Hamilton’s wXw Says Goodbye to Absolute Andy Review

Last weekend’s news of the passing of Absolute Andy was as tragic as it was unexpected. Having been away from wrestling for the better part of two years, many had assumed that the injury that forced Andy onto the sidelines in 2022 had ultimately pushed him into a quiet retirement.

Tributes will continue to be paid to Andy’s life and career, with wXw’s year-ending 23rd Anniversary show later in December presenting the first opportunity for fans to gather. In the meantime, wXw has posted a selection of matches for free on their YouTube page… let’s take a look.

From wXw Dead End IX Beta – May 02, 2009 – wXw World Heavyweight Championship: Absolute Andy vs. Bryan Danielson (c)
Andy grabbed Danielson’s belt and paraded it in his face before the bell, prompting some “next world champ” chants as the pair teased locking up. Danielson’s stalling led to the crowd mocking him with “you can’t wrestle” chants, before he finally engaged things, going for Andy’s wrist.

Andy reverses the wristlock, but Danielson countered back and forth before he walked into the ropes to force a break. Mocking Dragon, Andy drops to his knees to offer a punch-up, as Danielson was really ripping a page out of the Larry Zbyszko playbook as he stalled… so much so that Andy headed outside and joined the fans banging on the apron. A baseball slide attempt from Danielson’s easily avoided before a lock-up ended in the ropes, with Danielson cheapshotting Andy on the break. Danielson starts to focus on the arm a little from there, taking down Andy… only for the challenger to take things back to the ropes and throw in a cheapshot of his own.

Shoving breaks things down into chops from there, forcing Danielson to back off into the corner. Returning, Danielson snapmares Andy ahead of a chinlock, but that’s powered out of as Andy jacked Danielson’s arm over his shoulder to break free. Danielson seemingly revelled in the “same old shit” chants as he went back to the chinlock, with Andy breaking it again in the same way. Danielson backs away from Andy, which led to the crowd clucking like a chicken, then serenading him with “American Chicken” and “KFC” chants as we crossed the ten-minute mark with Andy conducting the crowd. Fed up with that, Danielson snapped, kicking out the knee before he stomped on Andy on the mat. An attempt at a surfboard gets Danielson those “same old shit” chants, so he instead drops and elbow, then a knee, as he updated the Ron Garvin playbook a little.

Hey, the Oberhausen crowd taunting Danielson for being boring led him to taking Andy back down for another chinlock. Straight out of the “I’ll show you boring” school! Boot choking takes Andy into the corner, before kicks to the back took us back to knee drops… and yes, the chinlock. Switching it up, we’ve a hands-behind-the-back Dragon sleeper as Danielson looked to put this one away, before… knee drop. Slaps from above rile up Andy, who fired up for a Sharpshooter… but Danielson grabs the rope before he was rolled over to force a break, then instantly went back after Andy’s arm. Snapmare. Elbows. Kicks. Two-count. Danielson’s running a very methodical playbook here, and like someone who’s only just picked up a fighting game, is spamming the same few things – because they worked.

A rare divergence sees Danielson go up top, but he’s instantly cut off and superplexed before Andy began to beat him to the punch some more. Andy’s flying shoulder tackle continues the turnaround, as did a clothesline into the corner, then a sidewalk slam out of it as Andy picked up his first close fall of the match. Danielson turned it right back around with a clothesline though, only for Andy to respond with an F5 for a near-fall. Punches take Danielson back into the corner, but a second superplex is shoved away as a missile dropkick instead took down the challenger… who was then met with a running kick for a near-fall. Cattle Mutilation’s next, but Andy’s able to get a foot to the rope and force the break.

We’re past the 20-minute mark as Andy fought back with a scoop slam as Danielson came back off the ropes. Sensing trouble, Danielson pulls referee Tassilo Jung in front of him to stop Andy from charging… then tries a low blow as Tass had his back turned. It’s blocked as Andy instead goes for a small package – see-sawing back and forth as Danielson ended up being unable to get the win from it. It’s back to old faithful for Danielson from there as he worked Andy’s arm, but a spinebuster out of nowhere cuts off the champion ahead of a top rope elbow drop for a near-fall. A Sharpshooter follows, but out of nowhere, Steve Douglas – Andy’s former tag partner in AbLas – came out for a distraction. Referees are quickly on hand to take care of the bandana-sporting Douglas, but that masks a second run-in… which Andy quickly took care of with a superkick. Thanks for coming!

