wXw made a quick stop in Bielefeld as the final entrant in 16 Carat Gold was finalised!
A mini-tournament took place to fill that 16th spot – with the original plan of having the winners of two four-ways facing-off having to be tweaked slightly when Bobby Gunns refused to participate. So we’ve got a three-way, a four-way… and Bobby Gunns gets “Bad Bones” in one of wXw’s favourite Champions’ Challenge matches later in the show.
We’re watching the German feed with Dan Jökisch and Sebastian Hollmichel, since the English audio with Emil Sitoci and Rico Bushido wasn’t posted when we watched.
But first… Dirty Dragan makes his way to the ring, with his 12 fans in the crowd. They’re doing a great job of making Dragan come off like a down-on-his-luck babyface, as he’s happy to have any fans. He’s got something to say about his recent few months, and to Emil Sitoci in particular, who he wanted to face. Sitoci’s reluctant, but someone who wasn’t appears: Jurn Simmons. Or as Bielefeld called him, “Chewbacca”.
Jurn’s annoyed at Dragan’s begging, calling him “not a real man” and “a disgrace of a human being.” That’s harsh. As was Simmons’ labelling him as a “charity case”… but before Dragan can fire back, out comes… Alexander James to try and calm things down. Except it’s a ruse, as him squaring off with Jurn turned to James sucker-punching Dragan… and AJ’s sided with the man who cracked him with a Singapore cane at Broken Rules! They try to repeat that to Dragan again, but Emil Sitoci makes the save, and after calling Dragan “a bit of an idiot”, I think we have a match later tonight! Very much a WWE-like show opening segment, but since we’re not bombarded with these, it was a nice change of pace.
Road to 16 Carat Gold Semi-Final: Julian Pace vs. Jay Skillet vs. Mike Bailey
After seeing so much of him lately, I’m really wondering if Mike Bailey has a foot fetish, as he uses it in the opening test-of-strength spot with Jay Skillet. There’s a lot of ganging up early as we have revolving two-on-ones, but Bailey outsmarts Pace and Skillet, sending the former to the outside before a dropkick takes Skillet to the floor also.
We then settle down into the usual routines, with Bailey kicking and chopping Skillet, ahead of the standing moonsault knees that almost ended things early. Julian Pace breaks up the pin and swaps out, sending Bailey flying with a monkey flip and a standing shooting star press… which Skillet breaks up the pin on as we swap some more.
A neckbreaker from Skillet properly bounces Pace off the canvas before Bailey unleashed with the cavalcade of kicks as all three men stayed in the ring. Pace tries a double team headscissors/headlock takedown, which works, but he’s instantly decked with a pair of clotheslines as all three ended on the mat.
Pace is back up first and nails a satellite DDT on Skillet for a near-fall, but Bailey’s quickly back in with a Dragon suplex and some kicks to Pace, before he misses with shooting star knees. Skillet tries to capitalise with a stomp and a brainbuster, but Pace recovers with some wacky rope running as he built up towards a big boot in the corner to Skillet.
The Final Lap (imploding Vader bomb/senton) is only delayed as Skillet takes the splash… but Bailey’s shooting star knees break up the pin and led to the win as he made the cover on Pace for the win. This was really good stuff – fast-paced and breathless action from bell to bell, making Pace and Skillet look good despite defeat. ***¾
Road to 16 Carat Gold Semi-Final: Michael Dante vs. Veit Müller vs. Francis Kaspin vs. Marius al-Ani
Marius has new Mortal Kombat-ish gear, as he’s now “The Ninja”, with a cheeky point to that 16 Carat Gold banner to boot.
This was Marius’ first match since the loss to Pete Dunne at the 17th Anniversary show in December, and we start with Francis Kaspin frustrating Müller at the opening handshake… and it’s Müller who gets cornered for all matter of offence, with spin kicks and big splashes almost ending things as Dante tried to steal the pin.
Dante and al-Ani drop Müller with duelling back elbows, before confronting each other as Kaspin tried to steal a cover… and we’re eventually down to Marius and Michael, with the former landing a low dropkick and a leaping elbow to almost seal the win. Frantic pin attempts follow on Kaspin as we go to the usual formula, and Müller manages to knock down Kaspin too, using a cravat-based suplex to take Francis flying.
Kaspin escapes a crucifix bomb from Müller and lands a dropkick, but al-Ani’s back in with his sunset flip into an Exploder suplex, before sending Müller flying with a switcharound ‘rana. Dante recovers to lay everyone out with clotheslines, but Kaspin delivers a lung blower to stop him in his tracks, before his attempt to superplex Marius sends with him being hung in a Tree of Woe, as al-Ani finished off with a frog splash to Dante for the win. Not sure where Müller disappeared to, but this was a solid outing for al-Ani, despite the briefness of the match. ***
So we get Bailey vs. al-Ani in the main event for that last Carat spot.
