Tag: 16 carat

A look back at last weekend’s wXw 16 Carat Gold 2020 tourney

Posted on March 14, 2020 by Markus Gronemann

Last weekend’s wXw’s 16 Carat Gold 2020 was a very newsworthy edition with one former top talent (David Starr) reportedly having to leave the company at the urge of WWE while a WWE contracted performer (Alexander Wolfe) is on a temporary deal there through mid-April (or whenever wrestling picks back up again).

Those two stories somewhat overshadowed the actual tournament which had a lot of very good and one insanely great match. The winner was wXw newcomer and current PROGRESS world champion Cara Noir who impressed people with his performance as everything from his entrance to his facial expression and mannerisms up to certain spots in the match seem to be constructed with the high arts in mind.

He beat Mike Bailey in the main event in somewhat of a surprise match as many people had picked Dutch-born Jurn Simmons as one of the sure-fire finalists. The match of the weekend was had by Bailey and Bandido, who did some insane spots and had a match that will probably go down as one of the best, if not the best, in 16 Carat history.

The promotion was super lucky when it came to the COVID-19 virus as on Tuesday after the shows, the government of North Rhine-Westphalia (the state where 16 Carat took place) prohibited all events with more than 1000 people in attendance. Had they run this weekend, they would have had to cancel. COO Tassilo Jung said while they had some sort of backup plan, it would have been a gamble at best and could have meant a massive loss for the company.

The weekend followed the typical formula of establishing everyone on night one, having great and dramatic matches on night two and progressing storylines and saving raw emotion for night three

Here are the highlights of the weekend, followed by results to all the shows:

David Starr leaves wXw, indicates WWE is responsible

The 29-year-old came to wXw in early 2016 when he was a CZW regular through the relationship the two promotions had established that dates back to the early 2000s. He started in WXW (Afa’s promotion in Pennsylvania and no relation to wXw) and mostly wrestled for CZW, Beyond, and a couple of smaller indies in the Northeast. wXw took a chance at him and he quickly showed both his talent and promo skills, becoming a regular over the years as well as a major player in storylines.

He began a feud with WALTER which spanned multiple promotions and lasts to this day with the key being that he never beat WALTER (except for some tag matches where he still never was the one to beat him), held the wXw Shotgun title on three different occasions, and became part of the main event picture.

Being in wXw put him on the map to a number of other promotions in Europe, and he soon started wrestling for almost every major promotion in the UK, including PROGRESS, OTT, Revolution Pro, and Defiant back when there were fewer political issues on who you worked for. He also got noticed by PWG in the US, who started using him in January 2018.

Very outspoken and left-leaning on the political spectrum, Starr idolizes Bernie Sanders to the point he is being billed as “the Bernie Sanders of pro wrestling” among a ton of other nicknames. He moved to the UK in order to be eligible for public health care and is the founder of “We The Independent”, an organization striving to improve working conditions for wrestlers. He is a strong proponent of unionization and has been working with Equity in the UK, the trade union for those in the performing arts (similar to SAG in the US).

Starr is very outspoken about the way some major wrestling organizations conduct their business, publicly calling out both WWE and ROH owners Sinclair repeatedly and also got into a war of words with Gabe Sapolsky of EVOLVE about the payment of some of their talent. He last appeared for PROGRESS on December 30 of last year and hasn’t been mentioned there since which got some people talking.

At the end of January after the two clashed in an eight-man War Games-style single cage match, the match with wXw World Unified Wrestling champion Bobby Gunns was announced for night two of 16 Carat when it traditionally happens. Starr, seemingly out of nowhere, established a title vs. career stipulation. They did a good build up including some tremendous video packages and interviews by both guys and the match felt important, but the buzz seemed to be lower than for similar matches in the past.

The bout started slow but picked up pace and went 41:15 and saw both men give it their everything, kicking out of big moves. Starr messed up his back on a crazy dive where he virtually crashed into the first few rows of seats (hardback plastic chairs) at full speed, while Gunns also hurt his leg when Starr threw him off the entrance ramp as the two brawled around ringside, landing on a set of risers for standing room fans to get a better view of the action. After some fantastic back and forth action, Gunns retained the title with the “Ehrenmann Driver” (“man of honor driver”).

After his loss, Starr cut a very emotional promo and talked about how “freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom of consequences” and that he and wXw mutually agreed to part ways. He thanked everyone in the office and said that wXw put him on the map on a major level and that he wouldn’t be where he was if not for them. He talked about CEO Felix Kohlenberg taking a chance at him when he was “just a stupid kid at CZW, begging them to book him and had no idea what he was doing.”

He talked about creative director Dennis Birkendahl taking him to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp (Starr is Jewish and about 70,000 Jews were killed there during WW II) which he said changed his life forever. He thanked Christian Jakobi, the former CEO who left due to occupational burnout, and said that he helped him out a ton but would hate certain spots in matches which is why they included one today just to piss him off if he watched it. He said he also meant to thank WALTER “But, f*ck WALTER. Who did he ever beat?” He said he felt a certain disconnect with the locker room over the past 2-3 years, but that before this match, people came up to him, saying they loved him. He also said this was goodbye for real, not some intricate storyline or angle.

He tweeted last Monday that “I won’t go into further details regarding wXw on this platform and idk when/if I will in any public setting. Like I said, freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences and that this mutual decision was one that neither of us wanted to make. I love wXw & always will.” He was very emotional at the merch table as well, hugging fans and saying goodbye to everyone personally who took the time to walk up to him. Starr himself confirmed to me that this was very much a WWE call.

wXw also thanked him and that they would miss him while COO Tassilo Jung took to Twitter and wrote “It has been an unbelievable ride and I’m gutted it had to end.”

At a Sunday media panel, Jung said there would be some limit on how deep they would dive into the topic of Starr and any possible WWE involvement. He said they sat down with Starr beforehand and told him that after the match, the mic was his to say whatever he wanted to say, basically giving him the chance to keep things within the realms of storyline or let the person behind David Starr speak, and Starr chose the latter. He said they appreciated what he said, the kind words he said, and later posted on social media about wXw and that they would miss him a lot.

He said they would not comment on the decision itself but wanted to make sure that people knew how much they appreciated Starr as a person as well as a talent. He said they made the decision when they set up the match a few months ago. Jung praised Starr for his work ethic and that he always showed up, eager to give his best and help people, stating examples of the four way at their 19th Anniversary show, theior two January shows in France, the cage match in January at Back to the Roots, the Dragunov match in February at Dead End, and Saturday’s performance.

He said Starr went out as an absolute professional and that they hold him in the best regards. Jung said Starr said he’ll always be a wXw guy and they’ll always have his back.

The one thing to say for wXw is that they built this match up, gave Starr a storyline exit so fans would get closure and a reason of him not being there, and giving him a live mic after the show. In PROGRESS, it was seemingly the same deal. There, he simply lost a match to Jimmy Havoc on December 39th and hasn’t been heard from or seen since.

It will be interesting what the future has in store for Starr, who still holds the OTT world title in Ireland and also the SWE (Southside Wrestling Entertainment) title, which now is part of RevPro (who have a working relationship with New Japan) as well as the Liverpool-based TNT world title. OTT seemingly has a relationship with WWE, but it seems less intense than what WWE, PROGRESS, ICW or EVOLVE have.

If you want to take a deep dive into the whole topic, Will Cooling, who also was there this weekend has an excellent article on Starr and his political campaigning among others things over.

Cara Noir wins 16 Carat Gold, Mike Bailey and Bandido have the match of the weekend

Noir (real name Thomas Dawkins), the current PROGRESS champion, had his first matches in 2010 to mixed success under his given name and several other monikers. He almost quit the business in 2016, but after a conversation with longtime friend Chris Brookes, decided to develop the gimmick of Cara Noir, the black swan of wrestling, supposedly a former ballet dancer (and computer genius with an MMA background) that was kicked out of the academy for his anger management issues while being harassed there.

He wears swan-like face paint and enters the ring in darkness with just a spotlight on him to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake before a performance in the ring where he brings up his cape of peacock feathers. He is a very unique individual who views wrestling as the ultimate art form and expresses himself through facials, body language, mannerisms, and a unique move set. He does dozens of small things in each match which almost feel like a musical composition. After a few notes, you recognize the composer, but like music, each match is different with different overtures and themes reaching back to earlier spots in the match, and often enough there are unique things he does with certain opponents, exclusive to that match.

Noir beat “Speedball” Mike Bailey in the finals in a very good, dramatic match that went 28:27 and saw both guys put on a great performance. While it was face vs. face, Bailey showed some heel tendencies. Noir, at times, very much played the dying swan. At one point, he took three running kicks to the chest with Bailey becoming more and more reluctant to deliver the punishment and asking Noir to just quit. Noir looked pained by having to go yet another round, but asked Bailey to pull him back up and deliver another kick, the third after which he suddenly powered up. He also hugged Bailey and seemingly told him everything was going to be OK before delivering his own finishing sequence.

