With a mixture of up-and-comers, established names from the past, present and future, along with, erm, Christmas tidings, wXw’s latest Academy show was a pleasure for all!
To provide some context, every month wXw’s training academy in Essen holds a show that features some of wXw’s trainees, along with trainees from elsewhere in Europe. This is the first such show to make the light of day, and given some of the names on show, it’s no surprise this was on wXw. Thommi Giesen’s your ring announcer, while the English commentary is being handled by Christian Michael Jakobi and WALTER. Christmas is a little longer this year, folks! This ain’t the end of me… although it may be the end of Jurn Simmons and Dirty Dragan, whose match was cancelled because neither of them were there.
“Santa Claus” vs. “Elf Zwölf”
“Santa” came from the North Pole, and was happily throwing out sweets to the crowd ahead of his opponent coming out. Straight from the toy factory at the North Pole, it’s “Elf Zwölf”… which you can translate however you want. Elf Twelve? Eleven Twelve?
We’ve got some shtick early as Santa takes the microphone to say that he’s tired because Christmas has caught him off guard. He wants the elf to lay down for him so he can get some rest.
My favourite part of this exchange?
Santa: “Ho ho ho everybody”
WALTER: “Ho ho, it’s what he says”
Deadpan WALTER is instantly my favourite colour commentator…
The Elf wants a pay rise, which one lonely fan near the microphone just says “nope” to. Where’s the Christmas spirit?! Santa’s not giving him one, and even threatens to make the Elf homeless as he bullied the Elf into giving him the win. Of course, the Elf kicks out as Jakobi is indignant over Jurn and Dragan sending “these” as their replacements. “The Emancipation of Elf” continues with some karate chops and dropkicks as Jakobi can bearly contain himself… we then get the mounted punches in the corner. Of course, we’ve got elf (11) and a Flair flop to boot. I’m dying here!
The Elf hits a Bronco Buster as he jingled Santa’s bell, but a Stunner misses and is turned into a huge slam. A Massive slam, if you will… Santa gets a little too big for his boots, and walks into a Stunner as he became maniacal over Christmas, allowing the Elf to throw candy at the crowd, and then into Santa’s face for a near-fall.
One quick North Pole Lariat later, and the elf’s down! Santa strips as he empties out the bag of sweets, and we’ve got a big ‘elf and safety problem here as a powerbomb into the sweets gets Santa the win. Evil Santa, that is… Well, that’s a fine way to get us going, and hopefully the poor Elf doesn’t turn into dust after this… especially as Santa dragged him to the back for his own safety.
Timo Zimone vs. Michael Isotov vs. Kim Ray vs. The Rotation
The Spaniard Zimone is about a year into the business and is largely a trainee of wXw… Isotov used to be a part of the Keel Holding faction back in the day (around 2014-2015), and was in this year’s Shortcut to the Top match, but after taking some time off he’s working his way back up… no introduction’s needed for Kim Ray, whilst the Rotation is back on Academy shows after being a fairly regular name on the main wXw tours in 2014-2015.
Isotov tried to charge at Rotation early… and missed as the young flippy guy found himself getting double-teamed by Ray and Zimone early on. With the cramped venue, it’s pretty tricky to do any “patterned” stuff, but they found a way to keep it two-in at a time, with Kim Ray enjoying a good spell on top. Rotation rebounds from a bad landing to take Ray down with a lucha armdrag, then some headscissors, before turning a kick-out from an O’Connor roll into a tope to Isotov and Zimone on the outside. Isotov and Zimone return to the ring, with the Spaniard laying in some right hands, then a nice Samoan drop that almost led to the win.
All four men return to the ring for a series of rights, until Zimone threw in a neckbreaker to Isotov as our favourite Parade of Moves broke out. Rotation’s forced to cartwheel off the top rope to evade Kim Ray, but he can’t avoid a spear as Zimone rushes back in… Rotation nearly steals the win with his VOG – Victory Over Gravity 450 Splash – but Kim Ray out-steals him by breaking up Rotation’s pin and landing an Implant DDT for the win. Pretty fun stuff for the time they had, and they didn’t rely too much on the “two in, two out” formula. ***¼
Timo Theiss vs. Manticore
Is the Miz missing one of his jackets? Theiss is a “jetsetter” (his coat says it, so it must be true), and is a former wXw Academy champion, having lost it to Julian Pace back in June. He’s done some main roster stuff too, being involved in a four-way way back on Shotgun 308… Manticore is another former wXw mainstay under a new act, formerly just Toby Blunt – one half of “Prost” with Mike Schwarz back in the day. He’s wearing a white mask, and takes the fight to Theiss early… at least until Timo powders to safety outside.
Manticore decides to make use of the cramped space, flying off the apron with a ‘rana into the wall as Theiss looked to be struggling out of the gate. A death valley driver from Theiss somehow turns into a Victory roll as Manticore edged ahead, but Theiss finally gets in a lariat as he starts to wear down the former Blunt.
