wXw made their second trip of the year to England – and entered NORTH’s house as their trip to Tyneside saw Peter Tihanyi challenge for Leon Slater’s NORTH title.
Quick Results
Robert Dreissker pinned Rory Coyle in 10:49 (***)
Benji & Zeo Knox pinned Joe Kessler & Joe Wade in 7:18 (**½)
Ava Everett pinned Natalie Sykes to retain the wXw Women’s World Championship in 7:44 (***)
Jack Bandicoot & Jake Silver pinned Senza Volto & Aigle Blanc in 12:49 (***¾)
Laurance Roman pinned Jet Martial to retain the wXw Shotgun Championship in 10:43 (***¼)
Rampage Brown pinned Axel Tischer in 10:51 (***½)
Rhio pinned Gene Munny in 8:40 (***¼)
Leon Slater pinned Peter Tihanyi to retain the NORTH World Championship in 20:25 (****)
— If you want to catch this before it’s uploaded to Peacock/WWE Network, head over to wXwNOW.de
We’re live on tape from a sweltering Anarchy Brew Company in Newcastle – Simon Hill’s our MC opening the show… Dave Bradshaw’s on English commentary, and it’s too hot for there to be any fog on the Tyne here.
Robert Dreissker vs. Rory Coyle
Get used to the overdubs… Coyle and Dreissker show off their burlap sack and title belt before the match, as we get going with Dreissker taking Coyle into the corner with a lock-up.
Coyle took Dreissker into the ropes, but gets knocked with a shoulder tackle, before Coyle tried again… to the same result, despite an opportunistic shot to Dreissker’s groin beforehand. After having his hit, Dreissker takes a look inside Rory’s sack, which distracted Rory briefly before he caught Dreissker with a clothesline. Dreissker bails to the outside, and pulls a barbed wire-covered hurling stick from that sack, along with a VHS tape. Dreissker uses the hurling stick to the tape to mimic what streaming’s done to physical media… and to show he wasn’t scared of Coyle, who gave chase, posting Dreissker on the outside as the fight was on.
Back inside, Dreissker caught Coyle between the ropes, then choked him with his boot before sending Coyle chest-first into the buckles. Coyle tried to make a comeback, but his bulldog out of the corner’s pushed off as a back senton almost wins it for Dreissker, who had to fight away Coyle’s biting as he proceeded to ground the former NORTH Ultraviolent champion with a camel clutch. That doesn’t work though, as Coyle fought out and hit a full nelson slam, before he caught Dreissker with… a bite to the nose. That bulldog out of the corner finally lands for a near-fall, before Dreissker went to Coyle’s beard, only to get himself a cross-chop to the throat. The springboard crossbody out of the corner lands for a near-fall as Dreissker tried to slam the door shut… before Dreissker grabbed that barbed wire hurling stick.
The referee disarms Dreissker, but Coyle also had a Kendo stick in his bag… Dreissker uses that instead, before landing a Dreissker Bomb for the win. ***
Post-match, Coyle offered up a rematch against Dreissker – this time with weapons being legal. I mean, Robert’s not exactly shy about using weaponry…
Simon Hill’s interrupted by Isaiah Quinn next… Quinn takes the credit/blame for Simon being here, then told Hill he could be one of the best back-up ring announcers around. That felt like a dig. Quinn tries to sign him to a contract, but Hill just lays him out instead.
Landed Gentry (Benji & Zeo Knox) vs. Code Black (Joe Wade & Joe Kessler)
The overdubs mean we don’t get Prokofiev’s Dance of the Knights, which hits a little differently in Newcastle. If you know, you know. This was Benji’s first outing in NORTH since he got himself a forced haircut after losing a career vs. hair match at NORTH’s big show in July.