They also did some crazy spots like Bailey missing his moonsault knee drop both on the apron and on the steel ramp at one point. Noir kicked out of the Flamingo Driver which looks like a variation of the One Winged Angel. After Bailey missed the moonsault knees on the ramp, Noir hooked in the Blackout sleeper and then left Bailey laying in order to get the countout victory, but Bailey made it back at nine.

The finishing sequence was Bailey hitting a top rope moonsault fallaway slam which Noir narrowly kicked out of and came back with a Madame Guilltone and package piledriver for a kickout by Bailey. Noir finally hit a Blackout sleeper suplex, followed by a Blackout sleeper for the victory by referee stoppage. Noir pulled up Bailey, who still seemed out of it, for a long hug before posing with the trophy up the ramp and in the ring.

Bailey had another great outing the night before, facing Bandido in the match of the weekend. In a near eighteen minute match, they did some unreal spots and had the crowd in the palms of their hands, starting off with duel chants and songs and having people in an absolute frenzy as the match progressed. After a ton of spectacular near falls, the finish was a fisherman moonsault fallaway slam from the top rope by Bandido. Afterwards, the fans starting pelting the ring with money to the point there was fear somebody could get hurt by being hit with a coin. Ring announcer Thommy Giessen then made the call to ask people to throw notes instead of coins.

Both men hugged and even brought Bandido superfan Chris Lawson, who was at ringside, into the ring and put him on their shoulders. From the match itself to the post-match, this was one of those 16 Carat experiences on par with the surprise Ilja Dragunov return, the Alexander Wolfe surprise last year, and Jurn Simmons turning on Karsten Beck to win the world title, an angle no one will forget and will be talked about and featured in video highlights forever.

Bailey beat UK indy and NOAH prodigy Chris Ridgeway in the first round, Bandido in the second, and put away favorite Jurn Simmons in the semifinals. Noir beat al-Ani in round one, eliminated Jeff Cobb in round two and then Eddie Kingston in the semi before going on to win the tournament.

Two other standouts were wXw’s homegrown talents Julian Pace and The Rotation who hung in there move for move and spot for spot with Bandido and Puma King respectively in the first round. Pace, 24, who only has been wrestling professionally for less than four years, is one of the most exciting young workers in Europe today, has great speed and tremendous flying ability and never looked out of place, going toe-to-toe with one of the most amazing wrestlers out there in 2020. He is the first full-fledged graduate of the wXw Academy and was trained, among others, by WALTER and Timothy Thatcher.

Rotation is a similar high flyer and started in 2013 after training at the Westside Dojo, the predecessor of the wXw Academy, before it became a full-time school. After a few years in wXw in an enhancement role, he toured Mexico in the summer of 2015, mostly working for DTU, but also had two matches for AAA. He returned full time in wXw last fall and has been great ever since. He hung with Puma King in many typical lucha spots and did impressive stunts, such as standing on the top rope, jumping up to avoid a punch and landing on the rope again or cartwheeling along the top rope to avoid another attack. Puma King and Black Taurus also both looked good the whole weekend, and hopefully international fans will see more of them outside of AAA.

Simmons, who many saw as the favorite for the tournament, looked impressive, both with an improved physique and a new moveset which included power moves such as a gorilla press and athletic moves like a standing moonsault. Him being eliminated by Bailey was a surprise to many and a return to the main event picture seems imminent.

Alexander Wolfe makes a surprise appearance, wins wXw Shotgun title, gets attacked by Lucky Kid’s new heel group

On Sunday, a wXw Shotgun title match was scheduled between champion Avalanche and Ilja Dragunov, set up after the finish of Bobby Gunns vs. Avalanche at February’s Dead End in Hamburg when they did an angle where Dragunov attacked Avalanche and got beat up.

Most suspected this to be a bonus match of sorts, a hard-hitting battle between two former partners who have always delivered and as a way to get Dragunov on the show the day he was first available after two days of NXT UK tapings.

During ring introductions, ring announcer Thommy Giessen was handed another cue card and announced that the wXw championship board of directors had added a third man to the match at which point the Ringkampf/Imperium music played and Alexander Wolfe appeared to a big pop. Initially this was somewhat lackluster since it was a mix of Dragunov getting added to the world title match against Bad Bones two years ago and Wolfe appearing as a surprise with his old Sanity-gimmick last year.

They had a fun match with Dragunov initially suggesting Wolfe team with him, playing off their previous friendship and NXT UK contracts, but Wolfe refused.

The finish came when Dragunov hit Torpedo Moscow on Avalanche, who fell out of the ring. Wolfe then pinned Dragunov after a sitdown power bomb to win the title to a shocked reaction as nobody believed that to be a possibility.

Wolfe held the then-vacant title in 2014, ironically winning it after the then-champion Dragunov was out with a broken skull after suffering the injury at a WWE tryout in 2013. Wolfe cut a promo, saying that the title meant a lot: it meant that the champion had to be the best and defend it against all comers.

He then put the title down in the middle of the ring and said that he could not take it back with him to the U.S. After some boos, he reconsidered and said “F*ck it. I’ll stay in Germany and defend this title until somebody from the locker room takes it from me, but I’m not going to make it easy for them.”

At this point, the big eye, which had distracted Lucky Kid in matches over the past few weeks including his first round loss to Simmons in 16 Carat, flashed on the screen. As Wolfe looked at it, he was attacked by two burly guys in black shirts (Abdul Kenan and Aytac Bahar, who teamed as Grup Arnasi in the Berlin-based GWF and also were trained there). Lucky ran out and confronted them, signaling to Wolfe to stay back before attacking him and the three then beat him down.

Lucky then cut a fiery, bitter promo as it was important to him to explain what he was doing here. He had been a part of various groups over the past few years and slowly lost his honor and his identity in the process. In RISE, he was the crazy guy; with Schadenfreude, he was the stupid, childish kid; with The Purge (Ivan Kiev & Pete Bouncer), he was their good friend Lucky. Now, he was the leader of his own group and would go by the name his mother had given him, Metehan (his actual real first name; he has Turkish roots but was born in Germany).

He said he would get everything back that was taken from him and that his new group would be called Ezel (which is Turkish for “Eternity” based on a show of the same name that seemingly aired in Turkey years ago). He slapped each of the Grup Anarsi members and then proceeded to beat down Wolfe some more.

Wolfe has since been confirmed for five upcoming shows (3/28 in Frankfurt, 3/29 in Erfurt, 4/17 in Limbach-Oberfrohna, 4/18 in his hometown of Dresden, and 4/19 in Leipzig). No matches have been confirmed, but matches against former champion Avalanche, Dragunov (maybe in Dresden as Dragunov was injured when they last wanted to do the match there in November), Metehan, and possibly a tag match against Grup Anarsi al seem like logical choices.

Shoot style reigns supreme with AMBITION 12 thanks to two young guns and a senior citizen BattlArts superfight

AMBITION, wXw’s take on the shoot style concept, keeps playing an important part at these big festival weekends. After almost abandoning the concept after four events (plus an almost forgotten AMBITION on the Road mini-tournament) back in 2013 due to low attendance, they brought it back as an experiment in October 2014 as part of the World Triangle League weekend with much better success as the hardcore fans in town from all over Europe ate the unique show up.

They moved it to March in 2016 and it has been a part of 16 Carat weekends ever since, expanding to a show in Toronto over SummerSlam weekend last year, as well as a “Wildcard Edition” this past October. Last year’s AMBITION 10 and AMBITION 11 in Toronto also featured Yuki Ishikawa, the legendary founder of BattlArts, who seemed to have the time of his life in his fights.

AMBITION also undoubtedly inspired concepts such as Bloodsport over WrestleMania weekend and Tetsujin: Hybrid Wrestling in the UK, which even added two more shows after its initial one shot event. It was at the final Tetsujin show in November, where Tassilo Jung, who is also wXw’s head referee, officiated some matches as Tetsujin and wXw had worked together from the start. It was there that he saw Ethan Allen and Luke Jacobs, the two members of the England-based Young Guns, have a match against each other and immediately offered to bring them in for AMBITION.

While both men are barely of drinking age (in the UK, at least), they trained at some of the premier schools of the country and put an intensity into their AMBITION match that would put more established grapplers to shame. Allen won their bout by submission, but both men won over the hearts of those in the Turbinenhalle that day. They also prevailed at the Jay-AA Tag Team Experts Wild Card Tournament later that night, a fun, parejas increibles style gauntlet, supposedly decided by an app that Absolute Andy programmed on the fly the night before (including creating all the graphics for it).

