The dust has settled – after all of the changes and upheaval, wXw’s World Tag Team Festival has to go down as a success in the face of adversity. Here’s how we saw it…<\/p>\n
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As usual, this isn\u2019t totally going to be a \u201cwhat happened, when\u201d piece – our array of live reviews have those covered, and I doubt too many reading this will be interested in 2am photo editing sessions…<\/p>\n
Even if all you\u2019d been keeping up with was our preview, you\u2019ll no doubt be painfully aware of the changes that wXw were forced into. When we landed in D\u00fcsseldorf on Wednesday, news had just broken of Eddie Kingston\u2019s withdrawal, while Saraya Knight getting a dose of the Oberhausen bug while not being in Germany proved to be the last public headache wXw endured.<\/p>\n
Until they revealed all on Monday, with things like the ring truck being in an accident, and the Turbinenhalle not being cleaned after a prior event.<\/p>\n
Still, if you were going as a fan, the only really visible sign you\u2019d have noticed (other than talent changes) was the moment at Inner Circle where the lighting in the wXw academy completely died during Timothy Thatcher\u2019s entrance. Somehow, it was only the circuit that was responsible for the venue lighting that blew – mains power for the rest of the building remained on, which was handy for the hard camera\u2026 and for the emergency back-up plan, which saw the crew bring out four lightboxes to create makeshift floodlights from behind the hard camera.<\/p>\n
Heck, even on the hastily put-together back-up plan, this show looked better lit and produced than a lot of indies in 2019. Aside from the lighting, perhaps the big takeaway from Inner Circle was the rocket pack that Norman Harras put on himself with his performance as a late replacement for Veit M\u00fcller. Sure, a lot of the match was just Norman having the crap beaten out of him by JD Drake, but considering that the majority of the crowd in Essen had (at best) a limited familiarity with Harras, this was a bit of a proving ground for the lad from Soest.<\/p>\n
He\u2019d not be the only one who made the most of the spotlight sent his way this weekend.<\/p>\n
While they ultimately finished as runners up in their respective tournaments, Leyla Hirsch and Daniel Makabe grabbed this weekend by the scruff of the neck. Hirsch started her weekend with a win over Sammii Jayne, repeating it at Femmes Fatales before breezing past Martina on her way to a final against LuFisto that some called the best match of the weekend. In terms of experience, that perhaps should have been one-way traffic throughout, but Hirsch brought her A-game and gave LuFisto several real scares. If you\u2019re minded to skip Femmes Fatales\u2026 don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
24 hours later, having made a trip to Brighton for Riptide\u2019s own tag team weekender, Daniel Makabe had a trickier fight – having to come from behind against James Runyan in his first round match at Ambition, before edging past Dominic Garrini\u2026 but it was against a replacement where he came unstuck, as A-Kid – in for an injured Damon Moser – snatched a win in the final with a very pro-wrestling C4 and cross armbar. With all of the injuries and withdrawals, this was quite the opportunity for people to step up\u2026 and while some were given more prominence, it was nice to see that others were going for that proverbial brass ring.<\/p>\n
Aside from that, the other big highlight of the weekend came not too far away from the Turbinenhalle, in the form of the third edition of the Oberhausen Open. Ironically on the same weekend that CHIKARA were doing King of Trios, Oberhausen Open 3 was all about teams of three\u2026 yeah, I can\u2019t finish the \u201cstrive to survive\u201d-like line a la Survivor Series. Unlike last time, teams were entered in advance, rather than the prior format of utterly random pairings\u2026 it didn\u2019t seem to have any effect on the atmosphere though, as Knippi\u2019s was still packed out for the event, with fans from several countries pairing up for perhaps the best \u201ccommunity feel\u201d the event\u2019s had.<\/p>\n
Heck, it even got enough chatter where it made it into Germany\u2019s trending topics on Twitter over the Friday night.<\/p>\n
Despite having an absolute ringer on their team in the form of JD Drake, the Work Horsemen and Dominic Garrini could only finish in third place, while defending champion Andre Cartier ended up just outside of the trophies as the Oberhausen Open still waits for back-to-back winners.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere across the weekend, there was some good story-telling – from Timothy Thatcher finally winning the big one, to him being so fed up of Ilja Dragunov that he just barged right past him before the former champion could get around to asking for a title shot. If that was perhaps a bit too \u201cunsubtle\u201d for you, then how about the Arrows of Hungary\u2019s progression across the three nights: starting with them winning because Icarus did a dive\u2026 only to lose in the finals because another dive off the balcony backfired.<\/p>\n
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