One week after the football wrapped up, wXw crowned their inaugural European champion in Frankfurt.
Quick Results
wXw European Championship Tournament Quarter-Final: Aigle Blanc pinned Red Scorpion in 3:57 (**¼)
wXw European Championship Tournament Quarter-Final: Elijah Blum pinned Peter Tihanyi in 11:25 (***)
wXw European Championship Tournament Quarter-Final: Luke Jacobs submitted Aytac in 7:53 (***½)
wXw European Championship Tournament Quarter-Final: Mike D Vecchio pinned Jacob Crane in 7:08 (***)
Icarus, Levaniel & Anil Marik pinned Maggot, Aaron Insane & Laurance Roman in 15:05 (***)
wXw European Championship Tournament Semi-Final: Aigle Blanc pinned Elijah Blum in 6:58 (***¼)
wXw European Championship Tournament Semi-Final: Mike D Vecchio pinned Luke Jacobs in 7:54 (***½)
Ahura pinned Axel Tischer in 17:06 (***½)
wXw European Championship Tournament Final: Aigle Blanc pinned MIke D Vecchio to win the wXw European Championship in 11:12 (***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, along with our catalogue of back episodes are available at AufDieFresse.co.uk
We’re live via stream from Frankfurt’s Batschkapp as wXw presents the Wrestling Europameisterschaft. For a change, we’re live in English, although the fallout from Friday’s Crowdstrike issues mean that we’ve got Mett Dimassi and Robin Christopher Fohrwerk on commentary. We’ll be mentioning Christopher Robin a fair amount, I fear…
wXw European Championship Tournament Quarter-Final: Aigle Blanc vs. Red Scorpion
Aigle was the first man to throw his hat in the ring for the newly-minted European championship, and really the main wrestler to make a fuss over it. His opening-round match was against a veteran in Red Scorpion, who recently had an unsuccessful crack at the NWA Worlds title.
A jump start from Scorpion was the way to go in a one-night tournament, but Aigle’s able to shrug it off with his headscissor/neckbreaker deal and a wild tope. It’s a story of “you miss, I hit” as Scorpion hit his crossbodies, along with a flip senton, before Aigle dropkicked away a springboard crossbody.
From there, a Meteora and a tombstone gets the win in a pretty packed opener – one that got Aigle a win over a veteran to get his tournament underway. **¼
We’ve a backstage promo from Axel Tischer – in German, sans subtitles, which I found a bit weird given the rest of the presentation was in English. The gist of this was Tischer finding it funny how Ahura’s getting the rematch in his home town (when the originally-scheduled match in Leipzig was changed… but there’s some retconning here because Tischer was claiming Ahura was a coward and that’s why they changed things… and not because Axeman was going for the tag titles, and instead took a diversion to face Dennis Dullnig.)
wXw European Championship Tournament Quarter-Final: Elijah Blum vs. Peter Tihanyi
Everyone was representing a country in this tournament, so a good guy versus good guy match had a nice twist with Tihanyi actually getting booed because he was representing Hungary.
They worked this one like a babyface match, going tit-for-tat in the early going. Tihanyi looked to slow the pace down when Blum pulled ahead with a crossbody, eventually neutralising Blum with a kick to the head. A tornado DDT from Tihanyi’s countered into a suplex as Blum found a second wind… a superkick and tornado DDT nearly nicks it for Tihanyi, as did a moonsault to the head and a tope to Blum on the floor.
Blum returns the favour, dropkicking away a springboard as Tihanyi narrowly beat the count… only to get caught with a sliding D as Blum picked up the major upset. A solid outing, and we’re continuing the teases of frustrated Tihanyi, like we had at the end of Carat. It’s coming… ***
“Earlier today,” the secret wXw cameras caught Robin Christopher Fohrwerk telling Baby Allison there’s been a change of plans. She’s gotten the night off, which means there’s a mystery partner coming for High Performer Ltd. later on.
wXw European Championship Tournament Quarter-Final: Aytac vs. Luke Jacobs
A replacement for the injured Anita Vaughan, Aytac was making his first appearance in front of the wXw cameras for almost two years. Meanwhile Luke Jacobs got booed massively, because he’s English… and my God, Christopher Robin was on one tonight. Did he have a losing bet on England in the Euros last weekend?
We’re all about the chops early on as Jacobs and Bahar were looking to make mincemeat out of each other’s chests. A brainbuster gets Jacobs a two-count, before Aytac charged Jacobs into the middle buckle, then threw him awkwardly to the outside for a slam onto the rampway.