Then, there were Yuki Ishikawa and Daisuke Ikeda, longtime rivals and partners, who have been in the ring with each other on close to 100 occasions dating back to 1994 and at least 60 times in BattlArts. They gave people a first taste of what to expect when they teamed with each other against Chris Ridgeway & Daniel Makabe at the Inner Circle show, a prelude to the 16 Carat string of events. This was a dream match, especially for Makabe who traded BattlArts tapes as young as 14 and idolized Ishikawa ever since. He told me a story of when he first met Ishikawa in Toronto last summer. He told him about it and Ishikawa was baffled that some kid in the U.S. actually got his tapes from Japan. It was then when he told him “Maybe, one day, you and me, we work together”.

In their AMBITION fight, the impression people got was that they legitimately tried to end each other then and there. Never before have I seen two men aged 52 and 53, respectively, hit each other so hard with punches, slaps, kicks and shoot headbutts and getting so much joy out of the process. The headbutts especially were something else with both men having huge bumps on their forehead, but who am I to tell those two men what to do or not do. This was a fight that people should go out of their way to see.

They faced each other one more time the next night as Ishikawa teamed with longtime protégé Timothy Thatcher who had his farewell match in wXw for the time being against Ikeda & WALTER. Those four, the answer to the trivia question of who you would want to back you up in a bar fight, had another hell of an outing as you would expect from them. This was another symphony of violence, especially when Ishikawa no sold WALTER’s chops. Thatcher submitted Ikeda in an armbar after which the four men paid each other their respects.

Thatcher then refused to address the crowd and indicated he would choke up and cry if he did. Then, when the whole roster came out on the stage to say goodbye, he could not handle it anymore and left the ring through an exit by the crowd. Thus ended the era of Timothy Thatcher in wXw, the last and only real man in the world, who is kind enough to let us lesser men live in it.

Alexander James is an abusive boyfriend, Killer Kelly is no longer with NXT UK

A story that progressed throughout the weekend (and on World Women’s Day, nonetheless) was the story of Alexander James being an abusive, toxic boyfriend to his girlfriend Killer Kelly.

The backstory was that Kelly came out during a James vs. Jurn Simmons Singapore cane match back in December in order to stop James from putting a beating on Simmons, at which point, AJ shoved her down.

Kelly, who wrestled and beat newcomer Stephanie Maze (an Alex Wright trainee with a kickboxing background) at Inner Circle, then came out during James’ tournament match against Jeff Cobb on Friday to cheer him on. James didn’t take kindly to it, screamed at her, and ordered her to the back before eventually losing to Cobb.

On Saturday, James came out and demanded the best challenger available, at which point Alpha Kevin came out who James quickly beat with a cobra clutch. Kevin had his girlfriend, Melanie Gray, with him who was on crutches due to a knee injury. James kept attacking Kevin and also shoved down Gray, who entered the ring despite her injury to help out her boyfriend. Kelly came out to confront James, but in a backstage promo later, was defending him to Kevin and Melanie, claiming that he had a hard time and needed support. Melanie then told Kelly that she would show her what real support looked like and offered Kelly her title shot against Amale the next day.

Then, at Sunday’s Feature event, which was taped in the afternoon, Kelly and Stephanie Maze beat Valkyrie and Baby Allison with Maze getting the deciding pinfall. A furious James came out again and berated Kelly, telling her he lacked the killer instinct she once had and asked why she let a rookie get the deciding win. He also threatened to punch Maze at that point and sent Kelly to the back to watch what a real killer looked like after which he faced and beat CZW champion Joe Gacy.

On Sunday, Kelly (who refused the shot) had another backstage promo with James where he again told her she was wasting chances and how she got opportunities he never got and never used them to her advantage. Kelly and Gray then presented Maze as the new surprise challenger for Amale, who eventually beat her. James then came out once more and again berated Kelly, beat down Kevin and Levaniel, and threatened to beat up Melanie, telling Kelly to decide between the love of the fans or the love of him. Kelly, seemingly choosing James, sulked to the back while James beat up Kevin some more.

The promos here were really good and I am intrigued to see where the story goes as it gives both James and Kelly something to do, and also can involve Melanie while she recuperates her injury, plus Kevin, Levaniel, and possibly Amale and Karsten Beck when he returns.

Kelly also confirmed that she is no longer with NXT UK, which was obvious since she appeared for RevPro at their March 1st show, attacking Giselle Shaw and also wrestlling for EVE twice in non-dark matches after last being at NXT UK in October. Kelly also is the first female Ringkampf brand athlete.

Maze has a good look and good movement, but still is very rough around the edges and needs to improve her ring speed and precision. Then again, she started just over two years ago and had only around 60 matches, so changes should be noticeable soon especially if she spends more time at the wXw Academy.

As far as Beck (who is an on-screen GM as the “Director of Sports”), Jung said at the media panel that he had some issues (possibly medically related as he had surgery for a brain tumor twice before) but they would not comment on it and said they’d let him talk about what they were on his own time, and when those things were sorted out, he would probably be back.

wXwNOW Showcase a success, CZW returns to Germany

wXw’s streaming service wXwNOW features a plethora of different promotions from all around the world. Seven of them joined forces to present the wXwNOW Showcase with each of them presenting once match. The Showcase followed the somewhat ill-received #WrestlingDeutschland shows of the past two years which had a similar concept for smaller promotions in Germany. While the first show was fun, the second was mostly abysmal with many bad matches and talent clearly not ready for a bigger stage.

The Showcase was generally considered a success with every promoter very happy about it and most matches being good and well received by the crowd, especially the ones put on by CZW (wXw’s longtime U.S. partner promotion), SMASH (Canada), Rising Sun (Italy) and White Wolf Wrestling (Spain). DJ Hyde, the owner of CZW, came out after the Joe Gacy vs. Anthony Greene match and announced that CZW would return to Germany on November 14 in Frankfurt and would also “bring the ultra violence”. The date will be a doubleheader with CZW promoting an afternoon show and wXw promoting in the same venue in the evening.

Odds and ends from various panels and informal talks

Tassilo Jung said that they were monitoring the WWE Network situation closely and could not say what it meant for them or if anything would be changing regarding a multi tier system and their content eventually being on the Network. He said they didn’t have that level of access to WWE management and basically followed the situation of Michelle Wilson and George Barrios being gone from the company just like everybody else.

They also said that they did not see WWE pulling talent or having NXT UK tapings head to head as a major problem as they saw during the Tag Festival with all the late cancellations and that they could work around it. He said Lio Rush very much had been the top draw as most tickets moved after he was announced. He said WWE offered them a replacement but would not comment who it was. At that point, they had already gotten Jeff Cobb, who was available that weekend.

It looks like Veit Müller has burned his bridges with wXw for the time being as he told them just four days in advance that he would not be there. He pulled out of most of the Tag Festival in October due to complications his wife had with his pregnancy which was totally understandable. Jung said the minimum they expect from their talent is to show up to work and how they would not work with Müller for the time being. Müller later posted a tweet with his child, saying “some things are more important than wrestling,”

Francis Kaspin is out with a herniated/bulging disc. He tried various methods of therapy, none of which have really worked. They brought him in after his injury, but he eventually said he’d prefer not to come as each long car drive back and forth really hampered his progress in recovery. They will see when he feels better to incorporate him back into storylines.

They haven’t talked to Jazzy Gabert since she quit NXT UK, but no door ever is closed in wrestling and they’d be open to work with her again if the right opportunity arises.

They also were very understanding of the whole Alex Shelley situation and hope they will be able to bring him in one day. Felix Kohlenberg was been waiting for more than a decade to book him.

Killer Kelly seemingly quit NXT UK, but did not want to further elaborate on it. She appeared for RevPro and EVE in the UK after she last was at NXT UK tapings in early October. She also now is the first female Ringkampf athlete for their sports apparel/merchandise brand.

DJ Hyde talked extensively about the various deal they had for streaming their content, including wXwNOW, their own CZW Studios (on Pivotshare), IWTV, and FITE TV as well as Stone Cutter Media where they put old content on PPV around the world through Steve Karel, who also was instrumental in the old ECW television deals. He said while he didn’t have all the data yet, the FITE TV numbers looked really good. He said it was a challenge to upgrade old tapes to be HD ready and how each iPPV they did was a struggle as the money will not come in for months. He said they would be simulcasting their first show on IWTV and FITE TV and also would get on PPV soon.

Methehan (the former Lucky Kid) reiterated to me that his new group, Ezel, was not to be understood as any kind of Turkish nationalist group and that he very much considers himself German as he was born and raised in the country.

The full 39-minute media panel with the wXw office can also be viewed here.

