{"id":28832,"date":"2026-01-17T20:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T20:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/?p=28832"},"modified":"2026-01-20T19:09:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T19:09:14","slug":"wxw-we-love-wrestling-72-january-17-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/reviews\/wxw-we-love-wrestling-72-january-17-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"wXw We Love Wrestling #72 (January 17, 2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>wXw hit Bielefeld for the first time this year &#8211; with Elijah Blum and Peter Tihanyi getting warm-ups ahead of next week\u2019s Pure Rules match in Oberhausen.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><b>Quick Results<\/b><br \/>\nElijah Blum pinned BK Westbrook in 9:28 (***)<br \/>\nBobby Gunns pinned Conn Kelly in 6:34 (**\u00bd)<br \/>\nElla Envy pinned Stephanie Maze &amp; Jane Nero in 10:07 (**\u00bc)<br \/>\nNick Schreier &amp; Laurance Roman pinned Aleksander Bellamy &amp; Alex Duke in 9:24 (***)<br \/>\nRicky Sosa pinned Cappuccino Jones in 17:20 (***\u00bd)<br \/>\nM4 pinned Aytac in 6:38 (**\u00bd)<br \/>\nMarc Empire &amp; Robert Dreissker pinned Luca de Leone &amp; Nordino in 7:53 (***)<br \/>\nPeter Tihanyi submitted Zoltan in 8:41 (***)<br \/>\nAhura submitted Metehan in 23:26 (**\u00be)<\/p>\n<p>&#8212; Don\u2019t forget to keep up to date with the Auf Die Fresse podcast\u2026 Links to subscribe and stream are available at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aufdiefresse.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AufDieFresse.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"788\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NYMUTFCrNW4?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-GB&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Forum in Bielefeld is sold out once more for wXw\u2019s first live stream of the year\u2026 but first, we\u2019re outside the Forum with Planet Gojirah, who are still licking their wounds over losing the tag titles at the 25th Anniversary show. Robin Christopher Fohrwerk\u2019s in the background, apparently in two minds about heading into the building after we\u2019re told that Planet Gojirah\u2019s facing CSI later tonight\u2026 before Dann M\u00e4llmann tried to get a word as Fohrwerk looked to make a getaway. So much for Anniversary being the write-off!<\/p>\n<p>Cue titles, and we\u2019re inside the Forum, with a small group of fans pining for the days of Levaniel, it seems. English commentary comes from Mett Dimassi.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Elijah Blum vs. BK Westbrook<\/strong><br \/>\nAlways a good move to open the show with the most popular guy on the roster. Westbrook\u2019s over in Germany for a short tour, having made something of a name for himself with the now-mothballed Deadlock Pro. BK also gave Thommy Giesen a chance to bust out his best Tony Chimel impersonation\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Westbrook perhaps had the Bielefeld crowd get to him early on, but this turned into something of a chance for Blum to get some stuff out of his system ahead of his Pure Rules match next week &#8211; like closed-fist punches to the face. Blum got caught out in the corner though, as Westbrook finally got a foothold on things, only to get a little too carried away as a Tiger feint in the ropes saw him walk straight into a Blum neckbreaker.<\/p>\n<p>Blum\u2019s able to push on from there, beating BK to the punch as a missed dropkick from Westbrook in the corner opened him up for a crossbody off the top for a near-fall. An attempt at the Total Depravity fails as Westbrook escaped and hit his Tiger Feint into a clothesline for a near-fall, only for Blum to respond, catching a springboard and turning it into Total Depravity for the win. A lovely finish with Blum making a lot out of nothing in the end. ***<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conn Kelly vs. Bobby Gunns<\/strong><br \/>\nA rather nonchalant uppercut from Gunns perhaps set the tone here early on, but it did spark Kelly into action, taking Gunns into the corner for some shoulder charges ahead of a back suplex.<\/p>\n<p>Overhand punches in the ropes from Kelly end up waking up Gunns though, with the former champion rolling Kelly down to the mat for some kicks to the back. Kelly tried to fight back, scoring with a bulldog off the middle rope, before taking an age to go up top again\u2026 he manages to land an elbow drop when everyone expected Gunns to roll away though.