The career of David Starr (Max Barsky, 29) appears in jeopardy after a sexual assault charge and public exchange between Starr and an ex-girlfriend named Victoria took place on social media this past week.
This has led to a groundswell of charges on social media, largely involving U.K. wrestlers, but also a number of well known names on the U.S. scene.
Starr was the top independent wrestling star in Europe when the pandemic hit. He was also well-known for his attempts to unionize pro wrestlers in Europe and around the world. He had moved to the U.K. several years back feeling he had more opportunities for stardom, and also was very negative on the health care system in the U.S. He was a polarizing figure since he heavily pushed his political beliefs and in particular his long-time support of Bernie Sanders. He was also used as a top star in the top U.S. indie groups like PWG and AAW.
In the wake of indie wrestler David Starr being accused of sexual assault, several independent wrestling companies have stripped him of their titles or announced intentions to not work with him again.
On Thursday, Ireland’s OTT tweeted that their championship is now vacant, RevPro tweeted their Southside title is now vacant, and TNT Extreme Wrestling tweeted they have also stripped Starr (real name Max Barsky) of their title.
Since the accusation, Starr tweeted several times that he is not a sexual predator, but that he was “an emotionally immature d*ckhead“, denying doing what Tori claims and that he was “an awful partner.” He said if this means the end of wrestling for him, he’s fine with that, but he isn’t going on the offensive. “No matter what I say, I’m the bad guy. No pity party. It is what it is,” he tweeted.
We’ve got yet another double issue of the Observer out this week covering both the creative changes in WWE and a long bio on Johnny “Mr. Wrestling II” Walker, as well as a number of other features.
The move to Bruce Prichard as creative head of Raw and Smackdown and the steps leading to this process change. We look at who appears to be safe and who isn’t. We look at what was tried on Raw and what wasn’t working, and notable key recent moves. We also look at the problems of comparing Raw with Smackdown.
We have a long look at the life and career of Mr. Wrestling II, Johnny Walker. We look at his heyday, his connection with President Jimmy Carter, the birth of cable and his role in popularizing pro wrestling on cable, how babyfaces changed in the 70s, his 1980 feud with Harley Race, his checkered past, his wrestling debut, his coming mainland, interactions with the toughest guys of his era, his first good run in Tennessee, how his life was notable in both pro wrestling and country music, his first masked gimmick and his planned retirement. Having the right gimmick in the right place at the right time made him one of the biggest stars in the country. We look at the Georgia wrestling war and the creation of Mr. Wrestling II. We look at the Mr. Wrestling vs. Mr. Wrestling II feud and all of II’s biggest feuds over the next decade. We look at II’s meetings with the president’s mother, his biggest matches at the Omni, his runs in Mid South, feud with Magnum T.A., his WWF tenure, and his life after wrestling in Hawaii.
We also cover:
New Japan Pro Wrestling returning to business this week, scouting out the New Japan Cup, directions for fans attending the Osaka shows and why the matches won’t have traditional heat, and the complete schedule.
Economics of Conor McGregor, Jorge Masvidal, Jon Jones and Henry Cejudo and how the ESPN deal has removed fighter leverage. We look at comments by the fighters, response from Dana white and realities of he situation.
An enormous donation made by John Cena, Paul Levesque talks a signature match, WWE canceling over shows due to the pandemic, weekly sports ratings, Edge movie, DVR viewership, Canadian ratings, twitter feuds, Arn Anderson on Sami Zayn, funny story on the first time Adam Cole heard from WWE, what happened to Chris DeJoseph, plus upcoming TV bouts.
Fight Island and the next UFC PPV show
UFC 250, with business notes, popularity notes, poll results and match-by-match coverage.
NXT Takeover In Your House with a rundown, booking notes, match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.
Backlash and story behind Edge vs; Randy Orton.
In-depth looks at the ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.
Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
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WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
This week’s edition of The bump featured R-Truth, Shotzi Blackheart, Tegan Nox, Charles Robinson, and Sam Roberts.
Next week’s episode of The Bump will feature Xavier Woods, Cesaro, and Breezango.
PWInsider reported that Pat Buck is back as a producer for WWE. He was one of many producers that were furloughed back in April.
David Starr has released a number of statements regarding a former girlfriend accusing him of sexual assault. He has denied the allegations, writing “I’ve done plenty of wrong in my life, especially regarding my relationships with my partners. I am not a predator, but I have been an emotionally immature dickhead to my partners.”
Robert Anthony called out Brian Cage on Twitter, writing: “Hey @OfficialTAZ [I’ve] been friends with Mox for over 10 years. We’ve traveled across the country together, and gone to war together. Your boy put my friend through a car window. Where we come from we live by a code. Fight one, fight us all. Taz, I want Cage @AEWrestling #EgovsCage.”Tony Khan responded by making the match for next week’s Dark.
I Am Vengeance 2, featuring Stu Bennett, will be released on digital platforms this Friday.
MMA
This past weekend’s UFC event averaged 908,000 viewers on Saturday, winning the top spot on cable for the night.
Rafael dos Anjos makes a case for a Conor McGregor match-up.
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.
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
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.
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
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)
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)
Coming out of his title vs. wXw career match during 16 Carat Gold weekend, David Starr has bid farewell to wXw.
