Every title in wXw was on the line – as was the ROH championship – as wXw closed out their summer with a newsworthy Shortcut to the Top.
Quick Results
Ahura pinned Elijah Blum to win the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship in 19:34 (****¾)
Daniel Garcia and Axel Tischer went to a time-limit draw in 15:00 – Tischer retained the wXw Shotgun Championship (***¼)
Nordino & Luca de Leone pinned Marc Empire & Robert Dreissker to win the wXw World Tag Team Championship in 16:11 (***½)
Bandido pinned 1 Called Manders to retain the ROH World Championship in 18:20 (****)
Kanji won the Shortcut to the Top match in 54:15 (***½)
— Check out the Auf Die Fresse podcast for further wXw coverage… Links to stream are available at AufDieFresse.co.uk
Around 900 people packed the Turbinenhalle – for the busiest non-Carat show in wXw’s history – and it’s a pretty star-studded card to boot as well. Zoltan’s defence of the European title against Dieter Schwartz, along with Ricky Sosa vs. Matt Gatlin were taped for Shotgun, for those wondering where those matches went.
The opening video package, by the way, really hit home that this is ten years since Karsten Beck’s surprise return to win Shortcut to the Top…
English commentary comes from Mett Dimassi and Norman Harras. The lads are back together!
wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship: Ahura vs. Elijah Blum (c)
On any other night, this would undoubtedly be the main event… here, it’s the opener. These three have had three prior singles matches on big shows (sorry, Dinkelsbühl), with Ahura’s win in the König der Catcher final last year seeing him have the slight edge. Of course, Ahura was insanely popular with the Turbinenhalle crowd… with Elijah getting more than his share of boos on his entrance.
Ahura jumped Blum before the bell as the pair shot out of the blocks, with Ahura looking for his big stuff early on, walloping Blum with a Boss lariat just 43 seconds in. No follow-up meant that Blum was able to recover and clothesline Ahura to the outside, where things threatened to turn into a repeat of their König der Catcher final, with Ahura getting bowled into the chairs.
Back inside, Blum hit a spinning neckbreaker a la the Grind Time, before a moonsault press drew a near-fall. A turnaround saw Blum taken into the ropes, but he avoided another Boss lariat before Ahura booted Blum’s head off. Responding to the crowd chanting “tear off the moustache”, Ahura tried to do just that, before he… uh, tried to pick Blum’s nose? Sick…
A cheeky roll-up with a tease of some tight-grabbing showed that Ahura wasn’t averse to taking shortcuts. Ahura tries a mule kick, but Blum backed away in time before Ahura’s Karsten Beck piledriver was escaped. The Sliding D in response nearly got it for Blum, whose Anaconda Vise ended up getting broken up as Ahura hit right back with a Destino.
Ahura’s able to hit a second Destino, before a third one was caught and countered into a tombstone. Bloody hell, lads…
We resumed with Blum and Ahura trading shots, which got the crowd on Blum’s back once more… but the intensity rose with Ahura paintbrushing Blum, only to eat an enziguiri as the pair teased their finishes, and each other’s, with Ahura ending up landing the Total Depravity. Blum headed outside, and ate a Divine Sandstorm with a fan almost eating more of it… a second one followed on another side of the ring as Ahura flung himself around for fun here.
Third time wasn’t the charm as Blum swats Ahura away with a forearm, before the champion followed up with a Total Depravity off a chair and into the crowd. Rather than throw Ahura back inside, Blum went back into the ring to take the count-out, in disbelief as the crowd continued to chant for Ahura.
Ahura’s able to beat the count thanks to some convenient elongation, but walked right into a Parting Gift that almost put this one to bed. Still, Oberhausen rallied behind Ahura as Blum maneuvered things into the corner for an avalanche Parting Gift. Ahura blocks and instead hits an avalanche piledriver… which looked to lead to a stoppage, but Blum refused to stay down.