Commentary uses this match to put over the array of nationalities who’ve been at the wXw academy this year, which means that a fair bit of Theiss’ offence is in the background. Manticore tries to make a comeback, but a back elbow stops that, as does a simple drag-back from Theiss as the former Academy champion seemed to be comfortable. Of course, just as I say that, Manticore lands a springboard moonsault as he flips back into life, pulling off a springboard crossbody for a near-fall, only for Theiss to hit an enziguiri from behind to put Manticore back at square one. Another crossbody attempt’s caught by heiss and turned into an X-plex as Manticore gets a foot on the rope just in time.
Theiss tries to rip off Manticore’s mask again, but to no avail as he’s superkicked away before missing a Phoenix splash (and somehow getting a near-fall… look, if commentary calls it, then I am too!). Another death valley driver attempt from Theiss saw him go for the win, but Manticore turns it into a DDT, and that’s enough for the win. This was alright, but the finishing sequence could have gone a lot better, it’s safe to say. **¼
Avalanche vs. Jay Skillet
We’re onto the main roster guys now, and a nice tease to the Monster Consulting/JayFK tag match at the 17th Anniversary show.
Avalanche easily shrugs off a waistlock attempt, but Jay’s speed helps him land a dropkick and avoid a sit-down splash as commentary talked about how injuries forced Skillet onto the sidelines a few years ago. Just as they finish, Skillet’s caught with a belly-to-belly suplex and a big splash as Avalanche got a near-fall to put him back in control. Poor Jay gets Beel’d across the ring, then takes an elbow after missing an enziguiri as it’s all going in the way of the Austrian monster here, who looks for the Dreissker Bomb… but Skillet rolls away and keeps the match alive! That actually gave Skillet the impetus to mount a comeback, landing a nice double stomp to the back of a bent-over Avalanche for another near-fall.
Just like that though, Avalanche hits a Samoan drop to cut him off, but a neckbreaker keeps the match finely balanced. At least until Avalanche crushes him with a cannonball, then a Dreissker bomb, and that’s all folks! Short and sweet, but this was really good work between two regulars – and this doesn’t bode well for Jay FK’s tag match a week later! ***¼
Nate Devlin vs. Francis Kaspin
No, he’s not related to Jordan – Nate’s a Dutchman who’s pottered around Europe for a while, but trains with wXw. Kaspin gets a good reaction in his announced hometown, and this gets announced on commentary as WALTER vs. Tommy End…’s best students.
Devlin walks over Kaspin early on as they exchange snapmares, with Kaspin edging ahead with a dropkick as he changed things up. Nate replies with a cross-chop to the throat, but then Kaspin walks over him as those dropkicks kept the Dutchman down. Kaspin always looked to be a step ahead, but Devlin’s able to surprise him with a dropkick as the tables turned.
Devlin looked to capitalised on a missed springboard, but Kaspin escaped a backslide at the count of two, only to get met with a head kick. Kaspin replies with a rolling death valley driver as he’s still feeling that kick, but he’s able to throw in a Northern Lights suplex before some back and forth leads to Kaspin throwing in a springboard bulldog and the Lightning Spiral for the win. It’s almost like WALTER sounded depressed that that was it… but this was another solid match that gave Devlin enough without overshadowing the main roster guy. ***
Julian Pace vs. WALTER
So… WALTER’s on commentary for his own match here. To be fair, they acknowledge that this was taped after the show, but they miss a trick in not having WALTER throw in the odd “ow” every now and then.
wXw’s head trainer against its top student, and they’re billing this as Pace’s “graduation”, which may insinuate that he’ll be on a lot more main roster shows in 2018. He starts early by having to resist WALTER’s strength, with the Austrian throwing Pace around like it’s too easy. A Jim Breaks-esque arm throw puts Pace even more on the defensive, but his “full throttle” rope running… just ends with WALTER barging him down. Pace tries it again and manages to outfox the tag champion, eventually hitting a shotgun dropkick into the corner… which WALTER replies by kicking his face off. Oh, and chopping him, hard. At least Julian Pace’s ring gear will match his chest…
WALTER keeps tying Pace in knots as the Academy champion was being battered around the place, but he did offer some resistance… and quickly get slammed to the mat. Meanwhile on commentary, WALTER’s explaining the difference between holiday camp matches and “regular matches”, just as he tries again to kick Julian Pace’s head off his shoulders. It sent him to the outside, fortunately with his head intact.
Pace escapes a butterfly suplex, but his kick’s swatted away as Pace eventually took that butterfly, before experiencing the briefest of hope as he started throwing chops of his own. Heck, he even gets in a ‘rana to take down WALTER, but a huge clothesline looked to put things back on track, as Pace evades WALTER some more and slips in an enziguiri for good measure.
Another shotgun dropkick takes WALTER down, but he replies in kind… which seemed to fire up Pace some more, as a flying tornado DDT nearly gets him the win. Instead, Pace looked to get the win with the Final Lap – an imploding senton off the middle rope – but he lands into a rear naked choke as WALTER forces the tap-out. Pretty one-sided as you’d expect, but Pace showed plenty of glimmers which’d give you hope for him if he does move up to the main roster next year. ***
All-in, the latest round of Scouting the Next Generation was a fun show, even if by wXw’s own admission it was a little more “main roster heavy” than usual. From the opening match pitting Santa against his own elf, to the “graduation” of Julian Pace, this is a breeze of a show to watch, and if you’ve got a wXwNOW subscription, you ought to put aside an hour of your day for this. Like… now!