The final day of Carat weekend kicked off with a We Love Wrestling taping, as Kanji headlined against the self-declared women’s champion Jane Nero.
Quick Results
Katsuya Murashima & Henry Faust pinned Conn Kelly & Aeron in 8:11 (***)
Jessy Jay pinned Miko Alana in 4:58 (*¾)
Marc Empire & Robert Dreissker pinned Niklas Bock & Hugo Brand in 3:55 (***)
M4 pinned Nathan Black in 5:21 (**¾)
Brendan White & Danny Jones pinned Nico Angelo & Jay Joshua in 12:21 (***)
Amedeo pinned Starboy Charlie, Joseph Alexander & Fast Time Moodo in 6:40 (**½)
Dieter Schwartz submitted Jeremy Wyatt in 11:07 (**¾)
Laurance Roman & Nick Schreier pinned Luca de Leone & Nordino in 5:49 (**¾)
Dennis Dullnig defeats Axel Tischer by DQ to retain the wXw Shotgun Championship in 8:09 (**¾)
Jane Nero pinned Kanji in 11:30 (***½)
— 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
The final day of 16 Carat Gold weekend took us back inside the Turbinenhalle for a packed ten-match card. Mett Dimassi’s ring announcing this one, so Dave Bradshaw got to share commentary duties again with Norman Harras. Thrilled, I’m sure he was.
Henry Faust & Katsuya Murashima vs. Roadkill (Aeron & Conn Kelly)
Well isn’t this a Carat-coded team…
Faust and Kelly start us off, trading holds before tags brought in Murashima and Aeron to try and make a dent. Shoulder tackles from Aeron went nowhere before Murashima obliged with one of his own. Faust returns to kick Aeron a few times, prompting a fiery response with some help from Kelly’s facebuster.
Kelly and Aeron isolate Faust for a while, leading to the inevitable comeback that saw Faust break free of Roadkill before finally making the tag to Murashima. Cue chops from Murashima, at least until he was swarmed by Aeron and Kelly… a double shoulder tackle stopped them though before Kelly got rolled into a Boston crab.
Murashima’s not bouncing with it though, and Aeron’s able to break it up… only for Kelly to turn around into a lariat as Murashia took home the win with a bridging Northern Lights suplex. ***
Miko Alana vs. Jessy Jay
Jessy was on the periphery of the Fury title match on the Saturday – but this time she’s between the ropes for her first wXw match in almost a year.
Alana looked to start out strong, catching out Jay with a low dropkick in the opening minute, before she rolled Jay down for a sliding lariat. A turnaround sees Jesse take down Alana for an uppercut to the back, before a clothesline snuffed out Miko’s comeback.
Alana’s able to respond with a low crossbody to trap Jay in the corner, before a sunset flip almost won it for her… but Jay’s able to hit a knee strike, then a sit-out powerbomb to snatch the win. *¾
Quick And Dirty (Hugo Brand & Niklas Bock) vs. Planet Gojirah (Marc Empire & Robert Dreissker)
This was a main roster debut for Quick and Dirty after Bock’d debuted at Dead End…
Brand tried his luck early on with uppercuts to Empire… but a crossbody off the top’s simply side-stepped as Empire nope’d his way out of trouble. Dreissker’s in to put the pressure on, before Brand was hiptossed into the corner to force in a tag to Bock. Dreissker squashes Bock in the corner after Niklas had vaulted over a charge… and it was pretty much downhill from there.
Brand’s back in as Quick and Dirty found some form with double-team dropkicks, before Dreissker reversed a double-team suplex… which quickly led to the Beast Buster for the win. Short and sweet. ***
Nathan Black vs. M4
We’ve another debut here, with Nathan Black celebrating the start of his fourth year in wrestling (per Cagematch…) and he wasn’t exactly making friends on his first trip here.
Black backed off from M4 to start, before he went for the eyes to help take things into the corner. A back body drop from M4 sent Black into the skies, before Black backed off to avoid a uranage attempt.
On the outside, Nathan got in some fan’s faces as M4 gave a very slow chase… back inside, Black took out M4’s knee then began a very weird combination – singing 99 Luftballons while stretching M4. Eventually M4 retaliated with an overhand chop and a powerslam for a near-fall, before Black escaped a uranage and hit a swinging flatliner.
