With True Colors firmly on the horizon, Shotgun moved to Oberhausen as more action from 16 Carat Gold weekend took centre stage!
After the warning that this is set in canon after wXw’s London show this past weekend, we go straight to Christian Jakobi who’s joined by Sebastian Hollmichel… with some horrific news.
Sebastian’s just shocked that Andy won the tournament… Jakobi’s accepting of it, as he reckons it’s something for the locker room to deal with, safe in the knowledge that taking shortcuts never leads to success.
Once the titles have played, we’re joined by Alan Counihan on commentary as the table continued to be set for wXw’s next big show in Dresden in a few weeks time – a show that already has a huge main event, with Ilja Dragunov defending the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship against WALTER. We’re in Oberhausen as footage from the Fan Expo over Carat weekend makes air!
We’re backstage with Bad Bones giving Da Mack something of a rallying speech, saying that he took in “outcasts” who weren’t his friends… but Da Mack is different as they’ve fought together for over a decade. Finally Da Mack speaks, to agree, and to acknowledge that Klinger “caught him when he was falling”, before telling us that the way he looks is a reflection of the way he was treated. This segued into the announcement of Bones and Mack’s next big tag title defence – as they take on Santana and Ortiz of LAX at True Colors!
Speaking of RISE, Pete Bouncer is still hanging around, where he bumps into David Starr… and German subtitles! Starr tells Bouncer to let RISE go, before offering to help out if he’s still got a problem with Bad Bones’ mob.
They replay footage from Carat, and yes, that’s Mike Kilby cheering on Avalanche… unfortunately it wasn’t enough as Da Mack won out in the four-way tag match to get the tag title shot… and we know what happened next. Instead though, we’re backstage with Monster Consulting, who’s extremely on-brand as Avalanche was coming back from a seminar. Julian Nero wasn’t happy that Avalanche did it in his spiky ring jacket… but they quickly turn to what happened at Carat, and how they claimed Europe… next step is Monster Consulting Worldwild.
I smell the t-shirts already!
We’re jumping from there to an extremely similar locker room, with Dirty Dragan and Emil Sitoci preparing for their match next week. Against Monster Consulting. Dragan brings up their Cerberus connections, and he’s feeling confident all of a sudden!
Bobby Gunns is next, with Tarkan Aslan confronting him… asking for a title match for Lucky Kid at True Colors. Gunns tells the “errand boy” to go away, but Aslan just steals his cigarette instead.
Julian pace follows on the interview set, as Thommy Giesen asks him about his upcoming Shotgun title shot. It’s a big chance for Pace, who’s looking to cap off the hot start to his wXw career.
wXw Shotgun Championship: Julian Pace vs. Bobby Gunns (c)
In Shotgun canon, this is four title defences in a fortnight for Gunns, who started off taking Pace into the ropes as the feeling out process was rather terse. Pace tries to live up to his name with some Vollgas rope running, landing a dropkick to surprise the champion.
A monkey flip follows for Pace, who nailed a running shooting star press before trying to go to work on Gunns’ arm. Just like that though, Gunns is right back in it as he booted Pace off the top rope, following him outside with a Fireman’s carry drop onto the apron as the Shotgun champion eased into control, pinning Pace with a Liontamer-style single crab as Alan ran through that long list of wXw social media. To answer your question, Alan, vs. Mike Bailey…
We’re back as Gunns trapped pace in a STF, before he took Pace into the corner for a big lariat… but Pace escapes a slam and came back with a roll-through neckbreaker! Pace slides back into the ring as he does a bunch of misdirection, scoring with a satellite DDT that sent Gunns to the outside, where he’s crashed into with a huge tope con giro!
Back inside, Pace looked for an the imploding senton out of the corner – but Gunns rolls away and we’re straight in with the Swish Armbar as Pace quickly tapped out. Another spirited showing as Pace took a lot of the match, but Gunns had that little bit extra and was able to capitalise. ***
After the match, Tarkan Aslan hit the ring and stared down Gunns, holding onto his waistcoat like they were imaginary suspender belts before leaving the ring. Point… made?
