wXw hit the road again this past week – and gives us a trio of matches, including Zoltan’s latest European title defence.
Quick Results From The Stream
Peter Tihanyi pinned LSG in 11:00 (***¼)
Ricky Sosa pinned Dennis Dullnig in 9:59 (***)
Zoltan pinned Dieter Schwartz to retain the wXw European Championship in 14:10 (***½)
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We’re coming live via tape from the Alte Kesselschmiede in Papenburg – sadly this year we’re not getting the full show, but this trio of matches at least gives us a look at the gorgeous venue.
We’ve got German commentary from Mett Dimassi and a debuting Francesco Dergue. Always good to hear new voices on these shows.
Peter Tihanyi vs. LSG
It’s been a while since we’ve seen LSG in wXw – almost a year, in fact.
We’ve a pretty steady start here, but the pace quickens with the pair looking for pinning attempts in a bid to wrap this up in two minutes. LSG picked up the aggression, but a floatover and a dropkick has the Hungarian in control, leading to a series of chops.
LSG uses referee Felix Schulz as a shield so he could sucker-punch Tihanyi, ahead of his take on a Blue Thunder bomb for a two-count. Tihanyi has to roll out of a cravat, but couldn’t break LSG’s pressure… at least until Tihanyi got forced to the mat from a sleeperhold, before he backed LSG into the corner to break it.
An attempt to reapply the hold’s broken quickly via a side suplex as Tihanyi started to get the crowd on his side. Buoyed by that, a flurry of strikes from Tihanyi got him ahead, with a tornado DDT nearly ending it, only for LSG to cut off Tihanyi on the top rope… that goes nowhere as LSG’s slapped down to the mat.
Tihanyi misses a 450 splash though, allowing LSG back in with an Air Raid Crash for a near-fall, before Tihanyi avoided the Launch Code springboard forearm. A clothesline takes LSG outside for a quick dive, before Tihanyi rushed back inside for a Codebreaker and slingshot cutter for the win. This was perfectly fine – LSG tried to show a rougher side to give the crowd something to boo, but the result here never felt in doubt. ***¼
Dennis Dullnig vs. Ricky Sosa
Both these guys recently lost titles in wXw, so it’ll be interesting to see who’s able to bounce back…
After both guys played to the crowd, we got going with Sosa getting backed into the corner by a playful Dullnig, who saw his wristlock attempt moments after getting thrown off with ease. Dullnig claimed his beard was pulled there, but Sosa wasn’t shaken as he he charged down the former Shotgun champion before finding his mark with a dropkick.
An apron enziguiri from Sosa led to some overhead punches to Dullnig in the corner, only for Dullnig to break it up with a good ol’ fashioned finger snap. Dullnig dragged Sosa into the ring, only for Sosa’s attempt to fight back to end with him getting chop blocked off of the top rope.
Dullnig focused on the knee from there, slowing the pace down somewhat, but Sosa uses his knee to cut off a charge from Dullnig, sending both men crashing to the mat. Sosa’s able to hobble across the ring for some European uppercuts, before he caught Dullnig off the top rope with a leaping ‘rana.
Front here, a moonsault finds its mark for a near-fall, before Dullnig fought to avoid a Blue Thunder Bang, attempting to kick out the knee in the process. It almost got him the path to victory, but Sosa kicked out of a roll-up before his knee was chopped out once more en route to a gutwrench piledriver from Dullnig for a near-fall.
Roughing up Sosa ends up backfiring as Dullnig’s attempt to pull up Sosa with a ripcord got countered into the Blue Thunder Bang… and that’s the win. Sosa looked better here than last time out, leaving with the win as Dullnig got into it with the front row on his way out. ***
wXw European Championship: Dieter Schwartz vs. Zoltan (c)
From the old champion to the new one… and we’ve some history between these two. Of course, Zoltan’s first defence of the European title came against Schwartz in Leipzig some two weeks ago, and back in August Zoltan beat Schwartz for the wXw Academy title in Dresden.
Schwartz grabbed onto the rope at the bell, trying to avoid engaging on a technicality, and perhaps get into Zoltan’s head from the off. Unfortunately, Dieter was the only one who was getting taken out of their game, as he let some crowd chants get to him in the opening minute or so.
When Dieter made it back to the ring, he grounded Zoltan with a side headlock that the two fought around, before Schwartz switched it up to a wristlock as he looked to beat Zoltan with the basics. Zoltan used the ropes to flip and reverse the hold briefly, before strikes sent his challenger into the corner for respite.
Pinning attempts out of a hiptoss keep it even before Zoltan’s misdirection led to him scoring a dropkick… with some of the Papenburg crowd booing the Hungarian for that. They got drowned out as a rolling thunder frog splash gave Zoltan a two-count, before he started to slap Schwartz on his bald head. In response, Schwartz dragged Zoltan’s arm into the top rope, before pulling him into the ring post for good measure.
Some roughness on the outside led to the return of my favourite thing… fines! Schwartz got docked €20 for foul play before he returned to the ring, again targeting Zoltan’s arm as he looked to force a stoppage with an overhead wristlock. A jawbreaker helps Zoltan free himself, before an elbow out of the corner looked to be a “final hope” kind of shot to force some separation.
Luckily for Zoltan, it worked, as he was able to build up a head of steam from there, taking Schwartz into the corner for a dropkick, following up with a crossbody off the top for a two-count. Telegraphing the springboard cutter, Zoltan’s forced into evasive action as Schwartz went back for the arm, before another crack at the cutter was turned into a German suplex.
Schwartz pushed on from there, landing a running teardrop suplex out of the corner for a near-fall, before he took Zoltan down for the arm trap submission. Zoltan’s able to counter out with a roll-up, but Schwartz was right back in with a European uppercut before he countered a counter into a pinning attempt. Zoltan’s up at two, and beat Schwartz to the proverbial punch as he out-paced him to hit the springboard cutter to get the win. This was pretty good stuff with Schwartz in control – and I’m curious to see whether the Zoltan dissent spreads to wXw’s other crowds, or whether it was because Schwartz is the guy they still want to (not so secretly) back. ***½