{"id":11655,"date":"2019-03-15T04:24:50","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T08:24:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/?p=11655"},"modified":"2019-03-15T04:25:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-15T08:25:00","slug":"wxw-16-carat-gold-night-two-review-9-3-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/15\/wxw-16-carat-gold-night-two-review-9-3-19\/","title":{"rendered":"wXw 16 Carat Gold Night Two review (9.3.19)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

wXw 16 Carat Gold\nNight 2<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Night One always feels like the appetiser that prepares you\nfor the main meal that is Night Two and Three. With a strong opening, things\nwere only to get more heated on the Saturday as Bobby Gunns challenged for\nAbsolute Andy\u2019s wXw Unified World Heavyweight Championship, whilst we also\nwould learn the four semi-finalists of this year\u2019s 16 Carat Gold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toni Storm and Wesna\nversus Killer Kelly and Yuu<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An interesting partnership on paper as Storm has gone full\nheel in recent weeks and is joined in this taster for the wXw Women\u2019s Title\nMatch on Sunday by Wesna. It is great psychology to have the new heel use the\nmonster Wesna to take the fight to Kelly, which she does, though Kelly showed\nher ability to fight from underneath with cravat knees and a pump kick for 2.\nYuu became the de facto face in peril as Wesna and Storm each took turns to\nwork her over, isolating Kelly for the most part. A hot tag after a cool corner\ndropkick\/senton by Yuu took out both opponents saw Kelly drill Storm\nimmediately with Shades of Shibata. Storm and Kelly still didn\u2019t really go at\nit until some slaps were traded near the end, but an errant Storm headbutt on\nWesna allowed Kelly to hit the Carnation Revolution (after collapsing on the\nfirst attempt) on Wesna for the win. Decent tease, though could have done with\na bit more interaction between the two title competitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the first Quarter Final of the 16 Carat Gold Tournament,\nDavid Starr came down to the ring to address last night. Apologising for his\nconduct in the interview, he made it clear he wasn\u2019t going to wrestle the rest\nof the weekend as there was no point as he hadn\u2019t achieved what he set out to.\nHis focus soon switched to Big Daddy Sellout (his words), who he still believed\ntapped, with Starr claiming he won\u2019t get away with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pentagon Jr. versus\nIlja Dragunov<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pentagon Jr. was looking to make up for a lacklustre opening\nround match against Mark Davis as he took on Dragunov and the opening exchanges\nalready hinted that things were going in the right direction. As often feels\nthe way, Dragunov was required to work his way back into a contest against a\nhard hitting opponent, even requiring a kickout of the Pentagon Driver as the\nimport threatened what could be considered an upset. With that ineffective,\nPentagon raised the bar with a package piledriver on the apron that had me\nvisibly cringing, but it still wasn\u2019t enough. Fighting out of the Sacrifice\narmbreaker led to some hard-hitting exchanges of strikes in particular, yet\nwhen the dust settled it was a Konstantin Special and the Torpedo Moscow that\ndowned Pentagon Jr. A huge step up for Pentagon in terms of quality; a big win\nfor Dragunov as he goes through to the semis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shigehiro Irie versus\nAvalanche<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another big lad battle for Avalanche in the Quarter Final,\nthough at least he wasn\u2019t legitimately hurt seriously last night. Though\npresented as somewhat equal in power in the early exchanges, Avalanche nearly\nlaunched Irie out of the ring with a belly to belly suplex part way though the\ncontest. This matching up continued into other parts of the match as they\ntraded corner charges which ended up with Irie landing a cannonball and getting\nthe crowd hyped. It took Irie making a huge mistake \u2013 coming off the top with a\ncannonball and missing \u2013 for Avalanche to put him away with a corner splash,\nfallaway slam and a Dreissker bomb (having missed one earlier). Perhaps could\nbe seen as an upset following how Irie has been positioned, but a decent enough\nbig man match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris Brookes versus\nRey Horus versus Daisuke Sekimoto versus Julian Pace<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Already entering the stack of interesting, if not outright\nwacky, matches that can be run this weekend, we see three wrestlers eliminated from\nCarat mixed with Pace, who lost in the Alternate four way himself. A misguided\ntriple team on Sekimoto saw him take out all three of his opponents,\nhilariously spinning Horus through the air on a simple shoulderblock. Pace, as\nalways, looked good as the\u2026ahem\u2026pace quickened, yet his attempt to \u2018Voll Gas\u2019\nhis way past Sekimoto earned him a press slam to the floor (on top of Brookes\nand Horus, thankfully). Poor Pace was the fall guy for a chop merry-go-round as\nhe received from Sekimoto, before Daisuke ploughed through Horus and Brookes\nwith a double spear in another nice sequence. Top moment had to go to the\ntriple decker German superplex trigger by Sekimoto, yet it was Pace who picked\nup the huge victory when he small packaged Horus whilst reversing a suplex\nattempt. Fun match with a great piece of booking to put over Pace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately for Pace, he didn\u2019t have long to enjoy things\nas a returning Emil Sitoci, replete with bad attitude, attacked the winner as\nhe walked back up the ramp. Oddly enough, two spinning tombstones earned a \u2018one\nmore time\u2019 chant from the crowd, but Sitoci had made his point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WALTER versus Fenix<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A big clash of styles in the next Quarter Final as Fenix\nneeded to hit and move quickly to have any chance of taking out WALTER. Signs\nof this came as he dodged a chop with a nip up and landed a dropkick, yet a\nrope-assisted armdrag received short shrift and a trademark chop instead.\nHighlighting his more heelish tendencies recently, WALTER went for the mask to\nmass boos from the crowd. Fenix\u2019s high flying offense was sporadically\neffective; WALTER catching one attempt but getting drilled with a moonsault\npress moments later. A top rope huracanrana was turned into a superbomb to\nfurther highlight the discrepancy between the two men, though a ramp run into a\ndiving cutter almost won Fenix the match as he subsequently lost his mask in\nthe process. WALTER managed to swat a re-masked Fenix out of mid-air once more\nand took the second mask off mid-choke to force the tapout. If Starr last night\nwas the appetiser, this was the heel turn for WALTER. Great big man, little man\nfight with a compelling narrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