Starr tweeted 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.”
wXw Unified Wrestling Champion Bobby Gunns retained against Starr in their title vs. wXw career match at 16 Carat Gold night two on Saturday. Starr then gave an emotional farewell speech to close the show.
wXw tweeted after the match “Thank you for everything, @TheProductDS – we will miss you. #wXw16Carat”
Dave Meltzer discussed the situation on Wrestling Observer Radio overnight, saying that details are still forthcoming, but “essentially WWE made it such that [wXw and Starr] could not work together anymore.” Meltzer also noted that Starr hasn’t wrestled for PROGRESS Wrestling — which also has a relationship with WWE — in recent months.
During a match with WALTER for OTT Wrestling last June, there was a spot where Starr stomped on WALTER’s NXT United Kingdom title belt. Meltzer wrote at the time: “WWE didn’t approve the David Starr stomping on Walter’s NXT U.K. title belt. Nobody knew ahead of time. Walter and Starr made the call to shock people live knowing it would get over huge. As you can imagine, the reaction from WWE was not positive. Many wrestlers thought it was disrespectful and the higher-ups weren’t happy either.”
Starr has also been a vocal supporter for unionization in professional wrestling.
Starr is OTT’s World Champion and is set to face Jon Moxley at ScrapperMania 6 in Dublin, Ireland this Saturday.
The show peaked early as Jungle Boy and Jake Atlas had a long match filled with great spots and near falls. The debut of Aramis, who looks to follow in the footsteps of Fenix, Bandido and Dragon Lee, also got a strong reaction. It was very hard for people to follow them, although there were good matches that followed them.
Unlike in the past when I have seen long PWG shows where early matches tear down the house but sustain crowd interest through the end, Friday peaked early and the crowd was very tired toward the latter part of the card. Tonight was four hours after a long show on Thursday.
BOLA Round 1: Joey Janela defeated Mick Morretti
Janela defeated the Australian after a superkick. Morretti was aggressive, in great condition, and got very loud “please come back” chants.
BOLA Round 1: Jake Atlas defeated Jungle Boy
This was one tremendous match. It wasn’t perfect, but as far as what this crowd was looking for, many had it as the best match so far of the tournament. It was the best Jungle Boy match I have seen to date and his improvement since January is astounding. At one point, Atlas did a cartwheel on the ropes, Jungle Boy superkicked him to the floor, hit a tope and then hit a Canadian Destroyer. (We got a ton of that move again tonight.) Atlas used a V-Trigger, Diamond Cutter, and cartwheel on the ropes into a DDT for the pin. Fans threw money in the ring afterward.
BOLA Round 1: Rey Fenix defeated Aramis
In my opinion, this was the best match of the tournament so far. People were tired from the blowout match previously, but they were into this. Aramis did a ropewalk 450 and also did a ropewalk flip plancha to the floor. Fenix won with a spinning muscle buster. Fans threw money in the ring again.
Fenix put over Aramis as the next generation Mexican who will show the world Lucha Libre. He said that there are people who talk bad about Aramis but he showed everyone tonight. Aramis said that when he was a kid, he told his parents that some day he would be in PWG and now he’s here. I suspect Aramis will be getting contract offers coming out of this performance. Regarding Atlas, he’s already getting offers. It’s a different world today when it comes to being an indie talent.
This was supposed to be for the PWG tag titles but it was made non-title due to an injury to Mark Davis of Aussie Open who blew out his knee during the afternoon. He wasn’t doing anything risky, but it was just one of those things where guys do the craziest things and are fine, and then get hurt doing something simple. He was hospitalized and showed up later with a big cast on his leg. A-Kid took his place.
This ws very heavy on the comedy, but featured some good wrestling as well. They were in a tough position and also went more than 22:00. There was lots of Wentz trying to kiss Kid & Fletcher.
BOLA Round 1: Bandido defeated Puma King to win the DDT Ironmetal Heavyweight title
Bandido won after a fallaway slam and spike in a really good match. Bandido did a super high springboard plancha.
Puma King defeated Bandido to win the DDT Ironmetal Heavyweight title
After the match, Puma King cradled Bandido so he got his belt back which is a DDT storyline.
BOLA Round 1: Pentagon Jr. defeated Tony Deppan
Pentagon Jr. won with the broken arm spot and Canadian Destroyer in a very good match. Deppan is very animated and reminds me of Oney Lorcan. The crowd liked him a lot.
BOLA Round 1: David Starr defeated Orange Cassidy
Starr won with a running forearm. They went 19:00 which was too long. This was mostly Starr beating on Cassidy.
Daisuke Sekimoto & Jonathan Gresham defeated Jeff Cobb & Brody King
This was eally good but the crowd was tired. They also went long and told a story with Cobb and King not getting along. King did comedy telling “Marty” and “PCO” to do stuff like he was conditioned to think of them as partners. There was a big pop for little Gresham power ombing King.
Sekimoto pinned King with a German suplex and they all raised each others’ arms, leaving the ring to Sekimoto who thanked the fans. It felt like they were building Cobb vs. King but it was stage one of a build.
Day one of the 2019 16 Carat Gold tournament is in the books — and it was a very strong show with very good to great matches.
Fenix vs. Rey Horus, Timothy Thatcher vs. Lucky Kid, Ilja Dragunov vs. Daisuke Sekimoto, and WALTER vs. David Starr all were tremendous in their own ways, while the rest of the matches were not too far behind. The show was a really strong opener on what promises to be a great tournament and a fun weekend of wrestling.
wXw had about 1,300 fans in the main arena of the Turbinenhalle complex, featuring a number of freshly opened balcony areas. For Saturday, there are 1,500 tickets sold and Sunday should have another 1,300+.
