Superstars of Wrestling is this weekend in Oberhausen – Shotgun provides the final build for wXw’s latest offering.
We open with a clip from Shotgun a few weeks ago, where Da Mack attacked Pete Bouncer after that LAX & Ilja vs. RISE trios match… then Pete Bouncer’s open challenge to Mack from the wXw show in Frankfurt.
We’re still in Cologne this week, with RISE announced as getting their tag title shot this week. That was quick!
Juvenile X vs. Marius al-Ani
We start Shotgun this week with a rare wXw appearance from Juvenile X, who we last saw in January upsetting Absolute Andy on Shotgun.
It’s pretty even to start with, as the pair keep things grounded, before Juvenile grabbed the arm and grabbed a wristlock on the Ninja. Living up to his name, Marius acrobatically flipped out into some grounded headscissors, but he’s still having to counter as Juvenile escaped time and again. Finally Marius gets ahead with a hiptoss and a clothesline, sending Juvenile to the floor, but al-Ani has no intention of keeping it there, throwing X back inside… only to get caught with a springboard dropkick as it seemed that Juvenile wasn’t done yet. A scoop slam gets X a near-fall, as he grounds Marius with a cobra clutch, going back to that hold time and again when Marius fought free.
Marius finally cuts off Juvenile as he leapt off the top… but a leaping heel kick gets X back in it as Marius found himself struggling here… but a Capoeira-style kick finally gets Marius some breathing space. It didn’t last though, with Juvenile catching him in the ropes, before Marius finally hits a spinning heel kick!
From there, al-Ani charges into Juvenile as he built up to the step-up elbow drop, before he’s caught with a spinning Downward Spiral for a near-all as again Juvenile X was tasting an upset. Marius gets lifted onto the apron next, but he rebounds with the sunset flip and kip-up, before switching the Exploder suplex into an ankle lock instead for the submission. I like how wXw has these matches where the result on paper isn’t in doubt, but the “enhancement” guy comes achingly close. The win keeps Marius strong, and means that Juvenile isn’t dead and buried next time wXw use him. ***
A video package for the mixed-tag match at Superstars of Wrestling follows, as the “rookies” take on the veterans… it’s the Killer Ninjas against the team that (at time of writing) may well be called the Amazing, Spectacular, Invigorating, Monumental, Wonderful and History Absolute Andy Experience featuring M.G. No, I’m not going to make it an acronym, why do you ask?
A replay from Dirty Dragan’s win over Francis Kaspin last week airs, and we’ve got Emil Sitoci giving Dragan some knee pads! Ooh, I wonder if this is going to be like those fairground games, but instead of a ticket for every time you win Dragan gets new gear? Enough wins and he gets his own personalised trunks! Dragan turns talk to Emil’s match with Billy Gunn this weekend, while Dragan’s got Joey Mercury. Two big matches in their own ways, and hopefully those new knee pads will come into their own!
Next: the contract signing between Ilja Dragunov and WALTER… WALTER happily signs his part of the contract, while Ilja is almost reminded that he’s signing a death warrant. WALTER’s almost a dick towards Ilja, mocking him for “not being familiar with signing as a champion”, so Ilja calls him a privileged so-and-so. In not so many words. Insert the usual “even in a foreign language, without reading subtitles, Ilja’s promos are fire” comment, as he signs, storms out, and leaves everyone bewildered.
Bobby Gunns vignette time – with plenty of shade at the indy scene and their flavours of the month.
Alan takes us on a tour of the Superstars of Wrestling card:
wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship: Ilja Dragunov (c) vs. WALTER
wXw Women’s Championship: Tenille Dashwood vs. Toni Storm (c)
wXw Shotgun Championship: Bobby Gunns (c) vs. Christopher Daniels
Billy Gunn vs. Emil Sitoci
Jay Lethal vs. Lucky Kid
Killer Kelly & Marius al-Ani vs. Amazing, Spectacular, Invigorating, Monumental, Wonderful and History Absolute Andy Experience featuring M.G (Absolute Andy & Melanie Gray)
Dirty Dragan Trial Series: Joey Mercury vs. Dirty Dragan
Warm-Up: Francis Kaspin vs. Alexander James
The finish of Monster Consulting vs. Arrows of Hungary from Frankfurt is replayed here, and that bleeds into our main event…
wXw World Tag Team Championship: RISE (Ivan Kiev & Pete Bouncer) vs. Monster Consulting (Avalanche & Julian Nero) (c)
Well, RISE didn’t wait too long to cash in their shot, eh?
The early back-and-forth sees Nero get slammed by Bouncer, who followed up with a standing elbow drop before turning around into a big boot. Nero is straight in with some mounted punches… five, to be exact, and then tags in Avalanche to make matters worse for RISE.
A diving crossbody from Avalanche flattens Bouncer, who tries to fight back, sidestepping a charge before holding Avalanche for a side Russian legsweep/Blockbuster combo as Kiev got the tag in. Kiev’s quickly caught up top and press slammed a la Ric Flair as Avalanche charges in with a cannonball for good measure, as Kiev had his spell on the defensive end of things.
The champions keep up with the Sidewinder – sidewalk slam/top rope legdrop – but Bouncer breaks up the cover, before getting tagged in after a Pele-style kick from Kiev. Nero’s in too to try and cut off Bouncer, but he’s met with a Slop Drop-style reverse DDT as RISE, erm, were on the ascendancy.
A full nelson slam from Bouncer gets Kiev a two-count, before Nero pops up Kiev into a Fireman’s carry takedown without even leaving his feet. Avalanche is in to throw Kiev about, but Ivan’s flying leg lariat becomes the equaliser as he tries to tag in Bouncer… but he’s distracted by the presence of Da Mack’s music video, so he gets hit with the Final Consultation and a pop-up lariat as Monster Consulting got the win. An interesting finish as the champions capitalise on Pete Bouncer’s low attention span, but since wXw don’t overuse this to death, I don’t mind it too much. I’d love to see a rematch with a cleaner finish, mind you! ***¼
We’re backstage now as Monster Consulting are surveying catering, and they’re interrupted by Kiev and Bouncer. Pete wants a handshake… while Ivan laments how it ended. Avalanche offers a rematch because they weren’t down with Da Mack’s stunt, so he offers a rematch. On 5/5. Of course! That’s our final match for Superstars of Wrestling, even if Nero’s more bothered about the lack of peas…
Zack Sabre Jr. of all people pops up at the end of Shotgun, to talk about his match with Lucky Kid in Frankfurt. He calls Lucky a “mentalist”, but he’s impressed… even if he’s not ready yet. Next week, Zack’s got David Starr, but he’s offended by anyone who compares their recent achievements. In comes Starr, who mocks, then reminds Starr that he beat him in the final of World Tag Team League… while calling Sabre a choker. Zack’s incredulous at Starr’s win on the “big stage” of CZW, and pokes more fun at Starr’s lack of big wins against WALTER… and next week, those two square off on Shotgun! It’s gonna be a good one!
We close with a video package for the WALTER/Ilja match… and that’s Shotgun for another week! A pleasingly-short episode, with the usual mixture of good in-ring action and backstage stuff to build for the future. Starr/Sabre should be all kinds of greatness next week – which means that wXw’s output in the next seven days, between Superstars of Wrestling and Shotgun, really is can’t-miss viewing!