Tyler Colton vs. Absolute Andy
Colton continued his tour from Canada, against the veteran Andy, who’s still getting loud cheers in spite of that A4 split.
Andy has fun with Colton early, ruffling his hair, but the Canadian instantly knocks him down with a shoulder tackle as the two big guys tried to assert their authority. Colton resists Andy’s shoulder tackles, until Andy goes flying, and there’s only one way for Colton to go… down. Tyler’s big boot knocks Andy down after he’d taken some chops, but he takes too long setting up for a suplex as Andy knees his way free.
Despite that, Tyler’s able to land a clothesline for a near-fall, but his attempt to keep on top of Andy by whipping him into the corner only fired up the veteran, who rebounds out with clotheslines of his own before avoiding another Colton suplex and bringing the Canadian down with a back cracker. Andy’s suplex keeps him in control, as does a spinebuster, before Andy followed up with an F5 for the win. A decent TV-style outing, giving Colton some hope before he was ultimately blown aside by Andy. **½
Jurn Simmons & Alexander James vs. Dirty Dragan & Emil Sitoci
Set up in the opening segment, this was Sitoci’s first match for wXw since Broken Rules – where Dragan “broke his nose”.
Dragan leaps into Simmons at the bell, but Jurn just throws him to the outside, meaning we’re almost instantly into 2-on-1 against Sitoci… who fared well as he rolled back to Lucha Sitoci stuff with armdrags and the like to nearly embarrass Simmons early. Referee Tassilo Jung playfully counts along as Sitoci held onto a wristlock despite Alexander James getting the ropes, and it’s surprisingly one-sided for the guy with the disadvantage.
Jurn press slammed Dragan back into the ring, and that distraction catches Sitoci off guard as James took over, going straight for Emil’s arm, as Jurn and James slowed the pace down. James keeps up on the arm and fingers of Sitoci, all while an increasingly-frustrated Dragan watched on… and he eventually tags in after Emil was sent into the corner.
Dragan’s a house on fire, laying into James and Simmons, but his flying chop out of the corner is caught and met with a double chokeslam as his fire’s quickly extinguished. James busts out a wacky, Zack Sabre Jr-esque neck bridge to try and force a submission, but Dragan slips out to nearly pin AJ, only to get met with a huge clothesline off the ropes. Jurn’s back to use his power to try and throw Dragan through the turnbuckles, before AJ’s back with more lariats, keeping Dragan firmly on the defensive.
We get an abdominal stretch from James, with a touch of cheating, before he tries to make it a Razor Ramon-like stretch, grabbing a leg for extra torque. The beat down of Dragan is quite prolonged, but he finally gets free to Sitoci who cracks James with a gutbuster and a split-legged moonsault for a near-fall, before giving Jurn some Sliced Bread for another two-count.
Sitoci goes for a Snapmare Driver on James, but Dragan tagged himself back in… and he’s instantly met with a Tower of London as Sitoci took down Simmons outside, as the King’s Landing facelock suplex ends up putting away Dragan. A fun beatdown, which seemed to do a lot more for Sitoci in the short-term while providing James with a platform for a welcome return. ***¼
Bobby Gunns vs. “Bad Bones” John Klinger
The seemingly-traditional battle of the wXw singles champions now, and Klinger wasn’t alone as he brought all of RISE out with him to ringside. Well, everyone bar Da Mack, who seems to be able to pick and choose when he gets to come along for the ride!
Bielefeld were behind Gunns, calling him “number one”, but the crowd react with shock as Klinger slaps Gunns’ cigarette away… and we’re underway as Bones got the better of that first exchange. Back in the ring, Gunns caught Klinger in an armbar… but Bones keeps shrugging it off as he asserts his dominance, flinging Gunns across the ring, then into the turnbuckles. Every time Gunns looked to get an opening, Klinger shut the door, except when Gunns resumed focus on that arm, as the match descended into a battle of Klinger using brute force and strikes, against Gunns’ arm-work.
Gunns counters a flying lungblower out of the corner into a jack-knifed pin, before going for the single leg crab as Klinger was forced to, erm, cling to the ropes. A lungblower does follow… but it’s Klinger landing one as Gunns leapt off the middle rope, forcing the Shotgun champion to have to beat the count to keep the match going… only for him to eat a Decapitation kick as soon as he rolled back into the ring.