The crowd, a mix of German casual and hardcore fans and a rowdy contingent of hardcore fans from the United Kingdom and Ireland, were lively and loud all night and will probably continue to be for the days to come.
Alternate four-way match: Veit Müller defeated Julian Pace, Kyle Fletcher, and Leon van Gasteren after hitting Pace with a DDT
Fun opener with three young and one experienced (van Gasteren) wrestlers. Pace at first overwhelmed everyone with his speed, but he was then quickly ganged up on.
Müller, who is aligned with RINGKAMPF, was the most over guy and was cheered wildly. They did a tower of doom spot and Müller at one point took a Flair bump but got dropkicked to the floor. Pace hit a Code Red on Fletcher for a near fall, then tried to follow up with a BME-style moonsault but got thwarted.
Müller eventually hit the DDT on Pace for the win.
Karsten Beck was brought out as the director of sports with the 16 Carat trophy and everyone paraded into the ring for a picture.
16 Carat Gold tournament first round match: Axel Dieter Jr. defeated Marius al-Ani with a release Landungsbrücken suplex
It was surprising to see Axel Dieter Jr. (Marcel Barthel in NXT/NXT UK) so early in the card. The crowd was into him a lot, but he didn’t get quite the hero’s welcome he got back in December and the pops were still a bit low in the beginning.
They worked a very good match with Dieter hitting a lot of his spots, like a number of variations on a European uppercut, the Landungsbrücken suplex, and the headstand to escape from a headlock.
They did a sick-looking spot where Dieter dove through the ropes into the ring from the apron with a spear, while al-Ani did a scissors kick right into his neck with Dieter taking a brutal-looking bump on his head. Dieter went for the Axel Dieter (senior) special submission. al-Ani rolled out of it, only to be caught in the move right again.
al-Ani tried for a frog splash, but Dieter got his knees up. They traded yay/boo punches and Dieter finally hit a release Landungsbrücken suplex to pick up the victory.
16 Carat Gold tournament first round match: Rey Fenix pinned Rey Horus after a sit-out Muscle Buster
This was a crazy lucha match with lots of insane flips, counters, and flying action. Fenix got to show off his incredible sense of balance pretty much right away, as he jumped from the middle to the top rope and back with ridiculous ease to avoid and counter arm drags.
Horus, not to be outdone, then hit a tornillo arm drag. Seconds later, Horus did a tope con giro over the turnbuckle to the outside. This had the crowd going crazy just minutes into the match.
As Horus missed a move and was sitting on the middle of the rope, Fenix jumped on the top turnbuckle and virtually ran along the top rope with a soccer kick to Horus’ head. Wow. Fenix ate a DDT and a Spanish Fly for a near fall.
Fenix cleared the ropes 619-style on a whip-in and grazed a fan’s head in the process. The fan thankfully took it in stride. Fenix then got the win with a sit-out Muscle Buster.
Amazing match, with some money being thrown into the ring after. BattlArts founder Yuki Ishikawa sat with us in the press section and seemed to have the time of his life watching this.
16 Carat Gold tournament first round match: Shigehiro Irie pinned Chris Brookes after a Beast Bomber
They one-upped one another with playfully adjusting each other’s knee pads early on. Brookes offered a handshake, which Irie accepted, then bowed, which Irie also mirrored, only to be slapped into the back of the head. Irie answered by pouncing Brookes halfway across the ring. Brookes avoided a sit-down splash and came back with a senton on a doubled-over Irie.
Irie escaped a brainbuster attempt, felled the bigger man with a headbutt, and hit the sit-down splash for a near fall. Irie removed his elbow pads and went for a Beast Bomber but got rolled up.
Brookes followed with a slingshot cutter and Praying Mantis Bomb for a near fall, then locked in an Octopus hold, countered into a Death Valley Driver, and followed with a cannonball senton into the corner. Irie then hit a Beast Bomber and picked up the win.
16 Carat Gold tournament first round match: Lucky Kid pinned Timothy Thatcher with a roll-up
An excellent video package on Thatcher aired before the match, where he talked about his upcoming AMBITION match against his mentor (Yuki Ishikawa) and also how much wXw and RINGKAMPF had meant to him over the past few years.
Thatcher said that RINGKAMPF being his family wasn’t just something he said but something he 100 percent meant. Thatcher said he made two very close friends in WALTER and Axel Dieter Jr., something he usually doesn’t do in the wrestling business.
Thatcher said that they made decisions for themselves, as screenshots from Twitter of WALTER joining NXT UK were shown, while he had made decisions for RINGKAMPF. He said that if he met either of his two former RINGKAMPF brethren in the tournament, he wouldn’t hold back.
To accentuate Thatcher’s emancipation from RINGKAMPF, he also no longer came out to Antonín Dvorák’s New World Symphony but rather Lonesome Boatsman by the Dropkick Murphys.
This was a rematch from last year’s tournament — and Thatcher right away showed he was serious about winning as he started to beat the ever-living hell out of Lucky, seemingly also wanting to declare independence from Fight Club: Pro’s Schadenfreude stable in addition to RINGKAMPF.
The crowd adored Thatcher, and while they loved themselves some Lucky, they were firmly behind Thatcher on this one. Lucky early on did his leg-hugging spot, but he got slapped and gut-wrenched halfway across the ring for his trouble. Thatcher manhandled Lucky Kid with a chicken wing, butterfly suplex, and cross armbreaker.
