By Liam Byrne @tvtimelimit
The last episode of wXw Shotgun before the summer break offered us two matches between wXw royalty and relative upstarts, whilst the main event continued the ongoing wXw Tag Team Championship saga as RISE, JayFK and Monster Consulting met once more after a further altercation, this time in the ring, threatened to boil over in the opening segment of the show.
It was a main event that the referee never quite got on top of from the moment JayFK attempted to walk out with the title belts and were stopped by Christian Michael Jakobi, with a helping hand from Monster Consulting. RISE would then keep the two upstarts in the ring as they began to receive the pasting many of the fans wanted to see. The titles would eventually end up with the referee, though a JayFK attempt to jump RISE only ends up with a four on two beatdown. Jay Skillet would avoid a Julian Nero big boot that caught Ivan Kiev, but Francis Kaspin would be bounced between Pete Bouncer and Avalanche as both men sought to outdo the other one, including with successive short arm clotheslines.
Things were never going to stay completely on the up with Monster Consulting and RISE, with Avalanche dumping Bouncer with a clothesline and a slam. As Tas continued to try and restore order, RISE would unleash a Russian legsweep/blockbuster combination, only for Nero to land a big knee and Wasteland, yet he was subsequently usurped by Kaspin who landed a lungblower and got a two count by covering Kiev. JayFK have some time playing king of the mountain, keeping other wrestlers out of the ring, but Kiev was eventually able to halt a double team move on Bouncer, leading to a sideslam/legdrop combination by RISE for two. A sequence that saw everyone get in a move one after the other ended with Bouncer coming out on top with a double arm DDT on Avalanche and a full nelson slam on Skillet. However, Kaspin would use the confusion to hit Bouncer with a title belt and steal the win.
Some revenge and arguably closure would come before the credits rolled as Avalanche would put both members of JayFK through a table with a spear, before RISE handed the title belts back to their rightful owners. This small novella of a storyline may still have legs, but it was a positive way to end the last show before the break whilst firmly establishing JayFK as the new heel team of note.
The opening match saw Bobby Gunns take on Prince Ahura, the man who had interrupted the Smoking Break last week (and one I didn’t identify without his hotpant/skirt combo). This was a relatively short contest, though played off a simple story of Gunns perhaps underestimating Ahura at times and allowing him to take control at points of the contest. Indeed, a derisory pointed hand from the Shotgun champion would be booted away by Ahura to spark a sequence that saw him land a hipblock takedown, a kick to the back of the head following a missed Gunns charge and a running bicycle kick.
Ahura lost the impetus with a charge into the corner that was met by a big boot and set up a second rope European uppercut, with Gunns clearly pissed off with Ahura’s insolence. A pin with a knee in the face led to a transition into a half Boston with several kicks to the back of the head for good measure. Gunns landed two running forearms in the corner, only for a third to see him receive a big knee to the face, yet Ahura’s attempt to attack Gunns from the second turnbuckle ended up with him jumping into an armbar that had the champion use his legs to trap both arms and force the submisson.
With Lucky Kid and Marius Al-Ani the obvious two choices to get to the final of the Shotgun Title #1 Contender Tournament, the promotion is at least doing a good job of building up Veit Muller as well. Going toe to toe with WALTER can only be seen as a good thing for anyone’s standing, with Muller avoiding early chop attempts to land double handed strikes of his own. A missed WALTER elbowdrop allowed Muller to hit a rolling senton, but a slam attempt was a poor choice of offense and was easily blocked. Two big men unsurprisingly had some big midring collisions that saw WALTER come out on top, but Muller continued to avoid the chops, even hitting a second rope bulldog.
Unfortunately, a chop was always going to connect at one point, and with one came many more. Muller would need to grab the ropes to break a Boston crab, but was able to fire back with strikes of his own as the two men exchanged with each other. Another attempt at the slam failed, this time seeing WALTER collapsing onto Muller, a bad decision especially after avoiding a German suplex out of the Gojira clutch. The resulting chops included a wrist grab that didn’t allow Muller to go anywhere, yet he continued to fight back, eventually taking WALTER off of his feet after several clotheslines in a row that also had the big Austrian fighting back with boots of his own. A backslide earned Muller a two, a slam seemed to have him in control…but WALTER grabbed a cradle out of nowhere for three.
The hard hitting match was followed with a post-match discussion between the two men that saw WALTER explain that Axel Dieter Jr. had told him to look after Muller, and now WALTER could see why. With the advice of focusing on a finish and to stop moping around, Muller thanked WALTER and promised he wouldn’t disappoint either him or Dieter Jr. wXw have definitely positioned Muller as an outside shot at the Shotgun Title.
With so much in ring action, there were only two main other issues that were resolved. The biggest one was Absolute Andy announcing that he would fight Ilja Dragunov at Shortcut to the Top on the 4th of August. Having listed off his many achievements, Andy saw it as a chance to finally become the wXw Unified World Heavyweight Champion. Another in-ring promo saw Dirty Dragan air his thoughts about his current progress, ending with him agreeing to go into therapy and making a promise to everyone that he would come back a bigger and better man – with the crowd’s support, naturally.
That’s Shotgun for the next few weeks, or at least new Shotgun (a bloopers show and two unreleased matches episodes follow). The return of the wXw Tag Team Titles to Monster Consulting helped to create a sense of closure with which the promotion can head into their break, whilst leaving the fans excited for Andy versus Dragunov.
Enjoy your break. August onwards promises to be an intriguing prospect.