Results:

wXw Inner Cirlce 9 (March 5, 2020 – attendance: 170/sold out, wXw Academy, Essen/Germany)

Julian Pace pinned Rust Taylor after the Best Moonsault Ever (9:22)
Avalanche pinned “Goldenboy” Santos after a DRSKR Bomb (6:44)
Four Way: Marius Al-Ani beat The Rotation, Hektor and Vertigo after pinning Vertigo with a Diamond Driver (4:24)
Jay Skillet pinned Absolute Levandy (Levaniel) after an FtY (9:57): Pure comedy gold, with Levaniel doing a spot-on Absolute Andy impersonation
Killer Kelly pinned Stephanie Maze after the Carnation Revolution (9:17)
Shigehiro Irie pinned Scotty Davis after a Beast Bomber (8:30)
Daisuke Ikeda & Yuki Ishikawa beat Chris Ridgeway & Daniel Makabe when Ikeda pinned Ridgeway after a high kick (17:44): Super fun shoot-style match with everybody being great at the style

wXw 16 Carat Gold 2020 – Night 1 (March 6, 2020 – attendance: 1,250, Turbinenhalle 1, Oberhausen/Germany)

Alternate Four Way Dance: Rust Taylor defeated Levaniel, Hektor & Scotty Davis when he tapped out Levaniel with the Rings of Saturn (6:30)
16 Carat Gold first round: “Speedball” Mike Bailey pinned Chris Ridgeway after a Flamingo Driver (12:55)
16 Carat Gold first round: Jurn Simmons pinned Lucky Kid after a piledrive (4:32): The eye appeared again at the beginning of the match, prompting Lucky to almost get pinned right away
16 Carat Gold first round: The Rotation pinned Puma King after Victory over Gravity (8:57)
16 Carat Gold first round: Eddie Kingston pinned Daniel Makabe after the Backfist to the Future (9:33)
16 Carat Gold first round: Bandido pinned Julian Pace after a Top Rope Fallaway Moonsault (9:39)
16 Carat Gold first round: Shigehiro Irie pinned Black Taurus iafter a Beast Bomber (10:30)
16 Carat Gold first round: Jeff Cobb pinned Alexander James after Tour of the Island (12:44)
16 Carat Gold first round: Cara Noir beat Marius Al-Ani via ref stoppage after Al-Ani passed out in the Blackout Sleeper (11:32)
wXw World Tag Team Championship: Jay AA (Jay Skillet & Absolute Andy) beat Pretty Bastards (Maggot & Prince Ahura) (c) after a belt shot and the JAA-Klasse (15:47): This was a fun, very good match. Bobby Gunns and Norman Harras came out at one point, handed the belts to the bastards who clocked Jay-AA with them but didn’t get the pin; referee Tassilo Jung then caught Gunns and Harras in the ring with the belts a second time and threw them out, allowing Jay-AA to use the belts and then hit JAA-Klasse for the win and title change.

WrestlingKULT #15: Früh Choppen 2020 (March 7, 2020/morning, sold out, Kulttempel, Oberhausen/Germany)

Christianium Le Surrealiste beat Mot van Kunder
Kasey Owens beat Molly Spartan
Three Way Match: Mexxberg beat Mike D and Tristan Archer
Carnage beat Rico Bushido
WrestlingKULT No Limits Title Four Way Match (vacant): Goldenboy Santos beats Durancon and Julian Pace and Norman Harras to win the title
WrestlingKULT Title Match: Tom LaRuffa beat Absolute Andy to win the title
WrestlingKULT Title Match: Tom LaRuffa beat Tristan Archer (0:03)

AMBITION 12 (March 7, 2020/noon – attendance: 488, Turbinenhalle 1, Oberhausen/Germany)

First Round Match: Daniel Makabe submitted Kevin Lloyd with an STF
First Round Match: Chris Ridgeway beat Vincent Heisenberg via TKO after a head kick: Heisenberg replaced Veit Müller here and is actually the son of Baron von Hagen, the first ever 16 Carat Gold winner back in 2006
First Round Match: Rust Taylor submitted Tyson Dux with a modified double arm bar
First Round Match: Scotty Davis submitted “Speedball” Mike Bailey with an arm bar/hammerfists combo
Next Generation AMBITION Fight: Ethan Allen submitted Luke Jacobs with a double arm stretch and kicks to the back: Really impressive performance by those two, they should be back in wXw soon and will also debut for PROGRESS at the end of the month
Semifinal: Daniel Makabe submitted Scotty Davis with an upside down armbar headscissors combo
Semifinal: Chris Ridgeway beat Rust Taylor by TKO after a head kick
AMBITION Superfight: Daisuke Ikeda knocked out Yuki Ishikawa with a punt kick: This was unreal violence between two senior citizens who looked to kill each other with death
Finals: Daniel Makabe submitted Chris Ridgeway with an Indian-style Cattle Mutilation

wXwNOW Showcase (March 7, 2020/afternoon – attendance: 436, Turbinenhalle 1, Oberhausen/Germany)

Wrestling Kult (Germany) presents: Carnage pinned Mexxberg with a crucifix hold
White Wolf Wrestling (Spain) presents: Rizo pinned Kaiden after a diving knee
British Empire Wrestling (UK) presents: BEW Shooting Star title: Lexa Valo (c) submitted Kat von Kaige with a Dragon sleeper
CZW (U.S.) presents: CZW World title: Joe Gacy (c) pinned Anthony Greene after a discus lariat
Bodyslam Wrestling (Denmark) presents: Three-Way-Dance: Peter Olisander beat Michael Fynne & Emeritus after pinning Fynne with a roll-up
Rising Sun Wrestling (Italy) presents: Rising Sun title: Nicolo Inverardi (c) pinned Luca de Pazzi after a Code Red
SMASH Wrestling: Four-Way-Dance: Tarik beat Sebastian Suave, Tyson Dux & Brent Banks after pinning Suave with a Flying Curb Stomp

wXw 16 Carat Gold 2020 – Night 2 (March 7, 2020 – attendance: 1,600/sold out, Turbinenhalle 1, Oberhausen/Germany)

16 Carat Gold quarter final: Cara Noir submitted Jeff Cobb with the Blackout Sleeper (11:40)
16 Carat Gold quarter final: Eddie Kingston pinned The Rotation after a Backfist to the Future (9:26)
Marius Al-Ani pinned Daniel Makabe after a Diamond Driver (9:44): This was preceded by a backstage segment, where Al-Ani challenged Makabe after his AMBITION 12 tournament win earlier in the day
The Young Guns won the Jay AA Tag Team Experts Wildcard Gauntlet (24:09): The build-up to this was hilarious, after Andy cracked up the crowd with his dad humor, then claimed he had designed a graphic for the match with the “paid version of Microsoft Paint” and studied color theory for it, plus he had developed an app which would randomly choose partners for the gauntlet.
Puma King & Julian Pace beat Leon van Gasteren & Lucky Kid when Puma pinned Lucky after a sitdown powerbomb (5:42): This had Pace and van Gasteren, actual tag partners against each other, which Pace was upset about
Black Taurus & Avalanche beat Puma King & Julian Pace when Taurus pinned Puma King (4:22)
Black Taurus & Avalanche beat Tarik & Norman Harras when Taurus pinned Tarik after a Spinning Fishermans Buster (3:42): Harras and Tarik didn’t get along, leading to a challenge and an eight men tag at the wXw Feature Event taped on Sunday afternoon, where harras, The Pretty bastards and Oliver Carter faced The Four Pillars of SMASH
Black Taurus & Avalanche beat DJ Hyde & Levaniel when Avalanche pinned Hyde after a DRSKR Bomb (0:46): This was amazing. Hyde was upset that Levaniel, who does a sleazy “Prince of the Stars” gimmick, where he claims that he has a castle in the sky, sees the most shooting stars in the sky and wants to spread “the love” was his partner. While Hyde was getting beat up in the ring, Levaniel, totally oblivious of what was going on, cut this amazing promo about how his father was a death match wrestler, who made him sleep in broken glass and would set his blanket on fire before putting him to bed. Hyde then chased him away.
Scotty Davis & Chris Ridgeway beat Black Taurus & Avalanche when Davis submitted Taurus in the Rolling Prawn Hold (2:01)
The Young Guns (Ethan Allen & Luke Jacobs) beat Scotty Davis & Chris Ridgeway after a Gotch-style Piledriver/PK combo on Davis (7:36) to earn a shot at the wXw tag team championship
Alexander James submitted Alpha Kevin in 2:02 with a cobra clutch: James kept attacking Kevin, then shoved down an injured Malenie gray who came to make the save; Killer Kelly then came out to confront him
16 Carat Gold quarter final: Mike Bailey pinned Bandido with a Meteora Dream (17:36): Unreal good, match of the weekend. The fans showered both men with money afterwards and it was one of the all time great 16 Carat matches
16 Carat Gold quarterfinal: Jurn Simmons pinned Shigehiro Irie after a piledriver (9:01)
wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship – Title vs. Career: Bobby Gunns (c) pinned David Starr after an Ehrenmann Driver (41:15)

wXw We Love Wrestling Feature Event (March 8, 2020/afternoon – attendance: 450, Turbinenhalle 1, Oberhausen/Germany)

This takes place chronologically between Night 2 and Night 3 as far as storyline progression goes