Lucky briefly managed to get some offense in, but missed on a missile dropkick and Thatcher locked in a single-leg Boston crab. Lucky made it out and connected on a second missile dropkick, but he got caught in a Fujiwara armbar. Lucky managed a roll-up out of that position but quickly got beaten down again. Thatcher hit a top rope belly-to-belly and got a cross armbreaker — but Lucky made the ropes.
They traded palm strikes and Lucky managed a small package off a German suplex attempt, then followed up with a roll-up for the upset win.
The crowd briefly was shocked, as was Thatcher, who looked pissed and upset and quickly left the ring, just as Lucky looked shocked at his own victory in the ring. Interesting result, with Thatcher being pushed with that tremendous video package and being considered one of the favorites to win the tournament this year.
16 Carat Gold tournament first round falls count anywhere match: Avalanche defeated Jurn Simmons after a Dreissker Bomb off a balcony barrier onto the ramp
A crazy, brutal brawl that also seemingly served as the blow-off to their feud.
These two had problems starting as far back as last October after Avalanche’s partner Julian Nero got hurt and Simmons and partner in crime, Alexander James, mocked Avalanche. They traded wins in tag matches, as Avalanche tried out a number of partners, then segued into singles matches that left no clear winner, once going to a double countout, then a no contest as Simmons sped away in a car in their latest no countout match.
Simmons hit his massive Boot right out of the bat, but Avalanche no sold it and went for a Boulder Dash for a near fall, all in the opening minute. They brawled right to ringside and Avalanche got suplexed into a row of chairs.
They kept brawling and Simmons suplexed Avalanche into a raised metal stand, which left an Avalanche-sized dent in the metal. They brawled towards the stage and then out of the arena, as footage of the continuing brawl in the bowels of the Turbinenhalle aired on the big screen.
They brawled around a storage area, hitting each other with everything under the sun and trading a number of pinfall attempts on various stacks of stuff. Simmons hit Avalanche with a sheet of metal, then went to choke him out, but Avalanche wouldn’t quit.
Avalanche found some metal steps backstage and leapt off them, but Simmons moved and he crashed into a pile of stuff. Simmons found a kendo stick, as those just lie around backstage at arenas everywhere. They brawled back into the beginning, with Simmons beating down Avalanche with his stick and even snapping it off Avalanche’s back.
They ended up back in the ring, where Simmons had Avalanche down and actually cut a promo on him, telling him he was superior in every way. Simmons said he was about to slay the Monster of a Man, then went for the decapitation-style hit on the back of the neck with the kendo stick, just to have Avalanche come back and wrestle the kendo stick out of Simmons’ hands
They brawled back into the crowd and up the stairs, where Simmons tried to climb over the barrier of a flight of stairs, around ten feet off the ground and the metal ramp they brawled on earlier. Avalanche knocked him off, then climbed the barrier himself and hit a Dreissker Bomb off the barrier onto Simmons on the steel ramp for the pin and the victory.
16 Carat Gold tournament first round match: Pentagon Jr. defeated Mark Davis after a leaping Destroyer
Penta offered a hand shake, but just put the Cero Miedo hand gesture in Davis’ face. On the second attempt, Davis slapped Pentagon’s hand so hard his glove flew off.
A number of punches and leg kicks were ended as Davis hit a sit-down splash on Penta. Davis tried for a superplex but got thrown off and hit with a double foot stomp. Penta went for a piledriver, but it got countered into a Gold Coast Waterslide for a near fall.
Penta hit a springboard backcracker, but the leaping Destroyer got blocked. Davis hit a sliding punch, but Penta then rolled out of a pull-up piledriver and caught Davis’ arm. Penta snapped it, then hit the leaping Destroyer for the win.
16 Carat Gold tournament first round match: Ilja Dragunov pinned Daisuke Sekimoto after Torpedo Moscow
Holy crap. This was an all-out, hard-hitting war between these two, as was to be expected and they did not disappoint for even a second. Dragunov, at one point, probably tried to set the record for most strikes thrown in a wXw match, as he just blasted Sekimoto with slaps and palm strikes for probably at least 30 seconds straight.
They locked up and Sekimoto went for a cross armbreaker, but it was countered as they fought on the mat. Sekimoto hit the first chop of the match. Dragunov retaliated with a lariat that missed, then ate a uranage backbreaker as he bounced off the ropes and into the ring.
Another chop dropped the mad Russian, followed by a vertical suplex and a Boston crab, which he eventually escaped. They traded brutal chops and forearms, which Dragunov seemed to revel in, asking for more.
Dragunov hit some clotheslines and lariats that sounded as brutal as they looked. He hit a Saito suplex and went for a back senton off the middle of the ropes but missed. Sekimoto then hit a gutwrench and locked in the Sharpshooter, but Dragunov made the ropes.
Sekimoto hit a big splash for another near fall. Dragunov came back with a swiveling lariat, but Sekimoto avoided it and hit a German suplex and a lariat of his own. Sekimoto followed with an enzuigiri that had Dragunov on his knees, but Dragunov got back up and hit a Death Valley Driver into the corner, followed by another back senton for a two count.
Dragunov then finally hit Torpedo Moscow for the win to advance into the next round.
16 Carat Gold tournament first round match: WALTER beat David Starr by referee stoppage with Gojira clutch
This match was preceded by another great video package, chronicling the history of WALTER and Starr and focusing on Starr never being able to beat WALTER before, no matter where in the world they wrestled.
