By Liam Byrne @tvtimelimit
With the summer break underway, we get our first of two Unreleased shows that include matches that were taped from tour events both in 2017 and 2018. In this, we got a chance to see some big name matches with stars that have had breakout years, as well as wrestlers who are currently away or out injured.
A chance to see a Lucky Kid pre-big break out year was interesting for me, especially as someone who didn’t really follow the promotion until the start of 2018. He is accompanied to the ring by Chris Colen and Ivan Kiev, and took on Timothy Thatcher on this match from the Leipzig offering of the Fight Forever tour. The Kid that we see is still the sort who is up to tricks in order to get into his opponent’s head, stealing the RINGKAMPF scarf from the ringpost to mock the trademark pose before either of the men have locked up. Leipzig as a crowd are behind Kid, but this means little as Thatcher bullied him on the mat before using an abdominal stretch into a pin for two. Several European uppercuts followed Thatcher laughing off a Kid chop, but would shortly lead to the first opportunity for Kid as he hit a basement dropkick and his own trademark move, the dive feint into sit down. When he actually went for the plancha, however, Thatcher avoided it and blasted him with a kick for his troubles.
After a floatover suplex for 2, Thatcher missed on an uncharacteristic top rope attack, allowing Kid to hit the handspring back elbow and a dropkick to the back of Thatcher’s head for a two count. Fighting off an Octopus hold, Thatcher would then unleash several slaps, a knee and a vicious body slam, before slapping on a single leg Boston crab. A second attempt at this hold left Thatcher open to a small package for two, a move that Kid followed up on by landing a standing sliced bread for another nearfall. Thatcher would escape a Dragon suplex attempt, before catching Kid with a big European uppercut as the young lion tried to hit a top rope move. This spelled the end really, though Kid was resilient enough to kick out of a gutwrench, belly to belly suplex and floatover butterfly, as well as escape a choke. However, a combination of back suplex (catching Kid during a handspring back elbow), step up enziguri and butterfly suplex into a submission earned Thatcher the hard fought victory.
There were similarities between the first and second match as we saw a second match from the Fight Forever Tour that saw a well-liked member of RISE take on what seemed difficult odds – Ivan Kiev defending his Shotgun Title in Berlin against Jurn Simmons. Simmons wasn’t a heel yet, but played up his size advantage in the face of a hostile crowd by shoving the champion twice out of a collar and elbow tie up, before catching a springboard attempt by Kiev and dropping him with a slam. Two big Irish whips sent Kiev from corner to corner, whilst Simmons added further damage with a short arm lariat. Like Thatcher in the first match, Simmons decision to go aerial proved his undoing as he was taken to the canvas with a step up frankensteiner that let Kiev back into a match had had struggled to get a footing in.
A springboard leg lariat would score Kiev a two count, whilst a rear chinlock aimed to slow his bigger foe down. However, a top rope splash saw him hit hard on the canvas and allow Simmons to nail two big axehandle sledges to the chest and an Oklahoma Stampede moments later that earned him a two count. A missed charge in the corner gave Kiev a window of opportunity, one he took with a neckbreaker and a running leg kick, only to get caught up on the top rope with an impressive dropkick by Simmons. It became the RISE show at this point as Pete Bouncer tried to get involved multiple times, getting knocked off the apron at first as Simmons used Kiev as a weapon before hitting a Samoan drop, whilst the second time only led to a roll through of a roll-up that Simmons then turned into a huge gutwrench powerbomb. After landing a big kick to the head and the top rope leg lariat and only scoring a two count, Kiev would eventually pick up the win with a title belt show, one set up by a Bouncer/Simmons scuffle that saw the numbers game ultimately keep the championship in Kiev’s hands.
The final match on the show, whilst unreleased, was a match that was also seen at wXw Superstars of Wrestling. This match took place after that marquee event, but started with a similar desire by Killer Kelly to get at Absolute Andy as they teamed with Marius Al-Ani and Melanie Gray respectively. Al-Ani would have to try his hardest to keep his partner on the apron in the early stages as she didn’t want to take no for an answer, though all four wrestlers would eventually end up brawling around the ringside after a failure for any control to be kept, at least initially. It would be Andy and Al-Ani who made it back to the ring first, with a side headlock and shoulderblock by Andy allowing him to attempt an abdominal stretch, one that was unsuccessful and only saw him get a dropkick and a jumping clothesline for his troubles.
Kelly and Gray would then channel Frye/Takayama in the center of the ring, before Kelly scored a nearfall with a bicycle kick. A missed kick to the head by Kelly allowed Gray to hit a spear, but the men were soon back in just as it appeared that things were beginning to calm down. Some strikes and a suplex earned a two count for Al-Ani, but his attempt at hitting a spinning rana was blocked and turned into an Andy abdominal stretch. This led to a sequence of three Andy abdominal stretches – the ref would break the cheating twice (with a kick and an eye poke respectively), before a punch to the face by Kelly stopped the third try as Andy blocked all of the ref’s involvements! This also allowed Al-Ani to finally make the tag to Kelly. A bicycle kick, suplex into the corner and Shades of Shibata have Kelly in full control, at least until Andy tripped her and pulled her to ringside – a move that prompts an Al-Ani dive to save his partner.
Heading into the final stretch, Al-Ani and Andy trade a T-bone suplex and spinebuster respectively, but a pin was waved off by the referee as they weren’t the legal participants. A sequence of events with Kelly landing on her feet after an attempted F5 by Andy almost saw a fluke win as a Kelly kick saw Andy collapse on top of Al-Ani for a two count. Gray and Kelly would impressively land Samoan drops on the male counterparts, but as Kelly went for a pin following a kick, the same issue of legal participants cost her a chance to win. After Al-Ani failed to get the submission with an ankle lock, Kelly would be tagged in and almost grab the win with a fisherman’s suplex. As Al-Ani took out Andy with a frogsplash following Kelly sending the big man off the top with a slam, the faces finally picked up the win as Kelly kicked Gray in the head once more.
All three matches were good or at least interesting in their own right. The last contest in particular was a nice addendum to their previous encounter, playing off some of the spots and adding a more chaotic feel to some of the brawling action. I look forward to seeing what wXw offers up next week as the second episode of Shotgun Unreleased is made available.
