wXw Announce Catch Grand Prix 2021, With Fans in Attendance

Germany’s Westside Xtreme Wrestling promotion has announced that this year’s Catch Grand Prix tournament will be held this September in Oberhausen, with fans in attendance.

The festival weekend features all five Catch Grand Prix events, plus two additional “We Love Wrestling” events, all of which will be held inside the Turbinenhalle 2. building in Oberhausen, with the following schedule:

Thursday September 23, 2000 local time – Catch Grand Prix event #1
Friday September 24, 1430 local time – Catch Grand Prix event #2
Friday September 24, 2000 local time – Catch Grand Prix event #3
Saturday September 25, 1430 local time – We Love Wrestling event
Saturday September 25, 2000 local time – Catch Grand Prix event #4
Sunday September 26, 1230 local time – We Love Wrestling event
Sunday September 26, 1230 local time – Catch Grand Prix event #5

These will all be all-seated events, with fans being asked to take a seat and retain it for the duration of the show, while Coronavirus regulations means that in addition to contact tracing measures, there will be requirements to show proof of vaccination or a negative test before entry is permitted. Electronic tickets will be personalized to aid with contact tracing, but can be transferred until the day prior to the event if you are unable to attend).

As expected, the after-party that would typically be held during these festival events will not be taking place.

As for the events, wXw has tempered expectations as part of their announcement (in German) saying that they “deliberately won’t be relying on imports”, as they want to reward the wrestlers who have performed for the company in the last year-plus of empty arena/limited attendance shows. Last year’s inaugural Catch Grand Prix was won by Marius al-Ani, who has since gone on to defeat Bobby Gunns for the vacant wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship.

Tickets for these shows are limited to 300 per-show, and go on sale on Thursday June 10 at 1900 German time. It should be noted for any international fans looking to travel that of course, immigration restrictions may force fans to quarantine at one or both ends of the journey. For instance, any fans travelling to Germany from the UK (at time of writing) need to quarantine for 14 days in Germany, then for an additional 10 days upon their return to the UK, in addition to having proof of a negative Coronavirus test prior to departure and any additional mandates that may be in place.

While wXw do have three events currently scheduled in Frankfurt, Bielefeld and Erfurt in August, these would be the first regularly-ticketed events in Oberhausen since March 2020’s 16 Carat Gold tournament, and their first since an outdoor show in Kutenholz last August.