Starr talked about all the things he had accomplished before — but the one thing he failed at every time was beating WALTER. He said he was obsessed with beating him, while clips of WALTER aired where he said Starr was an egomaniac who only thought about himself. Starr picked WALTER to be his first round opponent. Words can hardly do this justice, just watch it yourself if you have around four minutes to spare. Starr was a tremendous promo with great emotional range here.
Starr went to attack WALTER right away before any introductions, but the big Austrian clobbered him with a forearm across the face. Starr was not impressed and kept attacking.
They ended up at ringside and Starr drove WALTER into the post. He then badly crashed and burned on a tope as WALTER sidestepped and Starr flew full speed into the first few rows of chairs in a crash that looked horrifying.
Starr was okay to continue and quickly found himself locked in a Boston crab back in the ring. As Starr escaped that, he was hit with a uranage slam for a near fall. WALTER went to the top, but Starr was right there with him and hit a belly-to-belly off the top.
They traded more strikes, then Starr leapt on WALTER’s back and tried to apply the big man’s own sleeper hold. As WALTER went to reach for the ropes, Starr slapped his hands away and hit a German suplex, which is a sequence WALTER usually does in many of his matches.
They went back and forth for a few minutes and WALTER had Starr down on is knees in the corner, when Starr, whose mouth was bloodied up by that point, defiantly spat a gob of blood on WALTER’s chest in a great and disturbing visual. WALTER rubbed the blood off, then proceeded to slap Starr and lock in a sleeper of his own.
Starr got out but was immediately hit with a shotgun dropkick. Starr used a rana to get out of a powerbomb attempt and followed with Han Stansen for near fall. Starr tried lariat after lariat but got chopped down with hard blows to the chest. He managed to hit a Blackheart Buster for a near fall.
Starr hit a superkick, then hit the Product Placement for another close near fall that had the fans at the edges of their seats. Starr hit a number of forearms and WALTER actually begged off, but it was a con as he quickly hit a quick powerbomb and got the Gojira clutch as the crowd started booing.
Starr escaped and tried his own sleeper, but WALTER scaled the turnbuckles and fell back, breaking the hold. Starr, like a terrier, quickly locked in his own Gojira clutch again, then as WALTER escaped, hit a lariat to the back of the head, a German suplex, and another sleeper.
WALTER was down and the hold was locked in tight as the crowd roared for him to tap and Starr to finally beat him. WALTER eventually tapped, getting Starr to release the hold, but before that he had smartly positioned his foot under the rope — which he quickly pointed out to the referee, so the match continued.
As Starr argued with the referee, WALTER snuck in and locked in another tight Gojira clutch, trapped Starr’s arm, sank in the hooks with a bodyscissor, and finally sent Starr to sleep as the referee checked his arm and Starr could not keep it up.
The crowd booed as WALTER celebrated, even snatching a RINGKAMPF scarf from a fan, posing with it on the ramp, then throwing it back into the crowd. Starr looked devastated as he slowly slunk down the ramp and to the back.
Interesting booking here, with both Thatcher and Starr not being able to fulfill their quests or even make it out of round one. As wXw usually are very good at telling stories, it will be intriguing to see where things go from here for those two for the rest of the weekend and the upcoming weeks and months.
Other events —
wXw Inner Circle 8 at the wXw Academy (March 7, 2019) — Attendance: 170 (sold out)
– David Starr defeated Jay Skillet in 7:27 after a powerbreaker
– Chris Brookes defeated Francis Kaspin, Julian Pace, and Avalanche in 5:45 after an underhook piledriver on Kaspin
Avalanche wore a plain black singlet as a tribute to King Kong Bundy here.
– Jurn Simmons defeated Kyle Fletcher in 9:05 after a low blow and a piledriver
– Ilja Dragunov defeated Mark Davis in 12:06 after Torpedo Moscow
Super hard-hitting match.
– Killer Kelly defeated Yuu in 7:55 after Carnation Revolution
– RINGKAMPF (WALTER & Timothy Thatcher) defeated Yuki Ishikawa & Shigehiro Irie in 24:43 when Thatcher submitted Irie in a Fujiwara armbar
This was an amazing match, especially if you enjoy submission-based strong-style matches. Thatcher and Ishikawa meet again on Saturday in the AMBITION super fight, in a UWF-style match.
16 Carat Bowled — Oberhausen Open II (March 8, 2019)
This was a fun bowling tournament taking place after the action of day one, featuring fans and a big number of current and former wrestlers and wXw officials, officially endorsed by wXw and organized by the two Sarahs of the similarly named podcast.
York Hall in London wasn’t quite sold out, but it was pretty full and had a great atmosphere for the night.
– Taichi defeated Chris Brookes (15:03)
Taichi kept leaving the ring and avoiding Brookes at the start, and when they eventually came to blows, a crazy brawl erupted all around the arena. The two had good chemistry when back in the ring and had a decent back-and-forth match.
Brookes had Taichi in a submission when El Desperado came out and distracted the official — who then didn’t see Taichi tap out. Will Ospreay came down to even the odds (despite not yet being cleared to wrestle) and went to hit Desperado with Taichi’s mic stand, but Taichi ducked and Ospreay hit Brookes, and then got a superkick from Taichi.
