Euro Fury: wXw Superstars of Wrestling III

European wrestling has been absolutely terrific over the past 2-3 years. If you’re not on board for this revolution as yet you’re missing out but now is a perfectly good time to jump in with both feet.

 

April 23 2016

 

We’re in Oberhausen, Deutschland. This is night two, the first night saw a cracking ****1/2 match between Will Ospreay and Marty Scurll, two phenomenal BritWres talents. Tonight promises another solid line up. Hosts for this are Jeremy Graves and Alan Counihan. A lot of the links and promos are in German but the vast majority of the commentary is in English for those who are not bilingual.

 

wXw World Tag Team Championship

Sumerian Death Squad (c) vs. Hot & Spicy

SDS won the belts just last night, ending the lengthy run of Cerberus. They’re in action later. Hot & Spicy have both enjoyed singles success of late and both Axel Dieter Jr. and Da Mack won their singles bouts on night one. SDS are one of Europe’s finest tag teams but Tommy End is the break-out star, currently getting booked in EVOLVE. Like Claudio Castagnoli, he’s got different partners in different promotions. He even tags with Chris Hero! His partner in SDS is Michael Dante, a strapping hulk of a man who does weird looking strikes where his left arm remains limp at his side. Hot & Spicy are a demonstration of how the standard of German wrestling is not on a par with other countries, despite both guys being over and fairly gifted. Axel won with a headbutt last night and he drops End with it here and Dante has to make the save. The crowd don’t bite on that, being a different audience to the Hamburg gang. Great sell from Tommy though. The match breaks down and it’s ambitious but Hot & Spicy aren’t quick enough on the double teams. Where everyone succeeds is in selling the importance of the match. They make it seem genuinely epic. SDS, despite winning the belts yesterday, have issues with their double teaming. The one looks like a botch. Dante overcomes these tag failings by nailing Axel with a spear for the pin. This could have been cleaner but End’s presence and the crowd’s insistence at humming John Cena’s theme music at Dieter made it entertaining.

Final Rating: ***1/4

 

Emil Sitoci vs. The Rotation

A contender for worst name in all of wrestling is lanky German cruiserweight “The Rotation”. Sitoci is Dutch is not lacking in confidence. He headlined the first night of this two-day tour and ate the pinfall for Jeff Jarrett. These two have wrestled each other twice and they’re 1-1 so this is the decider. Rotation’s win was a fluke roll up and Sitoci has killed him a couple of times since then. Not only does Rotation boast the worst name in wrestling but he also has a look that he probably thinks is cool but he’s such a dork that he makes Bob Holly from SMW look like a sex symbol. It’s a pity for the kid because he might be a streak of piss but he’s actually quite talented. He just has a horrible gimmick and a worse name. His lucha flipping around Sitoci is fairly entertaining. His streak of flash pins come crushing to an end when Sitoci knees him in the stomach in the midst of a 450 Splash and kills him off with the Snapmare Driver. This was basic stuff.

Final Rating: **1/2

 

Post Match: This is where I really got a kick out of the match as Rotation again goes after a handshake, having been denied one in a previous match, and Sitoci fucks him up for it. Nigel McGuinness runs in for the save because he was booked for both big shows and had nothing to do on this one. Nigel should coach Rotation on how to dress like a winner. Here Nigel puts the boy over and threatens to beat the piss out Sitoci if he doesn’t follow the Code of Honor.

 

Falls Count Anywhere

Big Daddy Walter vs. Mike Schwarz

Back at 16 Carat weekend Schwarz tagged with Walter and didn’t take it seriously enough for Walter’s liking. Now Big Daddy is going to teach him the seriousness of his business. Both guys are hosses so this is an example of modern European #BigLads wrestling. Two large men barrelling into each other with satisfyingly meaty collisions. This isn’t on a par with the recent Joe Coffey vs. Rampage Brown war in PROGRESS but it’s the same style of match up. Schwarz isn’t quite on Walter’s level either, taking a lot of bumps to compensate for his inability to hang at the higher level. Walter brutalises Schwarz with chops and suplexes. The big lads hit some big spots, including Walter taking a backdrop on the entrance ramp. It’s a hard-hitting match between two tough sons of bitches. The finish is Big Daddy Walter shitting all over the hardcore gimmick by breaking the kendo stick, refusing to use a chair set up and choking Mike out instead. Big Daddy Walter doesn’t need weapons, Big Daddy Walter is a weapon!

Final Rating: ***

 

Cerberus (Julian Nero & Ilja Dragunov) vs. Black Fire & Gangrel

This is a rehab match for Cerberus after they lost the tag titles yesterday. They’re up against the bizarre pairing of a DTU luchadore and former WWE midcarder/vampire Gangrel. It’s a supremely random tag team and one of the great things about Indie wrestling. You never know what oddball combination will appear. Like on night one Gangrel busts a gut to make sure he’s not forgotten when future tour invitations are being sent out. He could easily team with Ilja Dragunov, who, from his facials in this, would make a killer vampire. Cerberus run heat for most of the match and it’s on the dull side. Cerberus double team Black Fire for the win. A tonne of meh. Like on night one it was weird seeing Gangrel absolutely bust a gut though. Proper respect to the veteran.

