By Liam Byrne @tvtimelimit
The Superstars of Wrestling show was an interesting mix of storyline development for some feuds and random nods to anything from Attitude-era WWF to Lucha Underground to ROH. Whilst the spectacle matches were often worked more to showcase the concept for the most part, the storyline matches delivered in spades, especially and unsurprisingly the wXw Unified Title rematch between Ilja Dragunov and WALTER.
Interestingly, wXw put Toni Storm’s defense of the wXw Women’s Title against Tenile Dashwood in the main event slot – a real nod to the importance of the division to the promotion as a whole, especially as this was Storm’s first defense in a little while. Some early reversals led to Storm running her hands through her hair instead of taking a handshake. Moments later, the two women were brawling outside as the niceties had clearly been done away with. In a spot that would have more significance in a later contest, Storm chopped the ringpost instead of Dashwood, whilst also missing a hip attack into a selection of chairs. As the contest returned to the ring, the champion did manage to catch Dashwood on top and hit a marching musclebuster into a bridge for a two count.
Another missed hip attack, this time in the corner, would put Storm on the back foot as Dashwood slapped on the tarantula and hit a butterfly suplex. A snap German by Storm finally allowed her to catch Dashwood in the corner with the hip attack, though the challenger would fire back moments later with a diving splash into the corner. A nearfall off of a cradle after blocking a Strong Zero and a top rope crossbody all nearly won the title for Dashwood, but a headbutt set up the opportunity for a German suplex and the Strong Zero to give Storm the victory and see her retain her wXw Women’s Title. Like some of the matches on the card, this suffered a little for lack of storyline, but was a perfectly fine match at the top of the card.
There is possibly no better combination of wrestlers in the world right now than WALTER and Ilja Dragunov, and they proved it again in the wXw Unified World Title contest with Dragunov giving the big Austrian another shot at the belt. What worked this time was the complete change up in terms of narrative, with WALTER hitting a ringpost with a chop early that completely neutralised his usually destructive chops. Dragunov targeted the arm and hand, hitting a standing senton amongst other moves, whilst an early Torpedo Moscow saw WALTER roll to the outside for respite – respite he wouldn’t get after a suicide dive from the champion.
It was when Dragunov became a little too gung-ho in his offense that things turned, with WALTER catching a slingshot and turning it into a suspended twisting neckbreaker. This saw the challenger zero in on the neck of Dragunov, using a neck twist with his feet, a Liontamer and a DDT, before showing his harder edge with a choke that wrapped Dragunov’s head underneath the top turnbuckle for added pressure. With the arm injured, WALTER used his foot to work the chest area for once, but a bodyslam from Dragunov saw the match hang in the balance once more.
WALTER would use the first turnbuckle as a springboard to break a Dragunov choke, before both men traded trademark moves – Dragunov would clutch, arm slap and German suplex, WALTER would fly across the ring with a Torpedo Moscow. In shades of previous encounters, a Liger bomb would deposit WALTER off of the second turnbuckle for a nearfall, but a Torpedo Moscow only served to launch Dragunov into a Gojira clutch. The injured arm would come into play now, as Dragunov used it to escape the hold, though WALTER continued to up the pressure with a one armed powerbomb and another Liontamer, this time with stomps to the back of the head.
Considering what is perceived to be WALTER’s strength, his chops, the first one of real note had been held off for so long that it was a legitimate nearfall, crumpling Dragunov to the canvas upon impact. The arm work by Dragunov paid off in the end, as he took WALTER down with a crucifix driver, before slapping on an arm submission for the tap. WALTER threatened to leave the ring rather than shake Dragunov’s hand, but thought better of it in the end. A really strong match in their ever increasing canon of great wrestling.
The initial tale of Bobby Gunns’ defense of the Shotgun Title against Christopher Daniels is one of respect, but after some early reversals and several handshakes, a Daniels’ Lionsault leads to a Gunn spitting at Daniels moments later, before following up with an eye poke. It is his willingness to bend the rules that has kept Gunns on top in many of his matches, and he would capitalise with his submission offense: a half Boston crab included a knee to the back, whilst a leglock had additional torque placed on it with a bridge. A double clothesline would see both men hit the canvas, but as the pace picked up, it was Daniels who took control, hitting a Blue Thunder Bomb for a nearfall and fighting off three guillotine attempts to hit a northern lights suplex for another two count.
