By Liam Byrne @tvtimelimit
wXw Shotgun review (25.4.18)
With Frankfurt only just in the book, we now have the road to Superstars of Wrestling to contend with, as several big matches are booked alongside match two of the Dirty Dragan Trial Series and a mixed tag match main event that saw Killer Kelly team with Mark Davis to take on Absolute Andy and Melanie Gray.
The main event was all about giving the fans a taste of what is to come at Superstars of Wrestling, as promos from earlier in the show announced that Kelly would team with Marius Al-Ani to take on Andy and Gray. The Andy and Gray promo was a particular highlight of the show, as Andy believed Gray to have bought him coffee, refers to himself when Gray mentions God choosing her to be the face of the women’s division, lists all…and I do mean all…of his major achievements, before suggesting their tag team could be titled ‘Pure Sex and Melanie Gray’ amongst other options. Gray even got a kiss on the cheek as Andy left.
The actual contest itself was a lot of fun from beginning to end, with Andy fatiguing in an early chop exchange with Davis, only to poke the big Aussie in the eye just as it seemed the strikes had worn him down. As the rules state that only Andy/Davis and Gray/Kelly can be the legal combinations, an attempted Alphamare Waterslide that saw Andy slip out the back also had him scamper to the corner to tag out. Kelly and Gray channelled Frye/Takayama with their strike exchange, with a huge pump kick dropping Gray to the canvas and earning Andy a complete ear bashing moments later following a fisherman suplex by Kelly.
Confrontation between Andy and Kelly is teased several times, with Kelly positively excited by the chance to take on the significantly larger opponent – until Davis lifts her out of the way. An illegal kick from the apron by Gray does little to faze Davis, but does lead to a shriek by Gray that possibly deafened anyone in the front row. Finally, the heels managed to get their game in order, with an assisted abdominal stretch on Davis, only for the referee to eventually spot the cheating and break the hold with a well-placed kick. Once Davis is able to tag out again, Andy cheats by grabbing Kelly by the hair to halt her momentum, though she gets her revenge later by slugging him with a punch after he gets in her way once more.
Gray is not as happy to tackle Davis as Kelly was Andy, but she did jump on his back to halt the offensive onslaught. Andy then almost dropped Kelly with an F5, though the distraction of ‘The VeterAAn’ allowed Gray to hit a swingout slam to take Kelly out. Davis went once more for the Alphamare Waterslide, but with his partner down, he is vulnerable to a Gray low blow and an Andy F5 for the win. A nice appetiser of the action that will be coming our way at Superstars of Wrestling.
The second match of the Dirty Dragan Trial Series followed two segments with the competitors: Dragan was told by Emil Sitoci to stop getting depressed, whilst Francis Kaspin told the interviewer that Dragan had a uniqueness that made him popular with the fans. Kaspin isn’t as insurmountable a challenge as Absolute Andy was in Frankfurt, which transpired to Dragan having some fun in the opening exchanges, including a big elbow with a muscle pose cover for two alongside the trademark chop off of the apron. Kaspin initially gets in on the action, booting Dragan in the bum after a missed leapfrog, but it isn’t long until Kaspin stops playing around. A huge slap greeted a celebrating Dragan following a butt bump and a bronco buster, with Kaspin playing the de facto heel as he berated Dragan and waffled him with more slaps throughout the contest. A Northern Lights Suplex earned him a two, yet Dragan fired back with an X-Factor and several lariats. Kaspin blasted Dragan with more slaps as well as berating him, but after a missile dropkick is followed by a rear naked choke, Dragan kicked off of the turnbuckle to turn it into a surprise three count in shades of Austin versus Hart, yet executed a lot worse in all honesty. Still, an unexpected victory for Dragan in a decent enough match.
Other segments leads to further matches getting signed for Superstars of Wrestling. Ilja Dragunov and WALTER have a sit down interview to discuss the match (or as Dragunov makes clear, the battle) the two men had at True Colors, though the champion is unhappy that the referee was knocked out by WALTER. The ex-champion stated that he is not a romantic like Dragunov, wrestling with emotion, but he unusually got caught up in the moment after the official made the wrong call. The tension between the two continued to escalate as Dragunov spoke about how their matches always have definite ends, which this one didn’t due to the assault on the official. With that being said, Dragunov offered WALTER another shot at the title at Superstars of Wrestling, a challenge that was accepted with a fierce handshake.
Another match at Superstars of Wrestling is Bobby Gunns defending the Shotgun Title against Christopher Daniels after a live Smoking Break allowed Gunns to talk about the charitable work he does in looking after old men before they retire and making sure they leave their careers behind with a little bit of money in their pocket. Gunns is still not really embroiled with a feud within the promotion, though I am beginning to enjoy Gunns’ gatekeeper-esque role that he seems to have fallen into.
The show closed with tension in RISE, a pretty universal thing as of late but one that you’d have expected to die down after John Klinger’s departure. Post-Sabre Jr. match, Lucky Kid is excited by the amount of fun he had in the match, leading to a dressing down from Tarkan Aslan. Aslan then went on to have words with Pete Bouncer, telling him to resolve the Da Mack issue as soon as possible. With Bouncer and Ivan Kiev then talking about taking a run at the tag belts, we cut to further conversation between Aslan and Kid, with Aslan effectively calling Kid a ‘loser’, whilst making it clear he won’t be in Kid’s corner against Jay Lethal at Superstars of Wrestling as he didn’t accept his help in Frankfurt. Things just continue to threaten the stability of the group no matter what.
Shotgun is always a good way to spend sub-sixty minutes watching wrestling, with today’s episode no exception.