We start with Wade and Knox, but it’s Zeo who uses foul means to get ahead, grabbing some hair to take Wade into the corner. A quick combination of strikes from Wade has Zeo down, as Joe Kessler tagged in and helped with a double back elbow before he slammed Wade onto Knox. Benji dives in with a springboard elbow to break up a cover, only to get slammed onto his own man as Code Black took control… at least until Wade leapt into a nice uranage backbreaker from Knox. A double bodyslam from the Gentry takes down Wade, who’s trapped in the wrong corner… but then the Landed Gentry go all Keystone Cops on us, which allowed Wade to make the tag out to Kessler.
A crossbody from Kessler takes down Benji, ahead of a back body drop on Knox… while a wacky take on the Big Ending almost put Benji away. Benji’s back up to hit a NICE catapult ‘rana off of Knox’s back in the corner, then a wheelbarrow double-team cutter that almost put Kessler away. A turnaround led to Benji getting caught with duelling forearms, before a kick-assisted slam drew a near-fall for Wade… Knox slide in a gavel to Benji, then provided a distraction with his croquet mallet… allowing Benji to whack Kessler with the gavel to escape a powerbomb and snatch the win. **½
Backstage, Natalie Sykes is interrupted as he’s apparently texting Martina… and wants to be a regular tag team with her. Apparently Martina’s given some tips, including a dig that Ava – the “Y2Kutie” was born in 1995, while Sykes was born in 2000, which means she should have that label?
wXw Women’s World Championship: Ava Everett (c) vs. Natalie Sykes
Everett won the title for a third time two weeks prior… and got in the faces of the locals before her match. I could make a dig about Newcastle not being used to championships but… eh.
Everett flips off the crowd and walked out of the match – because she didn’t care about winning, just keeping the title. Sykes gave chase and dragged her back into the ring though, then chopped Everett into the corner, holding a wrist to stop her from blocking them. Running uppercuts follow, then a snapmare and a kick to the back, before a short DDT led to a near-fall less than 90-seconds in. Grabbing the hair, Everett pulls Sykes to the mat, then pulled the hair… Sykes gets taken to the corner as Everett took control, taking Sykes into the ropes for some choking. A running boot in the corner washed Sykes’ face for a two-count, before Everett grabbed her title belt to parade it.
Sykes fought back with chops before a lucha roll-up nearly led to the title change… but Everett kicks out and lands a clothesline for a two-count of her own. A Codebreaker to the arm sees Sykes get back in, as did some Sole Food, before a facebuster and a Fisherman suplex got her even closer. Ava hits back with a superkick, but dawdles and got rolled up again as Sykes then found her way in with the Plot Twist levering armbar… but lets go as Ava refused to tap. Again, Ava goes for the title belt… this time the ref disarms her, but misses a poke to the eye as Everett took home the win with a neckbreaker. That’s back-to-back-to-back ref distractions, which stuck out… but beyond that, Sykes looked good in her role as challenger here, and is someone I’d love to see get more shots in. ***
Backstage, Joe Kessler’s pissed off at how they lost the match to the Landed Gentry… and entered themselves into the upcoming NORTH tag team tournament.
Liam Slater’s out next for his scheduled match with Axel Tischer… but he’s attacked by Rampage Brown before he could get into the ring. Rampage posts Slater, then hit a piledriver in the ring, and I guess Slater’s match is off. A second attempt at the piledriver’s stopped when Rory Coyle came out… chasing Rampage away as medics came to check on Slater.
Frenchadors (Aigle Blanc & Senza Volto) vs. Crashboat (Jack Bandicoot & Jake Silver)
This was the first time the Frenchadors had tagged in over three months – their last outing as a team being at FAN back in May.
