsection rocks Clancy as he’s taken into the corner, before a trip-up attempt led to a backslide as Clancy tried to catch Harras off guard.
A leaping shoulder tackle takes the former Shotgun champion down, but Norman’s able to make inroads again, charging Clancy into the corner ahead of a swinging chop. Harras’ flapjack planted Clancy for a near-fall, but a follow-up suplex gets countered into an inside cradle as Clancy began to fight back.
The pair clash heads by the ropes, which reset things a little, but Clancy’s able to resume with the upper hand, whipping Harras into the corners ahead of a monkey flip out of them… and while Harras was able to boot Clancy, a lovely standing dropkick out of nowhere shuts this one down as the potential Carat alternate got some momentum going into the alternate’s four-way. ***
Astronauts (Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura) vs. 1 Called Manders & Thomas Shire
Where do you start with this? Well, the entire Inner Circle card this time was unannounced, and when the Astronauts came out first, people’s hopes were raised. And for once, not dashed!
The early going had Manders try to confuse Nomura by tagging in Abe… as Manders was in the midst of a wristlock. The roles reversed, with Thomas Shire tagging in the wrong man before Abe finally tagged Nomura… and began to chop the ever loving crap out of Manders. We’re barely a minute in, and already this was wild.
A slap from Manders just upped the ante as he and Abe seemed to be going for a knock-out, before Shire tagged in and continued to throw fists. Abe’s hung up in the ropes as Manders lariat’d him out of there, but Abe wasn’t going to melt away as he brought the fight to Manders… who was more than happy to strike back as the pair exchanged elbows and kicks that got increasingly loud.
Some mid-match snacks courtesy of Abe’s fingers gave a new meaning to finger food for the Cowboys, but an enziguiri from Abe stems the time as Nomura came in to try and turn things around. Problem was, Manders’ heavy hands just put Nomura in the corner for some Machine Gun chops… only for Nomura to kick away at him in return.
More ear-splitting strikes led to a powerslam out of the corner from Manders, before some profanity-laced strikes ended with an exchange of suplexes. Tags bring us back to Shire and Abe, but a missed charge from Shire opens it up for kicks from Abe as we found out way to duelling manjigatame… with Abe breaking it up with a balled fist to the head of Manders. YUP.
Trading places, everyone lays into everyone until Shire’s double clothesline took down the Astronauts. Abe’s big boot ends up turning the tide though, as Manders has to make a save from some double-teaming… and while a lariat wipes out Nomura, Abe’s able to clock Manders with the wind-up Irabu punch. A second one, to Shire, is brushed off as a UFO instead spun Abe around to the mat, only for Abe to counter a powerbomb into a grounded Octopus stretch for the eventual tap-out. WELL THEN! There’s some live bias here, but this was an absolute hoot – it’s hard not to get wrapped up when you’re feet away from these four knocking seven shades out of each other – even more so when the match delivers on every level imaginable. ****½
Inner Circle could very easily be a show that doesn’t translate onto tape – but this edition, in particular the main event, is one that you need to go out of your way to see. We’re only in March, but with the main event, we had an outing that’ll feature on those match of the year ballots come next January. A main event that was an experience live AND on tape.