Shotgun is back with a bang as we recap everything Carat and have one eye on this weekend’s tour stop in London!
It feels like it was ages ago, but after a week off to allow the wXw media crew to decompress after the insanity that was 16 Carat Gold (and mostly to not run video editor Katja Pilz into the ground!)
There’s a spoiler warning in case you’ve not had a chance to see Carat yet, and we open with Absolute Andy doing his best impression of the Miz. That bleeds into the final moments of Ilja Dragunov’s wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship win, complete with the dulcet tones of the excited Alan Counihan… and then, the titles!
We’re back to Weyhe for Shotgun this week, leading with an interview with the 16 Carat Gold winner, while the Shotgun title is also on the line!
A video package recaps the happenings with RISE over 16 Carat Gold weekend – from Da Mack’s quick first round exit, to Bad Bones’ title loss, and their rebounding as they left Carat with the tag team titles… plus Pete Bouncer’s choice to lay out Bones with a DDT as he left the proverbial pack.
We’re backstage with Bones and Mack, as they’re happy to still have a title. Ivan Kiev’s not happy with how he was embarrassed, and he walks off as we transition to an interview with Pete Bouncer, who hasn’t been able to find a new shirt to replace his RISE tracksuit jacket, which he’s still wearing. Bouncer says that Klinger doesn’t deserve what he’s scammed for himself, and he reckons that he’s still part of RISE – the movement, not what Bad Bones represents. Bouncer challenges anyone who thinks he isn’t RISE to “take the colours off of him”. Interesting…
Thommy Giesen asks Bouncer why he attacked Klinger at Carat – the answer? The tag title shenanigans were the straw that broke the camel’s back, even if it means that he and Ivan Kiev are now in difficult places because of his actions. What’s next for Pete Bouncer? He’s on his own for the first time in wXw, but he’s still going to look after Ivan Kiev.
Footage of Bobby Gunns tearing away on Mike Bailey’s fingers airs, complete with the crowd chanting Bobby’s name as the Shotgun title was successfully defended. That bleeds into our first match this week…
wXw Shotgun Championship: Manticore vs. Bobby Gunns (c)
Manticore is Toby Blunt from wXw past, and he’s instantly taken to the mat as Gunns looked for an early stranglehold… which Manticore reverses!
Alan on commentary tells us that Bobby’s on home turf, but he’s on the back foot as Manticore takes him down with some dropkicks, before a wacky lucha roll-up and a standing moonsault gave him more trouble. Headscissors take Gunns into the corners, before a backdrop puts Gunns on the apron… where he tried to sucker in Manticore with an armbar, only to get booted to the outside.
Manticore follows up with an Orihara moonsault on Gunns, but Bobby fights back with uppercuts on the apron before yanking him down by the arm as the Shotgun champion started to target the body part. He switches to a leg grapevine as he starts to get a little arrogant – much to the crowd’s approval – only for Manticore to fire back… and run into an elbow for a near-fall!
Gunns goes back to the arm, snapping the fingers before he rolls him down for a Kimura… but Manticore’s able to get to the ropes. Another comeback sees Manticore splash Gunns in the corner, following up with a flying lariat and a leg lariat, before a Northern Lights suplex almost caused the massive upset.
A German suplex gets Gunns back in it briefly, as a standing Spanish Fly spiked Gunns on his head ahead of a Quebrada for another near-fall… but he misses a senton off the top and that opened the door for Gunns to come back with a big Saito suplex for a solid two-count. The cross armbar follows, but Gunns gets rolled up for a series of two-counts, before he countered out of a sunset flip and into another cross armbar attempt… but Manticore’s right in the ropes in the nick of time!
Gunns keeps up with a German suplex, but he misses a lariat as Manticore fought back until he’s caught with a side slam for another two-count. Manticore teases a Vertebreaker, but Gunns slips out and hurries in with a trapped armbar, forcing Blunt to tap – Gunns retains, but it was a come-from-behind win for the champion, who was taken to the limit by Manticore! ***¼
That takes us into a Smoking Break with Bobby Gunns, who brags that Mike Bailey will be allowed to enter the US before he beats him. Ouch. Next on the list for Bobby is this “ailing, tall, skinny, dark hair, this Cooper guy” in London this weekend. “Sheldon… Sheldon… TK Cooper, what the fuck!”. I have a feeling TK might be in for at least one Big Bang Theory chant… Bobby heels on the British, before vowing to teach TK some German catch skills. Ouch!
Another Carat recap follows from the Storm/Gray title match, and we’re backstage with Sebastian Hollmichel with the victor. Toni took time out from a STARDOM tour to defend her title successfully, and she’s asked about the return of Wesna on night three… apparently Wesna was one of Toni’s favourites. They announce that Toni’s taking on Tenille Dashwood at May’s Superstars of Wrestling show, and that’s the next time you’ll see Toni!
