By Liam Byrne @tvtimelimit
With many fans of wXw still waiting for a reason as to why Marius Al-Ani not only turned his back on the fans, but joined with Tarkan Aslan in the process, this week’s Shotgun was a show that at least began to fill in the blanks on Al-Ani’s view of the wrestling world, if nothing else. However, it would be Aslan who would have most to crow about by the end of the show as Al-Ani and Aslan took on Pete Bouncer and Ivan Kiev in the main event.
The new gruesome twosome began the show by talking to Thommy Giesen, an interview that allowed Al-Ani to fully embody the smug and arrogant character that someone of his physique was almost born to be. Al-Ani would fire shots at Bobby Gunns (the opposite of an athlete, smoking his cigarettes) and Absolute Andy (a fatso who has never seen a gym), knocking the fans and wrestlers for treating things like a popularity contest. For Al-Ani, wrestling was about discipline and sacrifice, two things that fat, out of shape fans can never be able to empathise with. As Giesen aimed to press further about Al-Ani’s decisions, Aslan would cut the interviewer off, effectively drawing the segment to a close.
Considering the amount of water under the bridge between Aslan, Pete Bouncer and Ivan Kiev, it wasn’t surprising that RISE jumped their opponents before the bell could ring to officially start the match. Al-Ani managed to cut off Bouncer as he chased Aslan at ringside via a baseball slide, but it was Kiev who impressed early with a diving tope that took him over the top rope and onto all three men at ringside. Al-Ani would be initially controlled by RISE, Kiev starting the assault with a corner splash and his jumping kneekick, whilst Bouncer would show the RISE taunt in Aslan’s face before dropping an elbow on Al-Ani’s back. The RISE sidewalk slam/legdrop combination would earn them a two count, but moments later an illegal trip from ringside by Aslan would see the tide turn in the favour of the heels.
Aslan’s offense was precise, attacking Kiev with stomps and strikes as Al-Ani utilised a fancier style with his nip-up Pele kick and a spinning heel kick after some strikes were traded. In between these two, the fans would begin a ‘Mr. Bullshit’ chant at Al-Ani, as well as boo vociferously when Aslan mocked the RISE taunt, tapping the finger against the side of his head. A Pele-style kick of his own allowed Kiev to finally make the hot tag, with multiple clotheslines for both Al-Ani and Aslan (after he was dragged into the ring against his will). In the end, it was the willingness to break the rules that helped Al-Ani and Aslan; a missed belt shot by the Ninja made it appear as if their window had closed, but Aslan would hit Bouncer on the back with the gold as a set up for the winning brainbuster by Al-Ani.
Just as it looked like Aslan and Al-Ani would beat up Kiev following the contest, Lucky Kid would come through the crowd to attack Aslan. Initially, Kid was able to fend off the numbers game, but after a trip by Al-Ani, Aslan was able to hit an illegal object-assisted punch, knocking out his once close tag team partner.
The other contest on the show was a dominant performance by Veit Muller as he took on Prince Ahura. Ahura’s initial decision to slap Muller on the back of the head a couple of times and mock his strongman-style pose didn’t seem too clever when a punch to the back of the head had him flipping to the canvas and prime for a gutwrench toss. Ahura would use his speed to escape some charges and hit a step-up enziguri, only to walk into a back body drop and a big hiptoss for a nearfall. Ahura’s one last chance saw him attack Muller with a running knee and boot in the corner, yet a missed kick saw him crotched on the top and vulnerable to Muller. Muller took the opportunity to dispose of Ahura, landing a huge shoulderbreaker and his cravat suplex for three in a convincing victory.
Outside of the ring, JayFK would be making nuisances of themselves as Francis Kaspin in particular would be rude to a staff member before questioning Christian Michael Jakobi as to whether he needed them more than they needed him. After a face-off backstage between Absolute Andy and Marius Al-Ani, JayFK would grab the camera to complain about ‘losing’ the titles and the unfairness of a tables match. Rather than wait for Jakobi, Monster Consulting showed up and would effectively offer JayFK another shot at the title in Hamburg. When Avalanche and Julian Nero left, Kaspin and Jay Skillet’s response seemed to suggest that they believed Monster Consulting to have fallen into their plot to earn a title shot.
Before offering the shot to JayFK, we’d be privy to a music montage video that saw Monster Consulting discussing their run as two thirds of Cerberus, as well as being the current wXw World Tag Team Champions. As they were two personalities that meshed well – Avalanche the power and the force, Nero the thinker – they stayed together after Cerberus broke up and they valued this run with the gold as better than being the champions before due it being only them and their plans when they stepped into the ring. Monster Consulting would finish the promo by suggesting that they would be the first team to enter and leave the World Tag League as the wXw World Tag Team Champions – a perfectly feasible idea.
The following week’s main event will see Absolute Andy and Juvenile X team up to take on Ilja Dragunov and Laurance Roman after the Russian saved Roman from a backstage humiliation by Andy and X as they had taped him up and drew on him with lipstick. Earlier in the show, Andy would bemoan that no-one was around to witness his humour as he talked about paying the fines levied at him with petty cash – a nice meta moment that I appreciated.
Finally, Jurn Simmons would speak with Giesen about his return to the ring after five long months away, though Simmons claimed that little had changed as he wasn’t there to drive things on. He promised that he would carve his own path, leaving a pile of broken bodies in his wake, including Emil Sitoci. Indeed, Simmons felt he would hurt Sitoci so badly, that people would begin to feel sorry for Sitoci in a similar way to how they did for Dirty Dragan. As for David Starr, Simmons was dismissive, simply stating that he wasn’t worth Simmons’ time.
Another match was announced for the second of the Fan shows as Lucky Kid would team with Bobby Gunns to take on Tarkan Aslan and Marius Al-Ani.
The wheel continues to turn as we move towards the Fan shows at the end of the month, and the partnership with Aslan and Al-Ani in particular is a pleasing slow burn as the bigger picture is yet to be revealed. The best part of this show was to see Al-Ani in full heel mode, a disposition that he imbues him with much more character, making him significantly more interesting than just being ‘good wrestler who is well built’. wXw continues to utilise its core wrestlers in a way that maximises their chances to be perceived in a positive way by the fanbase – some other promotions could truly take note.