Bandicoot and Aigle Blanc start us off, as Aigle took the early advantage with a springboard headlock takedown. Bandicoot tries to hit back, landing a sunset flip, before Senza and Silver reversed the hold for some two-counts as we hit a stand-off. Tags bring in Silver and Senza, with Volto following a similar path as he hit the ropes for a springboard armdrag. Headscissors from Silver take Senza down, before Aigle Blanc rushed the ring and got kicked… leading to a blind tag from Bandicoot, who hung up Senza in the ropes ahead of a slam and a nice skin-the-cat into a back senton. I’ve never seen that done that way before…
Bandicoot’s plancha’s caught by the Frenchadors, who throw him back at Silver to stop a secondary dive. Back inside, a snap suplex and tope atomico has the former wXw tag champions ahead, leading to Aigle’s back senton to Silver’s back against the top rope. An abdominal stretch from Senza keeps Silver on the back foot, before a chop took Jake down…
Aigle’s back as the double-teaming kept Jake on the defensive, but Silver ducks a double gamengiri in the corner as the Frenchadors took each other out. Aigle’s able to recover to tag in, but he eats a missile dropkick from Silver, who then made the tag out as we’re back to Bandicoot and Senza. Bandicoot’s got to overcome both of the Frenchadors as he caught Senza with a flying bulldog off the top for a near-fall. Aigle Blanc shoves Bandicoot off the top rope, but couldn’t avoid a cutter in return as Bandicoot was running wild… as was Silver, whose tope wiped out the Frenchadors. Senza issues a retort with a handspring kick, while an Orihara moonsault from Aigle kept things on the floor…
Back inside again, a superkick-assisted Dragon suplex, then a Code Red drew a near-fall… Bandicoot tries to see-saw the pin, but a Meteora from Aigle Blanc turns it back around as Silver had to dive in to break up the cover to end that breathless exchange. We keep going, with a ripcord enziguiri from Aigle… who then got caught in a back cracker from Bandicoot before Silver caught Senza up top and took him into Aigle’s knees with a nasty sunset bomb. That nearly led to the finish, as Senza’s left isolated by Crashboat… his handspring cutter took them both out, before a 450 splash from Aigle landed in the knees.
Silver’s still legal as he caught Senza with a superkick, before Bandicoot tagged in to hit a frog splash to capitalise on Silver’s F5… and that’s the end to a cracker of a match. On paper something of a surprise result, but I suspect this may be one of the final times we see the Frenchadors as a tandem… ***¾
Post-match, Senza walked out on a post-match handshake… as he’s only in the mood for them when he’s winning.
wXw Shotgun Championship: Laurance Roman (c) vs. Jet Martial
This was Roman’s 16th defence of the Shotgun title – a belt that’s looking rather comfortable around him these days…
Roman scurried into the ropes as he looked to wind up Martial early on, slapping his challenger before a headlock takedown took things to the mat. A missed dropkick from Martial keeps Roman in control, as he elbowed Jet away in the ropes… second time’s the charm for Jet on that dropkick though, as he proceeded to kick and chop through Laurance. The pair exchange forearms, before an overhead kick from Martial had Roman in the ropes… Roman’s chucked outside, then kept there with a springboard dropkick… but Roman caught Martial’s dive, then dumped him onto the side of the ring with a back suplex. Roman opts to throw Jet into the benches as he tried to claim a count-out win…
Martial stops to play with someone’s lighter before making it back into the ring, where Roman stayed on top with some stomps, then with a snap suplex. A cravat keeps Jet down, while a punt kick to the back led to a solid two-count for Roman… who stopped to do some push-ups for the Geordies. A slight opening from Martial is quickly slammed shut by way of a back elbow from Roman, before Martial again fired up with chops as he and Roman went back-and-forth in the corners. Martial’s Dragon suplex earned him a near-fall, before Roman’s discus clothesline and swinging, hooking DDT put him back in control.
Martial blocks the facebuster, but couldn’t avoid a forearm to the lower back… a second attempted facebuster is avoided as Martial instead countered with a Saito suplex for a near-fall, before a diving forearm almost caused the upset. Firing back, a discus forearm and an enziguiri from Roman sets up for the facebuster… and that’s your lot as Martial gave Roman a scare, but ended up being blown away by the end. ***¼
Backstage, Crashboat are interviewed as they’re thrilled about their win earlier… they enter themselves in the NORTH tag team tournament as they want to get a shot at the tag titles.
