By Liam Byrne @tvtimelimit
Like all good tournaments, World Tag Team League began with a parading of all teams, and all it served to highlight was how stacked the tournament was and how potentially exciting the resulting three shows promised to be.
Group A:
Lucha Bros
Okami
RINGKMAPF
CCK
Group B:
JayFK
Monster Consulting
Aussie Open
Team SPLX
Three days of great tag team action, with the narrative hook of Monster Consulting trying to be the first team to enter and exit the wXw World Tag Team Champions.
However, things weren’t just about the mass of humanity that made up the tournament, and to start things off with a Meiko Satomura versus Toni Storm contest showcased the wider strength of the card. Two of the bigger name women working the independent scene, it was pleasing to see Storm return from injury and Satomura extend her reach by heading to Germany. The early exchanges were equal, with arm work trading, before each woman showcased their striking ability with Satomura hitting several quick kicks, whilst Storm unloaded with palm strikes and a butt bump in the corner, leading to a fisherman suplex for two. Successive running forearms after a spinning wheel kick threatened to put Satomura back in control, only for Storm to slip out the back of a move and land a backcracker for another nearfall.
Satomura would then miss her cartwheel kneedrop, allowing Storm to lock on a bridging armbar that forced the veteran to break the hold by getting a foot on the ropes. A Strong Zero attempt was blocked, and a double down occurred as a headbutt by Storm and a Pele kick by Satomura had both women down. Satomura now pushed the pace as she hit the cartwheel kneedrop and a Death Valley bomb, only for Storm to kick out before the three. This was treated as a surprising turn of events, as was Satomura kicking out of the Strong Zero moments later. However, two missed kicks by Satomura saw Storm capitalise with a second Strong Zero for the win. A spirited, competitive encounter, with Storm being booked strongly as she often is in wXw.
The first match of the World Tag Team League – a Group A offering – would be the first of many intriguing pairings as Okami met the Lucha Bros. Penta El Zero M in particular was hugely over upon both teams making their entrance. The match exploded into action from the moment Fenix Jr. jumped Hideyoshi Kamitani with a superkick, leading to several kicks and strikes that left all four men down on the canvas. It is Kamitani who slows things down after a strong chop exchange with Penta, hitting a slam and an elbowdrop, before Okami began to work together with a double suplex and double basement kicks to a seated Penta. Not content with just getting into the ring to break up the pin, Fenix would use a springboard double foot stomp instead, as you do.
Okami begun to control the ring and particularly Penta, including a running knee from Daichi Hashimoto, only for Penta to make a tag following successive kicks on his opponents. A handspring double ace crusher and an assisted dropkick taking out both men allowed the Bros to then hit an impressive array of double team moves as a wheelbarrow roll-up saw Penta send his own partner into Hashimoto before they took out Kamitani with multiple superkicks that targeted multiple areas. A double foot stomp/package piledriver combination would win the Lucha Bros the match, though not before Fenix almost wiped out a number of fans on a suicide dive to the outside. A perfect way to start the contest with just some insane exchanges.
The opening match in Group B saw two teams who knew each other very well: JayFK versus the reigning tag team champions, Monster Consulting. The match would also follow a similar pattern to their recent meetings as JayFK would be outmatched in the early going, including a five punch by Julian Nero on both Francis Kaspin and Jay Skillet, until a drop toe hold by Skillet on Avalanche allowed Kaspin to hit a kick from the outside to stop the champions’ momentum. It then became a case of whether JayFK’s tactics would work long enough to keep the bigger men down. Chokes and strikes isolated Avalanche, but a pounce out of the corner wiped out both members of JayFK and enabled him to make a tag to Nero. His attempts to put JayFK away, including a Wasteland on Skillet, were curbed by a top rope bulldog by Kaspin.
