wrestling / Video Reviews

Euro Fury: wXw World Tag Team League 2016 Night Two

October 12, 2016 | Posted by Arnold Furious
9.5
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Euro Fury: wXw World Tag Team League 2016 Night Two  

wXw World Tag Team League 2016 Night Two

 

October 1 2016

 

We’re in Oberhausen for the second night of action in wXw’s World Tag League. This is available on wXwnow.de, which is an excellent addition to the world of streaming services. For those put off at the prospect of listening to shows in German they also have English language options for all their big shows and the weekly Shotgun TV.

 

A4 (Absolute Andy & Marius Al-Ani) vs. Cerberus (Ilya Dragunov & Julian Nero)

Both these teams lost their opening match so another loss here eliminates the losing team. This is full-on mainland Eurograps; Dragunov is Russian, Nero is Austrian, while A4 are both German. The match starts with the aim of sticking in the memory, especially with A4 looking to pop the crowd constantly. Especially Al-Ani, who hits a tope over the ring post. Again Al-Ani is a stand-out for me. He looks comfortable at all times and capable across an array of wrestling attributes. Cerberus lose both their manager, Adam Polack, and Dirty Dragan in the early going so they’re forced to fight the match on even terms. It actually pays off for them as they’re good at teaming whereas A4 are two good individuals. It’s a solid story, especially on the finish where Cerberus use their continuity to get the win. That and the Moscow Torpedo. A4 are gone before they’re completed their fixtures. This could cause issues between the duo. This was a strong opener and got me fired up for the show.

Final Rating: ***1/4

 

wXw Shotgun Championship

Pete Dunne (c) vs. Francis Kaspin

Pete got himself over last night and won this belt but now he’s forced into a quick defence against youngster Kaspin. Francis has only been wrestling for a year but looks like a talent. He’s fluid in the ring, albeit basic, and that’s always a good sign. He can learn more complicated spots but you cannot teach experience and he’s getting that. His timing isn’t quite there but Pete makes sure he looks good. Tactically Dunne demolishes the inexperienced Francis, taking his arm and bullying him with power. Kaspin has a few tricks in his locker and he’s already using the ropes to his benefit. Pete underestimates him and gets caught a few times but ultimately Dunne just has too much for the upstart. At one point Kaspin tries to springboard and Pete just smashes him across the jaw. The Drop Dead follows and Dunne retains. He controlled this match too and looked strong.

Final Rating: ***

 

Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate) vs. Los Gueros del Cielo (Angelico & Jack Evans)

The Lucha Underground boys won last night but Moustache Mountain lost so they’ll be out if LGDC go 2-0. This is an intriguing mix of talents with lucha flippery meeting BritWres and a smattering of Strong Style. Trent’s grounded style contrasting Jack’s flipz is quite wonderful and Evans flat-out wants a dance-off. So Trent kicks him in the face. I like how Moustache Mountain go from there to the pass-the-parcel stalling suplex to make sure they don’t turn themselves heel with the Oberhausen crowd. After the early mucking around they maintain a fast pace and the contrasting styles work together quite beautifully. You can see Trent’s influence in the planning and also Jack’s contributions to Seven’s match structure. It usually involves Jack being a cocky little shit and flipping to avoid a beating. It’s great character work all round. Angelico looks to set up the finish with another tope over the ring post but Jack misses his 630 Splash and Tyler pins Evans with a piledriver. This was fun, frantic and fantastic. Not just for the action but how everyone got their personalities across. It was a real winner.

Final Rating: ****

 

Death By Elbow (Chris Hero & JT Dunn) vs. The LDRS of the New School (Zack Sabre Jr. & Marty Scurll)

Both these teams won on night one so they’re close to securing the Block with a win here. Armbars and chickenwings… and elbows! This match has the rarity of Sabre properly mucking around on the apron. He’s usually so focused and serious. Scurll mucks about too but he does so quite frequently and that’s paid off by Hero punching him in the beard. The narrative of Marty wanting to cheat and Sabre not wanting to cheat continues here, which also leads to comedy as the referee catches Zack ‘cheating’ and ticks him off, leaving Sabre incredulous. It’s wonderful storytelling from both of them. The LDRS effectively double team Hero and take the big man out of the equation. It’s rare to see someone as dominant as Hero get realistically controlled during a match and the LDRS do just that with frequent tags and aggressive work on Hero’s arm. If it wasn’t for his sheer size there are even moments where it feels like he’ll be submitted. To even consider running a chunk of a match as heat on Hero is ambitious but the execution is nearly flawless. After that the match devolves into pure fungasms. LDRS doing the double “superkick…just kidding” is sublime and Hero wailing on multiple guys while JT plays dead is great stuff. Hero’s big brother mentality towards JT is nice to watch, although Hero’s best teams have been ones where he’s been on a par with his partner (Cesaro in particular). As the match continues to progress all four men get steadily exhausted and run into issues regarding stamina. You can forgive them for all lying around towards the conclusion as it’s been a draining contest. Sabre sacrificing himself to the Death By Elbow strikes gives Marty a chance to battle on. You sense Scurll wouldn’t have done the same. In the last five minutes the match feels finished several times and it’s credit to all four men that a blatant time-limit draw fakes me out so many times. The last thirty seconds is frantic stuff with Death By Elbow both getting trapped in submissions but the time limit expires. Interesting to note Hero made the ropes while JT remained trapped as the bell rang. Crowd immediately chant “match of the year”, which shows how good it was. Possibly the best match in Europe in 2016.

