The fallout from wXw’s event in Frankfurt continues on this week’s Shotgun, as the departed Axel Dieter Jr makes an appearance.
The show begins with the usual spoiler warning, and we open with a backstage promo from Jurn Simmons with Thomas Giesen, addressing Jurn’s loss to Emil Sitoci in Frankfurt. Simmons thinks he overlooked Sitoci, whose claims to be the “best Dutch wrestler” now have added fuel. Jurn’s now looking to the Superstars of Wrestling show later in May, which leads to him challenging Matt Riddle – the King of Bros vs. der König der Catcher for the wXw title!
Francis Kaspin vs. Marius al-Ani
We’re in early with the matches here, and it’s from April 7 in Chemnitz. We start with Kaspin looking to take the arm of al-Ani, before its reversed as the pair go back and forth.
The even back-and-forth gets each man some near-falls, before a dropkick from Marius takes Kaspin into the corner. Francis counters a punch into a backslide for a two-count, but that just angers al-Ani as he comes back with a sunset flip, only for Kaspin to roll through and take the tag champion down with a diving leg kick for a near-fall.
A fisherman’s suplex gets Kaspin a near-fall after taking some kicks, only for al-Ani to return with a spinning heel kick for a two-count of his own. Marius gets caught on the top rope as Kaspin tries for a belly-to-back superplex, before settling for an enziguiri and a flying crossbody instead. Another sunset flip from al-Ani is chained into a belly to belly this time as his offence ends with a death valley driver to Kaspin, before a frog splash secured the win. Kaspin got a LOT in here, and came off as almost an equal to al-Ani in this fun, but short outing. ***¼
We go from that to a meeting with Sebastian Hollmichel and A4 – Marius al-Ani and the sunglass-wearing Absolute Andy. Hollmichel asks Andy about their next challengers, the Young Lions, and Andy turns the question back around by saying that it’s more of a challenge for the Lions than it is for A4. They sew a seed in there as Marius calls Andy only a veteran, as opposed to a top athlete, which led to some bickering and an increasingly uncomfortable Sebastian. Andy wraps it up by calling themselves the “prettiest, greatest and most wonderful men in wXw”, which sets off Marius on another caffeine trip!
Well, that was wacky!
Next up: Bobby Gunns. You know the drill with his Smoking Break, and this time he takes aim at Drago, saying that they don’t have dragons in Mexico… but maybe a wall. Ouch. Gunn wants a “hottie” like from Game of Thrones, before declaring May 13 Drago’s “dia de los muertos”.
A recap for True Colors follows, just in case you’ve not seen that yet!
Next we’ve got Avalanche killing trainees in search of Julian Nero and Ilja Dragunov after his match with Ilja in Frankfurt was ruled as no contest. Yeah, we’ll review that show soon! Avalanche screams into the camera, demanding that Karsten Beck gives him a match against both of them, and all of a sudden, a graphic pops up confirming that for Superstars of Wrestling next weekend. I might be the only one, but this Cerberus in-feud might be starting to take away whatever steam Ilja had after winning 16 Carat…
Next: Christian Michael Jakobi and WALTER storm the set to rant about Kim Ray. WALTER says that his parents will be coming to Superstars of Wrestling to see him wrestle, and he’s mad that he’s facing a man who’s been on the sidelines whilst WALTER’s been wrestling. WALTER calls Ray a circus clown, “like your new friend Karsten Beck”, and this is quite the short, sharp promo to build that match up nicely.
They run down the Superstars of Wrestling card again, and I still can’t get over Buff Bagwell wrestling for wXw in 2017. An advert follows for the Best of Axel Dieter Jr DVD, with clips of an absurdly young-looking Ricochet and Chuck Taylor in there. That best-of will be up on wXw Now on May 21st if you’re not into DVDs…
Mike Bailey vs. Axel Dieter Jr.
We’re off to Leipzig for our main event, as Axel Dieter Jr’s farewell tour continues.
Bailey starts by feinting a few kicks (because of course he did), but Axel takes him down because he’s not in the mood for any of that. Unfortunately, Bailey comes in with the Speedball cavalcade of kicks to take Dieter to the outside, before a reverse legsweep plants Bailey face-first on the apron.
A bridging double underhook suplex gets a near-fall for Axel, who decides to kick Bailey in the back to give him a taste of his own medicine. Some grounded legscissors keep Bailey down as Dieter worked away on the Canadian, wrenching away on the arm and wrist of the bare-footed kicker.
Another kick and a snap suplex out of the corner gets Dieter a two-count, as he goes back to some legscissors to try and force a submission whilst continuing to wear down Speedball. The pair trade strikes as Bailey tries to fight back, catching a kick from Dieter, before taking a knee to the chin… but the Hamburgerkreuz (Air Raid Crash) is countered into a sunset flip as Bailey nearly shocked the departing Axel.
Some step-up knees into the corner stun Dieter, who then takes a roundhouse for a near-fall, before a series of palm strikes and a Shiranui gets Bailey another near-fall. Dieter comes back with a draping DDT out of the corner as he fought his way back into it, throwing some short-range uppercuts before shoving Bailey into the corner for some more punishment.
Bailey aborts a shooting star knee drop before booting Axel off the apron for a Golden Triangle moonsault to the floor that almost sent Bailey into the ring steps, but he was able to throw Axel back in for a running kick to the chest to collect another near-fall. The Axel Dieter Special’s countered as Bailey leant back and almost scored the pin from there, before throwing the moonsault knee drop in for good measure. Another roundhouse misses as Axel catches him for a Landungsbrücke, but Bailey lands on his feet and hits a Cancun Tornado (standing corkscrew star press) for a near-fall.
Another Axel Dieter Special follows, with Bailey again trying to lean back to score a pin, but this time Dieter holds on and adds a crossface before Speedball made the ropes, only to get dragged onto the apron for more kicks from Dieter. Of course, Bailey replies with more of his own, before he’s forced to block an apron suplex, instead taking the Hamburgerkreuz on the apron!
Both men are able to beat the count-out, but Axel dives in with a European uppercut for another two-count before trying again for the Landungsbrücke… again, Bailey counters into a roll through for a near-fall, before roundhouse kicking Axel to get another two-count. More kicks leave Dieter reeling for the shooting star knees, but he counters that with another European uppercut before finally getting the Landungsbrücke for the win! This was quite the match – one of the best I’ve seen on Shotgun from house shows, that’s for sure ****
At the end of the match, we’re taken to Axel Dieter Jr backstage giving a farewell speech of sorts. Axel tells us he’s moving onto a different chapter in life, one that’ll see him move away for a while… but he’s promising that he’s not going to move away completely. He credits wXw for being the place where Axel Dieter Jr made his start, before thanking the fans, the office and the wrestlers. Axel almost tears up as he says his farewells, and promises that “this isn’t goodbye… but a see you later”, as the end credits roll.
So ends the time of Axel Dieter Jr in wXw – at least, if you’re watching Shotgun. I have no idea when he’ll next appear, hopefully it’s before winter. I’m sure whatever he does, it’ll be full sail to his latest destination in his career (and that’s about as much as I can cram in NXT references without flat-out saying it!)
We’ll cover those wXw events from Frankfurt and Oberhausen – including the Axel Dieter Jr farewell – in the coming days…