Nero would duck a clothesline moments later for the more significant hot tag to Avalanche as he used a belly to belly suplex and two cannonballs – one after a Skillet top rope crossbody had no effect on him – to look for the win. It took a double foot stomp to break the pin after a Consulting sidewalk slam/legdrop combination, but then JayFK looked to use their rule breaking ways to get the win. After sending Nero into the ringpost, Skillet would try to distract the referee long enough for Kaspin to hit Avalanche with a title belt. Luckily, Nero would trip Skillet, before Kaspin charged into a Boulderdash by Avalanche for the win. A pretty standard contest, but it is never too much difficulty watching JayFK getting beaten up – a great heel team.
With Marius Al-Ani the Shotgun Champion, and Tarkan Aslan making Lucky Kid’s life a misery, a lot of the intrigue surrounding the four way between Kid, Fred Yehi, Julian Pace and Emil Sitoci centred around not only who would become #1 contender, but also what might happen to Kid in the process. Al-Ani, ever the arrogant champion, would give an interview – unfortunately, it would all be in German. However, you could get the jist: Al-Ani loves himself, and is capable of taking on any of the potential challenges for the title. His promo would be cut short by a four person attack, with Kid eventually throwing him through the middle rope to ringside.
With all four men in the ring at once, it promised to be full of action, with Pace the first real person to be showcased as he used his speed to avoid Sitoci and Yehi before nailing them with a dropkick. Sitoci wasn’t messing around though when he dumped Pace with a powerbomb, and Yehi almost stole an early win with a small package on Sitoci after some offense targeting his foot of all places. Having been kicked out of the ring early on, Kid’s first real offense was a rope assisted asai DDT on Yehi, followed very quickly by his trademark dive feint and taunt, as well as a handspring back elbow that took out both Sitoci and Pace. Kid would even come close to pinning both Yehi and Pace at the same time in a roll-up/German suplex combination that had both mens’ shoulders down.
Sitoci would wrestle control from his opponents next, landing a split legged moonsault on both Yehi and Kid at the same time, but would be saved from a Pace Code Red by a Yehi dropkick. It was only going to be a matter of time before Al-Ani would make his presence known, and it would be via the use of his title belt to interrupt a Kid handspring back elbow by blasting him in the lower back. Yehi would then collide with the ringpost on a missed charge in the corner, leaving just Pace and Sitoci battling it out. Sitoci’s decision to nail a top rope elbowdrop on Kid’s injured back when up in the Spanish Fly position with Pace would cost him, as Pace landed a jumping spinning DDT, before taking advantage of Kid’s inability to pin him or lift him due to the back injury in order to hit the Code Red for the win. Action packed, an interesting choice of victor, and some more fuel added to the Kid/Al-Ani/Aslan feud.
It was back to Group A action in the World Tag Team League as RINGKAMPF took on CCK, formed of Chris Brookes and Jonathan Gresham with Lykos still injured. Timothy Thatcher was the man who was getting the majority of the love from the fans, and he would channel that into early superiority in grappling exchanges with a more than capable Brookes. The opening moments saw several interesting decisions by CCK, including Gresham getting into WALTER’s face and even patronising him with a pat on the head that earned him a vicious chop to the chest. Later on, Brookes would give WALTER the finger as he applied an octopus hold on Thatcher, getting a big boot for his troubles.
Only the arrival of Gresham into the ring several times halted the onslaught as WALTER wrapped Brookes across the top turnbuckle and slammed him hard into the canvas with a German suplex. A Thatcher mistake led to a tag to Gresham which would also see the official lose control as all four men ended up fighting. Gresham would almost turn a Gojira clutch into a pin on Thatcher, as well as scoring a nearfall with a German suplex with bridge. With the match back under control, a tag to WALTER saw him unleash a shotgun dropkick that sent Gresham flying into Brookes, with Brookes throwing WALTER onto the pinfall the only way Gresham survived a powerbomb/uppercut combination.