The Angel Wings looked to have given Daniels the victory, but Gunns was too close to the ropes and managed to hang in the contest by using his feet to break the pin at two. Daniels followed this up with an attempt at the Best Moonsault Ever, but Gunns moved out of the way and jumped almost immediately into a cross armbreaker for the eventual tap. Not as engaging as some of Gunns’ recent defenses, but he continues to be an engaging watch no matter who he is in the ring with.
Considering how enjoyable the mixed tag from Shotgun had been, the match I was probably looking forward to the most at Superstars of Wrestling was Melanie Gray and Absolute Andy taking on Killer Kelly and Marius Al-Ani. The rules for mixed tag wrestling in wXw are made clear to begin with – Gray versus Kelly, Andy versus Al-Ani only – which gets a very comical ‘drat’ style response from Andy, whilst he also decided to give Gray a chest bump for good luck. The match is non-stop, with a mixture of good wrestling and heel shenanigans that is just right up my alley. From the opening bell, where Gray gets stuck doing a stretch which forces Andy to begin for her team, the two teams never really let up. In a spot that played off of the previous mixed tag, Andy locked Al-Ani in an abdominal stretch with extra leverage from Gray, but when a kick by the referee wasn’t enough to stop it, an eye poke certainly did.
It would be Andy who is first to break the rules of the mixed tag match, tripping Kelly from the outside, though earning himself a huge Al-Ani corner dive for his troubles. Gray would also get involved with Al-Ani, low bridging him just as he began to build up momentum. This all helped build to Kelly versus Andy, with a kiss to the forehead from Andy leading to a trip and Shades of Shibata in the corner to a big pop. Unfortunately for Kelly, turnabout was fair play and Andy nailed a huge F5 with the referee otherwise engaged, with Al-Ani able to break the pin to continue the contest.
Al-Ani managed to apply the ankle lock twice, once following a blocked frogsplash, but when neither is successful (the second also reversed into a collision with Gray on the apron), it is Kelly who applied her own ankle lock to the big German. After a German suplex by Kelly on Gray followed a sequence that saw Al-Ani block several of her strikes in a row – including a kick to the balls – a blocked frankensteiner off the top by Andy saw Kelly drop him with a slam and Al-Ani hit the frogsplash for a popular win in a really fun contest. Perhaps this also adds some longevity to the Al-Ani versus Andy feud in the process?
In a match plagued at times with ‘We want Bad Bones’ chants (thankfully, with ‘Shut the fuck up’ chants in retort), RISE versus Monster Consulting was a match that was more interesting for the aftermath than the contest itself. After Kiev was caught in the champions’ corner after attempting a crossbody on Avalanche – and failing – he was blasted with multiple punches and shoulder charges. A second rope crossbody by Kiev worked better on Nero, allowing some control for the challengers as they dropped him with the side slam/leg drop combination. It takes a Nero dropkick off the second rope to both men in order to make a tag to Avalanche, who basically wiped out both Kiev and Bouncer with the hot tag.
The Final Consultation is avoided by Bouncer, yet after a blockbuster/Russian legsweep combination, a moment of miscommunication saw Kiev hit a superkick on Bouncer. Nero would be caught trying to capitalise by going to the top rope, but rather than the expected double superplex, Jay-FK would come from nowhere, grab the belts and lay waste to both teams! Getting rid of the referee gave Skillet and Kaspin carte blanche to do as they pleased, taking Bouncer out with the assisted backstabber and a title show, before they avoided a Nero double dropkick with more title shots. Avalanche did fight back briefly, but a low blow and another title shot downed the big man. Not only had they ended the contest and turned heel, Jay-FK then walked off with the belts in hands. The match was overshadowed by everything that came after it, but the Jay-FK turn has me excited for sure as it gives them direction.
