By Liam Byrne @tvtimelimit
wXw Shotgun review (23.05.18)
As wXw heads into a break before the Shortcut to the Top event in August, Shotgun takes pride of place in the life of those looking to get their graps fix from the German promotion. With the 20th event in Hamburg done and dusted, the focus of Shotgun this week was primarily the fallout to that event, though it did have one big match – Bobby Gunns defending his wXw Shotgun Title against David Starr.
After early wrestling exchanges saw a now common ending of Gunns hitting a European uppercut on what should have been a clean break, Starr found himself firing back with a chop after the champion aimed to end another break with a chop of his own. Gunns’ first real success came with the armbar in the ropes, before he would begin his assault on Starr’s arm by sending him shoulder first into the ringpost, all nicely topped off with a vicious stamp to the elbow. The two men would trade leg grapevine submissions, Gunns with an arrogant wiggle and Starr with a less savoury nose hook, before a single leg takedown allowed Gunns to target the arm again with a stomp.
This continued attack on the arm saw a usually successful Starr counter, the cartwheel, fail as he crumpled to the mat and was stamped on once more. The challenger would come back with his side salto suplex, an STO for two and a top crossbody after a superkick to Gunns as he knelt on the apron also earning a nearfall. With the damage done to the arm, Gunns was always dangerous and he would have Starr scrambling for the ropes as he attempted an armbar, before dumping the challenger on the back of his head with a German suplex. This was followed by a strike exchange that led to a Gunns’ Psycho Driver, only for Starr to use the momentum as he hit the rope to nail a Han Stansen and leave both men down.
Another strike exchange saw Gunns go to the mat with the armbreaker, only for Starr to end up in the ropes (and receive a ‘broken’ finger for his troubles). The attack on the arm continued with an armwringer that took Starr off the apron so as to land hard on his shoulder, but the challenger was able to fight off the pain to halt a suicide dive attempt with the Cherrymint DDT. A Han Stansen and a Blackheart Buster earnt Starr a two, but it was a superkick that followed which was millimetres from earning Starr another run with the title. However, it was not to be as the ref would end up out of position and miss a low blow by Gunns, a move that set-up a roll up with bridge for the successful title defense. A good match which had a finish that I liked primarily because it reminds us all that, whilst he may be popular, Gunns is still a heel.
Post-match, Gunns would announce a tournament for a tilt at the Shotgun Championship at Shortcut to the Top. The four matches announced were Lucky Kid vs Julian Pace, Juvenile X vs TKO, Veit Muller vs Mike Schwarz, and Ivan Kiev vs Marius Al-Ani. It feels set up for Lucky Kid to make the final, with probably Al-Ani alongside him.
In other segments on the show, we would see Christian Michael Jakobi confronted by Monster Consulting, with Avalanche in particular threatening to tear things down if Jakobi didn’t get their wXw Tag Team Titles back from Jay-FK. Jakobi, to his credit, would try later in the show, only to be laughed at by Francis Kaspin as the heels made it clear that they had the belts, so didn’t even need to be number one contenders. Jay Skillet would also dub Jakobi ‘old man’ before Kaspin pushed his way past a man who he would have respected as recently as a few weeks ago.
Tensions were also riding high in the RISE locker room as Pete Bouncer confronted Tarkan Aslan for his role in Lucky Kid’s loss to Bobby Gunns. Aslan believed that Kid would have lost either way, so his decision to interfere was about preservation. When Bouncer tried to tell him what he thought was best, Aslan would get very angry, making it clear that he knew how to win gold and that he was the one who had been travelling with Kid for years so knew what was best for him.
The show would open with Dirty Dragan in the doldrums following his loss to Veit Muller. Emil Sitoci told him to ring his therapist, which is appeared he was going to do. The show would actually end with a callback to that moment, as Tassilo Jung and Sebastian Hollmichel would have a conversation about keeping an eye on Dragan due to his down mood when he loses.
As is common following a marquee event, we get the segments that give talents a chance to praise those they fought against. Walter and Zack Sabre Jr. thank each other for a touch match, with WALTER in particular enjoying the opportunity for them to come together in combat after their continued rise up the wrestling ranks. David Starr would congratulate Julian Pace on a hard fought match, imploring him to always have a goal just as he does – winning the wXw Unified Title and defeating Walter. Finally, Kay Lee Ray would put over Toni Storm in an interview, before promising to return in the future for another run at the belt.
With no marquee events in the near future, this episode does a good job of tying up some ends, adding intrigue to some ongoing storylines, and building up a tournament that will give Shotgun some nice direction at a time when it isn’t building towards a show in the near future.
wXw Shotgun review (30.5.18)
In a rare move for wXw Shotgun, the arguable ‘main event’ of the show wasn’t a match, but was an extended promo by Absolute Andy and all the came with it. There were matches – Julian Pace versus Lucky Kid and Ivan Kiev versus Marius Al-Ani, both in the Shotgun Title #1 Contender Tournament – but it was the 16 Carat Gold winner who got the limelight of the final ten minutes in a wild end to the show.