Ahura pushes on once more… a Salamandra? Kickout. A second one? Nope… it’s a goddamn screwdriver… and we have a new champion! Towards the end, commentary started bringing up Blum’s history of neck injuries, and the gnarliest finisher from Ahura yet proved to be too much for Elijah to endure. Not that Oberhausen minded, based on the pop at the end… ****¾
wXw Shotgun Championship: Daniel Garcia vs. Axel Tischer (c)
Good luck following that, lads. This was Garcia’s wXw debut in Germany, having worked wXw’s AMBITION show in Canada in 2019. We got the Death Rider entrance for him here, coming through the merch area that caught everyone off guard.
This one had a much more tentative start to things, but things burst into life when Tischer managed to find a way through with some strikes, taking Garcia into the corners ahead of a bodyslam for a quick one-count. Garcia’s Dragon screws proved to be an effective response, opening up Tischer’s left knee as a target for the Death Rider.
Garcia went all Tanahashi on us with Twist and Shout neckbreakers, only for an X-Plex from Tischer to stop all that malarkey. Problem was, Tischer’s knee reduced his mobility, allowing Garcia right back in it until his series of clotheslines in the corner ended with a kick. A flying clothesline from Tischer almost looked like a Blockbuster, such was the hangtime he got, before a drop toe hold from Garcia saw him stop a powerbomb and instead connect with an ankle lock.
Tischer’s able to counter, charging Garcia into the corner ahead of a rebound German suplex, but Tischer’s bad leg meant he couldn’t get the purchase he wanted as we hit the final five minutes of the Shotgun title time limit. Garcia’s guillotine was held onto despite Tischer charging into the corner for a break, with a death valley driver going the other way as Tischer looked to shut this one out. A second powerbomb attempt from Tischer’s blocked, who instead lands an enziguiri before Garcia flipped out of a powerbomb and hit a piledriver for a near-fall as we hit the final two minutes.
Garcia stayed on Tischer, throwing chops before Garcia’s mounted punches in the corner got cut off and countered into a Ligerbomb for a near-fall. With 30 seconds left on the clock then, that all but signalled a time-limit draw… and sure enough, that’s how it ended. This one was always going to struggle to match the opener, and the pacing towards the end felt a little weird as it felt like the time limit snuck up on the match. The crowd’s chants for “five more minutes” went unheeded, and that was that. ***¼
No Holds Barred Match for wXw World Tag Team Championship: CSI (Nordino & Luca de Leone) vs. Planet Gojirah (Robert Dreissker & Marc Empire) (c)
CSI have been this year’s success story in wXw, becoming cult favourites… and not just because of their endless needling of Robin Christopher Fohrwerk.
A jump start from CSI took things to the outside right away, as we’re right into the split-screen with CSI having been left laying. We’re quickly into the plunder with de Leone having found some metal trays to wallop the champions with… before CSI again focused on Fohrwerk. That allowed Gojirah to attack from behind again, but the Italians still had their sheets… with Nordino grabbing another pizza box from under the ring.
This time, it’s a smaller pizza box wrapped in a chain that’s used on the champions, before Fohrwerk was chased once more… this time getting caught as CSI grabbed some handcuffs from under the ring as they tied Fohrwerk to the ring post. We’re back to the plunder as CSI had a parmesan grater, but Planet Gojirah return to stop that from shaving Fohrwerk’s head.
We’re quickly into the red stuff as Dreissker used a pizza cutter on Luca, while Nordino had a taste of that grater. Jeez, someone watched that Nick Gage match on myAEW, huh? With CSI on the deck, we’ve got some more traditional plunder from Planet Gojirah in the form of bin shots, while tables followed from under that stacked ring.
Maffew gets some material as Nordino bounced as he was powerbombed onto a table, before Nordino fired up with a drop toe hold to take Dreissker into a chair. A stunner to Empire followed, but that comeback’s quickly shut down as the champions hit a Beast Buster for a near-fall seconds later.
Dreissker pushes on as Nordino’s taken up for a superplex, but Luca cuts off the powerplex before baiting Empire into accidentally splashing his own man. Nordino’s still in the ropes by Fohrwerk as Empire’s trio of powerbombs almost put Luca away once more, before we found our way into a ref bump.
