Hot off the heels of a loaded show in Hamburg, Shotgun presents some of the fall-out as wXw prepared to enter their summer break.
Save for some academy shows and Shotgun tapings, there’s no major events on the wXw calendar until August’s Shortcut to the Top in Oberhausen, before the Shotgun Live tour kicks off in September… so this is the last Shotgun before the summer break! You know the drill by now – watch the Hamburg show before this if you’re avoiding spoilers! We’re in Bielefeld this week, with Alan Counihan providing the English call.
First up is clips from the finish of the latest round of the Dirty Dragan Trial Series, along with Dragan’s breakdown after the match. He’s calmed down a little as Emil Sitoci quizzes him about his mood swings… but Dragan’s not saying anything, so Emil tells him to call a therapist. He’s not quite ready yet, it seems…
Clips of WALTER tapping out to Zack Sabre Jr follow, and the pair have the Shotgun equivalent of a beer after work. Zack thanks WALTER for “tattooing him” with his chops, and the mutual love in ends with WALTER hoping that Sabre’ll win the title.
Next up – the finish of Toni Storm’s title defence against Kay Lee Ray. We’re going in thick and fast with these recaps! Kay Lee Ray’s backstage next with Sebastian Hollmichel, as they talk about that match… Kay Lee said there’s no shame in losing to one of the best in the world, before promising to return.
The finish to Friday’s tag team match is next, before we see Christian Jakobi at the merch table, being interrupted by Julian Nero and Avalanche… and their brand new Monster Consulting World Wild t-shirt! They’re understandably upset about how Jay FK had stolen the tag titles, and Avalanche quickly loses his rag… threatening to destroy wXw’s merch if something isn’t done. That’s a bit severe…
…but it works, as Jakobi finds Jay FK pretty quickly, and threatens consequences if they don’t hand back the title belts. Skillet tries to laugh it off, while Kaspin acts like an annoyingly school child, saying that there’s no need for Jay FK to have a tag title match because they already got what they wanted. They shove Jakobi down and walk off… and they’ll probably be dead men soon.
The end of Lucky Kid vs. Bobby Gunns is shown, before we see Pete Bouncer contronting Tarkan Aslan for ruining Lucky Kid’s dreams. Aslan reckons that Lucky Kid would have lost the match anyway, and he cost him the match for his own good. Tarkan reckons he’s in a position to talk because he’s held gold before and because he knows Lucky Kid better… before walking off.
wXw Shotgun Championship: David Starr vs. Bobby Gunns (c)
Surprisingly, these two have only met once before in singles action – with their paths having crossed at last year’s AMBITION tournament, where Bobby Gunns dispatched the Product in pretty short order.
Starr began by taking the upper hand, forcing Gunns down to the mat with a wristlock before finding himself in an armbar as the pair went back-and-forth on each other’s arms. They continue to grapple on the mat, with Starr getting on top briefly before Gunns shoves him into the ropes, slipping in a cheapshot for the heck of it. Gunns shoots back in, taking down Starr in search of a single-leg crab, but they again end up in the ropes… a familiar position as Gunns keeps going for cheapshots, before finally missing. A springboard lariat from Starr also misses as Gunns captures the arm for a hanging armbar, but Starr’s back with a Han Stansen-like lariat to get him some breathing space.
Except Gunns was still a step ahead as he throws Starr shoulder-first into the ring post, as the champion now had a body part to aim at! A stomp on the elbow’s next, as were chops to the upper arm as Starr gets tripped down for a toe-hold that turned into an Indian deathlock as Gunns looks to be in complete control.
Starr tried to escape and reverse the hole, and actually manages to fish-hook the champion’s nose, as the scrappy exchanges on the mat continued, with a stomp to the hand somehow prompting the Product to fire back with chops and lariats. Starr tries to cartwheel away from a back body drop, but his arm gives way as he collapses to the mat, allowing Gunns to pick up where he left off.
Starr tries in vain to fight back with chops and clubbing right hands, but Gunns keeps going back to the arm as Starr nails the Pretty Pumped. A back elbow from Starr leads to a Flatliner as he nailed the Product Recall away from the ropes, but Gunns is able to kick out at two, before he’s tripped into the ropes for a superkick. David even flies, going up top for a crossbody, again picking up a two count as Gunns kicks out and goes straight back to the arm!
A German suplex from Gunns left him ahead again, as he looked to tee up for a clothesline, but Starr powers through and hits one of his own, before unleashing with a Violence Party of chops and forearms, only to get caught in a back suplex. Another Han Stansen followed as Starr had one last bit of energy left in him before collapsing to the mat, as referee Tassilo Jung began to count both men down.
More strikes follow as the pair continue to wear the other down, with Gunns keeping up on Starr’s left arm, dragging him down into a Swish Armbar, only for the Product to squirm into the ropes. Gunns goes right back to that arm though, as the pair ended on the apron, with an arm whip dragging Starr down awkwardly to the floor… before managing to return fire with a Cherry Mint DDT!
The Han Stansen lariat somehow followed as one-armed David tries to fight back, nailing a Blackheart Buster for a two-count, then a superkick for another near-fall as Starr came within millimetres of becoming a four-time Shotgun champ. Tassilo Jung had to help Starr wrench his arm back in as he tried to go for a Product Placement, but the arm remained the weak point as Gunns again tries to capitalise… and after unsighting the referee, a low blow from Gunns allowed him to take Starr into the ropes for an O’Connor roll to retain the title! As you’d expect, a really good match between these two, with Starr’s arm being the main focal point while Gunns literally did whatever it took to retain his belt going into the summer. A bit of a low key hit, especially as nobody would have expected a title change to happen on Shotgun, and therefore could have written this match off. ***¾
After the match, Gunns takes the mic and says that David Starr is “almost on the same level as Arminia (Bielefeld)” – that’s some serious shade! Gunns says that by beating the “record holding” Starr, he needs something new as a challenge… a new challenger. So, he sets up a tournament to crown his next contender for August 4’s Shortcut to the Top.
That kicks off next week, with Lucky Kid vs. Julian Pace, while Juvenile X vs. TKO, Veit Müller vs. Mike Schwarz and Ivan Kiev vs. Marius al-Ani finish off the first round.
They replay the end of David Starr’s emphatic win over Julian Pace from last week, and we go to the two of them talking over their match. Pace is still shooting some evil stares towards Starr, who’s telling him to set goals… and then achieve them. Julian wants to win the Shotgun title tournament to get another shot at Bobby Gunns, while Starr gives us his goals: to beat WALTER, and win the wXw title. I think Julian’s goals are probably more likely…
Tassilo Jung’s backstage to close off the show, as Sebastian Hollmichel wanders in looking for Dirty Dragan. Nobody can find him, and everyone’s worried… but Tass just thinks that Emil Sitoci should speak to him as the show goes off the air.
Shotgun this week was very recap heavy – as you’d usually expect coming out of feature events – but it did a good job getting you up to speed if you haven’t had the time to see the Hamburg show yet. I’d strongly recommend making time to watch the Hamburg event, especially the main event. wXw now go for over two months without any marquee or feature events, meaning that Shotgun – and the Shotgun title tournament – will be their main storyline ahead of August’s Shortcut to the Top.