Final Rating: ****3/4

 

Promo Time: Karsten Beck

Karsten has a brain tumour and may never wrestle again. You can see a huge scar across his head. Beck has had two runs with wXw’s main title, the last ending with defeat to former underling Jurn Simmons earlier in the year. The angle when he lost to Simmons suggested he was contemplating retirement but he came back shortly afterwards, in June, only to be sidelined with the brain tumour in July. Christian Jakobi, booker and promoter of wXw, comes out to put Karsten over but changes gears and buries him, which hopefully means Karsten will be coming back. Otherwise why run an angle? Ringkampf come out in full force to run Beck off.

 

Bad Bones vs. Dirty Dragan

Dragan is a complete douchebag and doubles down on this by wearing a bumbag (fanny pack to American readers) to the ring. Jesus fucking Christ, man. Dragan starts fast but Bones promptly wrecks his shit for it. Working stiff is fine but Bones is a much bigger dude than Dragan so he comes across like a bully on the Wrecking Ball Knees or a stiff lariat. The crossface puts Dragan away in short order. This was a total squash.

Final Rating: NR

 

Ringkampf (Big Daddy Walter & Timothy Thatcher) vs. JML (Shane Strickland & David Starr)

JML lost on night one while Ringkampf won. This means JML must win to stay in the competition. It’s a big ask as Ringkampf are both big boys and they’re both super aggressive here. Thatcher looks particularly good, helping Walter to cut the ring off and hitting tasty strikes. The backlash against Thatcher has been based on his work as champion in EVOLVE but here he looks rock solid. If anything he’s the stand-out worker in this match, which is saying something considering the rest of talent on show. He looks crisp, tidy and assured. Both of the JML lads get bullied by Ringkampf. It makes for a good story as Ringkampf are so dominant and control the entire match. Starr’s comeback neckbreaker over the knee on Thatcher is devastating. It’s brutal. Again Thatcher looks good as Ringkampft rapidly take over again. Walter’s shotgun dropkick on Strickland is another brutal spot. This match is so much fun, which is weird for something that has so much heat. JML end up picking off Thatcher with the Product Placement (a German suplex/double stomp combo) for the win in a thrilling contest.

Final Rating: ***3/4

 

wXw Unified World Championship

Jurn Simmons (c) vs. Mike Bailey

Jurn has held the belt since March. He’s not exactly my cup of tea because he does a lot of stalling and heat. He tries to do that here and Bailey rips into him with strikes. Jurn takes over with power and like Ringkampf he looks to control the pace of the match but Bailey just won’t let him settle. It’s a very impressive display from Speedball as he won’t allow the boring Simmons match. He’s going to throw a shit load of strikes and hit a shit load of wacky dives. Jurn responds in incredible fashion, dragging moves out that he rarely bothers with. It sells the threat of Bailey that he’s willing to do new things to get one rung higher on the ladder. Nothing keeps Bailey down though and he keeps firing back with kicks. It’s a story of Bailey’s determination against Jurn’s massiveness. It’s an incredible showing from Bailey, but I almost expect that from him now. What’s really astonishing is how great Jurn is in this match. Taking spots like a champ and firing back at the right time. There’s hardly any stalling. It’s almost as if Jurn wanted to show he’s as good as anyone. Especially when he pops off a moonsault, because he tweeted that he would earlier in the day, and Bailey kicks out. Jurn breaks out the bullshit towards the end with low blows and attempted belt shots. It’s a fucking great match though. I did not expect to ever say that about a Jurn Simmons match but it really is. Bailey pulls out some desperation stuff towards the bitter end but despite escaping the piledriver a few times Jurn eventually gets it for the win. My god what a wonderful match it was. I was completely blown away by the quality.

Final Rating: ****1/2

 

Post Match: We see the really weird part. Mike offers a handshake and Jurn accepts it. Good grief, that’s a virtual face turn. If babyface champ Jurn Simmons goes on a run of fucking great matches it’s going to make all of us look mightily stupid for writing him off.

 

 

9.5
The final score: review Amazing
The 411
What a show this was! There was nothing bad anywhere on this card. The production was excellent, the commentary was good and the matches were on fire. The 30 minutes LDRS-Death By Elbow match is worth the price of the streaming service by itself but the main event delivered huge on this show, beyond all expectations. Plus the two other tag tournament matches were great. It’s safe to say wXw absolutely killed it with this show. It’s a contender for the best show of the year.
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