Four-Way-Dance: Scotty Davis beat Daniel Makabe, Rust Taylor & Anthony Greene after pinning Greene with a Spinning Fishermans Buster (7:59)
Eight-Man-Tag-Team Match: Pretty Bastards, Oliver Carter & Norman Harras beat The Four Pillars of SMASH (Tarik, Sebastian Suave, Tyson Dux & Brent Banks) when Carter pinned Suave after a Redlight Driver/springboard moonsault combo (16:43)
Marius Al-Ani pinned Chris Ridgeway after a Diamond Driver (6:35)
Stephanie Maze & Killer Kelly beat Baby Allison & Valkyrie when Maze pinned Allison after the Black Mass (7:24)
Alexander James submitted Joe Gacy with a corba clutch (7:04)
wXw World Tag Team Championship: Jay AA (Jay Skillet & Absolute Andy) (c) beat The Young Guns (Ethan Allen & Luke Jacobs) after the JAA-Klasse on Jacobs (14:42). Bobby Gunns, Norman Harras, Oliver Carter and The Pretty Bastards attacked Jay-AA after the match, until Julian Pace and Scotty Davis made the save
WALTER pinned Shigehiro Irie after a big splash of the top rope (12:51)

wXw 16 Carat Gold 2020 – Night 3 (March 8, 2020 – attendance: 1,291, Turbinenhalle 1, Oberhausen/Germany)

16 Carat Gold semi-final: “Speedball” Mike Bailey pinned Jurn Simmons after a Flamingo Driver (10:40)
16 Carat Gold semi-final: Cara Noir submitted Eddie Kingston with the Blackout Sleeper (8:15)
wXw Women:s Championship: Amale pinned Stephanie Maze after the Champions Maker (9:06) Maze replaced the injured Melanie Gray here, after Killer Kelly refused the shot since she believed she hadn’t earned it; after the match, there war another scene with Alexander James and Kelly
Special Attraction Tag Team Match: Timothy Thatcher & Yuki Ishikawa beat WALTER & Daisuke Ikeda when Thatcher submitted Ikeda with an arm bar (16:42)
wXw Shotgun Championship: Alexander Wolfe beat Avalanche (c) & Ilja Dragunov after pinning Dragunov with a sit-down power bomb (12:44)
Bandido, Julian Pace & Jeff Cobb beat Puma King, Black Taurus & Hektor when Bandido pinned Hektor with the 21 Plex (12:28)
16 Carat Gold finals: Cara Noir beat Speedball Mike Bailey via ref stoppage in the Blackout Sleeper (28:27)

wXw 16 Carat Gold night 1 results: Favorites and underdogs advance

Posted on March 7, 2020 by Markus Gronemann

wXw 16 Carat Night 1 is in the books: a fun show with some very good matches that saw some favorites and surprises advance to the next round.

1160 fans packed into the Turbinenhalle in Oberhausen, Germany, set up once more to look amazing by creative director Dennis Birkendahl, live event production company BE-247, and their team. Featuring a huge entrance area of video walls, plus an entrance way covered in red carpet, the view was amazing. wXw recently also got new video equipment, including cameras with wireless capacities, so they also had a screen up which showed the action and is was live edited by wXw’s head of live media, Katja Pilz.

For those of you looking to read up on all the matches and participants, check out my preview article from yesterday.

The show kicked off with the alternate four way dance, the winner of which will be the standby participant in the tournament should somebody get injured.

Rust Taylor beat Hektor, Levaniel, and Scotty Davis in an alternate four way dance (6:30)

This was a fun, all-action match with lots of flying and fast-paced transitions. Levaniel (the “Prince of the Stars”) and Davis (the 19-year old suplex machine who some compare to an early Tyler Bate) were the stars of the match. At one point, Davis and Taylor had their opponents locked in armbars facing each other and traded slaps in a unique spot. Taylor made Levaniel tap to the Rings of Saturn to win.

16 Carat Gold Tournament 2020 first round match: Mike Bailey pinned Chris Ridgeway (12:55)

This was a stiff, shoot style match with both participants trading kicks and blows, some of which looked and sounded super stiff. Bailey did his 450 knee drop, but got caught in an armbar on impact in a cool spot. He later landed a second 450 knee drop which hit the mark. Bailey hit a Golden Triangle moonsault to the outside. In the end, Ridgeway went for a choke, but Bailey escaped and hit the Ultimate Weapon and Flamingo Driver for the pinfall victory. This wasn’t really an upset, but some people saw Ridgeway advancing here as a new face in the company.

16 Carat Gold Tournament 2020 first round match: Jurn Simmons pinned Lucky Kid (4:32)

Simmons physically looks like a million bucks right now. and got a cool video before his entrance, which detailed his entire wXw career. Lucky, last year’s winner, again got distracted by the big comic eye on the screen, which first appeared at Dead End in Hamburg. Simmons almost got the victory right away, hitting the Massive Boot and piledriver for a close near fall. Lucky came back with the Lucky Lock, but Simmons escaped. Lucky hit some elbows that drew some boos from the crowd, which up to that point had been about 50/50.

Lucky went for his handspring elbow, but Simmons hit another Massive Boot into Lucky just as he was upside down and about to bounce back in a great visual. Simmons then hit the piledriver to eliminate last year’s winner from the tournament. This was an impressive performance by Simmons, who looked like one of the clear tournament favorites. It will be interesting how things will progress for Lucky who sulked away like a beaten dog after the loss.

16 Carat Gold Tournament 2020 first round match: The Rotation pinned Puma King (8:57)

Before the match, a video from backstage with Rust Taylor and Rotation aired. Taylor wished him luck and told him to go win, but that he would be waiting for him in case anyone got injured.

This was an all out lucha battle with Rotation not looking one bit out of place, going spot for spot with Puma King, a member of one of Mexico’s most prominent wrestling families. At one point, Puma hit a long, delayed vertical suplex, one of the rare power moves in the match, followed by a Codebreaker. Rotation, at one point, was on the top rope and evaded an attack by cartwheeling along the top rope. Puma King applied a submission, but Rotation made the ropes. Rotation then hit a Victory over Gravity 450 splash from the top rope for a near fall and hit another one for a slight upset victory.

16 Carat Gold Tournament 2020 first round match: Eddie Kingston beat Daniel Makabe (9:33)

This was possibly the weakest match of the show. It wasn’t really the fault of either guy but more of a styles clash with Kingston being more of a sloppy brawler and Makabe a submission specialist. The crowd was into Kingston, but didn’t care so much about the match itself. Makabe wore a Chelsea football jersey and got booed by the UK fans for it. Kingston escaped an STF and then hit an STO and overhead suplex. Makabe came back with a German suplex and the Makabe lock, which Kingston also escaped.

Kingston ate two Big Unit punches which he recovered from and then hit the Backfist to the Future for the win. He cut a promo afterward vowing to win and that he was done making stars.

16 Carat Gold Tournament 2020 first round match: Bandido pinned Julian Pace (9:39)

Bandido was over like crazy and the crowd also was into Pace. This was one heck of a match with Pace never looking out of place, hanging with Bandido both as far as moves and speed goes. They traded moves early and both kipped up at the same time at the end of the sequence. Bandido took over with a superkick and shooting star press for a two count. Bandido hit an impressive one-hand gorilla press, showing off his power. Pace did his fast pace rope running spots where he criss-crosses the ring and evades his opponent every time while the crowd goes “vrrroooom” like an engine gearing up.

Pace hit a standing Spanish Fly for a near fall, but then got caught by a running knee after that. Bandido hit a somewhat torture rack GTS for another close call. Pace hit the Final Lap off the top rope for a near fall and then went for the Best Moonsault Ever but landed on Bandido’s feet. Bandido then hit a backflip fallaway slam from the top to gain the pinfall victory.

This wasn’t an upset, but some people had seen Pace go as far as the finals so those dreams were crushed for now.

16 Carat Gold Tournament 2020 first round match: Shigehiro Irie pinned Black Taurus (10:30)

This was a hoss fight with two burly guys going at it. They went for shoulder tackles early and Taurus actually got Irie off his feet. Taurus took over with a Samoan Drop while the crowd chanted, “if you love beef, clap your hands.” Irie came back with a huge black hole slam for another near fall after which Taurus hit a Whisper in the WInd followed by a spear for a near fall. Irie came back with a cannonball into the corner and the Beast Bomber for the win.

16 Carat Gold Tournament 2020 first round match: Jeff Cobb beat Alexander James (12:44)

Cobb was very over as he came in as a late replacement for WWE’s Lio Rush. AJ was mostly met with boos or indifference. Cobb took over early with an overhead belly-to-belly and gutwrench suplex before James hit a Tower of London off the apron to the floor. He took over for a while until Cobb came back, prompting Killer Kelly, AJ’s girlfriend, to come out and cheer him on. She also had come out during a James/Jurn Simmons singapore caning match late last year where AJ took a swing at her. AJ was livid and sent her to the back, allowing Cobb to hit a German suplex and some forearms, a Samoan Drop, and standing moonsault. James briefly came back with some more offense, but Cobb eventually put him away with Tour of the Islands.