Taichi took advantage and submitted Brookes after a low blow. After the match, Ospreay apologized and raised Brookes’ hand, only for Brookes to turn on him and give the still-injured Ospreay a moderate beatdown. This was expertly booked and the crowd lapped it up.
– The Great-O-Kharn defeated Shane Taylor (7:14)
Lord Gideon Grey came out and said that RevPro had given in to his demands for The Dominator to have a match, but said it would be against a mystery opponent. Shane Taylor came down to little reaction and got an alright match out of the improving O-Kharn
There were a lot of strikes and suplexes, but O-Kharn won fairly quickly with a chokeslam after interference from Gideon Grey. Taylor got a good ovation at the end. This was a pleasant surprise on the card and O-Kharn remains undefeated.
– Josh Bodom defeated Chris Ridgeway (8:19)
This started off very hot with both wrestlers wanting to get at the other. They fit a lot into a short amount of time here, as the match hit top gear a few minutes in.
Ridgeway went crazy with kicks and nearly won with an ankle lock. Bodom was incredible. He did a picture-perfect moonsault to the outside, followed by a tombstone on the apron and a Bliss Buster for the win. Bodom was busted open halfway through and looked sadistic with blood all over his body — this was a really good showing from him, as per usual.
– El Phantasmo defeated El Desperado (15:58)
As is often the case, the first half main event was stellar. It started off pretty fast paced as both men ran the ropes and got the crowd involved. They slowed down a bit, with Desperado gaining control until Phantasmo started to get the upper hand, leaping all over the place with the crowd firmly in his corner.
The last few minutes were insanity, with all sorts of near falls as the crowd became very invested. Phantasmo won this with his swanton and moonsault combination and received a huge ovation. Phantasmo is a superstar and it is only a matter of time before he is signed up somewhere.
– Satoshi Kojima defeated WALTER (11:40)
Kojima is incredibly over in the United Kingdom and WALTER is a pretty effective heel, so this made for a good dynamic. WALTER chopped the life out of Kojima, who kept on attempting to fire up but being swatted down.
Eventually, Kojima quickly won with a lariat in what was barely a three count — a clearly improvised finish due to WALTER being apparently hurt. WALTER was taken to the back with the medics, but it didn’t seem to be too serious.
Kojima cut a promo and was about to challenge Tomohiro Ishii until Bodom came out announcing he was moving up to heavyweight. He said Kojima was the past and he was the future, while demolishing a loaf of bread, much to the distress of the leader of Bread Club.
The match could have gotten very good had it not ended abruptly — but regardless, you have to again question the booking of WALTER here. It genuinely baffles me why he isn’t treated as a bigger star in RevPro and there was no need for Kojima to win this.
– MK McKinnan defeated “Speedball” Mike Bailey (14:37)
This was Bailey’s return to York Hall after an over two-year absence following his incredible run in 2016. It was awesome to finally see him back. McKinnan was clearly not that over at the start of the match and the crowd was pretty worn out too, however this incredible match brought them right back up.
Both men wrestled really well, starting off on the mat before going to the top rope and the ramp. Bailey hit his double-knee moonsault on the apron, there was a massive superplex, and several great near falls. McKinnan got Bailey in a choke and elbowed him till he passed out.
This was really good stuff, and a very strong win for McKinnan, who has looked fantastic since returning. Hopefully Bailey can stick around too as he’s such a valuable asset.
– Undisputed British Tag Team Champions Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) to retain their titles (21:50)
This had a really big-fight feel as both teams have been pretty invincible in RevPro this year. Suzuki dominated both opponents early on, scaring Fletcher, who was worked over for a lot of this. Davis tagged in and ran wild before being worn down by Suzuki’s submission-based offense.
Davis tagged Fletcher back in for an awesome staredown between Fletcher and Suzuki — Fletcher finally facing his fear. However, just as Fletcher was getting the upper hand, Sabre came in and they started applying double submissions. Davis eventually broke it up and Aussie Open hit their double-team finishers, each of them being kicked out of. Then while Sabre had Davis in a submission, Suzuki pinned Fletcher with the Gotch-style piledriver.
This was an odd result, — Aussie Open had been building to this since January and I’m not sure where they go from here.
– Undisputed British Heavyweight Champion Tomohiro Ishii defeated Undisputed British Cruiserweight Champion David Starr to retain his title (19:07)
The build to this match was great, with Starr claiming he is not just the best cruiserweight but the best wrestler. The match was designed to appeal to the fans who object to NJPW talent holding RevPro titles and would prefer full-time champions like Starr.
Starr mocked Ishii’s walk and stance, while Ishii just stared down his opponent. Starr outwrestled Ishii early on, being too technical, nimble, and agile for the heavyweight and wearing him down. As you’d expect, Ishii came firing back with heavy forearms, but Starr was able to match him and never gave up despite taking a beating.
They exchanged more strikes and chops, with Ishii often no selling Starr’s strikes and even hitting the best superplex I’ve ever seen. Starr hit a combination of lariats and followed with a Han Stansen — but Ishii kicked out at one. Ishii then hit his brainbuster for the win.
A really good main event and the crowd was very into Starr potentially being a double champion. After the match, Suzuki-gun attacked Ishii and Sabre announced that he never got his rematch from when Ishii beat him for the title back in April. Sabre will get his rematch at Wrestle Kingdom 13. The crowd loved this announcement — it almost made up for Starr not winning.
