wXw returned to Hamburg’s Markthalle for the first time since February’s Dead End, for the latest stop on their We Love Wrestling tour.
RISE played a big role here as the new invaders were all in action against “home team” favourites, whilst Da Mack put a lot on the line as he entered a loser leaves town match against Bobby Gunns. Rico Bushido’s on the English call, alongside Adam Polak in a pairing that I’m kinda hoping isn’t going to be a long-term deal. I miss Alan.
Francis Kaspin vs. Chris Colen
This battle of former tag partners turned enemies – of sorts – started when Colen ditch Kaspin to form RISE. We get the video package from Shotgun of Colen explaining his reasons for forming RISE before his thunderstormy entrance…
Kaspin takes the fight to Colen, who handily fought back in the opening stages, throwing in a back body drop that Kaspin tried to flip out of, only to land awkwardly as his knees buckled. There’s some impressive throws as Colen uses his strength to keep Kaspin firmly on the back foot, but those chops wake up Kaspin briefly… only until he gets smashed with a powerbomb.
Kaspin manages to get back into things with a drop toe hold, before flying into Colen with double chops – but those earlier strikes clearly slowed down the youngster. A Northern Lights suplex gets Kaspin a near-fall, but his springboard out of the corner’s caught and turned into a German suplex before a uranage sealed the win for Colen. Not quite a squash, but extremely hard-hitting and dominant – exactly what you’d want here for a debuting force. I’d expect Kaspin to deliver Colen’s comeuppance, but not for much longer in this story! ***
After the match Colen kept toying with Kaspin, before punching him into the ropes… only for Kim Ray to make the save and, yes, kick Colen’s head. That segued into our next match…
Kim Ray vs. Pete Bouncer
Bouncer came through the crowd and attacked Ray from behind as the referee returned to start this match. Pete Bouncer looks sort-of like Jordan Devlin, without the massive forehead, but he quickly ends up on his back courtesy of a back elbow from Ray, who went back to the kicks.
A release Fisherman’s suplex sends Bouncer into the corner, but the RISE newcomer briefly turned things around, hitting a full nelson slam for a near-fall. Ray rebounds with elbows before, yes, landing more kicks, but a spinning roundhouse misses as Bouncer hit a reverse DDT onto the knee for a near-fall.
Another Ray kick sets up for a Falcon arrow, but he misses a PK as Bouncer almost snuck in the win, only for an enziguiri to get Kim the win. It was what it was – Kim Ray isn’t setting my world on fire, but at least they kept this short. **½
wXw World Tag Team Championship: Bad Bones & Alpha Kevin vs. Young Lions (Lucky Kid & Tarkan Aslan) (c)
Bad Bones jumps the Lions as they made their way down as it’s all Klinger in the opening moments, throwing Lucky Kid like he was nothing. The Lions were thrown all over the place early, before Lucky Kid scored a handspring back elbow to Alpha Kevin – prompting the Lions to take over for a spell.
The Lions pull out all of the usual bad guy tag team tactics – distracting the referee, pulling someone off the apron as a tag’s about to be made – but unlike Chris Colen earlier, their offence was more “cheaty” than “vicious”. All of this enraged Bad Bones to the point where he was given a fine by referee Tassilo Jung for his constant outbursts. €20 is more of a slap on the wrist, but it’s a good point…
Eventually Bad Bones got the hot tag in and cleared house on Aslan and Kid, landing a slingshot spear to Tarkan through the ropes, then a superkick for a near-fall. However, the Lions got rid of Kevin as they looked to double-team again, scoring a backbreaker/flatliner combo for a near-fall. Bones recovered with a German suplex before bringing in Kevin, but Pete Bouncer and Ivan Kiev appeared on the stage to create a distraction…
That led to Bad Bones stopping a belt shot, but Tarkan Aslan had the other tag belt and succeeded, which allowed Lucky Kid to score the pin on Kevin for the win. Decent enough as RISE truly ran roughshod over wXw – and it’s so far, so good for this new faction! ***¼
The RISE beatdown continued after the match, until Alpha Kevin had a RISE shirt placed over him as he was left laying.
wXw Shotgun Championship: David Starr vs. Angelico (c)
After losing the title to Emil Sitoci at 16 Carat Gold, David Starr’s back in wXw to try and remove it from its current holder, Angelico, who’s yet to successfully defend it after his first defence – against Ilja Dragunov – ended in a draw.