<\/p>\n<p>Gunns kicked out at two from that, before he shoved off an Acid Drop attempt\u2026 then put Kelly to bed with a shotgun dropkick and a PK as Kelly tried to roll back to his feet. **\u00bd<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ella Envy vs. Jane Nero vs. Stephanie Maze<\/strong><br \/>\nEnvy\u2019s doing a short run in Germany alongside BK Westbrook &#8211; but came up short on her debut last night in M\u00fcnster. We\u2019ve got new music for Stephanie Maze too, who\u2019s changed her outlook a little. Not unbreakable, now unbroken.<\/p>\n<p>Envy tried to cheerlead Maze and Nero into going after each other\u2026 she just got kicked in the head for her troubles. Ironically, Envy got her wish after that as Maze kneed Nero into the corner, before a back senton from Envy broke up a Fisherman\u2019s suplex pin attempt from Maze.<\/p>\n<p>An Arabian clutch from Envy\u2019s eventually broken by Maze, but the former tag champion couldn\u2019t build on that, at least until she ducked a chop in the corner. Nero\u2019s back to trip up Maze in the ropes before she worked with Envy to try and put Maze out of the picture\u2026 eventually backfiring when Maze broke free of being a punching bag, ducking as Envy laid out Nero with a punch. Oops.<\/p>\n<p>Cue an implosion between those two, allowing Maze back in to hit a diving boot and a back senton for a two-count. Nero\u2019s back to hit a full nelson slam on Maze for a two-count of her own, before Envy stole the win, rolling up Maze out of nowhere for the pin. This had its moments, but the three-way format only worked for the finish. **\u00bc<\/p>\n<p><strong>10\/10 Next Level (Aleksander Bellamy &amp; Alex Duke) vs. The Grind (Laurance Roman &amp; Nick Schreier)<\/strong><br \/>\nA non-title outing here for The Grind, who\u2019ve got new ring jackets that kinda make them look a bit like Tekno Team 2000, particularly when paired with Nick\u2019s long tights.<\/p>\n<p>Duke eventually managed to rough up Schreier early on, while Bellamy\u2019s armbar didn\u2019t exactly draw the expected response. The arm stays on! Roman\u2019s armbar gets the desired reaction as the champions took control, working well to take down Bellamy ahead of a trapped double sledge off the top.<\/p>\n<p>Schreier\u2019s able to add some mounted punches into the mix, before a distraction from Duke on the floor allowed Bellamy to hit a slingshot rolling neckbreaker. That turnaround continued as Duke caught a crossbody and lawn-darted Schreier into the corner en route to a near-fall. Duke and Schreier put the boots to Schreier as Roman tried to argue his case &#8211; only to extend Nick\u2019s suffering.<\/p>\n<p>Nick\u2019s able to create an opening, landing a superkick to buy himself some time before tags brought in Bellamy and Roman. There\u2019s a back body drop from Roman to Duke in the mix, before Schreiers\u2019 crossbody took out Bellamy and Duke\u2026 leading to the Grind Time fireman\u2019s carry\/flip neckbreaker combo for the win. Pretty straightforward work, as the Grind await their first challengers in the form of the Greedy Souls next week. ***<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ricky Sosa vs. Cappuccino Jones<\/strong><br \/>\nNeither Sosa\u2019s European title or Jones\u2019 WWE ID title were on the line here &#8211; although Sosa does have that ID title shot tomorrow in Holland. Jones wanted a shot at Sosa\u2019s title, and, uh, there\u2019s a reason you can\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>Jones got some pretty loud \u201cwho are you?\u201d chants, which kind of tells you just how many people really are watching EVOLVE in 2026. Sosa worked the arm early on, but a missed dropkick looked to end that momentum. Sosa\u2019s able to shake that off and hit a slingshot armdrag from the outside in, only for Cappuccino to clock him seconds later with a right hand.<\/p>\n<p>After stopping for a coffee outside, we\u2019re back at it with Cappuccino\u2019s chinlock, then with a back elbow after Sosa had fought out. There\u2019s a lot of \u201cJones does something, plays to the crowd\u201d here, and eventually it backfired as Sosa blocked a DDT before hitting an overhead kick.<\/p>\n<p>Sosa\u2019s follow-up quickly ends as he\u2019s DDT\u2019d into the middle turnbuckle for a near-fall, with Jones again staying on his man with a crossface. Sosa almost rolled him up for the pin while in the hold, before he got to the ropes to force a break. One more push on finally paid dividends, with Sosa\u2019s moonsault off the top almost getting him the win\u2026 a pop-up cutter got him even closer, before he, uh, gave Cappuccino a wedgie by lifting him by his own shorts.