Klinger tried to follow up off the top rope, but he takes too long and gets superplexed back to the mat, before Gunns went back to the arm with a series of chops before rolling him down into a Kimura. More small joint manipulation follows as Klinger just spits in Gunns’ face, prompting Bobby to kick him into the ropes before deciding to take a mid-match smoke break.
Gunns threatens to stub out a lit cigarette in Klinger’s face, but he’s forced to drop it as the referee threatens to DQ him… and in the middle of that the ref misses a low blow as Klinger tried to get back into it. A German suplex from Gunns gets replied to with a fireman’s carry from Klinger… but Bobby slips around into a guillotine, only for Klinger to escape with a Falcon arrow as the momentum started to shift once more.
An armbar out of nowhere forces Klinger to try and roll to the ropes, but Gunns just intensifies it before the RISE leader got a foot on the rope. The Rebel Lock follows as the pair swap submissions back-and-forth, with Klinger keeping hold of his crossface after rolling Gunns away… but another rope break ends up being called for.
Gunns tries to come back in with a clothesline, but Klinger counters into a double-arm DDT for a near-fall, before Gunns hit a Dragonov-like diving European uppercut to give him a two-count. Another lariat from Klinger wipes out Gunns, as does the Shadow Driver… and from there Klinger goes back to the Rebel Lock as the ref stops the match. Enjoyable back-and-forth fare, but like a lot of these champion vs. champion matches, it just emphasised the pecking order – Gunns’ 2018 hasn’t quite lived up to the promise, but when you’re up against bigger names, there’s more chances of a stumble. ***½
Number One Contender’s for wXw Women’s Championship: Melanie Gray vs. Veda Scott vs. Killer Kelly
The winner of this gets a shot at Toni Storm on the middle-Saturday of 16 Carat Gold weekend. We’ve a tentative start, but it ultimately breaks down into “everyone going after Killer Kelly”, although they were polite, with Melanie and Veda taking turns.
A missed charge in the corner from Veda opened it up for Kelly to come back into it, and the first wXw women’s champion decks Scott with a brainbuster before getting dragged outside of the ring. Yep, it’s multi-way formula! That gave Scott enough time to recover as she nails Gray with some head kicks and a clothesline off the middle rope, but Melanie’s back with a swinging side slam into a facebuster, before Kelly pulls her down off the ropes… to keep up the beating on Veda.
Veda elbows away from a ripcord, and throws some more kicks before taking down Kelly with a rolling wheel kick. Melanie’s back to break up a pinning attempt, but she’s taken outside again by Scott who tries to resist attempts to go back inside… only to have no response as Kelly and Melanie just dump her on the apron. A PK off the apron from Kelly knocks Veda down again, and that leaves us with Kelly and Melanie again trading forearms!
The intensity here is high, with both women feeling they have something to prove… and a bicycle kick from Kelly decks Gray once again. A suplex into the corner and a Shibata-style dropkick keeps Kelly down, as does the ripcord high kick, but Veda breaks up the resulting pin to keep the match alive. Out of nowhere, Veda nails an Ace Crusher for a two-count, before Gray’s back to trap Scott in the Mello-drama cloverleaf, and there’s your submission! Melanie Gray’s got her shot at the title she feels should have been hers all along – and it came after another fun match, with not too much in the way of downtime. That match with Toni is going to be a good one! ***
RISE (Ivan Kiev & Lucky Kid) vs. RINGKAMPF (WALTER & Timothy Thatcher)
Everyone but Bones was at ringside again here for RISE, as WALTER had another test before his world title shot at 16 Carat.
Lucky Kid throws a fit when WALTER steals his ring jacket, before ripping apart a RISE t-shirt. Man, I’ve never seen WALTER that happy in ages! Ivan Kiev starts as Lucky composes himself, but he’s quickly sent into the ropes as WALTER showed off his power advantage early on. WALTER even barges through a dropkick attempt as Ivan Kiev looked shocked that his usual stuff wasn’t quite working…
WALTER’s chops certainly were working, and they kept Kiev isolated in the wrong part of the ring as WALTER and Thatcher looked to wear him down. Kiev’s able to break free and tag in Lucky Kid, but his luck isn’t up as Thatcher goes through him with strikes before a low dropkick knocked Thatcher to the outside.
Lucky Kid’s faked dive angers WALTER so much he rushes in and squashes him with an Earthquake-style splash, and that put RINGKAMPF back in control, emphasised further with a huge boot from the big Austrian. Things change a little when Thatcher gets back in, as Lucky Kid lands a springboard back elbow before Lucky and Kiev keep him trapped in the wrong corner again.
