The More Than Wrestling tour rolled into Kent as wXw made their solo debut in England with a matinee show.
Quick Results
Tyler Bate pinned Chris Brookes, Kim Ray & The Rotation in 9:12 (**¾)
John Klinger pinned Jurn Simmons in 11:20 (**¾)
Michael Dante & Tommy End pinned Chris Sabin & Will Ospreay in 8:26 (**¾)
Sasa Keel pinned Jonathan Windsor in 8:04 (**¾)
Axel Dieter Jr. & Da Mack pinned Sha Samuels & Karsten Beck in 12:08 (***¼)
Dave Mastiff pinned Axel Tischer in 10:35 (***)
You didn’t misread that venue – this was wXw’s standalone debut in the UK – having last been over in December 2006 for the jointly-promoted European Kind of the Death matches show. We’re at the Angel Center in Tonbridge for a show with some IPW influence… including ring announcer Dean Ayass.
Commentary for this one is in English, initially from Christian Jakobi and “Dennis Discovery.” That’s a hell of a pseudonym…
Chris Brookes vs. Kim Ray vs. Tyler Bate vs. The Rotation
Brookes and Bate get us going here, with a front facelock from Bate grounding Brookes before a roll through led to a pin attempt on Bate.
The ring bell sounds out of nowhere as Bate had Brookes in a wristlock, before Brookes scored a roll-up out of a leapfrog to get a two-count on Bate. Kim Ray tags himself in from there, as did The Rotation, as we had a student/teacher combination here, with Rotation getting kicked into the corner.
Rotation hits back with an armdrag out of the corner, before some headscissors took Kim back down. Kim’s kick stops Rotation in his tracks as he proceeded to dump Rotation into the ropes, while commentary talked about the long drive Rotation and Ray had from Frankfurt to Tonbridge for this show. Just as well Tyler Bate wasn’t in the main event of Dead End or anything… oh!
Brookes tags in to wear down Rotation, tying him up into a modified Lasso from El Paso… but Rotation gets free, only for Tyler Bate to tag himself in and put the boots in. A bodyslam gets Bate a two-count, but Rotation’s able to land an enziguiri and tag Brookes back in, with Brookes’ missile dropkick off the middle rope finding its mark.
A superkick forces Kim Ray in to break up the cover… he’s low bridged to the outside as a flip senton from Brookes wiped out Bate and Ray… while Rotation added a springboard moonsault that overshot everyone into the first row. Back inside, Rotation’s able to get a two-count on Bate, before Tyler’s bridging German suplex almost won it.
Kim Ray’s in, but gets rolled down into a leg lock from Brookes… Rotation’s Victory Over Gravity breaks it up, but Tyler Bate steals the win from there with an inside cradle. **¾
Jurn Simmons vs. John Klinger
Klinger was no stranger to the IPW fanbase – after all, he was the IPW:UK World champion at the time of this show.
Klinger slaps Simmons around early on, shrugging off a fightback as he proceeded to chop Jurn into the corners. Mounted punches are pushed away as Jurn cornered Klinger… only to be taken into the corner and dumped with a back body drop for a one-count.
Simmons heads outside, but he’s able to swat away a dive attempt as he took over, forcing Klinger to fight out of a nerve hold before he took the former Shotgun champion back down. Jurn hurls Klinger chest-first into the buckles for a two-count, before Klinger began to make a comeback, charging down Jurn with shoulder tackles ahead of a crossbody for a two-count.
Running punches trap Jurn in the corner, before a back elbow offered a response, leading to a swinging uranage from Simmons that almost won it. Klinger’s missile dropkick turns it back around, before Jurn fought to block a Shadow Driver… instead Klinger scores a Decapitation kick.
Jurn’s able to strike back with a DDT for a near-fall, then with a gutwrench powerbomb for another two-count as Simmons got agitated with the kick-outs. Simmons takes too long to measure up Klinger for a Massive Boot though, and got cut off with the Wrecking Ball knees… and that’s enough for Klinger to get the win. **¾
Chris Brookes joins commentary alongside Christian Jakobi for the remainder of the show…
The Sumerian Death Squad (Michael Dante & Tommy End) vs. 2 Guys Hanging Out (Chris Sabin & Will Ospreay)
The Sumerian Death Squad jump start the match, throwing Will Ospreay outside, but a quick turnaround sees Ospreay and Sabin double-team Dante… then suplex End onto him.
Another quick turnaround sees End throw Ospreay into a Dante slam, before Sabin got charged down… it’s good for a two-count on Ospreay, who’s kept isolated as the Dutch lads controlled the pace. Sabin tries to argue the double-teaming, but that just got Ospreay choked on behind the ref’s back.
Dante’s slam gets him a two-count, before End’s snapmare and low dropkick forced Sabin in to break up the cover. Ospreay’s bounced out of the buckles with an Irish whip for a two-count as things remained dire for him. He’s able to avoid some double-teaming, redirecting a kick from End before tagging in Sabin, whose crossbody clear the way for an enziguiri/DDT combo.