Axel Tischer vs. Rampage Brown
Tischer’s scheduled opponent – Liam Slater – was attacked by Rampage Brown earlier in the night, so this was the natural replacement match, in a first-time meeting.
Tischer wasn’t letting Rampage bully him early on, heading to the ropes as Rampage looked to grab a body part. A side headlock from Tischer’s clung onto, but pushed off as Tischer instead tried shoulder tackles, only to get knocked down by Rampage in response. A leapfrog from Tischer yields little as he instead hit the ropes for a clothesline… Rampage barely budges before he charged Tischer into the corner. Rampage is met with a dropkick, but then caught Tischer mid-leapfrog with a powerslam, taking the Axeman outside for respite. Tischer’s thrown back in, where he cradles Rampage for a cheeky two-count, only for Rampage to get right back on offence. A suplex gets Rampage a two-count, as he proceeded to keep Tischer on the back foot.
Eventually Tischer finds an opening as he sidestepped a charging Rampage, before a flurry of strikes led to a leg lariat on Rampage. A set of running clotheslines keep Rampage in the corner, before Rampage’s back suplex was escaped as Tischer added a half-hatch suplex instead. Tischer heads up top and scores with a flying clothesline for a near-fall, before Rampage hit back with a uranage as Tischer hit the ropes. It’s good for a near-fall, as Tischer responds with a rebound German suplex, then a death valley driver for a near-fall. Rampage back body drops away a Ligerbomb attempt, then went for another uranage… but Tischer elbows his way free.
Rampage knocks Tischer into the ropes, but a rebound lariat in return nearly wins it… before a lariat from Rampage sets up for a Doctor bomb for a near-fall. From there, Rampage picks up Tischer for a piledriver for the win. ***½
Backstage, Laurance Roman tells us he’s still reclaiming, reshaping and rebuilding European wrestling… even in Newcastle.
Gene Munny vs. Rhio
Gene’s gotten hold of another NORTH tag title – as he reckons he’s one-third of the NORTH trios champions. A title that doesn’t exist…
Gene attacks Rhio before the bell, booting Rhio as we got going with Munny… trying to tie Rhio’s braids around the ropes. Gene teed up for his Ainsley Lariat, but instead shoved Rhio aside, before she boxed him into the corner with a series of body blows. A shotgun dropkick keeps him there, but a Fireman’s carry is blocked as Munny instead gets hit with two low dropkicks and a PK to the back. Rhio’s sent into the corner via a reversed Irish whip as Munny Biel’s her out of the corner, before Rhio got taken into the ropes for some choking. Munny’s right hand lays out Rhio as he proceeded in vain to try and get a chant going. The referee’s used as a shield as Rhio tried to get back into it… with Munny then redirecting a right hand to attack the referee.
In among the distraction, Rhio’s caught from behind by Munny for a two-count, before Gene massively telegraphed a brainbuster. Rhio escapes and returned with a slingshot stunner… while superkicks left Gene down ahead of a clothesline to the back of the head for a two-count. Rhio adds some German suplexes from there, before Munny ran into an ushigoroshi that almost took home the win. Munny baits Rhio to the ropes and hung her up in them to escape a piledriver… he’s back with a slingshot spear and a splash off the top for a near-fall. Gene goes for his Ainsley Lariat finish, but it’s ducked, before his attempt at a low blow just drew derision from anyone with a passing knowledge of the human anatomy. From there, Gene tries to swing his title at Rhio… but it’s ducked as the ref gets distracted, missing a low blow before Rhio took home the win with a package piledriver. ***¼
Axel Tischer’s interviewed… but he need to switch into English for a minute. Tischer was planning to wrestle Liam Slater, but that’s twice now he’s been caught off-guard in NORTH… and Axeman wants to come back for his rematch with Liam.
Backstage, we’re with Gene Munny who’s in a forklift and is disconsolate over his loss… he reckoned he’d have won had either of the Kid Lykii been around, and still reckons he’s part of the NORTH trios champions.