16 Carat Gold Tournament 2020 first round match: Cara Noir beat Marius Al-Ani by ref stoppage (11:32)

Noir’s entrance is unique as he enters to his music into total darkness and just a spotlight. This was Al-Ani’s fourth Carat as he was in every year since 2017 but never made it past the second round. Noir kissed Al-Ani’s fist, drawing the ire of Marius who threw Noir out in trying to get the countout victory. Noir came back with a dropkick, but got whipped into the corner and took the best chest first corner bump I have seen since the glory days of Bret Hart.

After an ankle lock by Al-Ani, they ended up outside once more when Noir then licked Al-Ani’s hand. Noir repeatedly escaped ankle lock attempts which led to an Al-Ani power bomb and superman punch. Noir finally got the win from behind, applying the Blackout sleeper for the win.

Jay-AA (Absolute Andy & Jay Skillet) beat The Pretty Bastards (Maggot & Prince Ahura) to win the wXw Tag Team Titles (15:47)

Jay-AA cut a backstage promo before the match, riling up the crowd. Andy is probably the best German promo and one of the best in Europe at this point with his dry humor and dad jokes.

This started out with some comedy as Andy and Skillet couldn’t agree on who should start, so Andy picked up Skillet for the F-5 and lifted him over the ropes to the apron. Andy ran wild for a bit until he got cut off. They did a thing about Ahura’s tights (which he removes mid-match) and Andy eventually pulled them down and even locked in a sharpshooter with the half-down pants.

Skillet was the face in peril for a while until Andy finally came back in to run roughshod on both Bastards. At one point, wXw Champion Bobby Gunns came walking down the entrance and distracted referee Tassilo Jung, prompting fellow stablemate Norman Harras to come from the crowd and hand the Bastards the tag titles. The champs hit both Jay-AA members with the belts, but it wasn’t enough to put them away.

As the Bastards distracted the referee, Gunns and Harras entered with the belts once more, but Tassilo Jung caught them and ejected them. As he guided them down the aisle, Jay-AA got a hold of the belts and hit the Bastards with them, following up with the JAA-Klasse for the victory and title change.

**********

Inner Circle results (Thursday, March 5, wXw Academy, Essen/Germany in front of a sellout 170)

Julian Pace pinned Rust Taylor (9:22) after a Best Moonsault Ever
Avalanche pinned ‘Goldenboy’ Santos (6:44) after a DRSKR Bom. Santos, the current Academy Cup holder, came out and claimed no one could beat him. Avalanche, the new Academy head trainer, then came out and did just that.
Marius Al-Ani beat Rotation, Hektor and Vertigo in a four-way (4:24), pinning Vertigo after a Diamond Driver
Jay Skillet pinned Absolute Levandi (9:57) after FtY. Levandi was actually Levaniel, who came out as Absolute Andy and had his body language, facials, and way of talking down pat. He did a promo before the match that sent the crowd into a frenzy and was hilarious. He also copied a lot of Nady’s moves, but Skillet finalĺy put him away.
Killer Kelly pinned Stephanie Maze (9:17) after a Carnation Revolution. Maze trained with Alex Wright and has a martial arts background. She has a good look and good charisma and could be something. They did a shoot-style match that was fine, albeit a bit sloppy at times.
Shigehiro Irie defeated Scotty Davis (8:30) after hitting the Beast Bomber.
Daisuke Ikeda & Yuki Ishikawa beat Chris Ridgeway & Daniel Makabe (17:44) when Ikeda pinned Ridgeway after a high kick. This was an amazing shoot-style match with four guys totally into this style. Ikeda and Ishikawa have a long history, both as partners and opponents and will meet at AMBITION 12 in a superfight. This was a very good match, super stiff and featuring crisp submissions and transitions. This was a dream come true for Makabe, who started tape trading BattleArts tapes at age 14 and idolized Ishikawa ever since.

wXw 16 Carat Gold 2020 preview: The wrestling world descends upon Oberhausen

Posted on March 6, 2020 by Markus Gronemann

This coming weekend, the wrestling world will be looking to Oberhausen, Germany, once again.

The mid-sized city of about 210,000 people usually doesn’t have all that much going for it. There’s the CentrO (one of the biggest malls in Europe), a concert arena that both WWE and WCW ran in the past and that hosts a number or musicals throughout the year. Besides that, it’s neither very pretty nor very important on a global scale. About 20 minutes from the Düsseldorf airport, it sits amid the Ruhr area, which isn’t exactly the most inviting part of the country you could venture to.

And yet, this coming weekend, about 1600 wrestling fans from all around Europe and the world will come to this town, pack the Turbinenhalle, a concert arena that usually hosts either metal concerts or techno parties and generally go crazy as the 15th annual wXw 16 Carat Gold Tournament starts this Friday, led in by a more intimate Inner Circle show on Thursday, hosted at the wXw Academy in nearby Essen.

Besides the three-day tournament, there will also be an AMBITION tournament (shoot style wrestling, much like Bloodsport, which was somewhat inspired by the format), a showcase for promotions from all around the world, which are features on the promotion’s wXwNOW streaming service, another show taped for the service on Sunday afternoon, and a morning show by WrestlingKULT, a smaller German indy promotion that runs the KULT Tempel, a smaller arena right next to the bigger Turbinenhalle.

There also will be an afterparty going on after the show on Saturday, so those so inclined can enjoy wrestling related activities from 10 AM to about 4 AM the next day. No wonder some call this weekend the European version of WrestleMania. Looking at some of the 130 participants that competed (and will compete) at 16 Carat over the years, the star power certainly is there.

Past Participants: A Who’s Who of Indie Stars

Some of the winners and runner-ups of previous tournaments: Tommy End (Aleister Black, twice), WALTER, Chris Hero (Kassius Ohno, twice), Zack Sabre Jr., El Generico (Sami Zayn), Ilja Dragunov, Sami Callihan and SHINGO are among the more well-known names who took home the 16 Tournament Cup in the past as well as German mainstays “Bad Bones” John Klinger, Lucky Kid, Absolute Andy, and Baron von Hagen.

Other names that made the finals since 2006 include Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan), Drake Younger (current NXT referee Drake Wuertz), Axel Tischer (Alexander Wolfe), Axel Dieter Jr. (Marcel Barthel), and David Starr.

They were joined by a who’s who of names now or formerly active in either WWE/NXT, AEW, ROH, or Japan: ACH (formerly Jordan Miles), Adam Cole, Angelico, Cedric Alexander, Chris Brookes, Chris Sabin, Chuck Taylor, Claudio Castagnoli (Cesaro), Cody Rhodes, Colt Cabana, Daisuke Sekimoto, Davey Richards, Donovan Dijak(ovic), Doug Williams, Drew Gallowy (McIntyre), Eddie Kingston, Fenix, Fit Finlay, Go Shiozaki, Jimmy Jacobs, Johnny Gargano, Johnny Moss, Jonah Rock (Bronson Reed), Jonathan Gresham, Keith Lee, KUSHIDA, Mark Haskins, Martin Stone (Danny Burch), Marty Scurll, Matt Jackson, Matt Riddle, Matt Striker, Matt Sydal, Nick jackson, Nigel McGuinness, PAC, Paul London, PCO, Pentagon Jr., Rey Horus, Ricky Marvin, Ricochet, Rocky Romero, Shane Strickland (Isaiah Swerve Scott), Silas Young, Super Crazy, Timothy Thatcher, Tomasso Ciampa, Travis Banks, Trent, Trevor Lee (Cameron Grimes), Tyler Black (Seth Rollins), Uhaa Nation (Apollo Crews), Will Ospreay, and Yuji Okabayashi all were part of one or more tournaments over the years.

You can just imagine some of the matches those guys put on.

The 2020 lineup

This year feels a tad different than past year as some of the indie star power isn’t there. wXw entered into a relationship with WWE at some point during the past 18 months, so some names currently affiliated with AEW or ROH seem to be off limits. Nonetheless, when WWE pulled Lio Rush from competing at the tournament today, wXw stepped in and booked Jeff Cobb, who was been affiliated with both rival promotions recently, but is a free agent for all intents and purposes. The rest of the field also looks intriguing.

Another name who canceled, due to the recent coronavirus outbreak in Europe, was Alex Shelley who cited health risks as he works in the medical field and has a lot of immunocompromised patients who he did not want to put at risk. He would not have been in the tournament, but was scheduled to appear as a special attraction on Saturday.