Sabin tries a swinging DDT, but he has more luck with a tornado DDT after Ospreay’d scored a gamengiri in the corner. Dante broke up the pin, then got low bridged to the outside ahead of a tope from Ospreay. End knocks Sabin off the apron into the pile, then added an Orihara moonsault that wiped out the front row. Switcharoos led to Sabin going off the top rope, but End avoids him before he got his knees up for Dante to powerbomb Sabin onto for a near-fall.
Ospreay pulls End outside and posts him, but an El Generico-ish dive through the corners for a tornado DDT gets cut off by End’s leaping knee. That leaves Sabin alone as a spear from Dante ends up being enough to get the win in a match that never seemed to get into a higher gear. **¾
Sasa Keel vs. Jonathan Windsor
Windsor filling in for the unwell Absolute Andy here… Windsor was the favourite from this pro-IPW crowd, but was overpowered early by Keel.
A side headlock from Windsor is pushed off, with his resulting shoulder tackles proving ineffective. Windsor tries his luck with roll-ups for two-counts, but Keel kicks out before he was taken into the corner for some knees to the back.
Windsor’s uppercut off the middle rope gets him a two-count, before a clothesline from Keel led to him berating the crowd for not paying attention. Keel follows up with a slam for a two-count, before an eye rake cut off Windsor’s attempted comeback. A Karelin lift into a suplex gets Keel a near-fall, before he cut off Windsor yet again.
Keel boots down Windsor after the Brit fought out of the Vijak, before an Irish whip took Windsor into the buckles… a chop to the back wakes up Windsor, who tries his luck with shoulder blocks, before finally knocking down Keel with an uppercut. It’s good for a two-count, as was a slam, before a backdrop suplex almost led to the win.
Windsor heads up to the middle rope, but misses a flying back senton as Keel then looked to come back in with an Olympic slam. It’s escaped, with Keel coming back out of nowhere with the Vijak… and that’s enough for the win. **¾
The Piledrivers (Karsten Beck & Sha Samuels) vs. Hot And Spicy (Axel Dieter Jr. & Da Mack)
We’ve lost background music for this, as we start with Sha Samuels bullying Oli Sandler to take the Piledrivers’ photo…
We start with the yay/boo stuff as both teams played to the crowd, before Sha took Dieter into the corner. A quick turnaround sees Hot & Spicy score some mounted punches to their opponents, before they dropkicked Beck and Sha into each other. Mack trips up and catches himself in the ropes… but they recover as a double-team saw Mack get thrown onto Sha.
Chops from Sha lead to him getting double-teamed again, with an uppercut taking Sha down… only for Beck to tag in and go after Junior. Roll-ups get two-counts on Beck, before Junior took Beck down for a bridging hammerlock. Mack tags in as we’ve got a random shout-out for Great Bear Promotions…
Mack’s knocked into the ropes by Beck, but came back with tiltawhirl headscissors and a ‘rana for a two-count, before Beck lawn-darted Mack into the corner. Sha’s back to get a two-count out of a snapmare, before a springboard forearm allowed Mack to get back into it. Beck pulls Junior off the apron to prevent a tag out as the Piledrivers swarmed Mack.
A big boot from Beck, then a knee drop led to a two-count on Mack, while a sidewalk slam led to a rather lackadaisical cover from Beck. Mack’s able to get back in, countering a slam into a DDT, before making the hot tag to Junior, who ran wild with forearms and dropkicks. An uppercut downs Beck for a two-count, before a Doctor Bomb from Beck almost put Junior away at the ten-minute mark.
Beck heads up top from there, but Da Mack comes in to cut him off… Junior’s dropkick helped them set up for a double-team superplex. Sha Samuels breaks up the pin but couldn’t escape the turnaround as Hot & Spicy hit the assisted tornado DDT… before the Pattuse – the double enziguiri – proved to be enough to get the win. ***¼
Axel Tischer vs. Dave Mastiff
This was Axeman’s English debut… and his final match in England on a standalone wXw show, at least at time of writing.
Mastiff backs Tischer up into the ropes to start… before the favour was returned. A wristlock and a Corning hold from Mastiff led to Tischer trying a wristlock of his own, only to get taken down by the much larger Mastiff. Getting back to his feet, Tischer’s able to grab a side headlock, before a dropkick out of nowhere took down the Axeman.
Tischer’s clubbered away on by Mastiff, before Tischer scored with a back elbow and a front kick to turn things around. Forearms from Tischer have Mastiff trapped in the corner, before a snapmare and a kick to the back of Mastiff led… to a missed knee drop. Tischer shrugs it off and hits a suplex for a two-count, before a chinlock kept Mastiff on the deck.
Mastiff fought his way free and knocked Tischer into the corner, before he uppercutted away a shoulder tackle off the middle rope from the German. From there, short-arm clotheslines from Mastiff lead to a two-count, before a short-range crossbody almost won it for Mastiff. Tischer fights out of a deadlift German suplex, then scored with a front kick, before a neckbreaker almost won it…
Frustrated, Tischer heads outside and grabs a German flag to use as a weapon… Mastiff ducks and hits a German suplex on him into the corner, before a cannonball crushed Tischer for the win. ***
Coming in at a neat and tidy 70 minutes, this was a pretty easy to digest show – but not one you need to go out of your way for as this was a prelude to the IPW:UK event later in the day.