Absolute Andy got another crack at Karsten Beck’s title as the More Than Wrestling tour rolled into Dresden.
Quick Results
John Klinger pinned Miguel Ramirez in 11:17
Robert Dreissker pinned The Rotation in 5:37
Axel Dieter Jr. & Da Mack pinned Kevin Roadster & Marius van Beethoven in 8:13 (***)
Big Daddy Walter pinned Julian Nero in 13:45 (***)
Johnny Rancid pinned Marcus Monere in 6:20 (**½)
Franz Engel, Rick Baxxter & The Grannatic pinned Bobby Gunns, Vincent the Beast & Kim Ray in 14:24 (***¼)
Karsten Beck pinned Absolute Andy to retain the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship in 24:22 (***¼)
We’re in the Alter Schlachthof in Dresden – a place Google tells me used to be a slaughterhouse – for the latest stop on the tour. For some reason we’re missing John Klinger’s win over Miguel Ramirez and Robert Dreissker’s outing against the Rotation, despite them being listed on the wXw NOW page, so we go straight in with…
Hot And Spicy (Axel Dieter Jr. & Da Mack) vs. Reich Und Schön (Kevin Roadster & Marius van Beethoven)
The hard camera’s like me after a long day and is having a hard time focusing…
A jump start from Reich und Schön gets us going, but Junior and Mack’s dropkicks help clear the way as Da Mack proceeded to wipe out Marius with a spinning heel kick. Junior’s in for a high/low as Hot & Spicy maintained the lead.
Junior’s gamengiri in the corner, then a back body drop to Marius follows, before clotheslines continued to bounce van Beethoven around the ring. Da Mack’s back as Alpha Kevin came in… but he’s double-teamed with kicks and uppercuts as Karsten Beck’s lads were really struggling to get going.
Marius runs in and takes a T-bone suplex into the corner, but Kevin’s still legal and blindsided Mack – much to the dismay of Junior on the apron. A chinlock from Marius keeps Mack down, before a forearm put Mack back on the deck after he’d escaped… Kevin’s in with a neck crank to Mack, then a body slam as Reich und Schön were very much keeping it simple.
Unfortunately for them, Mack found a way through, sliding between Kevin’s legs before landing a dropkick… only for Marius van Beethoven to stop the tag out. Referee Tassilo Jung’s having to content with an upset Junior again, but Mack’s again able to find a way free with a springboard enziguiri out of the corner before he finally made the tag out.
Junior runs in to dropkick Kevin off the apron… then hit a running dropkick to Marius for good measure. A rope-walk Blockbuster’s next for a near-fall on Marius… a struggle over a double-team suplex ends poorly for Kevin and Marius as they continued to take a beating, leading to Kevin getting hiptossed into Marius in the corner. From there, Marius wandered into the Patteuse, and that’s enough for the win. ***
Julian Nero vs. Big Daddy Walter
The camera’s still having trouble unless it’s zoomed out, or hyper-zoomed in…
We start with a lock-up as Walter took things to the corner, Nero charges on the break, but got taken into the ropes for a punch, forcing him to bail to the outside. Nero tries to charge again, but he bails to the floor to escape a big boot as Walter seemed to have his number early on.
Walter hiptosses Nero back into the ring, and finally makes his mark with a big boot and a sit-out splash, before an elbow to Nero in the corner led to a delayed double underhook suplex. Things take a while to improve for Nero from there, as he’s bounced around with chops, before an attempted comeback was stuffed as Walter caught a dropkick and turned it into a Boston crab.
Nero’s able to grab the ropes to force a break, before he found a way in with a chop block to Walter’s knee. Pouncing on that, Nero works the knee and leg, forcing Walter into some hopeful chops as he tried to shut things down. Nero kicks Walter’s leg out of his leg by the ropes, before he ran into a back elbow in the corner… another kick to the leg took Walter down, but it’s by the ropes so no pin could be made.
Nero stays on the leg, which worked to a point as Walter’s knee gave out when he’d hauled Nero into a Fireman’s carry. Second time’s the charm though as Walter hits a death valley driver, before he began to pepper Nero with right hands and chops. A quick side suplex gets Walter a delayed two-count, before Nero raked the eyes to escape a powerbomb.
A dropkick sees Nero return to the knee, following up with a half crab… but Walter powers free before hitting back with a German suplex. Walter adds a lariat to that, then a shotgun dropkick into the corner, before a powerbomb got the win. A good showing from Nero, but he’s still waiting for his maiden win here. ***
Johnny Rancid vs. Marcus Monere
For the most part, Rancid had (and went onto) work for wXw when they hit east Germany…
Monere’s rocking the baggy genie pants, while Rancid’s rather punk-inspired with his look. Our opening lock-up takes things to the mat as Rancid worked the arm, before a front facelock was fought out of by Monere. Rancid’s back with a wristlock, but Monere escaped as the pai began to trade roll-ups for two-counts.
Elbows from Monere earned him a couple of suplexes from Rancid in return for a two-count, before a leaping shoulder tackle almost put Monere away. A dropkick keeps Rancid ahead, as did some uppercuts and a spinning heel kick, before dropkicks trapped Monere in the corner.
Rancid telegraphed another dropkick, allowing Monere to sidestep… he’s back with a clothesline, then a springboard clothesline for a two-count, before Rancid retaliated with a Shining Wizard for the win. Not counting a dark match in 2018, this was one-and-done for Monere in wXw at time of writing… **½
Franz Engel & Posse In Effect (Rick Baxxter & The Grannatic) vs. Die Schilds (Bobby Gunns & Vincent The Beast) & Kim Ray
Gee, I wonder why Posse in Effect were massively over in their area?
