Tag: Germany

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)

1. Julian Pace pinned Rust Taylor (9:22) after a Best Moonsault Ever
2. 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.
3. Marius Al-Ani beat Rotation, Hektor and Vertigo in a four-way (4:24), pinning Vertigo after a Diamond Driver
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Shigehiro Irie defeated Scotty Davis (8:30) after hitting the Beast Bomber.
7. 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.