After an absence of over two months, Chris Colen’s back – and how will RISE react? Along with the latest round of the Women’s Championship Tournament and Jaxon Stone, it’s another loaded Shotgun!
We open with the newest member of RISE, Da Mack, and Jay FK aren’t happy with his defection. Mack doesn’t get a chance to speak as Bad Bones speaks for him. He has no words. Short and sweet, as we then throw to a World Tag Team League recap!
Scheduled next is Thomas Giesen’s with Tarkan Aslan next. I’m guessing it’s meant to be promo time for the former tag champion, but Marius al-Ani storms so he can get something off his chest. Of course, Aslan and al-Ani have a brief scuffle, before Marius, like a scorned lover, demanded that Absolute Andy call him and give him answers. Fair enough!
Francis Kaspin vs. Marius al-Ani
It’s from the weekend after Tag League, and we’re in the impressively-named Hellraiser in Leipzig as Marius al-Ani began life after A4. Marius starts off grounding Francis with a headlock, but a cravat briefly turns the tables as the pair try to assert some sort of dominance.
A huge dropkick from al-Ani looked to put him ahead, but Kaspin retaliates with a crossbody as he seemed to be catching out Marius. Just like that though, al-Ani hits his trademark sunset flip and Exploder combo as the momentum continues to swing back and forth. A rolling death valley driver rocks Kaspin, but it seemed to affect Marius equally so, and he’s left to fight out of a superplex.
Frustratingly, al-Ani cannot maintain an advantage and nearly loses to a Northern Lights, before falling into a Muta Lock! Marius makes the ropes, and then flips out as Kaspin went for something… he finally pulls down Kaspin in a flapjack before grabbing a single leg crab. Another rope break follows as Marius tries to follow up with a reverse ‘rana as the struggle continued, before getting off a regular ‘rana.
A monkey flip follows as Kaspin couldn’t flip out of it… but a frog splash nearly spelled doom as Kaspin caught Marius on impact, rolling him into an inside cradle, which then got reversed back as al-Ani edges out the win! A hell of a competitive match here, and although this wasn’t the blow-out that you’d argue that Marius “needed” to establish himself, it certainly told a story as he struggled to find his feet in the singles ranks. ***
We’re backstage as Avalanche and Julian Nero are reminiscing over the two Käfigschlacht matches they were in. Nero says they got out “almost unharmed”…. I swear Avalanche lost a year because of a shoulder injury in that match! Talk goes sour when Nero expresses disappointment that Avalanche couldn’t beat Ivan Kiev for the Shotgun title, and now it turns into a life coaching pitch! Avalanche is offended by it, but fortunately Sebastian Hollmichel makes the save as Nero has a press interview? Just in the nick of time!
Jaxon Stone vs. Steven Pena
Still in Leipzig for this one, and it’s a Shotgun debut for Pena, an American who’s currently training at the wXw Academy. If you read out World Tag Team League weekend thoughts, you’d have seen him mentioned…
He’s up against Jaxon Stone, who starts with a waistlock takedown… and then gets punched as he tried to pose for the crowd. Pena’s full of fire, running into him with an uppercut before the pair struggle to escape each other’s offence. At the second attempt, Pena leaps into a Samoan drop that’s turned into a fallaway slam for a near-fall – a hell of an impressive spot. Stone whips Pena hard into the corner as he looked to end things swiftly, which he does with a powerbomb out of a Styles Clash position. Pretty much a squash, but impressive nevertheless – there’s big things ahead for Stone on this tour, I feel. **¼
Jaxon’s up next for an interview with Thomas Giesen… it’s a character establishing deal as Stone talks about how he’s interested for gold. Bobby Gunns walks in and has an offer for him… and the two are going to be a team!
We’re taken into the RISE dressing room as everyone’s on a sofa, ready for the return of Chris Colen! He shakes everyone’s hands, although Bad Bones is a little reluctant. Da Mack walks in, and his arrival’s instantly questioned as Colen and Bones start to take shots at each other. Yes, Bad Bones isn’t happy that Colen’s picking and choosing when he’s around… My God that door needs oiling.
They run through the updated card for Saturday’s show in London. Why not read our preview?
We’re back to Chris Colen on the sofa, and this time he’s alone with Bad Bones. He’s chewed out for demanding a title shot and then walking out… Colen says that he was just honouring prior commitments. Speaking of which, Bones seems to suggest that Chris is getting his shot at Broken Rules next month in Dresden.
wXw Women’s Championship Tournament: Killer Kelly vs. Martina
With Pauline out of the tournament due to injury, Portugal’s Killer Kelly is taking her spot after an impressive showing over the World Tag Team League weekend. We’re still in Leipzig, and instantly Martina’s going to the corner for a swig of Heineken.
Kelly quickly gets frustrated at Martina’s eagerness to have a drink, but she’s dropped by Martina early on as a sunset flip gets blocked. More drinks follow, but that mouthful gets sprayed onto Kelly, and I’m not sure you want to make her mad. Kicks follow from Kelly, as Martina’s on wobbly legs… not helped by her running into a spinning back kick.
Martina recovers with a neckbreaker for a near-fall, before fighting out of a waistlock as the two just traded right hands. Kelly just clatters her in the ropes and follows in with a backdrop suplex and a pump kick… eventually Martina fires back with a kick of her own, sending Kelly into the corner for a Bronco Buster! A second one’s blocked, as Kelly looked to ripcord her way into a kick, but a German suplex counters that for a near-fall.