We’ve a jump start as Kim and the Schilds attacked their opponents from behind… an attempteds repeat ends with the Posse and Engel landing some Dusty jabs as we finally got going with the Grannatic putting the boots to Vinny, while Baxxter put Gunns into a Tree of Woe… then dragged Vinny into the corner for some stuff that probably hasn’t aged well.
Engel and Kim resume… but Kim cheapshots Engel from a lock-up and looked to call the shots. A kick to the ear from Gunns has Engel down, but an enziguiri in return gets Engel a two-count before he tagged in the Grannatic, who still had his beanie on, even after being thrown into the buckles.
Vinny and Kim double-team the Grannattic behind the ref’s back, prompting a part of the crowd to throw what looked like their beer towards the ring. It’s real in Chemnitz. Off comes the beanie as the crowd’s given a ticking off over the house mic, as the Grannatic fought out of a nerve hold from Vinny and began to retaliate with right hands.
A spinning heel kick’s caught and turned into a powerbomb by Vinny for a two-count as the local lads were firmly back on the defensive. Right hands from Ray have the Grannatic in the corner, as did another clothesline, before the Schilds came in to put the boots to Grannatic behind the ref’s back.
A suplex from Kim Ray allows Gunns to come in to pick up a two-count… but there’s no count given after Gunns pulled the Grannatic down to the mat by the hair. Vinny’s back to land a couple of backbreakers for a delayed two-count, before Grannatic found a way in, kicking Ray out of the corner before scoring an elbow drop off the middle rope.
Grannatic finally makes a tag out to Engel, who ran wild with back elbows to Gunns and Ray, before a double missile dropkick took care of them. Vinny cut off Engel with a knee to the midsection, prompting Rick Baxxter to hit the ring… and dump Vinny to the outside as Engel eventually joined them with an Orihara moonsault.
Back inside, Gunns cuts off Engel on the top rope, but his superplex is headbutted away. Vinny and Kim hit the ring to stop Engel again, only for Baxxter and Grannatic to make the save, before a flying double knee drop from Engel to Gunns got the win. ***¼
wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship: Absolute Andy vs. Karsten Beck (c)
Beck’s accompanied by Reich und Schön for this one – Andy’s on his own as the pair parade with Beck’s belt before the bell.
Beck’s distracted by the crowd at the bell, before we got some boo-yay stuff… with the crowd very much booing Beck. When we finally got the match going, Beck’s beating down Andy from behind, whipping him into the turnbuckles before Andy charged back out with some clotheslines.
Mounted punches trap Beck in the corner as I began to worry about the ring’s structure… Beck escapes and throws Andy head-first into the corners, but the tables turn as Andy took Beck into the top, middle and bottom buckles, before throwing his head into the mat. We cross the five-minute mark with Andy punching Beck to the outside, ahead of a plancha, before Andy grabbed a chair and paraded it around ringside.
Taking Beck around ringside, back into the non-blurry zone, Andy puts the champion into the chair… then hit a running kick to take Beck out of it, before an uppercut put Beck into another chair as we washed, rinsed and repeated. Third time wasn’t the charm though as Reich und Schön distracted Andy for long enough for Beck to break out and attack from behind, before he posted Andy, twice.
Back inside, Beck measures up Andy with right hands as he took him to the mat, following up with a suplex and a knee drop for an extremely nonchalant one-count. Retaliating, Andy catches Beck with a dropkick on the top rope, then brought him down with a superplex. Things remain even after they got back to their feet, trading shoulder tackles as Andy eventually took Beck back down.
A quick turnaround sees Andy down with a missile dropkick, before Marius van Beethoven and Alpha Kevin got involved, choking Andy in the ropes behind the ref’s back. Beck capitalises with an elbow drop, but it’s another nonchalant cover as Andy kicks out at two, only to get taken down with a knee lift for another two-count.
Firing back, Andy’s leaping clothesline has Beck down once more, as did a big boot as Beck came out of the corner. That sets up for the Absolute Knee, before a distraction from van Beethoven allowed Beck back in with a Flatliner for a near-fall. Down come the straps as Beck prepared for a piledriver, but Andy’s back body drop stops that as a spinebuster almost won the match… only for Marius to distract the ref. Not quite as planned!
Andy punches Marius off the apron, then pulled Alpha Kevin inside to deal with him before he became a problem… but an errant Andy superkick knocks the stuffing out of the ref. The Reich und Schön beatdown’s saved by Hot & Spicy. We’ve got a second referee out, with Rainer Ringer filling in for Tassio Jung… Rainer ejects Hot & Spicy, before Andy ducked a belt shot and superkicked it into Beck’s face. Except Ringer’s too busy personally escorting Mack and Axel to the back, so the visual cover is for nought.
Andy again deals with Marius and Kevin, before he went outside and grabbed a pipe wrench from under the ring. Van Beethoven’s in to stop it from being used as a weapon though, as Reich und Schön again attack, with Kevin powerbombing Marius into Andy… who finally used that pipe wrench on Marius and Kevin. A belt shot from Beck stops that all, just as Tassilo Jung came to… but Andy kicks out at two!
Down comes the other strap from Beck, as he and Andy square off once more, leading to a piledriver from Beck for the win. This was a little overbooked for my taste, but perfect stuff for a town show main event – an increasingly rare world title main event as Beck’s dynasty grew. ***¼
Post-match, Beck goes for a second piledriver, but John Klinger – music and all – makes the save, sending Beck’s court packing as the Champions of Champions shook hands… then cracked Kevin with a superkick and a spear to end the show.
Marred by technical issues, the Dresden tour stop was probably the first one you could safely skip – if only for the camera! We’re going to skip the town shows (if you’re reading these as I post…) so our next review will take us back to Oberhausen for the Superstars of Wrestling.