Aytac’s spinebuster nearly wins it back inside, before a snap DDT put Jacobs back in the mix… Luke’s chaining together a lot of high impact stuff, barely giving Aytac a chance to breathe ahead of a flying stomp as Aytac was draped over the top rope. In return, a swivelling lariat and a death valley driver put Aytac close to the win, only for Luke to come back with a lariat and a Tiger Driver that’d have made Will Ospreay think twice! Kicking out did little for Aytac though, as a clothesline to the back of the head and a crossface forced the submission for Luke – a cracker of a match, and in under eight minutes too! ***½
wXw European Championship Tournament Quarter-Final: Jacob Crane vs. Mike D Vecchio
It’s a return to wXw for Jacob Crane after he spent the spring with Big Japan… while Mike D’s got some new entrance music. It’s a bit of a downgrade in my books…
Things started off methodically with Crane not backing down from a lock-up, before things broke down into strikes. A dropkick catches Crane off-guard, but we’re quickly back to the strikes from Crane, who broke out some machine-gun chops in the corner before countering a springboard from Mike D into a bridging German suplex for a near-fall.
Mike’s got more luck with his second crossbody, before Crane’s comeback was cut-off with a pop-up powerbomb and a high-speed lariat – the latter of which sealed the win. A pretty decent outing, but Mike D was a nailed-on win as Jacob Crane looks to regain his footing in European rings. ***
A pre-tape promo from Ahura’s next, who’s finally getting the big match he wanted – having lost out on Tischer in Leipzig, and more recently Matt Cardona in Oberhausen – with Ahura looking forward to being the big name in town today.
Laurance Roman, Maggot & Aaron Insane vs. High Performer Ltd. (Anil Marik & Icarus) & Levaniel
With Baby Allison having been benched, High Performer Ltd. unveiled a new recruit… Icarus?! I know AMBOSS’ future is up in the air, but that’s what the kids call a Choice. On recent form, a little like leaving Bayern München and signing for Köln (especially given the colour choices).
This match had a few threads going – but it’s weird to see Laurance Roman’s first outing as champion overshadowed by Maggot’s return, especially when it was up against a High Performer Ltd. group (oh, and VANI) that were suspected of injuring him in the first place. It’s the former AMBOSS lads who start though, before Roman and Levaniel locked horns for a spell. Ah, that reminds me of the days when they used to do the Champions’ Challenge matches…
Anil Marik’s caught with a back body drop after coming in, while a leaping leg lariat a la Matt Cardona only got a two-count. Going up top in the opponents’ corner was a mistake as Icarus’ distraction allowed Marik back in as Insane found himself on the defensive. Pushing away a Marik bulldog allows Maggot in as he ran wild on Marik and Icarus – with Levaniel having bailed on the floor.
Maggot’s diving boot keeps things clear, before distractions from Fohrwerk turned things around… and drew out Baby Allison to ringside to chastise her boss. Insert a question mark at the end there if you wish, but it’s to little avail as Maggot continued to fight from underneath, eventually catching Marik with a spear before Laurance Roman came into try and build from that.
Some double-teaming to Icarus, and a double back body drop, has the new High Performer Ltd. man in trouble… but an attempted Crossfire is thwarted. Fohrwerk’s spat at by Maggot, before Baby Allison came in to spear Marik after a distraction from Insane. That distraction ends up costing Maggot though, as a discus elbow to the back of the head from Icarus puts away the former Shotgun champion – and I’d guess Icarus/Roman may be the early feud for the new champion? ***
After interval, we’re back with the semis, the final and a feature match… so let’s get into it!
wXw European Championship Tournament Semi-Final: Aigle Blanc vs. Elijah Blum
It’s a France vs. Germany semi-final – and after France crashed out in the semis of the Euros, Aigle will of course want to at least go a step better…
Like in the opener, Aigle was looking to make short work of things, taking Blum outside for an Orihara moonsault, before a neckbreaker from Blum back inside got him back in it. We’re dealing with another good guy vs. good guy match though, but Blum’s got the edge given he’s representing Germany.
Blum blocks a tornado DDT, but had no answer for Aigle’s corkscrew suplex, nor when a crucifix countered a sliding D as the pair raced into back-and-forth pins… but in the end it’s a 450 splash that books Aigle’s spot into the final… and with a combined match time of around eleven minutes, he’s got a pretty full gas tank for it. ***¼
wXw European Championship Tournament Semi-Final: Luke Jacobs vs. Mike D Vecchio
Of course that means we have Luke Jacobs and Mike D as our other semi-final. LET’S GET INTO IT! It’s a rematch from PROGRESS in May, and it’s Luke who goes racing out of the blocks, dumping the Belgian with a Saito suplex before a kip up and dropkick from Mike D took Luke to the outside.
