Fresh on the heels of a Saturday night in Frankfurt, Shotgun returns to bring us up to speed on the latest from wXw.
Quick Result
Marc Empire pinned Katsuya Murashima in 7:18 (***)
— In the next week or so, I’ll be chatting about this show with Mike Kilby on the Auf Die Fresse podcast. Links to stream that episode when it drops, as well as back episodes are available at AufDieFresse.co.uk
With Shotgun settling into a “Thursday after a live show” schedule, we’re back for the fallout from Frankfurt. Mett Dimassi welcomes by telling us that last weekend was wXw’s 25th time in Frankfurt… that feels like it should have been a bigger deal?
We’ve got Katsuya Murashima vs. Marc Empire on tap for later, but first, some highlights from 16 Carat Gold Revenge… including Ahura’s return to Frankfurt, Elijah Blum retaining the Unified World Wrestling title against Bobby Gunns, Jane Nero’s erm, fake, title defence, and the Cowboy Way’s win over 10/10 Next Level.
Back inside the Batschkapp, Mett throws to some backstage comments… first, Ahura and Tihanyi say their goodbyes after the show. Ahura tells Tihanyi to stop overexplaining himself, which drew the attention of Dieter Schwartz, who didn’t appreciate the act they were putting on. Ahura shushes and jazz hands Dieter, as we’re told that we’re getting Tihanyi and Schwartz in Dresden, by the way…
Jane Nero’s unhappy at not being announced as wXw Women’s champion… or at being introduced first. Lil Marz took exception at Jane, which led to the appearance of more surprise Ahura, defender of women. He’s creating a lot of screenshots in these first few episodes already, as we’re getting Nero and Duke vs. Marz and Ahura in Dresden.
Elsewhere, Laurance Roman’s showing Zoltan something on his phone as Metehan wandered into gloat. Metehan tried to needle Roman, claiming he was going to dump Nick Schreier for his new favourite Zoltan… feeding the Grind vs. Metehan/Rambo match that’s coming up. We also got a little bit of Roman firing up Zoltan for his European title match with Ricky Sosa…
Backstage, Nordino’s playing that wrestling quiz that was being plugged during Carat. He’s struggling to think of a tag team that starts with P… and comes up with Planet Gorgonzola. Of course Marc Empire and Robin Christopher Fohrwerk are behind him, with Marc stealing Nordino’s protein. There’s a few in-jokes I could bring up, but they’d all get me sued. Yeah, we’re getting CSI vs. Planet Gojirah in Dresden.
Dennis Dullnig’s fed up of lies, and tells us we’re all delusional if we think he’s scared of facing Axel Tischer. Dullnig claims he was just being generous, giving a shot to Amedeo and building the next generation instead… and offered to retire the Axeman in Dresden.
Hey, there’s the Cowboy Way taking the piss out of Next Level’s name… but that’s it for Manders on this tour, leaving after losing two title matches. Thomas Shire’s got another fortnight here, but he’s got plans…
Mett’s back with Ben Thamer with some card news:
We Love Wrestling 76 on April 11 in Dresden
wXw Shotgun Championship: Axel Tischer vs. Dennis Dullnig (c)
wXw European Championship: Zoltan vs. Ricky Sosa (c)
CSI vs. Planet Gojirah
Jane Nero & Alex Duke vs. Ahura & Lil Marz
Dieter Schwartz vs. Peter Tihanyi
Katsuya Murashima vs. Shreddy
Los Compadres vs. The Grind
We Love Wrestling 77 on April 12 in Leipzig
Peter Tihanyi vs. Thomas Shire
Elijah Blum vs. Shreddy
Katsuya Murashima vs. Fast Time Moodo
Los Compadres & Axel Tischer vs. Planet Gojirah & Dennis Dullnig
Ahura vs. Ricky Sosa
Mett pitches to a promo video from Mercedes Martinez, filmed outside the Electric Ballroom at PROGRESS as she promised to win Femmes Fatales in September.
Marc Empire vs. Katsuya Murashima
This was meant to have been Murashima against Alex Duke, but card changes in Frankfurt gave us this instead…
The opening lock-up gave us no clear advantage, at least until Murashima took Empire into the ropes… and got chopped on the break. Murashima fought back at least as the pair traded chops, then shoulder tackles, before Murashima finally took down the tag team champion.
Chops from Murashima follow in the corner, along with almost a Judo throw out of the corner for a two-count. A slam attempt’s blocked by Empire, whose headbutt knocked Murashima down for a two-count of his own. Back into the corner, Murashima’s met with a splash from Empire, then with a pendulum backbreaker, before a snapmare and a low crossbody almost ended things.
Another trip into the corner led to a charge out from Murashima, whose second wind sees him take Empire from corner-to-corner ahead of a leaping shoulder block. A standing flip senton and a splash almost ends it, before Empire slipped out of a powerslam.
Second time’s the charm for Murashima though as he avoided some offence from Empire, but it’s not enough… and when Empire caught a charge and countered Murashima into a spinning side suplex, the die was cast as a Bull lariat from Empire got the win. This was pretty solid for the sub-10 minute Shotgun match format. Murashima shouldn’t be getting wins over established champions, especially not this early on in his excursion. ***
After the match, we’ve one last clip as Elijah Blum is on his way out… chucking away presumably Bobby Gunns’ cigarettes before he bumped into a belligerent Thomas Shire. Elijah offered to show Shire “the Blum Way,” which is code for Blum offering a title shot in Dresden… which is graphic official as the show leaves the air.