By Liam Byrne @tvtimelimit
What wXw’s cycling of talent and roster of engaging characters allows them to do is to create interesting line-ups and teams that you never knew you wanted to see. Veit Muller versus Jurn Simmons threatened to be a hard hitting hoss fight, whilst Lucky Kid and Fred Yehi was always going to be the tag team I never knew I wanted as they took on RINGKAMPF in the main event. Coupled with Tarkan Aslan and Bobby Gunns both continuing to play their own brand of mind games against upcoming opponents, it was another strong episode of Shotgun.
The show started with Lucky Kid talking to Tommy Giesen and ended with the RISE member in action in the aforementioned tag match. Having spoken about the shock of having someone who called him ‘little brother’ raise his hand in violence, Kid promised to send Tarkan Aslan back into irrelevance at World Tag League. RINGKAMPF was always going to be a stern test for a team that had never partnered before, but a Yehi solitary index finger RISE pose showed the two men were on the same page. After Yehi and Timothy Thatcher showed off their grappling chops, Lucky Kid and WALTER would clash with WALTER not too happy about a feinted chop, nor an attempt to get tripped up as Kid grabbed his leg, turning the move into a devastating vertical splash instead.
Kid would take a lot of offense from RINGKAMPF, including multiple elbowdrops after a slam, as well as a leglock by Thatcher. WALTER would even attempt to bend Kid over the top rope in a vicious display of power, though a countered back suplex moments later allowed Kid to roll over Thatcher to tag Yehi. Yehi would score a nearfall with rolling Germans on Thatcher that followed multiple knees to WALTER’s face, before Kid would use his dive feint to the outside in order to further annoy WALTER. A satellite DDT was the outcome of a sequence of reversals starting with WALTER catching a springboard back elbow, whilst one that did connect was used in tandem with a Yehi German suplex for a nearfall. However, RINGKAMP are nothing if not resilient; Thatcher would kick out of a backslide and turn it into a Fujiwara armbar, earning the submission over Yehi in a fun main event.
In the interview with Giesen, Kid had dismissed a question about how busy he was World Tag League weekend, with a possible Shotgun Title match on the Saturday as well as his match against Aslan the following day. Aslan was looking to be proactive ahead of such a personal contest, grabbing both Fred Yehi and Julian Pace in the middle of interviews with Giesen. Though Pace would turn down a chance to talk to Aslan, earning a slap for his troubles, Yehi would leave and be told several things about Kid. Oddly enough, Yehi’s desire to have a wee behind a bush outside would halt any plotting against Kid for the time being at least.
Jurn Simmons’ match with Veit Muller pretty much turned on Simmons’ decision to remove some wiring from one of the turnbuckles as Muller arrived to the ring. The two big men would collide several times in the middle of the ring, before Simmons jumped Muller from behind after challenging him to hit the ropes. A clothesline had Simmons seemingly in control, but a succession of strikes – both Euro uppercuts and headbutts to the stomach – Muller would hit his gutwrench suplex and an impressive belly to belly suplex without a twist. A missed shoulder charge into a corner saw Muller get thrown across the ring in a modified suplex, before Simmons targeted the hand and ankle with stomps.
Muller was able to fight back with a back body drop, kick out of a flying cross chop by Simmons, before hitting a cross chop of his own for two. A shoulderbreaker was another impressive power move by Muller, though after a jumping kick by Simmons cut him off, the match would move towards the tampered turnbuckle. Muller managed to catch Simmons up top, but as he went for the superplex, Simmons slipped out of the ring and tripped Muller, sending him head first into the dodgy turnbuckle. One piledriver later, Simmons had picked up a hard fought victory that once against showcased Muller’s impressive strength and Simmons’ willingness to bend the rules to win.
It was Bobby Gunns who was most active outside of the ring (and outside of Tarkan Aslan), interrupting a celebration involving Ilja Dragunov and Monster Consulting. With Dragunov already coming to terms with how Absolute Andy seems to be able to have his number, no matter how past his prime the champion might be, Gunns’ decision to belittle the motivational posts Dragunov puts on Twitter – the posts of a 12 year old girl, according to Gunns – and to blow smoke in Dragunov’s face almost cost him. It was only Monster Consulting who managed to protect Gunns from Dragunov, though Nero and Avalanche weren’t so lucky seconds later when Dragunov was jumped walking away from the fracas – who could it be? The God Emperor of Wrestling strikes again? We can only wait and see.
Gunns would also target Dragunov in the Smoking Break, whilst taking pot shots at Marius Al-Ani and Absolute Andy. With Al-Ani nowhere near Gunns’ level apparently, the former Shotgun champion would talk about his next steps, telling Dragunov to shove the Bruce Lee quotes up his ass, whilst also calling Andy a dinosaur who will soon be extinct. Smoking may kill, but Gunns is champion in waiting.
It is only two weeks away from World Tag League and Femme Fatales, and across the two tournaments will be an absolute smorgasbord of wrestling that gets more exciting every episode of Shotgun. 16 Carat was an absolute tour de force for the company; the next few weeks look like they may even usurp that high water mark.