Melanie Gray, who would have made her return to Oberhausen as she lost a loser leaves town match in January 2019 and just won a match to allow her to appear in the city again last month, injured her knee in training and looks to be needing surgery, so she is out. Veit Müller, the sole remaining full-time member of Ringkampf, the original Imperium group, also canceled his appearance for the weekend.

wXw just announces first round matches but no brackets, so each day, the matches from the second round up are a surprise to the fans:

Marus Al-Ani vs. Cara Noir

Al-Ani, a wXw regular, enters the 16 Carat for the fourth time, making the second round in his 2017 debut, but eliminated in the first round in both 2018 and 2019. Coming off a recent suspension (he actually slapped a fan who insulted him in late September 2019), he looks to advance to the wXW main event picture and a good showing might put him there. A smaller but very muscular and athletic wrestler, he also regularily competes at various fitness themed competitions on TV and also had some smaller TV roles.

Noir, the current PROGRESS champion, is a unique character. Known as “The Black Swan” of pro wrestling, he has a unique entrance and great ring costume and is no slouch in the ring as some of his past matches with PAC or Mike Bailey showed. He makes his wXw in-ring debut here as he challenged Al-Abi during January’s Back to the Roots marquee event. Both men need to make an impact here, so it’s hard to make a prediction.

Jeff Cobb vs. Alexander James

Cobb, the former Olympic athlete is one of the hottest and most sought-after wrestlers of 2020. Attached to ROH until recently, he made his AEW debut as Chris Jericho’s paid mercenary several weeks ago ago and is expected to return to New Japan later in the year. He is an impressive wrestler, a great worker, and has a very charismatic personality. As a late replacement for the aforementioned Lio Rush, I’m not sure how he figures into the plans, but the fans will certainly love him. He was supposed to be in the 16 Carat a few years ago, but had to cancel due to Lucha Underground tapings at the time, so it’s a bit of poetic justice he now enters the tournament as a late replacement.

The dastardly Maryland native James enters the tournament for the second time after losing in the first round back in 2018. Originally trained by Drew Gulak, he has progressed to become an accomplished worker and semi-regular with wXw. He is a trainer at the wXw Academy and generally has a very technical, albeit brutal, style and is great on promos. He recently lost a blood feud against former tag partner and best friend Jurn Simmons and certainly could use a win to bounce back from his recent losses. I still see Cobb going over here and James possibly being motivated for even more drastic measures, especially since his real-life relationship with fellow wXw import Killer Kelly was recently burst as part of the show.

Bandido vs. Julian Pace

Making his wXw debut, Bandido is arguably is one of the hottest names in indie wrestling today and has tournament experience, winning PWG’s BOLA tournament this past September. His first major U.S. appearance was as part of the first All In main event, where he teamed with Rey Mysterio and Rey Fenix against the Golden Elite. Since, he has become a regular in ROH and also appears in CMLL as well as in New Japan. A good performance in 16 Carat would certainly also make him more of a household name in Europe where he already performed for both PROGRESS and RevPro.

Pace is a wXw success story and a testament to their wrestling school. He made his debut nearly four years ago and had no prior wrestling experience before starting to train at the school in Essen, Germany. Within a few years, he became one of the best, quick high flyers in Europe and has incredible speed and athletic ability. He began showing more charisma and intensity over the past year and certainly will be one of the building blocks for the company going forward. A win over Bandido would be the biggest win in his career and would make him a bigger star before his home crowd. This is his first time in 16 Carat and will certainly not be his last.

Daniel Makabe vs. Eddie Kingston

Makabe, already a veteran of 16 years, has largely flown under the radar on the U.S. indie scene until recently. The Canadian grappling expert is a regular with 3-2-1 BATTLE! in Seattle, where he had an awesome match series against fellow mat expert Timothy Thatcher. He recently also wrestled for Beyond, Black Label Pro and DEFY, so he is starting to built up his indie reputation. He also seems like one of the genuine nicest people in wrestling and got very emotional last October during a media event where he talked about what the Thatcher match series and his opponent’s appreciation meant to him. He first appeared for wXw’s AMBITION 11 tournament over SummerSlam weekend in August and later was booked in Germany for World Tag Team Festival this past October.

Kingston has been around even a year longer than Makabe, but was featured on a more prominent stage over the course of his career. A veteran of the indies, he appeared for ROH, EVOLVE, CZW, CHIKARA, AAW, Impact, Beyond, House of Hardcore and many others and recently also has been more active in Europe, wrestling for promotions such as RevPro, PROGRESS, OTT, ATTACK!, Fight Club: PRO and Schadenfreude & Friends to name a few. Kingston appeared at 16 Carat back in 2013 and wa scheduled to team with David Starr at Tag Festival this past October, but had to pull out due to a family emergency.

Both men would benefit from a win here with Makabe looking to be the more logical choice to go over due to him maybe being able to make a second home here in Germany, much as Thatcher did in the past.

Chris Ridgeway vs. Mike Bailey

Ridgeway is one of the rising stars coming out of Europe and breaking out internationally. The 26-year old with a martial arts background extensively toured with NOAH in recent months, where he joined the Stinger stable and participated in the Global Junior League. He started in 2012 and was trained by Robbie Brookside and Johnny Moss, both men currently working in the WWE’s developmental system on both sides of the Atlantic. He may well be on WWE’s radar and a good performance with one of their partner promotions could raise his stock.

Bailey is one of the most talented workers in recent years, but unfortunately can’t show off his ring prowess in the U.S. as he tried entering the country on a tourist visa in order to wrestle, got caught, and banned from the for five years, a ban that should be lifted next year. A martial arts aficionado himself, he incorporates the style with exciting high flying action and has repeatedly enchanted wXw fans with his matches. The Canadian native has made Europe his second home, and appears for promotions such as wXw, GWF, RevPro, OTT and Fight Club: PRO on a regular basis. He also is a semi-regular with DDT in Japan and a number of indies in Canada. Bailey competed at 16 Carat in the past, getting eliminated in the first round in 2016 and making round two in 2017.

The Rotation vs. Puma King

Rotation is another homegrown talent of wXw, originally starting out in the Westside Dojo, the wXw Academy’s predecessor. An exciting high flyer on the small side, he toured with DTU in Mexico a few years ago and noticeably improved his style there. He is spectacular as a flyer and knows his lucha, so pairing him with anybody with a similar style always is a good idea. He buffed up a bit over the past year, which seems to have made him less injury prone. He is part of wXw’s trainer staff at the academy and had been booked for a UK tour with ROH. He also had a hand in training the aforementioned Pace, who he joins in making his 16 Carat debut.

Puma King, the son of El Felino and nephew of Negro Casasm has been a mainstay with CMLL for most of his career before joining rival promotion AAA in mid-2018 as part of Liga Elite. He made his U.S. debut in 2019, wrestling for promotions such as Impact, MLW, PWG, GCW and APW. He appeared for NJPW through the NJPW/CMLL working agreement and after leaving CMLL, he returned to Japan to wrestle for DDT in 2019. The 29-year-old is an exciting luchador and should have a great match with Rotation. He has teamed with Black Taurus in the past, so a loss by either man in an early round would probably mean seeing them in some exciting tag team action over the rest of the weekend.

Shigehiro Irie vs. Black Taurus

Irie, a Japanese journeyman wrestler, has been touted as some as the next incarnation of Daisuke Sekimoto. While not quite there yet, he has an impressive, burly physique and is a very good-to-great worker. He generally enters into “Beast Mode” at some point during his matches and displays his raw power, fulfilling the crowd’s desire of “Auf die Fresse” (beating somebody up). The 31-year old was a regular in wXw from December 2018 until March 2019 and also appeared for their Amerika ist Wunderbar show over WrestleMania weekend in April before briefly returning at the Shortcut to the Top battle royal this past August.

He wrestles everywhere from AJPW, BJW, DDT, Wrestle-1 and ZERO1 in Japan to wXw, PROGRESS, RevPro, ATTACK! and Fight Club: PRO in Europe to MLW, SMASH and Black Label Pro in North America. He certainly is a crowd favorite and someone who could easily make round three or even the finals without feeling out of place there.

Taurus made his debut for AAA in 2012 as Machine Rocker as part of Los Inferno Rockers and feuded with Los Psycho Circus. After departing AAA in 2016, he took up the mantle of Black Tauro and also wrestled for CMLL, The Crash, and IWRG, among others. He returned to AAA in 2018 and also started making appearances in the U.S., working for promotions such as Impact, MLW and PWG. A rather burly wrestler for lucha standards, he is nonetheless an impressive flyer. He teamed with Puma King in the past and also clashed with Bandido as part of a six-man effort in PWG in the past, so even if he doesn’t get very far in the tournament, we certainly will get some exciting matches out of him this weekend.