In an attempt to win friends and influence people, Absolute Andy would call the fans ‘illiterate’, reading out the ’16 Carat Gold’ t-shirt he is wearing that signifies that he is the best of the best. Asking the crowd who believes Ilja Dragunov is the best wrestler in the world twice – the first time feigning a lack of noise – Andy agrees that he is the best, after all he is champion…yet only because Andy lets him. Andy goes on to mock Dragunov’s attempts to fire himself up (insisting that it scares everyone but him), his lack of balls and even goes as far as to call him a ‘tard’. This brings out Dragunov, who retorts by proclaiming that Andy’s career is pretty much over.
Alexander James is next on the scene, his arrival allowing Andy to jump Dragunov from behind. Just as it looks like Andy is about to use the A Klasse, WALTER hits the ring to run off the heels. Handing Dragunov back his wXw Unified Title, WALTER makes it clear that he respects Dragunov as the better man, whilst he promises that they will team to take on both Andy and James, a team that Dragunov roars will be ‘UNBESIEGBAR’. When this match will take place is unclear, but it will be the first step towards Andy versus Dragunov for the title.
In terms of the Shotgun #1 Contender Tournament, this show was stacked with the bigger names in the brackets. A nice touch saw each man have a short promo before each contest, ramping up the sense of importance that this tournament has. Julian Pace versus Lucky Kid was the first match of the evening, with a multiple rope running spot by Pace that showcased his speed and nerves as he avoided several dropdowns and clotheslines only halted by Kid’s leg hump, for lack of a better name. This leads to Kid’s usual trip, basement dropkick and dive feint, though Pace is no slouch as he avoided a plancha and hit a suicide dive to the outside.
A monkey flip and a standing shooting star press earned Pace a two count, but a handspring back elbow and several vicious overhand chops turned the tide in Kid’s favour. However, Pace knew this was an opportunity to get a huge win over notable opposition, and he would wrestle control back with a lucha roll into a neckbreaker, his Vollgas rope running into a jumping kick and a Yoshi tonic for two. Kid would slip out of the corner in order to hit his Liger bomb for another nearfall, only for Pace to fire back immediately with a tiltawhirl DDT. The advantage of having Tarkan Aslan at ringside paid off for Kid as it looked like things were in trouble: Aslan slid the ringbell into (and out the other side) of the ring, distracting the referee long enough to allow a free punch at Pace, who in turn was dropped with a dragon suplex for the Kid three count and victory. A fast paced and entertaining start to the tournament that continues to build on the tensions of RISE as Aslan’s involvement threatens to belittle their new found belief in following the rules.
Speaking of RISE, it would be their current issue with JayFK that would come into play in the second tournament match between Ivan Kiev and Marius Al-Ani. Having already been showcased in a video that saw fake sincerity in apologising for stealing the belts, whilst also proclaiming themselves as better than the tag division, Jay Skillet and Francis Kaspin would hit the ring at the end of a competitive contest. Early exchanges had seen Al-Ani attempt an ankle lock and Kiev hit a beautiful running kick, before Al-Ani showcased a new wrinkle to his offense by adding a Pele kick to his usual nip-up into a move combination. Moments later, the same nip-up would see Al-Ani charge into a Kiev small package for a two count, whilst a Michinoku driver also earned the RISE man a nearfall.
Kiev was seemingly in control with a corner splash, high knee and a Pele kick after a struggle saw Al-Ani fight out of a fireman’s carry, but an exploder suplex saw Al-Ani use his raw power to halt Kiev’s momentum. A blown spinning huracanrana didn’t look great, but was offset by Kiev hitting a step up frankensteiner off the top rope in the next few seconds that looked perfect. This was a perfect setup for Kiev’s top rope leg lariat, but the aforementioned JayFK made themselves known, attacking Pete Bouncer at ringside and distracting Kiev long enough for Al-Ani to hit a top rope slam and a frogsplash for the win. JayFK would continue the beatdown postmatch, only to be run off by Monster Consulting. A decent match, though not quite on a par with the opening contest.
A show long search for Dirty Dragan by Sebastian Hollmichel saw him eventually find the Serbian in the laundry room. Mistakenly, Hollmichel puts forward that he believes the wins for Dragan were a bad thing, whilst also letting slip that Emil Sitoci felt the same. I’ve been waiting for the moment where Dragan and Sitoci end up falling out and perhaps turning on each other – this seems like it might be the start of that road.
The other segment of note saw Melanie Gray ally herself with LuFisto after gushing over how much she had enjoyed LuFisto beating Killer Kelly in Hamburg. If this means more LuFisto in wXw, I’m all for it.
With the summer break ahead, it could be understandable for wXw to begin to ‘phone it in’. However, the tournament feels important, plus we’ve got the first real interactions between Andy and Dragunov. Add into that the potential start of a Dragan/Sitoci split and the dickishness of JayFK, another good episode of Shotgun.