Martina heads up top, and nearly gets cut-off, before flying onto Kelly with a top rope Seshbreaker – and that’s another three points on the board! This was fine, but a little off in spots – and next week we’re getting Melanie Gray vs. Martina in another tournament match! **¼
The Women’s Championship Tournament standings are a little off since I don’t think we’ve had every match broadcast thus far (there’s two tournament matches that took place before this that haven’t aired yet), but as of the matches that have happened , the standings are:
1. Martina (3-2; 9pts)
2. Jinny (2-0; 6pts) **
3. Killer Kelly (1-2; 3pts) *
4. Melanie Gray (1-3; 3pts) **
* Killer Kelly replaced the injured Pauline and takes her record going forward; ** Jinny was awarded a win via forfeit over Melanie Gray as the scheduled match over World Tag Team League weekender couldn’t happen due to injury
Backstage, Ilja Dragunov is… hyperventilating? Thomas Giesen asks him about his unsuccessful title shot over World Tag Team League weekend. Ilja expected to win, but he didn’t expect Da Mack to ruin his gameplan without even touching him. We’ve got a match for Broken Rules – Mack vs. Dragunov – and Ilja’s is going to make him pay for getting involved “in a game you don’t understand”.
So far the line-up for Broken Rules XVII in Dresden is:
wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship: Bad Bones (c) vs. Chris Colen
Da Mack vs. Ilja Dragunov
wXw Women’s Championship Tournament: Jinny vs. Martina
…and in the warm-up a Next Step Wrestling Battle Royal, featuring folks from Dresden’s Next Step Wrestling – a promotion whose current champion is… Ilja Dragunov! Good to see that wXw’s helping out the “little guys” on more than the one show deal.
Alexander James vs. Jurn Simmons vs. David Starr
We’re in Bielefeld for our main event – stemming from that sit-down spot on last week’s Shotgun where Alexander James seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Christian Michael Jakobi’s voicing over this, in a nice throwback to the wXw of yore. The Massive Product members stare each other down, before turning their sights onto James as he wanted a piece of things. He quickly bails, so we’re back to Starr and Simmons, and it’s rather slow stuff as the pair seem to be reluctant to go at each other. Alexander James wasn’t, as he takes advantage with an uppercut to Starr, who then gets posted into Thommi Giesen’s ringside table, spilling his drink.
James keeps up with a slingshot into a Blockbuster on Jurn, but the dynamic of the three-way sees Massive Product try to work together against James – but the “Prince of Pro” keeps outsmarting them. A massive punt to the arm of Starr gave James something to work on, focusing all of his offence on “Davey Wrestling”’s left arm. No, I’m not going to list off the rest of his nicknames.
A backbreaker and a Flatliner takes James into position for the Coat of Arms – the over-arm wristlock that he uses (aka the Shankly Gates when it’s Zack Gibson in the ring) – but Jurn creates a distraction to free Starr. The comeback starts as Starr takes James into the corner for a Violence Party, before cracking him in the face with a superkick… but he doesn’t go for a cover.
Instead, Starr tries for the Product Placement, but James escapes and ends up going for a waistlock. A waistlock that’s swiftly broken as Starr charges into the ropes, sending James outside in an accidental tope. That’s a new one! Someone at ringside tries to drop a hint to get folks to move, and of course they don’t listen as Starr goes for some topes. Some German fans can be really stubborn, eh?
Starr goes for a third tope, but he clatters into Jurn by mistake. His attempt at a Cherry Mitn DDT’s swiftly blocked, as a Tower of London from James is also thwarted… and now we’re into breaking-up-each-other’s-pins territory. Massive Product have an argument over the dive gone wrong, and Jurn really can’t get into it as he’s kicked off the apron… meaning nobody’s there to make the save after a Tower of London.
David Starr manages to kick out of it though, and now James takes a barrage of offence from Simmons. An Oklahoma Stampede’s squirmed out of, so Jurn just tosses him across the ring with a suplex-style throw. James avoids a Massive Boot and tried for a Coat of Arms… but he instead turned his attention to David Starr, and ends up eating a Cherry Mint DDT onto the apron.
Massive Product look to be getting their stuff together, working into a Massive Recall (double-team Flatliner)… but James rolled to the floor to avoid a cover. Starr and Simmons then turn their fire on each other, leathering each other with elbows and boots before Jurn suplex-throws him across the ring. It’s almost like Massive Product’s imploding… but Jurn forgets about Alexander James, who snaps the arm with a double axehandle blow.
Jurn recovers and hits the gutwrench powerbomb – which Jakobi labels “the Big Whoopsie” (that had better be the name, because I’m using that going forward!). Starr tries to steal the pin, which causes more anger between the two… and it’s from that shoving match that James capitalises on, ripcording Jurn into a back elbow before trapping Starr in the Coat of Arms. An escape leads to a Massive Boot and a Shining Wizard to keep James down, and Massive Product seem to be friends again as they go for the spike piledriver that almost won them the World Tag Team League.
Instead, James flips out, shoves Jurn into the corner, then jack-knives Simmons for the win… and it’s a MONSTROUS win for Alexander James, who cannot believe his luck! As a match, this was more about the storyline, but the match itself was solid for the most part. It’s stuff like this that makes me love wXw these days – melding together stories and wrestling just like the wrestling I watched growing up! ***¼
After the match, Starr and Simmons get into a shoving match… and it continues backstage. Starr uses Jurn’s old words against him, just in time for Alexander James to come in and gloat over the pair of them. Starr tries to patch their team together, especially since they have another tag title shot in London this weekend… and that’s it for Shotgun this week!