Lucky Kid vs. Jurn Simmons

Lucky Kid won last year’s tournament (after being eliminated in round two one year earlier), beating Timothy Thatcher, Axel Dieter jr. (Marcel Barthel), Ilja Dragunov, and upsetting WALTER in the finals. A former tag team specialist with Tarkan Aslan in the Young Lions, Lucky broke out as a singles star over the past few years. He made his PWG debut over BOLA weekend and was booked for a UK tour with ROH last year, teaming with Kyle Fletcher and replacing the injured Mark Davis. He was part of the RISE stable in wXw and still is associated with Schadenfreude in many of the UK indy promotions, including their own Schadenfreude & Friends league.

Fan support has dwindled in recent months as Lucky seemed lost in the partly aborted RISE vs. Schadenfreude feud when Mark Davis got injured and Chris Brookes got an offer to work for DDT in Japan. He quickly disposed of his former RISE associates Pete Bouncer and Ivan Kiev and got some wins in recent months, but certainty hasn’t arrived where someone who won Carat one year ago should be. Recently, a mysterious big eye appeared on the screen, distracting him in a four-way match eventually won by Simmons, so maybe a new storyline opportunity will pop up here if that person is revealed. The wXw office certainly knows about the problem and have assured fans that they have a way to fix things.

Simmons is a powerhouse from the Netherlands who seemingly has it all: a great look, good in-ring abilities, and tremendous promo skills when he is on. Quick-witted and with a good sense of humor, he equally works as a face and as a heel, even though he seems to prefer the latter role. A former wXw Unified World Wrestling champion, he fell from grace a few years back. Being stuck in the midcard, he teamed with Alexander James as The Crown, an alliance that ended when James turned on him after their first round loss at Tag Festival last year. They were involved in an intense, albeit somewhat lackluster feud, which culminated with Simmons standing tall after a bloody barbed wire cage match in January, looking to go on to bigger and better things.

As with Lucky, a win here might be the first step in catapulting him back to the main event scene, where many longtime fans believe he belongs. This certainly will be a match that both men need to win badly.

Alternate Four Way: Rust Taylor vs. Scotty Davis vs. Norman Harras vs. Hektor

The winner gets into the tournament if somebody gets injured. Honestly, all four deserve a spot.

Other highlights:

A number of title matches are scheduled for the weekend, some with high stakes while others will progress or culminate storylines:

wXw Tag Team Champions The Pretty Bastards (Maggot & Prince Ahura) vs. Jay-AA (Absolute Andy & Jay Skillet) (Friday)

These two have been clashing for a while now, leading to the de facto face turn of Jay-AA. who are super over with the fans as an entertaining comedy act. All four are good workers and this should be a great, fun match. The Bastards should keep the belts here as the story can be drawn out until the summer.

wXw World Unified Wrestling Champion Bobby Gunns vs. David Starr in a title vs. career match (Saturday)

Gunns won the title in a four way with champion Timothy Thatcher, Ilja Dragunov, and Starr back in December (Thatcher signed with WWE around that time), becoming a two-time champion. He since was on the losing end of the “Käfigschlacht” in January, a single cage, War-Games-style match against Starr, Avalanche, Julian Pace, and Leon van Gasteren, teaming with his stablemates Norman Harras and The Pretty Bastards.

He then defeated Avalanche in Hamburg at Dead End in February after interference by his stablemates. Starr, the current OTT and SWE champion was involved in a heated feud with Dragunov over the past few months, finally beating him in an unsanctioned match. He challenged Gunns to a title match and put his own career on the line, claiming that he had to come through since he neither won 16 Carat nor beat long-time rival WALTER in the past.

The stakes are high and there are some possibilities either way. Starr could lose and depart wXw, the promotion that put him on the map in Europe and arguably the international indie scene too. In a statement, he talked about what it would mean to him to be gone from wXw. If he wins, there is the possibility of facing WALTER, the man he never beat, down the line and finally catching his white whale, so to speak.

Starr is very outspoken and anti-establishment, looking to progress unionization and healthcare for those in the business. Some speculate he could leave for a bigger promotion. Then, there is also the question of who wins 16 Carat as that leads up to the big program over the summer. While some see Jurn Simmons as the favorite, Simmons vs. Starr has been done in the past and while those matches were good, it’s not something new.

Gunns’ title reigns have been somewhat lackluster with his new stable not quite living up to the standard of previous big heel stables in the company. They are comprised of young talents with good in-ring skills and great charisma, but they still need to click. Gunns winning on the big stage (he was in the main events of 16 Carat and World tag league/Festival shows in the past) would certainly legitimize him to a bigger audience. Again, the future program with the 16 Carat winner would be key here, so those who believe Gunns will win, see either Julian Pace or Shigehiro Irie as the winners. Gunns has history with both men.

In theory, we could see some kind of screwjob or no contest finish, but wXw usually doesn’t do those at these kinds of shows, and it would be a mistake to try it out in front of their biggest crowd at the biggest show of the year.

AMBITION 12 (Saturday at noon)

This is the 12th installment of wXw’s shoot style concept that started in 2010. After almost being cancelled after four installments due to little fan support, putting it on at festival weekends with more sophisticated international fans on hand gave the concept a second lease on life and inspired similar concepts in the UK and the U.S.

These shows are always fun and unique, which makes them both special and must-see. Previous winners include Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan), Rico Bushido, Axel Tischer (Alexander Wolfe), Zack Sabre Jr., Sasa keel, Carnage, Matt Riddle, Timothy Thatcher, Shigehiro Irie, and WALTER.

First round matches scheduled are Mike Bailey vs. Scotty Davis, Kevin Lloyd vs. Daniel Makabe, Vincent Heisenberg vs. Chris Ridgeway, and Tyson Dux vs. Rust Taylor in addition to the superfight and a “Next Generation fight” of Ethan Allen vs. Luke Jacobs.

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda (AMBITION 12 superfight – Saturday)

Those two 50+ year old shoot style legends will battle it out in a fight for the ages. Ishikawa has been in for AMBITION last year, where he battled protege Timothy Thatcher and again for the promotion in Toronto past August. Ikeda can go with him hold for hold, and those two have teamed and wrestled numerous times over the past 25 years. If you are into MMA, Bloodsport events, or any other kind of grappling, this will be the match for you.

wXwNOW Showcase (Saturday afternoon)

wXwNOW is wXw’s streaming service, which also includes a number of other promotions from Europe and around the world. Those promotions will get the chance to put on one match each to showcase their talent, style, and unique brand.

Brent Banks vs. Tyson Dux vs. Tarik vs. Sebastian Suave (SMASH Wrestling from Canada)
Joe Gacy vs. Anthony Greene (CZW)
Kaiden vs. Rizo (White Wolf Wrestling from Spain)
Lexa Valo vs. Kat von Kaige (British Empire Wrestling)
Peter Olisander vs. Emeritus vs. Michael Fynne (Bodyslam Pro Wrestling from Denmark)
Carnage vs. Mexxberg (Wrestling KULT from Germany)
Luca de Pazzi vs. Nicolo Inverardi (Wrestling Promotion RIsing Sun from Italy)

wXw Shotgun Champion Avalanche vs. Ilja Dragunov (Sunday)

The build to this was basically Dragunov challenging Avalanche backstage after being involved in the post-match angle of Avalanche vs. Gunns. Those two have been both teammates and opponents in the past, and this looks to be a great strong style match. Avalanche should win as Dragunov is under a WWE contract and not available at all times.

wXw Women’s Champion Amale vs. TBA (Sunday Night)

Amale was supposed to wrestle Melanie Gray, who recently won the right to return to Oberhausen after losing a loser leaves town match to Toni Storm in early 2019. Unfortunately, Melanie injured her knee and seems to need surgery. Amale beat all of the regular women and all of the fly-ins put in front of her, often cheating, and Melanie was the last hope to beat her. It’s everyone’s guess who will be her opponent with Killer Kelly being the most logical name as she was the one facing Melanie in a number one contenders match.

Amale also has been involved in a storyline with Director of Sports Karsten Beck who seemingly has the hots for her, but there also is Levaniel, the “Prince of the Stars”, who seemingly has some love for Amale. I expect some kind of love triangle or angle-heavy conclusion of this storyline over the coming months.

Yuki Ishikawa & Timothy Thatcher vs. Daisuke Ikeda & WALTER (Sunday)

Playing off the previous match, this will be Thatcher’s wXw farewell for the time being as he teams with his mentor against former friend WALTER and Ikeda. This will be gruesome, hard hitting and a strong style battle for the ages, plus probably a very emotional farewell for the man that Oberhausen lost its heart to over the years.

Even more wrestling

A wXwNOW feature event is scheduled for Sunday afternoon which will feature WALTER. Also, Wrestling KULT from Germany runs a morning show on Saturday at 10 AM featuring wrestlers such as Absolute Andy, Tom LaRuffa, Carnage, Rico Bushido, Norman Harras, Julian Pace, and others.

The kickoff to the weekend happened with Inner Circle at the wXw Academy last night featuring a secret lineup. This was a fun show with some very good matches, especially the main event of Yuki Ishikawa & Daisuke Ikeda beating Chris Ridgeway & Daniel Makabe.