By Liam Byrne @tvtimelimit
Following a momentous ‘Shortcut to the Top’ that changed the face of wXw for the immediate future – two new champions and a new number on contender will do that – the next episode of Shotgun allowed a chance to begin the build to two Fan Appreciation days, alongside a dominant reintroduction of a ground breaking talent in the promotion.
I’m talking about Alpha Female, who had returned the previous week to attack Millie McKenzie. The two women would face off in the main event slot on this episode, with pre-match interviews that allowed McKenzie to repeat the bulk of her initial promo and Female to make clear her anger that an injury had sidelined her whilst other girls got the glory of touring with promotions like WWE and wXw. McKenzie would come out of the blocks in a spirited fashion, but an early shoulderblock that had her careening to the canvas set the tone. Forearms to the chest and the back were followed by a grounded cobra clutch, though McKenzie did subsequently slip out of the Alphaplex to nail a cutter for a two count. A huge lariat dropped McKenzie moments later, whilst a slap and spear from the Coventry native only earned a one count and served to piss Female off. A countout tease followed as Female sent McKenzie into the ring post, but it would be the Alphaplex that finished the contest off after Female avoided a McKenzie German suplex. Competitive, but generally dominant; Female would be announced as the next opponent for Toni Storm’s wXw Women’s Title at the second night of Fan Appreciation.
The first match on the show was a solid offering between two popular members of the roster, Emil Sitoci and Ivan Kiev. Both men would fistbump before exchanging a sequence of reversals that was followed by a series of athletic escapes and avoidances of several kicks. Sitoci would mock the RISE salute by sticking his finger up his nose before dropping Kiev to the canvas with two quick armdrags and a tiltawhirl headscissors. However, it was the arm of Kiev that Sitoci began to target after an over the rope armbreaker allowed him to work the limb with shoulderblocks, a knee down on the canvas and two big European uppercuts to the elbow area. Sitoci’s Shiranui would be avoided, only for him to turn it into a second rope crossbody for a two count and set up for a kimura lock.
A backbreaker turned the tide in Kiev’s favour as he also utilised some knees to the back multiple times alongside a submission. Kiev’s injured arm was always a potential weakspot, highlighted by Sitoci using a double knee armbreaker, but he still wasn’t able to fully apply the kimura. Kiev showcased his athleticism with a step up top rope headscissor takedown and would almost score the win with a DVD. The arm work would come into play during the finishing stretch as it slowed Kiev’s ascent up the turnbuckle, allowing Sitoci to hit a superplex and finally lock on the kimura. An additional body vice with the legs had Kiev trapped, leaving him no option but to tap out.
Outside of the ring, we were graced with an interview with the new wXw Unified World Champion, Absolute Andy. Andy would force the interviewer to introduce him twice, whilst a brief break that saw Ines not able to find Ilja Dragunov allowed the new champ to run down his opponent by stating that once again, Dragunov hasn’t showed up. After telling Dragunov to go home and cry on his wife’s cleavage, Andy finished the interview by calling himself a wrestling pope and God, forcing the interviewer to kiss his hand. Brilliant promo work as always by Andy.
Monster Consulting and RINGKAMP’s focus in their backstage segments were on winning the World Tag League in October. For Consulting, it would see them carry the belts throughout the competition; for RINGKAMPF, it would make them consecutive winners having took the prize last year.
Alongside the Alpha Female versus Toni Storm match announced earlier, the Fan Appreciation shows will also see Absolute Andy versus Zack Sabre Jr. and Marius Al-Ani versus Bobby Gunns on Night 1, both for their respective titles, whilst Fred Yehi will take on Doug Williams on Night 2.
To finish the show, we saw the complete dissolution of the Young Lions friendship, with Tarkan Aslan jumping Lucky Kid in the toilet after we were shown his encounter with Pete Bouncer from two weeks earlier that would reveal that Marius Al-Ani showed up seconds after Bouncer was knocked out. Bouncer and Ivan Kiev would come to his aid too late to halt the beatdown, though they would earn themselves an apology from Kid, sorry for blaming them for their suspicions of Aslan.
A strong re-introduction for a dangerous challenger to Toni Storm’s title and a solid singles match between Sitoci and Kiev made this a very watchable show, whilst the drip feed of the Aslan/Al-Ani/RISE storyline keeps it ticking over and engaging all at once.