<\/p>\n<p>In return, Sosa got charged to the outside\u2026 then springboarded into a dropkick from Jones, whose half-and-half suplex led to a near-fall. Cutting off Jones, Sosa\u2019s able to hit a sunset bomb out of the corner, then a Styles Clash as a quick 1-2 punch almost brought this one to a close.<\/p>\n<p>A DDT and the Shot of Espresso led to the Decaffinator neckbreaker as Sosa had to take the coffee puns\u2026 Sosa\u2019s able to kick out as Jones got more frustrated. That frustration bought Sosa time to recover as a dropkick caught Jones up top ahead of an avalanche Blue Thunder Bomb\u2026 and finally, that\u2019s the win. This one started out pretty slow, with Jones\u2019 \u201cpause, do a move, pause\u201d stylings almost losing me &#8211; but the longer this one went, the more they got the crowd\u2026 and myself. I\u2019ve not been sold on Sosa so far, but I\u2019m turning. ***\u00bd<\/p>\n<p><strong>M4 vs. Aytac<\/strong><br \/>\nWe last saw Aytac on a wXw stream in the summer of 2024 &#8211; against Luke Jacobs in the inaugural European title tournament. It\u2019s been a while.<\/p>\n<p>Aytac\u2019s early anger didn\u2019t faze M4, whose chop and sidewalk slam drew a two-count in the opening minutes, before a chop block took out M4\u2019s knee. That opened the door for Aytac to keep him close to M4, before M4\u2019s side suplex broke that plan into pieces. A straightforward bodyslam put M4 back on track, before a uranage got the tenderized M4 the win as he\u2019s now starting to pick up wins, plural. **\u00bd<\/p>\n<p><strong>CSI (Luca de Leone &amp; Nordino) vs. Planet Gojirah (Robert Dreissker &amp; Marc Empire)<\/strong><br \/>\nYou may remember Luca from the Extreme Wrestling Party when he was part of a group with another police-inspired acronym. Luca and Nordino got to cut a promo beforehand, all in Italian, but we don\u2019t get to see what CSI stands for today.<\/p>\n<p>Starting against Dreissker, CSI were all out of luck, barely registering a mark on the Austrian before Nordino found himself trapped in the wrong corner. He\u2019s Biel\u2019d out of the corner and into a tag from Luca, who again couldn\u2019t get much going. A missed back senton from Dreissker gave Leon an opening to choke Dreissker in the ropes, but Nordino\u2019s cheapshot backfired spectacularly as he was given almost a bionic elbow on the floor.<\/p>\n<p>Nordino shoved a piece of tubing in Dreissker\u2019s boot for the referee to catch &#8211; creating an opening for CSI &#8211; but Dreissker\u2019s double suplex put an end to that as Empire returned to squash Nordino and Luca in the corners. The ineffective CSI end up getting put away as Nordino ate a double Beast Buster, before de Leone took the Power Plex double-team to finish this one off. ***<\/p>\n<p><strong>PROGRESS Men\u2019s Super Strong Style 16 2026 First Round: Zoltan vs. Peter Tihanyi<\/strong><br \/>\nAfter Elijah Blum booked his spot in Super Strong Style 16\u2019s weekender, we\u2019re going to have a Hungarian join him\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Tihanyi looked to take Zoltan lightly, refusing to seriously engage with him as the champion as looking for an easy night at the office. A diving enziguiri from Tihanyi took us past the five minute mark with Zoltan nowhere close to defeated\u2026 and while Zoltan was able to create some openings, it took a lot of misdirection before he managed to boot Tihanyi in the face.<\/p>\n<p>A crossbody off the top nearly got Zoltan the upset\u2026 but a splash off the top\u2019s cancelled as Tihanyi then teased going all Tony Atlas on us, going after Zoltan\u2019s boot. A missed slingshot cutter allowed Zoltan back in, but he just leaps into a superkick before Tihanyi rolled Zoltan into an ankle lock for the quick submission. This was solid, but I don\u2019t think many were truly expecting any different result given Tihanyi\u2019s the champion. ***<\/p>\n<p><strong>Metehan vs. Ahura<\/strong><br \/>\nI was surprised this was the main event given neither man\u2019s advertised for Back to the Roots next week\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Ahura\u2019s still carrying his K\u00f6nig der Catcher trophy as commentary mentioned his \u201cwin or die\u201d promise regarding Carat. Starting of with a rather terse handshake, things didn\u2019t exactly explode into life, as Ahura made a point of using the ropes to break the flow. Eventually that got Metehan riled up and now things broke down with the pair laying into each other before things spilled outside and into the bench seats.