Nordino’s back body drop to Dreissker earned him an instant lariat in response as everyone was left laying. Of course, that’s the cue for Fohrwerk to have found the keys and break free from his cuffs… but that’s the cue for a returning Nick Schreier to run out with a Singapore cane. He looked a lot like Kevin Roadster with that hair…
Anyways, a low blow stops Nick in his tracks as Gojira continued to divert their focus… but a teased Beast Buster to Schreier was stopped by… Laurance Roman?! The Grind reunited with that neckbreaker/splash combo to Dreissker, before Empire took the Grind Time neckbreaker. There’s one man left, but Dreissker saved Fohrwerk from the Grind Time… before he got thrown in to spear Fohrwerk through the table. Thanks for coming!
With that interlude over, the Grind throw Rainer Ringer back into the ring as CSI hoisted up Empire for the double-team finish… and for the second time tonight, we end with and new as CSI dethroned Planet Gojirah. You know the score here, Gojirah are always are great value in these plunder matches, and this was no different, as Gojirah’s cumulative past bit them in the rear once more. ***½
There’s a glorious advert with the wXw crew going to the supermarket in their gear – and ended with Robert Dreissker and Peter Tihanyi scrapping in what looked like a REWE…
ROH World Championship: 1 Called Manders vs. Bandido (c)
This was the first time that the ROH title was being defended in Germany since 2018 – with Dalton Castle defending it in the GWF against Tarkan Aslan. Manders has some hardware with him here as well, in the form of his half of Rev Pro’s tag titles.
A tentative start had Manders slap Bandido on the rear after faking out a chop… and Oberhausen seemingly wanted more butt slaps. In response, Bandido took down Manders and spun on his back, before a tijeras took Manders down into the corner. After acting like a Matador, Bandido took Manders outside for another tijeras, then for a tope con giro, before a chop exchange on the floor ended with Manders getting death valley driven into the third row.
Finally returning to the ring, Manders found a way through with a chop before he bounced Bandido off the ropes with a suplex throw. Back at ringside, chops took Bandido into the front row, before an Irish whip saw Bandido get launched almost through every row of chairs… ahead of another return as Manders picked up a two-count.
Bandido rolled away from a bottom-rope elbow drop as Manders’ momentum came to a halt, with Bandido’s corkscrew moonsault/crossbody helping him spark a fresh assault. Manders avoided a gorilla press slam, but again got taken outside with an enziguiri as Bandido gave chase with a moonsault off the ring post.
Back to the ring again, Bandido’s frog splash lands for a near-fall, before Manders finally found a way back with clotheslines en route to a Stampede for a near-fall of his own. The back-and-forth continues as they head up top, but Manders’ avalanche slam’s countered with a DDT as Bandido added a reverse ‘rana… before a rising lariat shut down the champion’s latest round of offence.
The pair revert to back-and-forth strikes until Manders absorbed a lariat… then returned with a swivelling lariat of his own. Another lariat from Manders spun Bandido to the mat for a near-fall, before Manders headed up top for… a moonsault?! What the hell, cowboys can fly?!
Bandido’s up at two after that, but Manders tees up for a Boss lariat… which is kicked away as Bandido hoisted up Manders for a suplex. That left Manders by the ropes for the 21 Plex, and that’s all she wrote! This was a match of two halves – the first half in and around the crowd, before the second half turned into more of a TV-style main event. Manders didn’t look at all out of place here, which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone tracking his recent career. ****
We were meant to have a load of announcements for the Pro Wrestling Grand Prix to get through before the main event – I guess those are being saved for Shotgun?
Shortcut to the Top Match
Going in, no names had been announced for this, so we’ve got thirty surprises on tap!
Peter Tihanyi is out at number one, so he’s going to have a long road to walk if he’s going to three-peat Shortcut. Michael Oku joins him from the number two slot to start us off, complete with the Rev Pro British Heavyweight title. Something something, I appreciate the passion.
Both men looked for an early elimination, but it’s Oku who almost crashed and burned with a dropkick into the corner that missed… both men end up going over the top and were forced to skin the cat right as the counter brought in Moodo. He’s now rotten, and seemingly only going by one name… and spitting some canned Jack Daniels & Coke in Michael Oku’s face. Lovely.
