Part of the appeal of Inner Circle is that you get a number\nof \u2018fun on paper\u2019 match ups that wouldn\u2019t otherwise fly on a wXw Marquee Event.\nThis is a perfect example as Starr and Skillet would rarely have need to cross\npaths in their respective positions, but here they are. Skillet channels his\ninner Memphis heel and refuses to initially engage; it took Starr suckering him\nin before they truly got going. Sch\u00fcrrle chants were loud and proud as Skillet managed to turn the tide\nwith a whip that sent Starr throat first into the middle rope. His control was\nshort lived after a novel back suplex into backbreaker, though Skillet did\nalmost steal the win with a Sch\u00fcrrle kick (his call) and a brainbuster.\nHowever, he soon charged into a Han Stansen that set up for a brutal looking\npowerbomb backbreaker to give Starr the win. Fun opening contest and Starr is\nall set for WALTER on Night One of 16 Carat.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Avalanche versus\nChris Brookes versus Francis Kaspin versus Julian Pace<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n With three faces and one heel, Kaspin\u2019s initial idea to try\nto get some help from someone is unsurprisingly futile. After some initial back\nand forth, we get the usual trading of big moves that we expect from a four way\nmatch: Brookes hit a back senton on Kaspin; a big spinebuster by Avalanche on\nBrookes, Pace with a swinging DDT on Avalanche and swanton bomb dive to the\noutside that hits everyone. With four men in the ring, some unique spots are\npossible and Brookes slingshot Pace into Kaspin\u2019s nuts in one particular sequence.\nAfter Pace\u2019s high flying, we saw Avalanche\u2019s power as Pace bounced off him with\na top rope crossbody and Kaspin\u2019s sneaky ways as he almost took advantage of a\nPace neckbreaker on Brookes. Pace used a moonsault to break up an Avalanche\npinfall, only to fall victim to a slingshot cutter by Brookes before Kaspin was\ndowned with a praying mantis bomb. \nNothing special but a decent enough showcase for all four men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jurn Simmons versus\nKyle Fletcher<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Having not seen much of Fletcher since he has become a \u2018heavyweight\u2019,\nthe opening exchanges with Simmons were a lot of fun as he took Massive down\nwith a succession of shoulder barges and even won a battle over a suplex.\nUnfortunately for Fletcher, the real big man in the match soon took over with a\nslam that saw him throw Fletcher across the ring, before landing a Massive kick\nfor good measure. A gutwrench powerbomb by Simmons drilled Fletcher into the\ncanvas, but was only good for two. An impressive feat of strength had Fletcher\npick up a two count following a Liger bomb, only for Simmons to land a low blow\nafter a near collision with the referee to set up for the piledriver and the\nvictory. Simmons needed the win heading into 16 Carat, whilst the crowd\u2019s\nresponse to both men created a good atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark Davis versus\nIlja Dragunov<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The crowd remained heated as the two men began by trading\nholds on the ground to an eventual stalemate. Inevitably, this gave way to more\nhigh powered offense, including a block by Dragunov leaving him open to a high\nfive from Davis and Dragunov absolutely leathering Davis with a Molotov chop\nthat reverberated around the room. Davis gave some measure of retaliation with\na crushing senton moments later, before several sequences saw the two men trade\nstrikes and Dragunov sell brilliantly for some brutal Davis\u2019 chops. A Saito\nsuplex dumped Davis hard on his head, but he still managed to work his way into\na position for two attempts at Close Your Eyes And Count To Fuck. Both were\nunsuccessful, with the second seeing Dragunov then hit a DVD into the\nturnbuckle, a top rope senton and the Torpedo Moscow for the win. A good match\nthat felt like they weren\u2019t holding too much back considering how important the\nrest of the weekend will be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuu versus Killer\nKelly<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Early hold trading was accompanied by some dubious singing\nfrom the crowd. It was Yuu who hit the first real move in anger with a spinning\nsidewalk slam, though a running knee and cravat knees helped Kelly find her way\ninto the contest. A missed kick in the corner allowed Yuu to land a slam and a\nhit a John Woo dropkick, before catching two errant swings from Yuu led to\ndouble underhook headbutts, a butterfly suplex into the corner and Shades of\nShibata. Kelly managed to fight her way out of a Tazzmission en route to a\nvictory via a rolling DVD, yet the match felt a step down from some of the\nother action tonight, especially when compared to the previous encounter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n RINGKAMPF versus\nShigehiro Irie and Yuki Ishikawa<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Add another match to the \u2018fun on paper\u2019 list as we received a\nmatch that you didn\u2019t know you wanted as the Japanese imports, including the 52\nyear old Ishikawa, took on RINGKAMPF. It is worth noting how over Thatcher was\nwith the crowd, though he was often outwrestled in the early exchanges by\nIshikawa. Ishikawa also didn\u2019t back down much from WALTER, whilst Irie managed\nto drop the Austrian with a big slam after several mid-ring collisions. Irie\nproved he was no slouch on the mat either as he went toe to toe with Thatcher\nat times, before mounting WALTER in order to trade chops. Even when it looked\nlike RINGKAMPF had isolated Ishikawa, he was able to fight back and trade\nsubmissions with Thatcher. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A Thatcher belly to belly on Irie finally put RINGKAMPF in\ndecisive control, especially when WALTER attacked Ishikawa on the apron to\nmixed reaction from the crowd. After a Saito-style suplex by WALTER, it took a\nBeast Bomber clothesline to allow Irie to make the tag to Ishikawa. Thatcher\nwould get the worst of some Ishikawa submission offense until WALTER chopped\nthe old man to break the hold, before Irie nailed a snap cannonball into the\ncorner, but was eventually downed with a seated armbar by Thatcher as RINGKAMPF\nwere victorious. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A strong match to finish and a hard workout for both teams.\nIshikawa definitely isn\u2019t phoning in this weekend and RINGKAMPF have momentum\ngoing into the tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inner Circle was a good, no-nonsense offering from wXw that\nhelped to whet the appetite for 16 Carat. All the matches were at least\nwatchable; Davis versus Dragunov and the main event were particularly good. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Inner Circle is the wXw show that sparks the whole 16 Carat Gold weekend into life. Held at the wXw Academy, it is about as intimate a venue as you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":11628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,202],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-featured","category-wxw-reviews"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9jnWd-31u","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Dwz7UuaWsAA8uSb.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11624"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11627,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11624\/revisions\/11627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Untitled.jpg?resize=602%2C327\")