Problem was, that took the ref’s attention away, allowing Danielson to hit a low blow and a small package… but Andy kicks out at two! Oberhausen erupted after the ineffective small package, before Danielson began to wear down Andy with some hammer elbows. Rather than go for a stoppage, Danielson covers Andy, again for a near-fall, before another Cattle Mutilation was fought out of… with Andy getting to his feet, backing into the corner, sandwiching the ref in the process. Andy retaliates with a mule kick behind the ref’s back, before a small package almost put Danielson away – albeit with a questionably-fast count.

We resume with both men back to their feet, trading blows until a superkick rocked Danielson… only for him to rise up and kick Andy out of the corner. A diving head kick’s next, as Danielson again went up top, only to leap into an Andy spinebuster, before the Sharpshooter – and a drag away from the ropes – led to the submission!

Result: Absolute Andy submitted Bryan Danielson to win the wXw World Heavyweight Championship in 26:30 (****)

Post-match, Danielson snatches the belt off of a celebrating Andy… only to hand it back to him and shake the new champion’s hand before leaving the ring as Oberhausen conga’d around the T-Club to celebrate. Lovely stuff from a ferocious crowd, and something you’d struggle to contain a smile watching.

Watching this match in a vacuum, outside of everything that preceded it, the slow start really had me wondering what I was missing out on… only for the remainder of the contest to more than make up for it. Danielson’s insistence on going to the same few moves early on to spite the crowd backfired on him in the end – and led to the end of his reign. A star-making performance for Absolute Andy, who’d end up losing the belt to Steve Douglas before the end of the year… and it’d be the thick end of a decade before Andy had a second run…

From wXw World Triangle League 2014 – Night Four – October 05, 2014 – Absolute Andy vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Neither Andy nor Tanahashi are looking to rush in here, as we’ve got a 30-minute time limit… giving the crowd time to start off duelling chants… which Andy loses out on, so he powders to the outside.

When we got going, Tanahashi looked to work over Andy’s arm, but has to reverse a reversal to take him down in an armbar. Andy gets free, but had to pull Tanahashi’s hair to avoid being shot into the ropes as the crowd certainly decided who their favourite was. Cheapshotting from a Test of Strength gave Andy a brief opening, but it’s quickly nullified by Tanahashi’s springboard crossbody out of the corner, as the Ace built up steam, sending Andy outside with a dropkick.

Not to worry – Tanahashi just followed him out with a pescado!

An eye rake gives Andy a chance, as he resorted to grabbing a chair from the crowd, chopping Tanahashi into it only to get caught with a clothesline as Tanahashi wasn’t having any of his games. Instead, Tanahashi switches roles, booting Andy out of the chair, before a side headlock ended with him getting pushed into the ring post as Andy looked to win by count-out. Of course, it doesn’t end like that, as Tanahashi rolled back in, only to get choked on then dropped with a running backbreaker as Andy looked to make a point with certain fans.

An abdominal stretch followed, with Andy grabbing the ropes periodically… and of course, referee Tassilo Jung catches him and kicks the arm away, before a back cracker puts Andy right back on top. Andy keeps the pressure going, whipping Tanahashi into the corner before a switcharound saw Tanahashi respond with a leaping forearm, before a slam sets up for the flip senton off the middle rope, crushing Andy for a near-fall. A spinebuster gives Andy another opening, which he capitalised on with the F5 – which would have gotten him the win, were he not so lackadaisical with it all.

Snake Eyes and a clothesline add to the momentum for Andy, as does a knee drop, before Tanahashi finally fought back, countering a superkick into a Dragon screw. Slingblades follow, as Tanahashi looked to finish him with a High Fly Flow… only for Andy to push Tass into the ropes to crotch Tanahashi instead. A dropkick keeps Tanahashi up top, but he’s able to reposition himself to block a top rope ‘rana, only to leap into a superkick as Andy fell on top of him for another near-fall. Andy tries his luck off the top, but misses an elbow drop, before he rolled away as Tanahashi similarly crashed and burned with a massive High Fly Flow.