Final thoughts —
This was an excellent show from top to bottom, with every match ranging from good to incredible. RevPro is often criticized for being all in-ring and no story, but they did very well to combat that at this show. The three big angles were really well booked and will lead to other matches down the line, with the Ospreay/Taichi stuff and Sabre/Ishii stuff standing out in terms of story.
The in-ring side was as good as ever, with The McKinnan vs. Bailey match, Phantasmo vs. Desperado, and obviously the main event standing out. The only concern is in the booking decisions. The main criticism of RevPro right now is that the NJPW guys that come over always win, after at Global Wars UK when every New Japan guy won except from against El Phantasmo. This was again the case here.
The WALTER loss hurt, as well as both Starr and Aussie Open losing their title matches. I think most people assumed at least one of Ishii and Suzuki-gun would lose their titles and neither did, which came as a surprise. It does make the RevPro roster look weak if they always lose to NJPW guys and it’s certainly an issue that needs addressing before more of the fan base become angered.
This week in wrestling, PROGRESS hosted Super Strong Style 16, the NJPW Best of the Super Juniors came to a close, the build to WWE Extreme Rules continued, and Minoru Suzuki had a match in an empty Tokyo Dome. Here are our favorite wrestlers this week. Who’s yours?
This week’s panel —
Alan4L (Dr. Keith Presents host and Figure Four Weekly writer)
Liger didn’t get a storybook ending in his “last ever” Best of the Super Juniors tournament. He did, however, gain a very satisfying win over Taichi in his final tournament match, and that makes him my favorite wrestler this week.
Sure, Liger going out strong, perhaps making the finals or even winning, would have been the better story, but who even knows if that’s what he wanted. Maybe his goal was to put the younger guys over in his last BOSJ. Whatever the case, his final match with Taichi was basically storytelling perfection (though it did take quite a while for the faces to make the save).
My distaste for Taichi knows no bounds, but he was booked as a pretty great heel throughout this year’s tournament, getting dubious wins over fan favorites like Will Ospreay, Marty Scurll, and Dragon Lee with the help of Suzuki-gun. He even had what is possibly the first match of his that I’ve legitimately enjoyed early in the tournament with Taka Michinoku. Taichi was booked as the perfect piece of s**t heel for Liger to overcome.
And overcome he did. After getting his costume and mask cut to shreds and beat on by Taichi and Suzuki-gun, Liger fought back with the help of KUSHIDA and Taguchi to become triumphant. It was simple, classic storytelling and I ate up every second of it.
David Starr
By Alan Boon
The obvious answer to “Who is your favorite wrestler this week?” would be Travis Banks. The Kiwi continued his ascension to the top of the PROGRESS tree by winning Super Strong Style 16, and carried everyone there with him, but I figure I’ll have plenty of chances to write about Travis for this column.
Instead, I want to write about someone who came into SSS16 with possibly the quietest chatter but left having turned the sell-out crowd on all three nights into firm fans.
Your Favorite Wrestler’s Favorite Wrestler, the King of Taunts, The 104 Minute Man — David Starr made an impact right from the time Jim Smallman started listing his nicknames (he has loads), even if he was shorn of his usual theme music by PROGRESS’ march towards respectability. He then put on a variety of performances, from hard-hitting strong style to out-and-out comedy, winning over even the staunchest doubter (I’m looking at you, my pal Chris) and earning a “Please come back!” chant for his efforts.
To those of us who have been watching Starr in CZW, wXw, RevPro, and so many others this year, this comes as no surprise. He’s been having top matches with top guys, and being one of the more fully-rounded professional wrestlers you’ll ever see. He’s a semi-regular visitor to the UK, where he works for Fight Club: PRO (as well as PROGRESS and RevPro), a solid part of the wXw roster in Germany, and works all over the north east and mid-west in the US.
At 26, and with two of his mentors either in WWE or WWE-bound, his upside is huge. Get on board the Starrship.
Trent Seven
By Mike DellaCamera
The only member of British Strong Style yet to hold the WWE UK Championship is my favorite wrestler this week. Sure, he lost to Matt Riddle in six seconds and was “affectionately” called Trent Six at PROGRESS over the weekend, but Seven is, arguably, the backbone of BSS. Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate get the headlines and most of the spotlight, but Trent is the one who makes the group work.
His mic work is quite far ahead of the other two, which is clearly why they let him carry most of the promos. It’s funny because I am not a fan of facial hair being a gimmick in wrestling, but as soon as Moustache Mountain became BSS everything changed. The “new” Trent Seven wasn’t about smiling and twirling his mustache, he was about beating people up and taking belts — all while being pretty damn good at this wrestling thing.
I do want to take a second to shout out his hair, which is either the best or second best (sup Matt Sydal) in all of wrestling. I mean come on, look at that moss. It is beautiful and perfect and why can’t I have hair like that?
KUSHIDA
By Alan4L
As he heads into his third Best of the Super Juniors final, KUSHIDA has already proven once again that he is one of the best in the game right now. He has had a sublime tournament with his bouts against BUSHI and Ryusuke Taguchi in particular standing out as two of the best junior class matches of 2017.
He’s always been technically sound, but his charisma is vastly underrated and his ability to convey grit, determination, and heart in his matches is on a level that few can lay claim to. By the time you read this it’s very possible he’s chalked up yet another classic with Will Ospreay (Editor’s note: confirmed). KUSHIDA is one of those gifts that keeps on giving — a true pro wrestling treasure.