Brendan White joins at number four, hitting a slam and a splash to Tihanyi… Alex Duke is at five, and goes right after Oku with a TKO neckbreaker. We’re pretty heavy on bad guys, with Oku and Tihanyi getting a kicking, but Kade Brasher looks to even things up on her Turbinenhalle debut. Moodo cuts her off with a slap, only to get met with a knee strike… before she low bridged Moodo onto the apron as a springboard dropkick gave us our first elimination at 7:26.
Conn Kelly comes in at number seven, but his bright spark is snuffed out by a Duke forearm, before Kelly was forced to bite his way out of being eliminated. Number eight is Jane Nero, who came to Duke’s aid before she locked horns with Brasher. A big boot from Duke eliminates Brasher at 10:18 after Nero had taken her over the top, and we’re continuing the quick entries with Melanie Gray. Holy hell, that’s a blast from the past! Gray instantly goes after Nero, as commentary brought up her own history with the women’s title. The Mella-dram (Cloverleaf) on Nero’s kicked apart by Duke, before a full nelson slam from Nero led to her and Duke chucking out Gray at 12:31.
Aeron joins at number 10, but he didn’t get to the ring in time as Brendan White threw out Kelly at 12:58. A backbreaker from White led to Aeron getting thrown over the top, but Aeron stays alive before he was taken down by Nero at 13:37. Next in is Kanji, who almost eliminates Oku with a chop, but Jane Nero again stuck her proverbial oar in and instead started putting the boots to Kanji.
Duke tries his luck with Oku, but got sent over the top before an overhead kick took Duke out at 15:22. Danny Jones joined at 12 as we were back to pairing up tag teams, but he acts as a distraction for Brendan to attack Kanji from behind as the Greedy Souls hit the Souled Out on Kanji. In the background we see Aleksander Bellamy and Alex Duke help carry Jane Nero to the back as commentary surmised that she’d reinjured her knee.
Aleksander Bellamy was next in at number 13, but him helping Jane Nero to the back was poor timing… and instead we had Aaron Insane taking Bellamy’s spot, having left the German commentary desk. He went after the Greedy Souls as Axel Tischer entered the fray, limping somewhat after his match with Daniel Garcia earlier.
Next in is Matt Gatlin, who goes right for Tischer’s knee… Gatlin eliminates Insane with a clothesline at 21:44, before Niklas Bock hit the ring at number 17. Bock’s all about his vlog, which Brendan White tried to gatecrash, but seemingly the Welsh lads hate Bock’s social media and put his vlog to a stompy end. 1 Called Manders enters next, still shiny from his match with Bandido as he looked to clear the ring with chops.
Manders’ suplex-throw led to Gatlin’s elimination at 24:27, before Hugo Brand came in. Brand instantly made the save for Bock as the Greedy Souls were about to make the elimination. A low bridge from Brand took out Jones at 25:55, with Brendan White following ten seconds later as the Greedy Souls got sent packing. At 19, we’ve got Pascal Spalter, making his first appearance on a standalone wXw show since 2010. A surprise return for der Held der Hauptstadt!
Spalter cleared house, chucking out Bock at 27:48, before Thomas Shire joined the fray. Yes, I’d forgotten he’d gotten new music before he went away…
Cowboy Way looked to dictate the pace for a spell, with Brand going out at 29:35 via Thomas Shire, before Oku stopped Shire with a DDT. Oku tries for a half crab, but Manders just lariat’s it away before Oku got dumped at 30:19. M4 virtually replaced Oku, stopping to boot Hugo Brand before making his way into the ring. Peter Tihanyi took offence at M4 going after Kanji, before Pascal Spalter bust out the ol’ Toilet Seat on Tihanyi.
Jacob Crane is in at 22, with funky music as he returned to wXw for the first time in almost two years. Crane traded chops with Manders before landing a dropkick, right on time for Stephanie Maze to join. Maze made a beeline for Crane, cracking him with a knee to the side of the head before Crane took aim at Tischer… only to get eliminated at 34:59. Cowboy Way look to eliminate Tischer, eventually getting it done at 35:51 before Kuro entered the match.