Andy looks to capitalise with an A-Klasse, but Tanahashi slinks free and manages to counter with a strait-jacket German suplex for a near-fall. A sudden superkick keeps Andy in it, but the frustration was starting to show here, as he followed that up with a Sharpshooter, sitting down low on Tanahashi until we got the obligatory rope break.

The desperation continued as Andy went up for a moonsault… missing it, allowing Tanahashi to hit back with Ace’s High, then a High Fly Flow… and that’s all folks. Pretty decent stuff this, with both men playing their greatest hits, but in the end there was ever only going to be one result as Tanahashi remained unbeaten in singles action in Europe.

Result: Hiroshi Tanahashi pinned Absolute Andy in 19:22 (***¾)

From wXw 16th Anniversary – December 12, 2016 – Best-of-Three-Falls for wXw World Tag Team Championship: Ringkampf (WALTER & Axel Dieter Jr) vs. A4 (Absolute Andy & Marius Al-Ani) (c)
This went really long – almost half an hour, in-fact…

In the ring, Marius Al-Ani worked over Axel Dieter Jr’s arm, as A4 tried to isolate Dieter Jr from the much bigger WALTER. When the big guy came in, he easily swatted Al-Ani, only for Absolute Andy to provide a much sterner test. A dropkick took Ringkampf to the outside, but Al-Ani had to stop short of diving as his targets moved away.

WALTER came in and easily slammed Andy, before being taken down by a missile dropkick from Al-Ani for a near-fall. Al-Ani utilised his speed to knock down WALTER, who then popped back up to flatten Al-Ani once more as he went for a leapfrog splash on Dieter Jr. That opened the match for Ringkampf, but neither side was able to maintain an advantage as Al-Ani and Dieter traded moves, before WALTER came in and clobbered Al-Ani with cross-arm strikes to the chest.

WALTER blocked another aerial attack from Al-Ani, but fell to a DDT after a powerbomb was countered. Axel Dieter Jr knocked Absolute Andy off the apron as he was about to make the tag to Al-Ani… but Andy finally made the tag after Al-Ani wriggled out of a powerbomb attempt. The momentum kept shifting as a blocked suplex from Andy was eventually turned into a spinebuster on WALTER for a near-fall, before a superkick was blocked and turned into a sleeper, then a German suplex.

Andy caught Dieter Jr in a Sharpshooter, but Axel was able to make the tag out to WALTER, who just blasted Andy with a big boot to break the hold. Regardless, Andy hit back with an impressive F5 to WALTER for a near-fall, before Dieter fought out of one and took a superkick for another near-fall. Dieter blocked another F5, but quickly took another spinebuster and a Sharpshooter, before Al-Ani caught WALTER with a flying rana and a cross armbreaker to counter the run-in… only for WALTER to break up everything by powerbombing Al-Ani onto Andy. That led to the referee ruling the first fall as a double knock-out, and awarded one fall to each team.

The final fall began with WALTER tagging in and levelling Andy with a forearm, before dropping a big boot and waiting for the referee to count Andy down. That didn’t happen, and instead Andy fought back with a shoulder tackle, before WALTER took the leapfrog splash onto his lower back, as Dieter ate a wheelbarrow suplex.

Al-Ani followed with an across-the-turnbuckle plancha to Ringkampf on the floor, as WALTER then took a hanging vertical suplex, before Dieter made the save after a superkick. That swung things back towards Ringkampf, as they dropped Andy with a powerbomb/diving uppercut for a near-fall, before Marius Al-Ani was unceremoniously dumped onto the runway.

Andy hit back with a back cracker as Al-Ani returned… only for his frog splash to land on WALTER’s knees. Dieter and Andy fell into the front row as Andy’s suplex led to both men tipping over the top rope, before Al-Ani and WALTER exchanged shots, only for Christian Michael Jakobi to run in and cause a distraction on the apron. Karsten Beck knocked Jakobi down, but that distraction led to WALTER hitting Al-Ani with a powerbomb for a nearfall.

Al-Ani responded with an overhead belly-to-belly superplex to WALTER, then a death valley driver as he looked to follow up with a frog splash – and connected this time to get the win. A fine, fine tag match…

Result: Absolute Andy & Marius al-Ani defeated WALTER & Axel Dieter Jr. by 2 falls to 1 to retain the wXw World Tag Team Championship in 28:59 (***¾)

From wXw Shotgun Livetour: Hamburg – November 23, 2018 – wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship: Absolute Andy vs. Ilja Dragunov
This was a unification match to merge Andy’s belt with Ilja’s interim title – which he won a month earlier after Andy’s scheduled title defence against Dragunov and Bobby Gunns was cancelled due to injury.