Final Rating: **

 

Post Match: Again, this is where the wXw booking kicks in properly. As Cerberus, complete with manager Adam Pollak and newest member Dirty Dragan (subbing for the injured Robert Dreissker) celebrate, they’re interrupted by Legion. That’s SDS and third man in Legion, in ICW, Mikey Whiplash. This is the second promotion Mikey has made a surprise debut in over the past month, having also appeared in PROGRESS to face Tommy End. Looks like we’re set for faction war as Legion face off against Cerberus. Legion, being the debuting faction, win the brawl here but that means Cerberus take a second consecutive beating from SDS. It makes an inevitable showdown between the two teams less than enthralling. But what else could they do? If they debuted Whiplash and had Legion get beat down it makes him look like the weak link. The solution is for the heels to take a beating.

 

Sonjay Dutt vs. John Klinger

This is not for Sonjay’s NEXGEN title. Both guys are seasoned pros with nothing to prove and they have a solid match. Dutt comes up with some particularly pleasing spots like sliding under the entrance ramp and flipping back over it with a senton. Bad Bones response is to backbreaker Sonjay over the top buckle, which is a fantastically violent idea. Maybe it’s because I came into this match with limited expectations but it’s genuinely great fun. Both guys taking needlessly excessive bumps, something that shows a love of the craft. Or a lack of common sense. I like to think it’s the former. The great thing for me is how Dutt lets it all hang out, like he’s auditioning for a regular spot on the roster. Gangrel was trying that too but he’s doing so out of aging desperation, Sonjay is still in his prime. Bad Bones kills him with a bucklebomb and comes away the winner. Fair play to these guys, they had a surprisingly good match that I didn’t see coming.

Final Rating: ***1/2

 

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Marty Scurll

These two have a chequered history and at some point they’ll be clashing in Rev Pro in an era defining match up. They bring part of that storyline over here, showing mutual respect and tremendous mat wrestling technique. Like with the match these two had at BOLA last year there are moments of humour scattered throughout, which some people didn’t like at BOLA and won’t like here but humour in wrestling is something I appreciate. These two know how to tickle my funny bone. I like that they try and one-up each other with escapes and they avoid the more obvious spots. A few old timey BritWres spots sneak in there, like the double pins and double kick outs. It’s good stuff. Both for a novice to the style and someone who’s seen it before and recognises the familiar spots and the spin these two put on them. The variations on a theme are truly impressive, turning this into a hybrid of World of Sport and modern submissions coming out of the blue. The one thing that bothers me is Zack falling for the “superkick, just kidding” spot. He must have seen that a thousand times. Another tiny issue is that the crowd aren’t that engaged and perhaps this is a match that would be better done in front of a British audience although the PWG audience dug the World of Sport stuff so it’s hard to say. Eventually they switch gears and just leather each other. Scurll breaks Zack’s finger and goes for the Chickenwing only for Sabre to slip out and get a roll up to score the pin. This was all kinds of BritWres-tastic. I’ve heard some people, like Rob who I do podcasts with, didn’t like it but then he didn’t watch World of Sport, because he’s too young, so he might not have gotten the references.

Final Rating: ****1/4

 

wXw World Unified Championship

Jurn Simmons (c) vs. Jeff Jarrett

Jarrett is wearing his Bullet Club gear, like he was on Night One, because presumably it cost a couple of quid and he’d like to get some mileage out of it. Jurn again does his posing entrance with the cheerleaders. That’s probably his best attribute, as a showman. Jurn is an old school heel and Jarrett understands how to sell for Simmons’ never-ending stalling. Well, technically it’s not never-ending but neither is the Never-Ending Story. That’s 90 minutes long, this is about a third of that but feels longer. My favourite thing about Jarrett is how happy he looks when the ring announcer does the J-E-Double F gimmick. Ain’t he great? Both guys do as little as humanly possible. At one point they both stand around watching Jurn’s manager Marius Van Beethoven (yeah, that’s really his name), do the Fargo Strut. When they do work it’s ponderous and loaded with overselling. It’s the Jurn Simmons style, which is routed in old school Memphis stalling and wrestling basics. For some it might be refreshing but if you watched this boring shite the first time around you won’t want to see it again. Melanie Grey, another member of Jurn’s entourage, saves the title so Jarrett spanks her, complete with pervy old man glee. Marius, who works harder than both wrestlers, takes the Acoustic Equalizer too. Jurn ends up winning with the Beck Piledriver. This was horrifically boring and generally awful. An anachronistic misfire from the king of them.

Final Rating: *

 

Post Match: Again wXw look to salvage something from the booking. This time with Massive Jurn going to sit on his throne and Zack Sabre Jr., the top contender for his title, coming out and putting a beating on the champion.

6.5

The final score: review Average

The 411

The BritWres match stands out as the best on the show on consecutive nights. That BritWres scene is alive and well. Otherwise the show is a bit of a clunker, mainly because the main event is really poor but the undercard is patchy too. There’s just about enough good on the show (tag titles, falls count anywhere, Klinger-Dutt, Scurll-Sabre) to give it a minimal thumbs up. Generally speaking European wrestling shows are better than this in 2016 though.