Starr looks to end things early as he tripped up Angelico – who returned the favour – as both men neutralised each other early on. Angelico grounded Starr with a surfboard stretch, but the challenger hit back with an inverted gutwrench as Rico Bushido almost wet himself in anticipation of the “Rip Rogers Nightmare”.
Angelico kicked and kneed his way back into the match, scoring with a handstand up-kick for a near-fall as the Fall of the Angels was attempted… but Starr blocked it and hit the clothesline/Flatliner in the ropes to try and regain his title. Starr then blocked a dive from Angelico and turned it into a DDT on the apron, only for Starr to leap into a Shuri-Knee (bicycle knee strike) as Angelico finally draped himself onto Starr for a near-fall.
Starr almost got the win with a Blackheart Buster, but the pair continued to trade near falls before Angelico hit another Shuri-Knee, then a Fall of the Angels to successfully retain. That was a heck of a sprint, and the highlight of this show so far! ****
Unfortunately, this was followed by perhaps the most gut-wrenching moment in the promotion’s history, as Karsten Beck came out for a spot where he was supposed to have revealed that he was going to be making his in-ring comeback at Shortcut to the Top on July 1. It was revealed that life had forced him to change things after a recent check-up revealed that he had to undergo another round of brain surgery… but first, the Hamburg crowd serenaded Beck with a song that moved an already emotional “König der Catcher” who went on to talk about the last few years of his career.
The crowd broke into a chant of “fuck you cancer”, which we can all agree on, along with “You’ll Never Walk Alone” during Beck’s impassioned speech. I sincerely hope that Karsten can overcome this latest setback, and whether it’s back in the ring or just in a “normal life”, he can well and truly beat cancer once and for all. Christian Michael Jakobi interrupted Beck as he looked to have finished, but all that was was so that Beck could punch out Jakobi and “quit” as wXw’s sporting director to tie up that particular loose end.
WALTER vs. Ivan Kiev
The last round of RISE vs. wXw matches – for this show at least – pitted Ivan Kiev against the last remaining part of RINGKAMPF. WALTER started by bulling Kiev out of the ring after he’d tried to go move-for-move with the giant Austrian, but both men were rather even to begin with, as Kiev managed to delay a seated splash from WALTER.
Kiev forces a rope break to escape a rear naked choke, but he avoids a German suplex as he instead flipped over WALTER and landed a headscissors to take the Austrian outside – only to use that time to recover from the chops that had marked his chest in the opening stages. Kiev goes flying with a tope to WALTER on the floor as the commentary team downed some Jägermeister. Hey, it made Eurovision bearable for so many years!
WALTER hit back with a German suplex for a near-fall, before deciding to try and obliterate Ivan with chops and clotheslines. Those strikes always sound crisp and believable, but somehow Kiev was able to stay standing as he flipped over a sleeperhold into a near-fall before raking his eyes out of a powerbomb attempt.
Somehow, Kiev sent WALTER flying with a top rope ‘rana, before impressively lifting up the Austrian for a death valley driver for a near-fall. A corner cannonball puts Kiev firmly in the driving seat, at least until he dived onto WALTER’s knees, allowing the big man to chain together a big boot, a German suplex and a lariat for another near-fall. Shocked, WALTER planted Kiev with a powerbomb for another two-count, only for another powerbomb to get turned into a DDT as Kiev hit another death valley driver… and that was enough for the shock win! I’m not sure I’d have had WALTER take a fall this early, but it helps to give the hitherto unknown Kiev some credibility… that it came after a really good match can only have helped things too! ***¾
Loser Leaves Town: Bobby Gunns vs. Da Mack
Well, this is the 1800th match I’ve seen this year… and it feels like yet another replay – even if this is just the fourth time they’ve met in some televised form. The story here was that Mack has been on a long run of bad form since he took part in last year’s WWE Cruiserweight Classic, and after Bobby Gunns targeted Mack’s girlfriend, Mack’s making this a high stakes affair – with the verbiage being that the loser of this match cannot wrestle in Hamburg ever again.
Mack opened up by clotheslining Gunns to the floor, where he leapt onto him with a top rope body press as Mack started this blood feud hot! The two slug it out on the floor, before Mack threw Gunns into some chairs on the stage, as they then headed onto the entrance way. Gunns gets thrown off onto the floor, before Mack leapt off of an equipment case to the floor below as Mack roared into life!