Still, the action continued to be back and forth, with Gresham landing an enziguri on WALTER having nipped-up after a huge chop. RINGKAMPF would manage to apply dual Gojira clutches, but after they were broken, Gresham finally took WALTER over with a German suplex. WALTER would then hit his own partner by mistake with a lariat, a mistake that would eventually lead to Gresham making Thatcher submit with the octopus hold as Brookes had WALTER trapped in the ring ropes with one of his own. A match that always looked good on paper, this was the best match of the evening up until this point. An upset result for sure, but one that offers an opportunity to either have RINGKAMPF run the tournament from here, or build to dissension between WALTER and Thatcher.
The final Group B, and World Tag Team League, match of the evening saw Aussie Open taking on Team SPLX, Jeff Cobb and Angelico. After some nifty early legwork from Angelico and some ‘big boi’ wrestling by Cobb and Mark Davis that turned into some pretty athletic counter work, a failed nip-up attempt by Davis allowed Aussie Open to blindside Cobb as Kyle Fletcher entered the ring to help him out. It was always going to be about the impressive feats of strength and athleticism in this match, and Cobb delivered early with a side suplex on both members of Aussie Open at the same time, whilst later on Cobb would swing Fletcher multiple times before landing a gutwrench suplex and a standing moonsault. Fletcher would eventually tag out to Davis, who hit a vertical splash out of the corner on Cobb and an Alphamare Waterslide on Angelico for two.
Having avoided Close Your Eyes…, Angelico was able to tag out and allow Cobb to do some more damage, including shrugging off a top rope crossbody and hitting an impressive swinging suplex. A sequence of moves saw Cobb also land a German suplex on Davis, only for a top rope splash and swanton bomb by Fletcher and Angelico respectively to break up successive pins. Aussie Open were unable to get the win with an assisted ace crusher on Cobb, but they also broke up a pin on Fletcher after a doomsday knee threatened to end the contest. Finally, a collision between Cobb and Angelico left a window of opportunity for Aussie Open, ending the contest with an assisted sitout spinebuster by Fletcher. A match that picked up as it went on, with a strong finishing stretch in particular.
No time for David Starr’s long ring introductions prior to the main event as Jurn Simmons would meet him on the ramp to start their Hair versus Hair match and tonight’s main event. Having gone all out in their Last Man Standing match, the question became how they could top that brutal war. A wax strip to Starr’s chest early on set the tone, especially when Simmons then squeezed lemon into the wound. The initial brawling would take them around the ring and up onto the gantry, where Simmons would threaten to throw Sebastien Hollmichel off of the balcony. This would backfire as Hollmichel then helped Starr by dropping a kendo stick to him, a move followed up by Starr diving off of the stairs onto Simmons and a collection of security guards. Simmons managed to regain control with a suplex onto the barricade as it was set up somewhat like a table, but a staple gun greeted him as the fight returned to the ring.
A keno stick shot would bust open Starr, with Simmons returning the favour by using a staple gun as well. Each spot escalated as Starr would then use a chair, eventually setting it up for a brainbuster. Not content with this, Starr introduced thumbtacks, only to naturally be the recipient of two gutwrench powerbombs onto them. Simmons would be irate with the refereeing, choosing to hit him with a kendo stick in retribution. In a nod to their previous match, Starr would grab the kendo stick and aim it at Simmons head, but this time he would block the low blow and connect with the kendo stick. This would only get him a two count as the second referee hit the ring, before Simmons would attempt to launch a comeback by hitting a Massive Boot with Starr’s mouth full of thumbtacks. The two men would brawl on a turnbuckle near chairs set out with thumbtacks on them, and it would be Starr who picked up the win with a second rope piledriver in a wild fight that did a really good job of what you would assume was the feud ender.
It would take Dirty Dragan and Emil Sitoci’s intervention to get Simmons in a position to be shaved, but with the help of a set of clippers, he was left with strands of hair at the front and the long hairs at the back – a strong look indeed.
The first night was what you would expect from a promotion like wXw and a roster for the weekend such as this. All of the matches were worth watching, with the main event in particular a brutal way to finish a heated Starr/Simmons feud. With the Shotgun and wXw Unified Titles up for grabs the following night, you can only assume things will continue to get better.