Backstage again now with Martina, who’s unhappy with getting two losses over Carat weekend… and she blames it all on Melanie Gray. Sebastian Hollmichel lights her cigarette, before Martina says she’ll work her way back to the top… starting with Veda Scott next week. Uh-oh.
A clip from Ilja Dragunov’s successful title defence in London follows, and we’re back with the man himself as Thommy Giesen is backstage with him. Ilja feels victory and happiness, and tells us he’s back because his family is OK. He promises to give his blood and his body every time he wrestles… and then talk turns to his next opponent. His next big battlefield. WALTER at True Colors. Dragunov promises to be a champion that doesn’t hide, as he’ll forge the pathway for himself, his family and wrestling around the world. You know what I said in my wXw London review about Ilja commanding your attention from the second his music hit to the second he’s back through the curtain? It’s the same with his promos, regardless of the fact that I understood a fraction of what he said (before going to the subtitles).
More Carat clips now, this time of the six-man tag on night three where Jonah Rock and CCK won out… with special attention paid to the beef between Rock and Marius al-Ani. Or “Marry a Salami” as the chant sounded. Thanks Jamesie for that ear-worm… There’s a backstage promo with Jonah Rock ahead of the next match, with the Australian reckoning he’s going to kick his arse.
Jonah Rock vs. Marius al-Ani
Rock starts by charging Marius into the corner before effortlessly tossing him out of it. Yup. Jonah be strong!
Another Beele throw followed as Marius flipped his way into a bodyslam… he tries to kip up into an Exploder, but Jonah’s too big as he easily squashes him with a standing crossbody. Marius fights free of a waistlock, but he’s downed again with a headbutt and some chops from the Aussie, before he starts to mount a comeback with some dropkicks.
With Jonah on all fours, Marius nails a step-up elbow drop off of his back, but Jonah’s right back in it with a big Samoan drop as Marius was getting going. A DDT follows from Rock as the upcoming tour dates scroll, showing a wacky quadruple-show weekend in April (two shows the day before True Colors, and a Shotgun taping the day after). Rock thought he’d countered a spinning heel kick, but he’s back up after a ‘rana to clothesline Marius anyway… but Marius is right back at him with the spinning heel kick and a DDT as a set-up to a frog splash. Except Marius lands right into Jonah’s knees and gets met with a release German suplex as Jonah decided to go airborne himself, missing his version of the frog splash – the Bullfrog!
Marius comes right back with an ankle lock, which ends with a rope break. A cross body from Marius is caught, but he squirms free as he took Jonah into the corner for a spinning heel kick, followed by an Exploder and the frog splash, as al-Ani finally picked up the win! Short, but a pretty good back-and-forth contest given the time they had – and much like the London show, the guy who’s sticking around got the W, so it gave Marius a little steam too! ***¼
Speaking of Marius, he’s backstage with Christian Jakobi… who has a door opened onto him when Absolute Andy barged into their scheduled meeting. Jakobi tries to play peace-maker between Marius and Andy, saying that things can’t continue as they have been since Tag League. Marius just wanted to clear the air, but since Andy wasn’t around before he had to take matters into his own hands.
Jakobi proposes that they sort things out in the ring at True Colors – once and for all.. Marius proposes that they go all the way back to how A4 started: with a TLC match, but Andy mocks him by saying there needs to be something hanging from the ceiling…
There’s more trash talk between the Eagle and the “ceiling ninja” before Jakobi finds a solution: Andy’s 16 Carat Gold title shot is going to be on the line! Andy is far from happy, as he leaves to speak to his agent… and with Jakobi telling Marius that this is a reward for his hard work, that’s our show for the week!
Another solid episode of Shotgun – a show that really deserves more eyeballs, and hopefully its addition to the Powerbomb.tv service will help with that expansion. As for True Colors, well, for a show that could easily have been the Backlash to 16 Carat’s WrestleMania, the line-up announced thus far looks to be giving a real treat of a show to the folks in Dresden in a little over two weeks’ time. Strap in folks, the ride’s got a long way to go!