A mocking leap off the top leads to a boot to Thatcher’s gut from Lucky Kid as RISE continue to cheat – while WALTER antagonises the referee even more while trying to call it out. WALTER gets knocked off the apron to stop Thatcher from tagging out, but an enziguiri to Kiev brings WALTER back in for a chop-filled beatdown of sorts. German suplexes and butterfly suplexes left RISE down and out, before Lucky’s caught in a Gojira clutch.
Kid tries to flip out of the RINGKAMPF German suplex, but he eats another chop before Tarkan Aslan provided a distraction, allowing Lucky to hit an Asai DDT as Kiev’s flying leg lariat almost caused the upset. More tags follow as Thatcher lays into Lucky Kid with uppercuts, but Kid and Kiev combine with shots in the corner before Kid’s thrown into Kiev… only to recover with a powerbomb to take Timmy out of the corner.
Another leg lariat connects from Kiev as he gets a near-fall, before Tarkan Aslan tries to get one of the tag title belts. Bouncer cuts him off as WALTER just powerbombs Lucky on the apron to stop RISE in their tracks… just in time for Thatcher to hit a butterfly suplex onto Kiev to score the win. A rather odd ending coming out of nowhere, but a solid match with the focus again coming on Pete Bouncer at the end, as his conscience cost RISE a win. ***½
Road to 16 Carat Gold Final: Mike Bailey vs. Marius al-Ani
At almost 20 minutes long, this was the lengthiest match on the entire card…
There’s respectful bows before the bell, before both men swing and miss as they try to out-kick the other. They have more luck with armdrags and dropkicks, before Bailey fakes out a dive after taking Marius to the outside. Returning to the ring, Marius keeps on top of Speedball with elbows, before landing a ‘rana, only for Bailey to come back with some swift kicks to the chest.
Bailey misses with the moonsault knees and gets taken down again with a Jackhammer-like suplex as al-Ani began to take control, grabbing a double wristlock, only for the Canadian Bailey to break free and go back to his repertoire of kicks, including a rapid-fire series as Marius was left against the bottom rope.
Another shooting star kneedrop misses, but Bailey rolls out, only to miss a knee into the corner as al-Ani hits back with an overhead belly-to-belly for a near-fall. Marius tries to go up top for a frog splash, but he’s forced to abort as a spinning heel kick a la RVD gets Bailey down for another two-count.
Al-Ani keeps up with the wacky sunset flip/Exploder sequence, taking Bailey to the outside, before following him there as he teases an Exploder into the apron… and delivers, despite Bailey’s best efforts. Marius heads back to the ring to collect a count-out, but thinks different of it and rolls Bailey back onto the apron… only to get tripped as Bailey finally lands those moonsault knees!
Back inside, al-Ani avoids the shooting star knees by crotching Bailey, and pulls him down into a fireman’s carry, only for Bailey to fight free and land an axe kick, before the pair clobber each other with clotheslines as a superkick left both men laying. They both got back to their feet, as al-Ani again goes for a Firemans’ carry, only for it to lead to a ref bump as Tassilo Jung gets backed into a corner and takes an errant kick from Bailey.
Finally Marius gets off that death valley driver, but out comes Absolute Andy to shove him off the top rope as he went for a frog splash. An F5 follows, and Bailey’s not too happy about that, knocking Andy out with a bicycle kick for his troubles. Bailey tries to revive the ref, but out comes Bobby Gunns to even things, pulling out Speedball and laying him out with a kick – in the process keeping the rivalry he had going with Absolute Andy last month. The interferers eat a plancha from Marius and a moonsault from Bailey as Tass is still napping.
Eventually both men return to the ring, and fight up on the same corner, only for Marius to kick Bailey into the ring as he then aborts a frog splash. Bailey gets in a head kick after avoiding a DDT, and there’s some more moonsault knees as Marius barely kicks out in time. A headkick gets another two-count, but Bailey whiffs with the shooting star knees again, allowing al-Ani to hit a big DDT and a frog splash… and that’s his Carat spot booked!
This was another good match, bookmarking the show after the opening three-way, and left us with the (realised) prospect of the clash of A4 in 16 Carat. Some may not be that enthused about the interferences, but it all made sense in the end, as all signs now point to Oberhausen. ***¾
wXw’s Bielefeld stop was a fun show, with plenty of stuff to keep you intrigued as a final stop before 16 Carat Gold. The show was bookended with good matches, and with plenty of storylines intertwining, there wasn’t a single match here that didn’t serve a purpose. Even the “weakest match” on the card, the short, TV-style Andy/Colton match was there to keep Andy strong for his upcoming Carat clash with Marius al-Ani, while everything else helped slot pieces together for next weekend’s huge slate of shows.