So before a bell could ring, Andy superkicked Tassilo Jung… then goes under the ring for a chair. Rainer Ringer, the only other referee on duty today, eats a Torpedo Moscau as he tried to get rid of the chair… and we’ve got a WAR! Well, we will do once Andy quits running away!

They run through the crowd and end up on the other side of the venue as Ilja chops his way through Andy, but there’s an instant response from Andy as he throws his own chops before booting Ilja into the front row. A little too close for comfort!

Ilja throws Andy into the ring, where he’s met with an uppercut from the Unified World Wrestling Champion… who proceeded to batter the interim champion around the ring with chops. A rake to the eyes followed before Ilja pulls away from a goozle and takes down Andy for a back senton. There’s a lariat for Andy too, but with no referee available, this is all for nought, and Andy smartly rolls to the outside to avoid a flying back senton off the top… which suckers Ilja outside as they make it onto the stage.

More chops just rile Ilja, who runs into a back body drop on the stage before he’s carried back into the ring… where he pops up and runs back out with a tope into Andy! Ilja finds himself on top, but Andy superplexes him as another back senton loomed. There’s a regular suplex from Andy, then a boot to the face as Ilja demanded more… and got it, including a legdrop across the apron. The barrage of European uppercuts keep Ilja on jelly legs, but only briefly as he managed to catch Andy with a back suplex… then a back senton off the top rope! We’re still without a referee though, so Ilja looks to follow up with a Torpedo Moscau, only to run into a big boot that sends him onto the apron… where Andy looked to suplex him back into the ring from, only for Ilja to clear the crowd as he had designs on taking Andy into the seating area!

Eventually Andy blocks it, as Ilja had to head up top… where he’s again caught before Andy rudely knocked him off the top and into the front row. Back in the ring, Andy has a chair, which he happily uses on Ilja… and SMASHES, which looked to have Ilja fearing for a loose staple or bit of wood getting in his eye.

Andy revives Tassilo Jung after that, plugging in his “life support” (earpiece)… but Tass remembers he’d not started the match, so he’s not going to count the pin! Ilja’s beckoned back to his feet and finally, the bell rings!

An F5 quickly follows, but Ilja kicks out at two! A superkick’s cued up, but Ilja catches it and hits back before responding with a lariat as both men were left laying. Andy’s back up with more chops, which Ilja absorbs like they’re nothing as he returned fire with a barrage of body blows and a DDT, before running into a spinebuster as Andy tries to make out with a Sharpshooter.

Ilja manages to get to the ropes as his second wind sees him land an enziguiri and some lariats, including a rebound lariat after a 619-like swivel in the ropes… but it’s still not enough to leave Andy down. There’s a death valley driver from Ilja, which leaves Andy in the corner ahead of a trio of Coast to Coasts, but the third one’s cut-off in mid air with an Andy superkick – keeping that thread alive from last year’s World Tag Team League – only for Ilja to save the match as he grabs Tass’ hand to prevent the three-count. The facial expressions ALONE sold that!

We’ve more back and forth as Ilja had another burst of energy, taking down Andy with a back body drop… before a second one just dumped Andy into Tass. It’s not the worst bump he’s had, just check his timeline to see him take an ugly shotgun dropkick from WALTER…

Rainer Ringer emerges… but Andy instantly knocks him off the apron as a Torpedo Moscau hits… with no referee again! Tass is revived again after an avalanche F5, but Ilja kicks out once again, prompting Andy to go underneath the ring for another chair. This time, Andy goes all Eddie Guerrero on us, feigning a chairshot and throwing the “evidence” to Ilja, just as Tass turns around.

Ilja has to go nuclear to stop Tass from disqualifying him. Luckily, Rainer Ringer saw it all and filled in the blanks, before Ilja turned around into a low blow… then an A-Klasse as Andy, through the foulest of means, regained the title he never lost. He looked delighted as the crowd showered their boos down on him – and now we’re back on the same path we were before World Tag Team League. Whether you factor in the long “pre-match brawl” or not, this was a solid match with plenty of story in the contest, as Ilja survived the war but once again fell to the “Veteraan”’s underhanded tactics.