M4’s able to kick-out, then resisted another flatliner before hitting the uranage for the win. This was perfectly fine for what it was – giving M4 another win in the process. **¾
Backstage, Dan Mallmann’s joined by Jane Nero and 10/10 Next Level… Jane demands that she’s introduced as the women’s champion, only for Dan to point out that she’d not won the title. Nero’s facing Kanji in the main event – a match she quickly pointed out was going to be non-title…
Diamond Eyes (Jay Joshua & Nico Angelo) vs. Greedy Souls (Brendan White & Danny Jones)
This was a first-time meeting between the Welsh foursome, as we started with Jones working over Joshua’s wrist in the opening stages.
Joshua’s able to charge through a clothesline before taking down Jones, but he’s quickly taken into the corner as Brendan White came in. Nico Angelo’s met with a bodyslam from White, but was able to chain together some offence – ending with Tetsuya Naito’s old Combinacion Cabron slingshot dropkick in the corner.
The Greedy Souls turned it back around with a double-team that led to a backbreaker, before some more double-teaming behind the ref’s back left Nico in trouble. Back sentons from the Greedy Souls keep Angelo on the back foot, but Jay Joshua’s able to turn it around en route to a double back suplex on the former tag champions.
A dropkick-assisted brainbuster helps Angelo to a two-count on White, but tags out turn the match on its head as Danny Jones’ lariat puts Jay Joshua back in trouble. Suplexes helped Joshua to make a comeback, flinging White into the corner just in time for Nico Angelo to return to hit a top rope elbow for a near-fall on White.
Angelo stops a superplex attempt by dropping an elbow onto the lower back of White… but that’s quickly shrugged off as Brendan hit Nico with a diving kick, before Danny Jones returned to help set up for the Souled Out to get the win. ***
Backstage, CSI are annoying The Grind… Roman got fed up with them rattling off Italian foodstuffs to Nick Schreier, then chased them out of the room. Did Nick ever get his tiramisu?
Amedeo vs. Fast Time Moodo vs. Joseph Alexander vs. Starboy Charlie
Amedeo won this shot by way of winning a wacky rampage battle royal at the Wednesday Night Heat show at the wXw academy a few days prior.
After everyone had sent Moodo to the outside, Amedeo and Alexander quickly followed suit, before Moodo’s trip up put the brakes on a dive from Charlie. A ‘rana and a high kick from Charlie takes care of Moodo again, only for Amedeo to return and take care of Charlie and Alexander.
Moodo’s in and out again as Amedeo was clearing house, before Alexander and Amedeo joined forces to hit a suplex – aided by a Charlie crossbody to take Moodo down again. Heading outside, Charlie’s able to hit a Sasuke special before a froggy crossbody back in nearly put Amedeo away.
Alexander pulls a Jay Joshua with a double back suplex to Amedeo and Moodo as we keep going, only for Moodo to pull the referee out of the ring after Alexander had dumped Charlie into the corner with a suplex. Moodo has his fun in the corner, suplexing Amedeo into Alexander, before his Coast to Coast dropkick found its mark.
Moodo tries to finish off Alexander with a Pedigree, but Charlie’s shooting star press breaks up the cover, before Amedeo countered Charlie’s handspring into a piledriver for the win. This was a little too spotty, but I’d like to way more of Amedeo as he impressed me here and at the Heat show a few days prior. **½
Backstage, Dan Mallmann’s with Kanji who’s thrilled to be in wXw… and gave some words of warning for Jane Nero later on, calling the Women’s title she’s found a “prop.”
Jeremy Wyatt vs. Dieter Schwartz
Where do you start with this… Oberhausen (and most of the wXw audiences, to be fair) seem to desperately want to cheer Schwartz, but Schwartz continues to push back. Problem was, the crowd took his shushing literally… and that cast the die for an utterly bizarre match.
A match that had the crowd shushing themselves, so Schwartz could work in silence, before someone found out how you could cheer in sign language. While somewhat entertaining, it came close to derailing the match, especially while Wyatt and Schwartz were figuring out just what was going on.
Wyatt’s clothesline took Schwartz to the outside, with a dropkick through the ropes following… before Schwartz caught Wyatt on the top rope and sent him flying back to the floor. Back inside, Wyatt tries to work the arm, but Schwartz just grounded him with a chinlock before a European uppercut almost ended things.