We’ve a video package for Leon Slater, who won the NORTH title last time out at Thunderstruck in July…
NORTH World Wrestling Championship: Peter Tihanyi vs. Leon Slater (c)
This was Slater’s first defence of the NORTH title… and a match that sold me a ticket, even if I ended up not being able to make it…
Tihanyi was very much in enemy territory here as he started off defending a wristlock as tempers were raised in the early going. A headlock takedown from Tihanyi’s quickly escaped, but he makes Slater back into the corner. Tihanyi does push-ups on Slater’s back, which gets the expected reaction as the pair broke down into strikes before Tihanyi nonchalantly side-stepped a dropkick attempt from Slater. Instead, Slater’s caught with a roll-up for a two-count, before he returned with a dropkick that looked to tweak his knee. Leon shrugs it off and followed Tihanyi outside with a plancha, but that knee’s clearly causing issues. Back inside, Slater charges into Tihanyi ahead of a standing frog splash for a two-count, before a chop took Tihanyi out of the corner.
Slater’s offence ends with him running into a leaping back elbow from Tihanyi, who wasn’t having the crowd warm to him as much as usual. Tihanyi’s snap suplex adds a two-count, before a chinlock kept Slater on the deck for a spell. Another snap suplex leaves Slater laying, as did a chop, before Slater struck back with a suplex of his own. Tihanyi tries a moonsault, but Slater ducked under it before hitting the ropes for a misdirection cutter, then a running dropkick into the corner. A running front kick spins Tihanyi down as the GYK drew a near-fall… Slater tries to maintain the upper hand, but the twisting suplex is blocked as Leon instead caught Tihanyi with a leaping push-down stomp, which looked to aggravate the knee some more.
Any plans to throw the match out were of course pushed back on by Leon, who was quickly caught with a jack-knife roll-up by Tihanyi… then an enziguiri and a swinging DDT for a near-fall. Leon’s forced to cling onto Tihanyi’s leg to try and stop him from going up top… that just led to stomps on Slater though, as he ended up getting chopped down ahead of an attempted 450 splash. Leon goes for a handspring, but he’s caught in a rear naked choke from the Hungarian, only to roll backwards to try and force a pin. Tihanyi stays on Slater’s bad knee with a half crab, sinking the hold deep as Slater was forced to claw his way towards the ropes. The ropes save Slater, who’s able to counter a slingshot cutter into the twisting suplex… before he slipped on his way up top, eventually crotching himself. That allowed Tihanyi back into things, landing a leaping knee and a superkick before Slater hit one in return.
Slater’s able to roll over to get a two-count, with Tihanyi rolling outside to avoid anything further… and ended up baiting Slater into going for a dive. Leon’s legs give out on him before he could leap though, as Tihanyi dove back in to hit a slingshot cutter for a near-fall, before Slater rolled outside to avoid an expected 450 splash. Not to worry, Tihanyi’s got two legs working still… he followed outside with a flip senton that almost saw him eat those benches after crashing through Slater! Back inside, Slater gets the knees up to avoid the 450 splash, but Leon can’t capitalise as he can’t even put weight on the bad knee. The pair exchange elbows as they looked to be running on fumes, then clotheslines, before a snap inside cradle almost got Tihanyi the title. Slater climbs up top, but has to deal with Tihanyi again… this time countering with a twisting superplex, before another trip up top allowed Leon to hit the swanton 450 to get the win. This was exactly what I was hoping for – a match that made me kick myself for not going… and also one that left me wanting to see these two down the line. Two of Europe’s hot prospects showing they’re not that far off of being the present! ****
Thankfully staying away from any formal kind of “it’s us versus them” series, wXw’s trip to Tyneside was a pretty good showcase for both NORTH and wXw, and with this show appearing on both’s VOD platforms… hopefully this opens a door to a longer term cross-over between the two promotions, with drop-ins from both sides going forward.