Alan Counihan
Following a busy 16 Carat Gold weekend, the Road to NYC show was a rather more sedate affair that offered some development moving towards the upcoming Frankfurt event whilst also showcasing some of the lesser names on the roster.
As the ‘Road to’ shows act as extended Shotgun shows in practice, there were a lot of backstage segments and interviews, starting off with Bobby Gunns, the new wXw Unified World Heavyweight Champion. Having thanked his brother, it would be Vinnie Vortex who was up next as he became an unwilling shoulder upon which Absolute Andy unloaded all of his concerns about being cheated. Finally, Chris Brookes and Aussie Open made their reason for uniting in wXw clear – they are sick and tired of being the novelty imports used at 16 Carat and World Tag League.
Marius Al Ani’s Open Challenge
The opening contest of the show saw Marius Al-Ani’s Shotgun Title Open Challenge answered by Jurn Simmons. An opening exchange saw Simmons quick out of the gate with a Massive Kick and a gutwrench sitout bomb for a two count. Al-Ani struggled to get into the contest at all as Simmons chucked him around with ease including three suplexes that saw Simmons send Al-Ani across the ring. However, an eye rake allowed Al-Ani to hit a double knee to the back on Simmons and get the surprise roll-up victory. A fun display of power by Simmons gave way to a weak finish unfortunately.
More backstage segments had Absolute Andy request a rematch with Bobby Gunns from Karsten Beck, only to get a contest against Vinnie Vortex instead. A brief Shigehiro Irie interview saw him challenge Bobby Gunns for the wXw Unified World Heavyweight Championship – an apt first title defense in New York – before a video for Emil Sitoci sold the idea that Sitoci could only really feel something when he stepped foot in the ring.
Crowchester versus Lukas Robinson
Two members of the wXw Academy were given a chance to show their wares and the initial exchanges of pinfalls and reverses were perfectly pleasant to watch. Robinson found time to put on a hat and take Crowchester ‘around the world’ (a turnbuckle smash in each corner), but before long Marius Al-Ani attacked both men to cause a no contest. Julian Pace and Leon Von Gasteren made the save, only for Emil Sitoci to come out to attack them. Karsten Beck, channelling Teddy Long, made a tag team match between the four men for the main event tonight.
Beck continued to be busy on the booking side of things as he also decided that Pretty Bastards and Arrows of Hungary would compete later in the show for a wXw contract. Alongside this, we got our first look at the 16 Carat Gold winner, Lucky Kid, though Pete Bouncer cut short the celebrations by querying Kid’s relationship with the newly arrived Schadenfreude.
Yuu versus Wesna
The two women clashed on either side of a tag team contest 16 Carat Gold Night Two and began with chop and shoulderblock trades in which both held their own. This turned into a Wesna beatdown as she utilised her power advantage, though Yuu did drop the Croatian with a sidewalk slam and back senton. Following some further strikes from both women, a Yuu sleeper was stopped when Wesna lept back on top of her in a brutal (painful, not aesthetically so) looking spot. This was enough to let Wesna hit the Samoan drop for the win in a short match that was decent, if unspectacular outside of the sleeper spot.
Having lost to WALTER at 16 Carat Gold, David Starr interrupted a conversation between the big Austrian and Alan Counihan to challenge him once more, stating that they were finally fighting at the same level. WALTER brushed off the challenge, telling Starr to grow up, especially as WALTER had bigger things to worry about.
Arrows of Hungary versus Pretty Bastards
The match for the wXw contract was immediately in the hands of the Pretty Bastards as they jumped the Arrows of Hungary before the bell. Icarus was isolated as multiple suplexes by the Bastards were punctuated by Prince Ahura’s strikes. Dover’s hot tag unsurprisingly led to some impressive power offense, including a back body drop/fallaway slam on the Bastards as well as a double powerslam. As the referee lost control, the Bastards hit a sickening looking Alabama slam into a kick, before finishing the match with a spinning suplex into a sitout bomb. A reasonable contest between the two teams and the team I wanted to win picked up the three so can’t complain too much.
Unfortunately for the Pretty Bastards, Prince Ahura’s decision to brag in front of Karsten Beck backfired as they found themselves booked in Frankfurt against Avalanche and Ilja Dragunov. Either side of this announcement, Veit Muller was congratulated on joining RINGKAMPF by Axel Dieter Jr., WALTER and Axel Tischer.
Absolute Andy versus Vinny Vortex
Like the Pretty Bastards before him, Andy took immediate control by attacking Vortex with a clothesline, leading to a contest which rarely saw him in much trouble. Vortex attempted to fight back several times but was often cut off quickly, though he did hit an interesting jump on Andy as the two men fought at ringside. His fieriest comeback saw Vortex land a top rope European uppercut for 2, but a superkick and F5 gave Andy the victory. Nothing special, feeling more of a storyline victory than a contest that was booked with the expectation of quality.
Playing off of David Starr ‘stealing’ Veit Muller’s limelight in Hamburg a couple of months ago, an attempt by Starr to get Muller to pass on a message to WALTER ends up with Starr versus Muller being booked for Frankfurt. This was a nice touch as many fans had mentioned that that little moment had the potential to lead to a match down the line – well here we are. Another match for Frankfurt is Schadenfreude versus RISE as there was some more back and forth between the two teams as Brookes, Davis and Fletcher tried to celebrate with Kid. The segment ended with Brookes confused as to why Bouncer wanted a four on two match in a humorous little touch.
Marius Al-Ani and Emil Sitoci versus Julian Pace and Leon Van Gasteren
The main event of the show gave us our first look at Sitoci with his new frame of mind and an early slap to the face by Pace had Sitoci smiling. It was Pace who ended up cut off following a hotshot and the heels attempted to cut the ring in half. A side headlock/headscissor takedown combo helped Pace to get the hot tag to Van Gasteren, who exploded with multiple suplexes. The match broke down as Pace landed a Code Red, only to be told he wasn’t the legal man, before a suplex/crossbody on Al-Ani almost gave the face team the win. Sitoci and Pace ended up battling around ringside, leading to Sitoci hitting a spinning tombstone on the stage. This kept Pace down long enough for Sitoci to hit the same move on Van Gasteren for the win, though Pace did come close to breaking the pin even after such an impactful spot.
A show that wasn’t full of the best in-ring action that wXw can offer, yet it did make up for things with the backstage segments and interviews that have helped to build some interesting matches for the Frankfurt card. Muller versus Starr and RISE versus Schadenfreude in particular should deliver in terms of both in ring action and storylines.