Back in the ring, Mack keeps up his offence with Slingblades and an overhead belly-to-belly, before a dropkick sent Gunns reeling into the corner. A spinning back kick on the apron keeps Gunns down, but Mack ended up being sent outside quickly as Gunns took over at ringside – and he kept up the pressure with a Flatliner into the middle turnbuckle.
Mack argues with a crew member as he went to get back into the ring, but Gunns just caught him with a couple of rope-hung armbars as the tempo slowed down to a more deliberate pace. Another Mack comeback sees him land some clotheslines then a cross-legged Falcon arrow for a near-fall, before hitting a neckbreaker on the apron as both men crashed to the floor.
Both men dragged themselves back to the ring as Gunns resumed with a German suplex, only to turn around into an Ace crusher from Mack. Gunns replied with a drop toe hold, sending Mack into an exposed turnbuckle, before catching Mack’s top rope cannonball senton and turning it into an armbar for the sudden tap-out! Mack can no longer wrestle in Hamburg… and that was easily the best of their matches they’ve had this year. That finish didn’t make me crazy, but it got the job done. ***½
For those wondering… wXw’s not running Hamburg again until September, then December, although a segment on this week’s Shotgun could make you think that the “loser leaves town” stipulation could extend much further than Hamburg.
wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship: Emil Sitoci vs. Jurn Simmons (c)
After defeating Jurn in Frankfurt last month, Sitoci earned himself this title shot… but he was still treated as the underdog here.
We had a fairly even start to the match, with Sitoci busting out some lucha-inspired armdrags as he forgot that the Lucha Underground show was last month! The action spilled outside as Simmons finished by press slamming Emil back into the ring, but Sitoci avoided a cross body as the champ crashed and burned off the top rope. So Sitoci grabs a chinlock to keep the pace slow…
Sitoci then crashed and burned with a split-legged moonsault as Jurn clotheslined his way back into the match, following up with an Oklahoma Stampede for a near-fall. An eye rake helped Emil avoid a superplex as he instead went for a Razor Ramon-esque back superplex, but he couldn’t follow up with a Snapmare Driver, instead switching up for a Shiranui for another near-fall.
Jurn got back into it, but his attempt at a moonsault ended when a “crazed fan” ran in and spat a drink at him. Sitoci capitalised with a Razor’s Edge from the turnbuckles, then a springboard elbow drop… but Jurn kicked out at two as Sitoci’s master plan failed. Sitoci tries for a Spanish Fly – just like he beat Jurn in Frankfurt – but he ended up being shoved to the canvas as Jurn hits a German suplex, then a Massive kick as the end looked to be nigh…
But then the mystery man in a hoodie ran in with the rest of his drink, and aimed it at Simmons… who ducked, meaning that referee Tassilo Jung took the drink instead. Simmons removed the hoodie to reveal Marius van Beethoven, who was quickly thrown to the outside and ejected by security. That gave Emil enough time to recover as he hit the Snapmare Driver for another near-fall as Jurn kicked out!
Sitoci looked for that Spanish Fly again, but Jurn shoved him down again and decided to go airborne again… but the referee gets shoved into the ropes, crotching Simmons and setting him up for that Spanish Fly after all! Emil thought he’d won, but Jurn got a foot on the rope at the last minute, before kicking out on the second try. Some superkicks take Jurn to the outside, and for some reason Emil takes it onto the entrance way.
Sitoci looked for the Snapmare Driver, but Jurn escaped and gave him a piledriver on the stage! Jurn makes his way back to the ring as Tassilo Jung started the count-out, but Emil beat the count… and walked into a second piledriver and that was enough for Jurn to retain the title! A really good main event here, with Jurn being pushed to the edge – and I’m actually intrigued to see what they do with Emil and Marius, given that Marius van Beethoven has been somewhat nomadic since the Alpha Kevin story was paid off. ***¾
wXw’s feature show in Hamburg was a really good card, warming things up for July’s Shortcut to the Top in Cologne. Usually these feature events can be hit and miss, but save for my personal indifference towards Kim Ray, this was a solid triple, to borrow baseball parlance. If you’re looking for nitpicks, it’s coming in the form of wXw not really building up any good guys, as RISE largely stood tall here, whilst we had hints of a Dutch alliance in the main event… so who’s going to save the day? There were seeds sewn for WALTER hopping back over to the land of the righteous, but whether those grow into anything remain to be seen.