WALTER playing violin to his own theme music.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lucky Kid versus Axel\nDieter Jr.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kid looked to pull off another upset in the last Quarter\nFinal of the tournament, but it looked again like it wouldn\u2019t be plain sailing.\nDieter Jr. quickly got used to the unorthodox tactics of Kid and methodically\nworked him over with precision strikes that sometimes skirted the boundaries of\nlegality. Dieter Jr. at times seemed to be fighting for a countout, yet Kid\nmanaged to avoid that most unceremonious of exits before kicking out of the\nSuper Landungsbrucken and sparking into high gear. No matter what Dieter tried\nto do, he couldn\u2019t get distance from Kid at this point, including a whip to the\nropes turning into a handspring back elbow for a double down. Dieter Jr. broke\nLa Mistica by getting his foot on the rope, but a sequence of reversals moments\nlater had Kid on top for the three count! It took a little bit to get going,\nyet the underestimating of Kid by Dieter Jr. throughout cost him big.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RISE \u00a9 versus JayFK versus Aussie Open (wXw World Tag Team Championship\nMatch)         <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is convenient that Mark Davis\nwas eliminated from 16 Carat as he found himself in a wXw World Tag Team\nChampionship match on Night Two. JayFK\u2019s initial attempt to jump both teams\nfailed, but a divide and conquer strategy after RISE and Open had traded\noffense worked much better and saw JayFK work over Pete Bouncer in particular. With\nall the passion of a hot tag, it was Ivan Kiev who managed to break his partner\nout of that bind, coming close to victory with a top rope leg lariat on Jay\nSkilet. This opened up a window for a Kyle Fletcher and Davis rampage, which\nthey duly obliged to, including a double JayFK slam by Dunkzilla that had the\ncrowd back on his side after last night. Just as it looked like nefarious\ntactics from JayFK would work again \u2013 a title shot to Kiev, a low blow on\nBouncer \u2013 Chris Brooked pulled the referee out to stop the pin. Aussie Open\ntook advantage, hitting a fidget spinner on Skillet for the win and the gold! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post-match, Brookes revealed the\n\u2018Schadenfreude\u2019 banner as Fight Club Pro\u2019s premier heel stable turned up in\nwXw, though with a slightly more positive slant on it. It took Lucky Kid to get\nin between RISE and Schadenfreude to stop a fight beginning, whilst it also\nappeared that Kid, at least for now, was siding with his RISE brothers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having lost in the first round\nthe night before, the Shotgun Champion, Marius Al-Ani, came out and gave a\npromo in German, probably about him being the greatest champion in wXw. Karsten\nBeck came out to say he had a challenger, at which point we got the wXw return\nof Alexander Wolfe\/Axel Tischer to a rapturous reception! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marius Al-Ani versus Axel Tischer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The support of the fans carried Tischer\nthrough a lightning few minutes as he had Al-Ani very much on the back foot,\nthough an axe-kick caught Tischer off guard coming into the ring thus giving\nAl-Ani a chance to slow things down. Al-Ani\u2019s simple mix of strikes and\nweardown tactics worked to neutralise Tischer, only for the returning superstar\nto get a second wind and grind down Al-Ani with multiple German suplexes at\nintermittent times. The second control segment by Al-Ani lacked heat until the\ntwo men went for the obligatory strike exchange, ending in a very close\nnearfall off of a Tischer Ligerbomb. The most heated act was probably the eye\nrake that halted Tischer hitting a top rope move, giving Al-Ani the opening to\nattack and hit the frogsplash for the win. The match was sound, but it didn\u2019t\nreally live up to the reception for Tischer in the first instance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Absolute Andy \u00a9 versus Bobby Gunns (wXw Unified Word Wrestling\nChampionship Match)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was the one that the\nmajority of fans seemed to have been waiting for and chants rang out from bell\nto bell. Andy tried to hit a belt shot before the match even started, setting\nthe tone for a match where he tried to take every conceivable shortcut. Andy\u2019s\ndesperation became the narrative of the match as he hit a low blow, landed a\ndesperation F5 after ending up in a prolonged sleeper hold, and even got into a\nshoving match with the referee over another attempted title shot. Considering\nthe story coming in, Vinnie Vortex getting involved wasn\u2019t surprising as he\nstopped Andy walking out near the end in order to save his championship. This\nalmost backfired as a collision between the two brothers saw Andy hit the\nA-Klasse for a very close fall, but Gunns was not to be denied. Some may query\nthe spot that saw the ref purposely ignore a low blow on Andy, yet the reaction\nto Andy tapping out to the switch armbar was huge. Bobby Gunns is the new wXw\nUnified World Heavyweight Champion!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
GUNNS…BOBBY GUNNS!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The show was another good one,\nparticularly when you look at what it delivered in terms of the tournament and\nthe title. Two shows down, one to go. Who will win wXw 16 Carat 2019? Who will\ncome out of the weekend as wXw Women\u2019s Champion? Still many questions to be\nanswered \u2013 join me for the conclusion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

wXw 16 Carat Gold Night 2 Night One always feels like the appetiser that prepares you for the main meal that is Night Two and Three. With a strong opening, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":11658,"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-11655","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-31Z","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/bobbyandy.jpg?fit=850%2C478&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11655","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=11655"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11659,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11655\/revisions\/11659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}