Mike D’s ability to go to the air could be a difference here, but a more route one approach from Jacobs of just hitting him proved equally effective. A triple-jump back cutter out of the corner catches Luke off-guard, but a backflip out of the corner jarred Mike’s ankle ahead of a running back suplex as the pair looked to be running with a dodgy wheel each.
That forces Luke to double down as a rolling elbow and folding powerbomb drew a near-fall, before the pair began to trade German suplexes. A high-speed lariat dumped Luke, whose superplex thwarted Mike’s next trip up top… while a lariat and crossface looked to put Luke into England’s second final in a week.
After a roll-up, Mike found a way back in with a spinning enziguiri, before a Doctor Bomb ended up booking us a France/Belgium final – albeit with Mike D carrying a leg injury – as England suffered yet another Euro disappointment. ***½
Axel Tischer vs. Ahura
We’ve even more new music, this time for Axel Tischer…
Ahura’s not rushing in at the bell, given this is a match he’s waited the thick end of three months for. Keeping things grounded played into Tischer’s game, and that was one Ahura sought to avoid, opting instead to try and get in Tischer’s head when he was able to. It worked as well, with the Axeman getting thrown off his game as Ahura forced him to bail to the outside repeatedly.
Posting Ahura gives Tischer an opening as he took things back inside and began to rip apart at Ahura. A dropkick shut down Ahura’s attempted comeback for a near-fall, which again frustrated Tischer… even more so when Ahura’s attempt was realised as he hurled Tischer upside down into the corner.
Clotheslines bounced the Axeman around for a spell, before Ahura caught Tischer with a Paradise Waterfall out of nowhere. A Divine Sandstorm – twisting bodypress – to the outside followed, but Axeman’s right back with a Ligerbomb back inside as the match continued to ebb and flow. A Horrible Slam’s countered into a roll-up by Ahura, but neither man’s able to capitalise on the back-and-forth, as we resumed with boo/yay strikes until an X-Plex from Tischer carved a new opening.
Caught up top, Tischer’s brought down with a superplex, with Ahura adding a falling powerbomb for a near-fall. A rake to the eyes counters Salamandra as Tischer smelled blood, but resisting German suplexes led to Ahura landing one of his own, before he finally took the win with a Salamandra – easily the biggest singles scalp that Ahura’s claimed in wXw, proving that sometimes the big things are worth waiting for. ***½
wXw European Championship Tournament Final: Aigle Blanc vs. Mike D Vecchio
We’ve got a new title intro screen – and a new title belt – as the inaugural European champion is being crowned here. It’s a good looking belt, even if the words “European champion” are a little bolder than you’d see on any other wXw strap.
A measured start sees neither Mike nor Aigle charge out of the corners at the bell, but it’s Aigle who takes to the skies first with a flip senton into Mike D – and almost the front row! Back inside, Aigle stays on Mike D, although going for strikes against the much bigger Belgian wasn’t wise, as Mike shut down the Frenchman with a chokeslam.
Aigle capitalises on Mike’s leg injury, hitting a Blockbuster off the top before a delayed back body drop threw away a powerbomb attempt. A headscissors driver through the ropes keeps Mike rocked, but a powerbomb off the apron’s blocked as Mike kicked him in the head before landing a powerbomb onto the side of the ring.
Mike’s lariat swats away a flying Aigle, before Mike fell into a knee strike… that turned out his lights briefly, as he was able to make it to the corner to avoid a splash off the top. Nevermind, a Coast to Coast does the trick, as did a short piledriver, before Mike lariat’d away Aigle after avoiding a running Meteora.
A second attempt at a cutter out of the corner’s stopped with a Burning Hammer though, as the running Meteora to the back of the head finds its mark. Going back up top, Aigle’s stopped by Mike, but a shove down put the Belgian on his back thanks to the ankle injury, before a flying stomp to the ankle… and a 450 splash earned Aigle Blanc the win. This was a well worked main event of the tournament, with Mike D’s ankle proving to be his undoing at the end. ***½
Compared to the last “main show” one night tournament – 2021’s ill-fated Catch Grand Prix – the Wrestling EM was an absolute breeze. Of course, the format means that very little tournament wise is likely to do more than whet your whistle, but there’s some real value on this show – with Jacobs/Aytac, Jacobs/Mike D and Tischer/Ahura really standing out. Aigle Blanc being the first man to declare an interest in the title – and win it – was perhaps the obvious call, but where this European title stands in wXw cards going forth will be interesting, in particular compared to the Shotgun belt, which has long since been seen as a springboard to the top.
Speaking of… wXw’s next event is Shortcut to the top in about three weeks time, and then it’s all eyes on World Tag Team Festival!