<\/p>\n<p>Metehan used the front row for some mounted punches on Ahura, before a return to the ring almost was short-lived as Ahura\u2019s missed shoulder charge almost sent him right back outside. Capitalising, Metehan targeted the arm\u2026 but seemingly tweaked his leg as he looked to change things up.<\/p>\n<p>A clothesline from Metehan managed to get him a two-count, but he\u2019s clearly hobbling\u2026 even more so when he had to flip out of a waistlock. The delays that caused allowed Ahura back in with a springboard missile dropkick that bloodied Ahura\u2026 but Metehan\u2019s up-kick put us right back to square one.<\/p>\n<p>Back-and-forth chops led to a collision in the middle of the ring\u2026 Ahura\u2019s able to push on from that with a Yakuza kick in the corner to Metehan, before a half crab trapped the former Carat winner in the middle of the ring. The ropes save Metehan, but Ahura refuses to let go until referee Tassilo Jung threatened to make the call to disqualify him.<\/p>\n<p>A bloodied Metehan wanted the match to continue\u2026 and went right back to Ahura for a crossface. The ropes stop him, but aided in a slingshot DDT for a near-fall, before a Fujiwara armbar looked to force a stoppage. Instead, Ahura rolled free before he caught a Metehan handspring\u2026 eventually turning it into a powerbomb for a near-fall.<\/p>\n<p>With both men compromised, Ahura scored with a kick to the head as he then stopped to sort out his shoulder\u2026 charging it into the buckles to try and pop it back in. It just bought Metehan more recovery time though, as Ahura charged into a fireman\u2019s carry gutbuster\u2026 while a uranage almost got Metehan the win seconds later. We keep dragging this out as the pair fight on the top turnbuckle, with Metehan\u2019s avalanche uranage finding its mark\u2026 but his bum knee means he can\u2019t quickly make the cover, and of course Ahura\u2019s able to kick out.<\/p>\n<p>One last flurry ends with Ahura managing to sneak in a Boss Lariat, but it\u2019s done his shoulder in again\u2026 so rather than go for a pin, Ahura punches at Metehan\u2019s knee before going back to the half crab. It\u2019s quickly pushed away, but Metehan suddenly can\u2019t run for a sliding D, and that created the opening for Ahura to finally getting the half crab on for the submission.<\/p>\n<p>Other than telling the story of \u201cboth men had to gut through it\u201d, with a few too many teases of injury stoppages, this one just didn\u2019t work for me. The Bielefeld crowd seemed to check out on the match the longer it went &#8211; and given this wasn\u2019t building to anything immediate, the match was more of a building block that may have been better served as the first half main. **\u00be<\/p>\n<p>The latest We Love Wrestling show was a decent enough card &#8211; albeit one that was lacking the \u201cobvious main event\u201d &#8211; but a show that had its highlights nonetheless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>wXw hit Bielefeld for the first time this year &#8211; with Elijah Blum and Peter Tihanyi getting warm-ups ahead of next week\u2019s Pure Rules match in Oberhausen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":28831,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"wXw We Love Wrestling #72 (January 17, 2026) recap - #WeLoveWrestling - wXw hit Bielefeld for the first time this year - with Elijah Blum and Peter Tihanyi getting warm-ups ahead of next week\u2019s Pure Rules match in Oberhausen.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[690,6,829],"tags":[7149,4429,7107,6200,5261,3380,5751,1168,7155,7130,7157,6204,7156,6825,1542,7158,6987,6881,5285,6127,7159,5634,7023,7138,1086,4957,7125,3146,454,6879],"class_list":["post-28832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-european-indies","category-reviews","category-wxw","tag-10-10-next-level","tag-ahura","tag-aleksander-bellamy","tag-alex-duke","tag-aytac","tag-aytac-bahar","tag-bk-westbrook","tag-bobby-gunns","tag-cappuccino-jones","tag-conn-kelly","tag-csi","tag-elijah-blum","tag-ella-envy","tag-jane-nero","tag-laurance-roman","tag-luca-de-leone","tag-m4","tag-marc-empire","tag-metehan","tag-nick-schreier","tag-nordino","tag-peter-tihanyi","tag-planet-gojirah","tag-ricky-sosa","tag-robert-dreissker","tag-stephanie-maze","tag-the-grind","tag-we-love-wrestling","tag-wxw","tag-zoltan"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p73vbt-7v2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/wxw-wlw72-logo.jpg?fit=1200%2C675","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28832"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28840,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28832\/revisions\/28840"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}