This week on Shotgun – the tournament to crown a new Shotgun champion gets underway!
Remember, the remainder of this season is being cut down because of wXw editing wrestlers out of segments… You can catch this show over on wXwNOW.de – the subscription is $11 a month, and includes a lot of the wXw back catalog, along with shows from other promotions.
Quick Results:
Marius al-Ani submits Vincent Heisenberg in 3:00 (**)
wXw Shotgun Championship Tournament Semi-Final: Hektor Invictus pinned The Rotation in 4:00 (**½)
Sebastian Hollmichel is on commentary once again, as this week we have Vincent Heisenberg vs. Marius al-Ani, and a Shotgun title tournament semi-final between The Rotation and Hektor Invictus… but first, a Smoking Break with Bobby Gunns. They’ve got shisha, as they celebrate winning the tag team titles… but one of them is missing as Jay Skillet has it. Apparently they must have Facetime’d Jay during the match as he had to watch Andy lose the titles… Norman Harras still looks put out here, but at least Bobby and the Bastards acknowledged him getting them their title shot.
They try to egg Norman into having some shisha, but he refuses… as Bobby talks about potential challengers.
Killer Kelly is in the wXw academy, with the loosest ropes this side of a Shine show. She’s video calling Alexander James, who’s still a little annoyed at Kelly just waiting for Andy to get back to her. James cites some previous “creative’s got something for you” moments as he tried to get Kelly to talk Andy into stripping Amale of the women’s title. Of course, Kelly wasn’t about to do that, even though the 30 day rule is a thing…
He hangs up, but gets spammed with calls from Levaniel. She picks up and is greeted with his grinning face from the Himmelschloß. Of course he brings up the women’s title picture, and tells Kelly to forget about the title. Apparently because Amale’s busy with “this France thing.” That just serves to wind up Kelly some more… as did Levaniel’s invitation for the Himmelschloß to Kelly.
— We’ve a vignette for the Rotation. He’s still on cloud nine after making it to 16 Carat Gold earlier this year… making it through to the second round after beating Puma King. He’s fed up of being painted as the underdog, and he wants to win his first singles title in wXw. He’ll get a chance to get a step closer later tonight.
Vincent Heisenberg vs. Marius al-Ani
al-Ani charges in with a running dropkick at the bell, before sweeping the leg as Heisenberg tried to come back with a big boot.
Another big boot is ducked as Marius comes in with a spinning heel kick instead, as Heisenberg’s lack of experience was showing. Elbows to the back of the head from Marius and some knee lifts wore down the Hamburg native, who eventually replied with a bodyslam. A running splash into the corner follows, before Marius countered out of a suplex, climbing into a sleeperhold on Heisenberg. Heisenberg throws Marius away, but an up-kick keeps the former Shotgun champion on top. A Superman punch takes Heisenberg into the corner, where he’s met with more right hands, before a knee strike left Heisenberg in a heap on the mat. It’s all one-way traffic as al-Ani seemed to be going for a knockout win, but the referee doesn’t stop it…
Yet another big boot is blocked as Heisenberg’s knocked down, and an ankle lock swiftly forces the submission. A veritable squash, with Heisenberg looking really out of sorts, as that early dropkick had him on the defensive – a spot he struggled to get away from. **
After the match, Nico Schmidt returns to interview Marius. al-Ani’s a little offended at Nico’s question about “unnecessary” moves, and seems to tell us that he’s going to show everyone they need to work hard to get anywhere – especially the rookies.
We’re back in the Academy as Kelly’s video calling Alexander James again. She tells him about Levaniel’s invitation, and how going on the Himmelschloß might be a way to get her title shot. Of course, James didn’t quite see it her way… and insisted Kelly goes to Andy to get the belt. Cue fresh exasperation from Kelly, and put downs from James…
Absolute Andy is with EZEL. He’s mad with them for their attack last week, but Metehan claims that because it happened on the streets, Andy can’t do anything. Abdul and Aytac tear down Andy’s signed Carat poster off the wall and walk out with it.
Hektor Invictus gets a promo, showing his outings at Carat as he showed he could keep up with Jeff Cobb and Bandido… he’s going to fight his way to the front and make his name known all across wrestling.
Abdul and Aytac are walking in the Steffy talking about last week’s Himmelschloß with “the alcoholic” Mike Schwarz. Abdul suggests toothpaste, but Mike walks in on them… and chokes them against a balcony. Kevin’s fine, and their tag match will be next week.
wXw Shotgun Championship Tournament Semi-Final: Hektor Invictus vs. The Rotation
We start with a lock-up as Rotation got shoved back into the corner… Hektor followed that up with a slam, as he smirked, knowing just how badly Rotation’s back is taped up. Rotation flips over Hektor’s dropdown, then dropkicks him into the corner, before a simple club to the back blocks a wheelbarrow roll.
Rotation flies around some more with a springboard ‘rana, before a dropsault took Invictus down for just a one-count. A roll-up rana is blocked as Hektor instead took Rotation into the ropes for a pop-up slam, which drew a two-count, before a gutwrench suplex gets Hektor a one-count. Wash, rinse, repeat, this time for another one-count, before Rotation countered a third gut-wrench with a roll-up… only to get clobbered with a clothesline seconds later. Hektor doesn’t rush in after that near-fall, but Rotation floats out of a suplex and takes him into the corner for a double-jump springboard dropkick that aggravated the back some more. Again, Rotation blocks Hektor and chops him before the roll-up ‘rana lands for a near-fall, before a follow-up dropkick kept Hektor down.
Rotation heads up top, but has to cartwheel away from Invictus before a satellite DDT was countered into a nice Falcon arrow for the win. Pretty decent, with Rotation being overpowered in what was another short outing. **½
Next week: We’ve the other Shotgun title tournament semi-final as Metehan takes on Avalanche… Killer Kelly’s in das Himmelschloß… plus EZEL’s Aytac & Abdul take on the Prügelbrüder – Mikey Schwarz & Alpha Kevin. This week’s Shotgun felt a lot less edited than last week’s – for the obvious reason – and the show felt much improved for it. We were again segment-heavy, which has always been a strength of the “classic” Shotgun format, and with the news that wXw is looking at taping another batch of these shows, perhaps the in-ring action may be able to develop a little more.