We miss Pascal Spalter’s elimination at 36:35 as Kanji looked to stuff Kuro with an Octopus… then with a guillotine… but a Falcon arrow broke that up. We’re back with Cowboy Way battering M4 with a restrained Bioss lariat before M4 got thrown at 38:00… in time for Tim Koslowski to join. He catches a Kuro crossbody, but can’t create an elimination… but instead caught a second leap before slamming the Frenchman.
Shire made a point of going after Stephanie Maze… Manders stopped him, and got chucked out at 39:27 as the Cowboy Way looked to explode. Katsuya Murashima is in next as Manders tried to go after Shire, but Murashima’s all about the bodyslams as he cleared the ring. Kanji throws out Maze at 40:35, while Koslowski got thrown out by Peter Tihanyi at 41:02 as we had a mini clear-out.
Amedeo is in at 27 – the first time we’ve seen the Belgian in a few months. A teardrop suplex and a standing moonsault from Amedeo left Kuro laying… then Amedeo came up against Thomas Shire… who used him to eliminate Kuro before Amedeo then got thrown out at around 42:38. Tihanyi tried to surprise Shire, but to no avail as Zoltan joined, taped-up shoulder and all.
Zoltan goes right after Shire, landing a cutter out of the corner, before he low-bridged Murashima for an elimination at 43:46. Dieter Schwartz was our penultimate entrant. He and Zoltan went after each other, leading to both men ending up on the apron trading blows as the final entrant was revealed as… Dennis Dullnig.
Dullnig knocks Schwartz and Zoltan off the apron at 46:20 for a double elimination, and we’re already down to our final four… assuming you’ve eliminated Jane Nero. It’s Tihanyi, Kanji, Shire and Dullnig… Kanji’s ankle lock has Dullnig in trouble, even more so when she scissors the leg, while Shire threw around Tihanyi like he was nothing.
Shire lifts Tihanyi onto the apron… but the Hungarian responds with a leapfrog cutter, before Tihanyi got tossed out by Dullnig at 48:43. Bye-bye three-peat, and I think that’s everyone lumping their proverbial bets on Thomas Shire at this point. Tihanyi pulls the Sycho Sid to Dullnig’s Hulk Hogan at 49:15 and yanks him out.
We’re left with Kanji and Thomas Shire… Kanji finds her way in with a Zack Sabre Jr-esque double armbar, but Shire powers out… only to get caught with the neck twist. Kanji keeps going with a punt to the back, but Shire brushes off her elimination attempts before stopping to crotch-chop at some hecklers. Refocusing on Kanji, Shire absorbed a load of clotheslines and kicks, before he pulled up Kanji for a UFO… dumping her in the middle of the ring.
From there, Shire gorilla presses Kanji, but she counters into a guillotine choke… we’ve got a re-run of the 2004 Royal Rumble… and everyone celebrates for Kanji. Except Jane Nero runs back in… she wasn’t eliminated! She cracks Kanji from behind with the belt, then hit a Twist of Fate, before Duke and Bellamy held the rope down… and a switcheroo led to Kanji benefitting from the low bridge to win the Shortcut to the Top match! ***½
Kanji makes the universal belt symbol after the match – and given that this was advertised as being for a shot at the Unified World Wrestling title… I wouldn’t be too shocked if they changed course and this is how we get the women’s title back. And sure enough, post-match, Kanji spoke about making a difference, and said that she wasn’t going to be going for the belt that Ahura had just won… because she wanted the belt that Jane Nero had been traipsing around with.
Cue a sprint to the ring by wXw CEO Felix Kohlenberg, who agreed to Kanji’s demand to reinstate the women’s title… and have it won by the winner of this year’s Femmes Fatales. And so, a belt that was put out to pasture by Robert Dreissker three years ago will be back in action in just over a month’s time!
Next up from wXw, it’s the Pro Wrestling Grand Prix weekender in September – with 7/8s of the Pro Wrestling Grand Prix field still to be announced, two for Femmes Fatales and three tag teams. As for tonight though, Shortcut to the Top was a show that started off stupidly strong, and for the most part held strong throughout. A fantastic firing shot to end summer and prepare us for the autumn festival!