As someone who doesn’t care much for Jay Lethal, I was pretty impressed with a contest against Lucky Kid that perhaps meandered in the middle, but otherwise was a pleasing match that continued to showcase how much potential Kid had in the long run. With Lethal toying with Kid by repeating the Lucky Kid taunt early on leading to a brief section of Lethal dominance, the match then shifted to a control segment for Kid that somewhat exposed his lack of real memorable offense, outside of a headscissors with additional finger in the eye. A battle over a suplex was won by Lethal, before both men took to the sky with a suicide dive by Lethal and a somersault senton over the top rope by Kid in quick succession.
A sequence of reversals saw Kid hit a standing sliced bread for a two count, whilst Lethal turned the tide with a backbreaker/flatliner combination alongside a figure four that avoided an attempted block of a top rope elbowdrop. Just as it looked like Lethal was on top, Kid slipped out of a superplex attempt and hit a big Liger bomb for two, yet his inability to apply a Dragon suplex was his undoing as Lethal hit a handspring ace crusher for a three count. The moment the dives and reversals kicked in, it became a step above what had otherwise been a somewhat pedestrian match up until that point.
Alexander James is someone that I have enjoyed seeing more of, and this streak continued as foil to the brawling style of Mil Muertes. The early exchanges were all for the masked luchador as he laid James out with a clothesline, hit a big chokeslam after avoiding a double foot stomp to his hand and launched himself over the top rope with a plancha. It is the avoidance of a charge near the ring post that allowed James to turn the tide, coupled with a very effective running European uppercut. James targeted the neck, followed by the arm, with his submission offense, but his attempt to embarrass Muertes by making him bow failed and saw a double down off of a Muertes spear.
This led to a collection of near falls for both men: James would hit the Rains of Castamere and a ripcord spinning back elbow, whilst Muertes came close with a powerslam and a TKO. However, it would be James who pulled off a big victory with a majistral cradle, one that apparently had more leverage due to James’ foot being on the rope. The mechanics of that were a bit ropey, but it earned James a significant win in a good match.
The Joey Mercury versus Dirty Dragan match was one that, whilst ending up with a decent little story told along the journey, just lacked a lot in terms of the in ring action. At the start, a reciprocal hiptoss/dropkick/help back into ring sequence saw Mercury add to his by booting an unaware Dragan to send him to ringside, almost ending up with an early countout finish. After Mercury hits a neckbreaker for a two count, a lot of the match is then given over to Mercury chucking Dragan to ringside, as well as finding ways to break the count. Mercury even gets on the mic to mock the fans, though as this all continues there is very little in the way of action.
To give Mercury credit, he does enough to give the fans something to feed off for the inevitable comeback by Dragan, with the Serbian escaping another neckbreaker before hitting an X-factor and a neckbreaker of his own. The finish sees Mercury’s arrogance and cheating get the better of him, as an attempt to throw Dragan back outside sees him end up on the apron; a sunset flip is initially blocked by a hand on the ropes, but after the referee forces the break, Mercury is rolled up for three. The way the finish tied in to the offense from earlier on was neat, but the match itself lacked fire.
I didn’t exactly have high expectations for the Emil Sitoci versus Billy Gunn contest, so to say they were probably exceeded didn’t say much. It didn’t help that Gunn’s entrance looked like it gassed him out, but the two men had a fun enough contest with the time they had. The referee would get booed for getting in the way of a crotch chop by Gunn, whilst the main story was Sitoci’s inability to match power with his larger opponent. A plancha to the outside saw Sitoci collide with both Gunn’s right hand and perhaps the ring apron, but back in the ring, he would get close falls following a split legged moonsault and a snapmare driver that I bit on as the finisher. However, the obvious result was obvious as Gunn avoided a Sitoci elbowdrop off of the top and landed the Fameasser for victory.
All in all, an entertaining show if a little lacking in places due to the format as much as anything else. Whilst it was fun to see some of the random superstars in action, it was the matches that involved feuds and storylines that represented tonight.