I don’t know about you, but as much as I enjoyed Kazuchika Okada vs. Katsuyori Shibata from Sakura Genesis, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed that Okada retained the title. As great as Okada’s matches and title defenses have been, I’m ready for a new champion, and Shibata is just as deserving as anyone else. He’s been so good for so long, but hasn’t had too many shots at New Japan’s top title.
Unfortunately, that may have been his last one. The post-match buzz I get after watching something great in the ring soon turned to concern when I read that Shibata was hospitalized after the match due to an injury which he received from a sickening, and unnecessary, headbutt spot. But that concern quickly turned to relief with a dash of mild annoyance when reports came in that it was simply a work to get over the physicality of the match.
I don’t mind when wrestling blurs the line between a work and reality. In fact, it usually makes for good television. But hearing news that a wrestler has suffered a subdural hematoma only for it to turn out to be false, well, I guess that’s where I draw the line.
But as this rollercoaster ride of a story continues, word is that Shibata’s injury and hospitalization wasn’t a work after all, and it’s actually worse than first expected. Shibata reportedly suffered from dehydration as well as the head injury, and had some paralysis to his right side. The crushing blow is that it’s believed Shibata won’t be cleared to wrestle again.
I know I just complained about using a performer’s health for a work, but I’d happily accept that if it meant this news wasn’t true. First Tomoaki Honma, now Shibata. The careers of two of pro wrestling’s modern greats are now in serious jeopardy.
I don’t know if Shibata’s headbutt was solely responsible for the damage, or know for sure if the injury was real, though at this stage it unfortunately appears to be. Either way, New Japan has got to put an end to those unprotected, skull-on-skull headbutts. Simply put, they’re not worth it.
Atlantis
By Chris Aiken
My favorite this week is a luchador that is indeed an actual living legend. Atlantis first debuted in the early 1980s. His lengthy career continues to this day where he headlines the Friday night card at Arena Mexico challenging Ultimo Guerrero for the NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship.
Atlantis finds himself in a familiar position as part of a title match. He recently tweeted a photo of himself holding the first title he captured back in 1984.
In one of his many main event matches at Arena Mexico, Atlantis defeated Guerrero to take his mask at the annual CMLL anniversary show in 2014. They renewed their rivalry ahead of Atlantis issuing a verbal challenge last Friday, wanting a title match with Guerrero. Title matches are still relatively protected in Mexico, and such attractions take place much more sparingly as compared to pro wrestling in the United States.
Moreover, Atlantis is far from a nostalgia act as the challenger. While the nostalgic factor does play a large part in his enduring popularity, Atlantis still performs at a top level.
Nonetheless, this could be the last challenge by Atlantis for a singles title in the main event at Arena Mexico as he inches closer to the end of a career he began decades ago. The storied career of Atlantis has already spanned three decades. At some point every luchador or wrestler eventually does the job for father time.
The Undertaker most recently left his gloves and gear in the ring to signify the end of his career. Yet Atlantis debuted several years before Undertaker, and Atlantis is seemingly still going strong. He could even main event another anniversary show in Arena Mexico before he retires.
Dylan Miley
By Jeremy Peeples
It’s been a big couple of weeks for NXT, and yet despite things like new championships being unveiled at TakeOver and Shinsuke Nakamura getting a fantastic sendoff, my big takeaway from NXT this week was that WWE has something in Dylan Miley.
On the surface, he looks like a big bald dude — but he’s got tremendous facial expressions and a giant beard and gives off an intimidating aura. He worked against DIY, which I’m sure didn’t hurt him, but he looked like an absolute beast tossing them around before finally beating up his partner.
He used basic stuff, but done in a different way. He used a backbreaker, but made sure his knee brace hit the ribs to add a bit more damage before also hitting a rewind powerslam off of it.
He came out of nowhere for me and made a fantastic first impression. I don’t see “top of the brand” heel in him, but as a constant thorn in the side of a babyface NXT Champion, he has real potential to shine if put in the right spot on the card.
David Starr
By Mike DellaCamera
I haven’t seen a ton of wrestling this week, due to “real life” getting in the way, so I’ll use this space to talk about someone that I’ve been enjoying for quite a while now, David Starr.
The Cream in Your Coffee, Your Favorite Wrestler’s Favorite Wrestler, The Jewish Cannon, The Physical Embodiment of Charisma, The Most Entertaining Man in Pro Wrestling, Mr. Americanrana, Davey Wrestling, The 104 Minute Man, The Main Event, The King of Taunts is deserving of all these nicknames — and probably more.
The former wXw Shotgun Champion is one of the more versatile and impressive wrestlers on the independent scene. The ability to work any style of match, and do it well, is typically a sign of someone who has an enormously bright future. Recently, his champion vs. champion match with Matt Riddle in CZW was a great, short sprint, and his anything goes match with Joey Janela at Beyond Wrestling back in January was out of control and fantastic — I was there for that match and can’t recommend it enough.
Wrestling acumen aside, Starr is fairly outspoken about equality not just in wrestling, but in every aspect of life. He has spoken about the anti-Semitic things that have been said/done to him over his years as a performer. The use of his platform as a public figure to speak out against inequality is something that deserves praise and more attention than it gets.
Zack Sabre Jr., someone who feels like a fixture in this column, said after winning the EVOLVE title, “Pro wrestling is for everyone. We welcome everyone. We do not discriminate. The Earth is for everyone and professional wrestling is for everyone.” Here’s hoping more wrestlers do what ZSJ and David Starr are doing.
