The 300th edition of wXw’s Shotgun show was a comedown from their True Colors event in Dresden.
As such, we’ve got the usual “watch True Colors first” spoiler warning, before the show opens with Sebastian Hollmichel alongside Ilja Dragunov. Ilja’s match against the Avalanche was a no-contest at True Colors, but he doesn’t seem too bothered by that, as Dragunov’s focussed on the wXw Unified World championship. He reckons that either the Avalanche will reign in wXw in 5 years, or he’ll break his skull trying… o-kay?!
Dragunov recognises that Avalanche is “everything people want in a champion”, at least in terms of size, but there’s one thing is isn’t… unbesiegbar! (invincible) Before we end though, someone off-camera calls Ilja and says that Julian Nero wants him on the phone…
That switches into a promo for Nero Consulting, which seems to be an updated version of DDP’s Positivity gimmick from back in the day. In just five minutes of Julian Nero’s time, he’ll change your life forever… which may or may not be a blow to the head!
We’re backstage again with Alpha Kevin and Bad Bones… Bones has a deal for Kevin to bring him to the fore… they’re going to be a tag team. Something which takes him by surprise, so much so, he rushes to call Melanie Gray to tell her… Of course, that fades to another segment with Bobby Gunns… it’s a live Smoking Break segment. He’s still taking shot at Da Mack’s girlfriend, which is weird since he was hitting on Melanie last week.
Maggot vs. Kim Ray
Our first match this week comes from Ludwigshafen, with Maggot trying to unseat a returning Kim Ray… but he’s quickly kicked out of the ring, then dropkicked off the apron.
A massive PK off the apron keeps Maggot on the floor, and we’re back to the kicks as I think Kim Ray may be related to Mike Bailey in some way. Maggot makes a comeback with a back elbow and a basement dropkick as we’re told that Kim Ray’s got WALTER next week on Shotgun, which will be a huge step up in terms of competition. Kim hits back with a dropkick of his own for a near-fall, before a Falcon arrow sets up Maggot for a spinning roundhouse kick for the win. As a squash, this felt a little weird. Yeah, Kim Ray got a lot of offence in, but it was verging on Mike Bailey levels in terms of lack of diversity. Let’s see whether that’s just a one-off from ring rust… **
Next up is Karsten Beck and Kim Ray. Beck’ll find out on the 27th if he’s able to return to the ring after his brain tumour. Ray’s trying to put Beck off of making a return, saying that if he wrestles again, he’ll risk his life.
Now we’re up with Tassilo Jung and Marius van Beethoven. Marius claims that he and Dirty Dragan are the only undefeated team in wXw, but the only footage of their match in Fulda over WrestleMania weekend has been lost due to “technical reasons”. Hmm. Perhaps they forgot to sign their Vimeo deals? Amusingly, Marius compares it to when Scott Hall and Kevin Nash first invaded WCW, saying that Eric Bischoff “wouldn’t have lost the tape”. Tassilo has the same reaction anyone would have to Marius’ diva-ish behaviour, holding his head in his hands and just ignoring the upstart.
We’re shown the card for the next wXw Feature Event on April 29 in Frankfurt – featuring Jurn Simmons vs. Emil Sitoci (non title) and Alexander James vs. Angelico. That show could well feature something setting up to Axel Dieter Jr’s departure from wXw, after it was announced this past weekend that on April 30, the company would hold a farewell show as Axel leaves for pastures new.
Alpha Kevin and Melanie Gray are outside now sharing an ice cream, seemingly able to spend time together now the Marius van Beethoven thing is sorted… but Mella’s distracted… and that’s all we get.
Nico Schmidt appears backstage with Mike Bailey for a promo, noting that Bailey lost his second title shot at the weekend. It’s saccharine, but Bailey’s vowing to keep trying in wXw, before he’s asked for his thoughts on the dissension between WALTER and Axel Dieter Jr.
Axel Dieter Jr and Christian Michael Jakobi are backstage… Jakobi’s glad that they sold merchandise during 16 Carat Gold weekend, but Dieter’s increasingly frustrated. Axel’s annoyed that Jakobi’s spending more time with WALTER, and it’s here where Axel tells us that he’s leaving wXw on April 30. Jakobi claims that Dieter’s refused to do things, and that he’s not grown up… cue double entendres in the translation, and Axel’s bringing the burns before he tells Jakobi that the two of them are done.
Absolute Andy vs. Avalanche
More from Ludwigshafen here, and this is a real slice of Big Lads Wrestling!
Andy clings onto a headlock in the opening stages, resisting a back suplex attempt before deciding to trade shoulder tackles with the Avalanche. They head outside after Avalanche is low bridged, and they end up trading blows around ringside, then chops on the apron before Andy DDT’s Avalanche on the apron.
It’s all Andy as he drops a knee on Avalanche’s leg after trapping it in the ropes, but the bigger lad comes back with a crossbody and a big splash. Avalanche wears down on Andy for long enough to rattle through some upcoming dates, but the Absolute Dad gets to his feet and throws in some shoulder blocks off the ropes, finally knocking Avalanche down.
Avalanche rebounds with a back body drop, but he misses a charge into the corner and takes a back cracker for a near-fall. Andy trips Avalanche and turns him around into a Sharpshooter, but there’s a rope break and Avalanche comes back at him with a Samoan drop as the match headed into its final moments.
A suplex gets reversed by Andy, before he hits a plancha after Avalanche had rolled to the outside to avoid a superkick. Things quickly shift as Avalanche squashes him against the ring post, then in the corner back inside, but a third charge is stopped by a superkick for another near-fall. We nearly see the match end with a spinning Blue Thunder Bomb from the Avalanche, who then goes for another avalanche in the corner after the kick-out, then a cannonball before an Avalanche Bomb seals the win. Perfectly fine big lads wrestling – and it’s clear that the former Robert Dreissker is getting primed for something big down the line. ***¼
We end the show with a promo from Lucky Kid and Tarkan Aslan – the Jungle Lions! They’ve been a staple of the German Wrestling Federation, and it looks like they’re returning to wXw. On May 13, hunting season begins, and if you’re now down with that… they have two words for you.
Hakuna Matata!
I laughed.
Anyway, May 13 is the wXw Superstars of Wrestling show, where the Lions will challenge A4 for the wXw tag team titles, whilst we’ll also see Buff Bagwell vs. Jaxon Stone, Francis Kaspin & Chris Colen vs. Da Mack and Shane Helms, Drago vs. Bobby Gunns, a wXw Shotgun title four-way between Emil Sitoci, Angelico, Fenix and Penta el Zero M (billed here as Pentagon Jr), and a relaxed rules match between Vampiro and Bad Bones. Bloody hell… it’s not wXw’s usual line-up, but it certainly looks intriguing.
That’s your lot for Shotgun this week, another fun show, with plenty to look forward to in the future – and at under 40 minutes, a very easy watch.