Schwartz’s waistlock ends in the ropes as Wyatt came close with a side Russian legsweep, before his crossface forced Schwartz into the ropes. A catapult from Schwartz takes Wyatt into the corner, ahead of a RINGKAMPF-esque bridging German suplex, before Wyatt countered a superplex with a sunset flip powerbomb.
Wyatt couldn’t follow-up though, and when Schwartz charged him into the corner shoulder-first, the ensuing arm trap submission was elementary. Props to the hushed cheers and ring announcing afterwards… but I’m kinda hoping this doesn’t become an ongoing bit, lest the subtlety hammer get overused. **¾
CSI (Luca de Leone & Nordino) vs. The Grind (Laurance Roman & Nick Schreier)
It was a quick turnaround for the Grind after they lost their tag titles the prior evening…
Schreier took de Leone to the mat early on, before he used a headstand to escape a headscissors counter. A clearly-pissed-off Roman’s in next as Nordino tried his luck, but to no avail again as the Grind continued to control things.
A quick turnaround gave CSI some hope, at least until Roman took matters into his own hands once more, finishing off Nordino with a piledriver. Short and sweet, but it’s very telling that Schreier was jovial whereas Roman just wanted to get this over with. **¾
wXw Shotgun Championship: Axel Tischer vs. Dennis Dullnig (c)
Dullnig had already defended the Shotgun title once this weekend – but this seemed to be an even bigger challenge.
A fake-out from Dullnig saw him attack Tischer the second the champion’s music ended… but Dullnig celebrated too early and missed that Tischer had gotten back to his feet as the match started. The challenger was all over Dullnig to start, taking him outside so he could boot him out of the front row.
Dullnig took over with an arm whip, dumping Tischer onto the side of the ring, before a Magic Screw and a Falcon Arrow combination back inside nearly ended things. An eye rake behind the ref’s back keeps Dullnig ahead, as did an enziguiri and a backbreaker before a Horrible Slam cut off the champion.
A short-leg clothesline from Tischer dropped Dullnig into the corner, while a flying clothesline almost led to the title change… but also prompted Dullnig to charge Tischer into the referee. A knee strike takes Tischer down, and with no ref, Dullnig heads outside to grab the Shotgun title… which Tischer caught.
A tug of war breaks out just as referee Felix Schultz gets to his feet, but Dullnig lets go… meaning Tischer’s belt shot caught the ref, leading to the DQ. This one didn’t really get going, and the finish kinda deflated the crowd. Dullnig will get his in the end… **¾
Dan Mallmann’s backstage with Elijah Blum, who addressed Bobby Gunns’ attack on him after yesterday’s main event – and it’ll be setting up a match on the final Carat show of the weekend.
Jane Nero vs. Kanji
Nero had previously declared that the Women’s title wasn’t on the line here… not least because it’s not a currently-active belt. 10/10 Next Level joined Nero at ringside, with Alex Duke looking quite like Evolution-era Mark Jindrak…
There’s some shade on Nottingham from Norman Harras on commentary to get us going, as Jane Nero was quickly taken to her knees with a test of strength from Kanji, who moved in with a cravat that took things to the mat before Nero fought her way free.
A splash to the back from Kanji re-established her lead, before Nero was sent outside… and got caught with a swinging kick, then a PK on the apron for good measure. Aleksander Bellamy looks to create a distraction on the floor, while Alex Duke had more luck as Nero caught Kanji out of the corner with a facebuster to turn the match around.
Nero keeps things on the ground with a seated full nelson, but Kanji’s able to hit back with the ZSJ-esque neck twist on the ground… then in the corner. A PK misses as Nero tried to snatch a win with a roll-up, before Kanji countered a kick by trapping Nero’s leg in the ropes for a Dragon screw.
Kanji turned the focus onto Nero’s arm, but that just prompted more heckling from Duke and Bellamy at ringside… not that it had any effect, as Nero couldn’t avoid the snapping armbar. More interference from Duke and Bellamy backfires as Nero had the ref distracted, before Kanji leapt into a full nelson slam as Nero’s Twist of Fate quickly put an end to this. An enjoyable main event that saw Nero win – albeit with a fair amount of interference – but I’d not be against seeing a rematch. Nor would I be against Norman Harras providing commentary every time one of his former tag partners was involved… ***½
Ten matches on a Sunday lunchtime perhaps was a little much – but nothing on this show outstayed its welcome and gave us exposure to several wrestlers who’d been waiting in the wings throughout the weekend.