Result: Absolute Andy pinned Ilja Dragunov to retain the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship in 9:22 (***¾)

From wXw World Team Festival 2019 – Night Two – October 05, 2019 – Anti-Fun Police (Chief Deputy Dunne & Los Federales Santos Jr.) vs. Jay-AA (Jay Skillet & Absolute Andy)
Andy’s turned into your da who’s found Super Soakers, and loves to play with them. They’re told to pay a 25 cent deposit… so a fan in the crowd stumps up the money for them. This is going to be comedy, and I’m here for it.

Santos and Andy square off with shoves, forcing Santos to pull out the No Fun Gun. Tass is unimpressed, until a gunshot plays. Andy responds with the Super Soaker (told you!), forcing Dunne in to brandish… a cleaver?!

“Look at this zucchini” was a good tactic, as Andy defused the situation. Skillet cuts the zucchini, and it’s taken away by catering. He’s a good lad, is our Jay. Back to our regularly scheduled match, and we have shoulder tackles all the way between Andy and Santos, before Santos… shoots him dead?!

Skillet tags, as does Dunne, as they do the Doink 1993 stuff with sunglasses, ending with a superkick as Jay… ends up taking a False Alarm superkick. Jay tries to dive for a tag out, but Andy still hasn’t moved a muscle, so he’s having to fight back all on his own. Someone brings a bottle of Fanta to revive Andy with (I don’t know either), but the Anti-Fun Police do their damndest to stop him from getting it.

Eventually, Santos gets caught low by his own man as Francis Kaspin appeared on the stage – to a huge reception. He’s here to save the day! Andy raises from the dead for the Fanta, as the Andy-Taker takes a swig and hulks up! A stalling suplex dumps Dunne, ahead of a superkick for a near-fall… so Santos tries to use the gun, and gets stopped by Andy’s automatic rifle as he takes down everyone. Referees, ring announcers, the lot!

In the end, a stomp-assisted A5 gets the win, with Francis Kaspin coming in to make the count using a dead ref’s hand… before the Fanta revived everyone so we could have a curtain call! There’s a lot of skits here I missed watching live… and I have no idea how you’d rate that.

Result: Absolute Andy & Jay Skillet pinned Chief Deputy Dunne & Los Federales Santos Jr. in 14:45

From wXw Back to the Roots 2022 – January 15, 2022 – wXw Shotgun Championship: Absolute Andy (c) vs. Dennis Dullnig
The randomiser pulled out Dullnig for a fourth crack at the Shotgun title here, as Absolute Andy made his first defence. Before the match, Dullnig tries to trash-talk Andy…

…and runs into Andy’s fist before the bell could go. Right hands keep Dullnig loopy, as we have a scrap from both men here. Finally, Tassilo Jung starts the match as Dullnig just eats an F5 for a very early near-fall. Dullnig plays keepaway as he’s Benny Hill chased back into the ring. Right hands from Andy keep the challenger at bay, as did chops and a release suplex. An uppercut from Andy stops Dullnig’s attempted comeback, as running backbreakers follow…

The one-way traffic continued as Andy nails a spinebuster at the five-minute mark for a near-fall, but a superplex from Andy’s fought out of, with Dullnig trying for a frog splash… Andy gets the knees up, then looked to finish him off with a superkick, and an Absolute Knee. Dullnig rolls out of an A-Klasse as he found a second wind, landing some dropkicks, but a missile dropkick’s stopped as Andy caught him and went for a Sharpshooter. It’s rolled through as Dullnig locked in one of his own, then switched it into a STF, but Andy’s easily able to grab the ropes.

Andy rolled outside and ate a corkscrew senton off the buckles, but popped back up, teasing another F5, only to get posted. Twice. A running knee back inside has Andy down as Dullnig goes back up top again to finally land the frog splash, but Andy kicks out at two, only to get caught in the STF once more. The ropes save Andy again, but he’s able to pop back with another F5… and that’s a wrap. This threatened to feel long and one-sided, but Dullnig’s comeback at least spiced it up as Andy left Oberhausen with the title.

Result: Absolute Andy pinned Dennis Dullnig to retain the wXw Shotgun Championship in 11:38 (**¾)