We’re back with Killer Kelly offering Toni Storm some Haribo! Wonder if that was product placement, or just an excuse for a bad pun? They bond over the sweets, and Toni tells Kelly to train while she’s away… and to make sure, she’s taking those Haribo! This weekend, Kelly faces Millie McKenzie in London…
More recaps from Carat as Timothy Thatcher’s semi-final loss to Absolute Andy is shown… followed by WALTER consoling him after they lost the tag titles later that night. We hear Thatcher’s “auf wiedersehen” departure… but he’s still here! WALTER’s annoyed by RISE having the tag titles, as he wants anyone but RISE to have those belts. You and me both WALTER… Thatcher’s taking it as a sign of RINGKAMPF taking too much on board. WALTER tries to guilt-trip Thatcher into staying, but Thatcher’s gotta go for now… and he eggs on WALTER into trying to win back the wXw title from Ilja.
Timothy Thatcher’s parting words? “Stay off the Twitter. Nothing good can come from that.” Touche!
More from Carat, featuring Emil Sitoci’s wins over Carat weekend… and he’s backstage with Dirty Dragan who’s shilling his own merch. And moping. Cool and Strong, Dragan, remember? He’s still scared that he’ll get fired if he keeps losing, but Emil’s got a tag team match ready for them… and if it’s the one I’m thinking of, it’ll be a cracker!
Veit Müller vs. Marius al-Ani
I’m not sure if Tass started the match by saying “fight!” or “Veit”… we start with lots of grappling as Müller looked for a waistlock, only for Marius to counter out.
Commentary notes how Marius was screwed by Absolute Andy during Carat weekend, as Müller enjoyed the early stages… before a victory roll and an armdrag turns the tables. Marius has to fight for everything though, and goes the long way around to land a hiptoss before Müller hit back with a series of clotheslines to earn a near-fall.
A snapmare from Müller leads to a variation of a monkey flip as commentary runs through upcoming tour dates, and it’s all one-way traffic for Vei there, as he pulls al-Ani into a camel clutch. Müller’s back elbow knocks Marius down for a near-fall, but al-Ani hits back with a leapfrog and a schoolboy… only for a Dragon screw from Müller to take him right back to the mat for a Billy Goat’s Curse reverse Boston crab. It’s morphed into a pendulum swing, complete with the lucha twist that comes with him swinging Marius’ head into the bottom turnbuckle.
Veit keeps on top of Marius with some clubbing forearms in the ropes as they tease a match between Jonah Rock and Marius al-Ani down the line based on what happened on the final night at 16 Carat… just as Marius begins a comeback with headscissors and dropkicks! An RVD-like springboard spin kick in the corner knocks Müller down, and it looks like Marius is heading up for a frog splash… but Müller gets up just in time and delivers an old school shoulderbreaker for a near-fall! Shades of Papa Shango there…
Müller tries to hot shot al-Ani across the top rope for a near-fall, but Marius is right back in it with his signature sunset flip and kip-up into an Exploder, before a leaping DDT left Müller in place for the frog splash as Marius completed the victory. Another tremendous performance as the underdogs this week wrestled out of their proverbial skins, only to come up short against the more established names. ***¼
They run through the card for this Saturday’s wXw show in London – which is a feature event, and as such will be taped for wXw NOW for release next Tuesday, complete with some tweets to explain why the main event is now a four-way:
wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship: Ilja Dragunov (c) vs. WALTER vs. David Starr vs. Travis Banks
wXw Shotgun Championship: TK Cooper vs. Bobby Gunns (c)
Marius al-Ani vs. Chris Brookes
Killer Kelly vs. Millie McKenzie
Lucky Kid vs. Alexander James
Michael Dante vs. Mark Davis
Another Carat recap follows, focusing on how Absolute Andy slithered by Marius al-Ani in the first round, winning despite Marius having his foot on the rope… that bleeds into Marius making the save in the final, but Andy still won out. We end with a backstage interview as Thommy Giesen is backstage with a rather smug Andy.
Andy still remembers what Thommy called him last time out, before declaring that the veteran is standing at the top of wXw. Not quite. Andy reckons that every rookie’s fallen to him and decided to take up gardening… but before he can run his mouth too much more, he’s left laying by Marius, who’s had enough of his dirty tricks… and we fade to black for another week.
This was a solid episode of Shotgun that ticked the boxes marked “16 Carat Recap” and “Hype Up London”. It was nice to see some spirited performances from the lesser-known roster members, even if they were in defeat, as wXw continues to round out one of the better rosters on the world stage. This weekend’s London show is stacked, and should capitalise on the hype and goodwill that the many travellers brought back from Carat… it’s going to be a good one!