A slight change from the usual, our men in the English booth are Christian Michael Jakobi and wXw debutant Andy Jackson.

MATCH 1: wXw World Tag Team Championship:

Jay-FK vs. LAX vs. Monster Consulting

The big shock coming out of Kutenholz a few weeks back was the suspension of ‘Bad Bones’ John Klinger and the subsequent stripping of the titles from RISE. This vacancy led to a three way match between a trio of immensely popular teams – meaning the crowd was very torn on who to cheer for. Monster Consulting entered this match as favourites by virtue of having won the most amount of wXw Tag Team gold as individuals as well as being on good form in the lead up to Dresden.

With the match being fought under tornado rules, the bout was frantic from the opening bell. Much of the match was fought between Monster Consulting and LAX and at no point did Monster Consulting slack behind the Puerto Ricans. Very often when you get fly-ins against domestic workers the gulf in talent is very clear but it’s not the case in this match – Avalanche and Nero could have genuine claims to being among the best tag teams on the planet at this moment and it’s an absolute travesty they aren’t elsewhere. The match was sub-nine minutes but there was enough action here for twenty minutes.

Monster Consulting got the win with their newly-named Final Consultation finishing combination for the win – Avalanche’s ripcord lariat being the final nail in Santana’s coffin. Brilliant stuff to open the show.

MATCH 2: Killer Kelly vs. Audrey Bride

Killer Kelly’s quest to be the best in Europe continues with a matchup with the debuting Audrey Bride – most famous for her appearances in GWF and Hungarian Championship Wrestling (keep your eyes peeled for that on EuroGraps soon!). A lot can be said about the similarities between Kelly and Bride – both coming from similar sized domestic scenes and stepping up into the bright lights of wXw. Only time will tell if Bride can match her Portuguese rival.

Bride definitely struggled on the big stage, with many of her strikes looking unconvincing initially but then again Kelly had a similar problem in her debut appearances for wXw. I think Bride can be potentially as good as Kelly or Gray in wXw – and time on Shotgun or in the Academy would aid her greatly. Kelly eked out the win with a frankly stunning bridging german suplex. Contrary to what I thought might happen, Melanie Gray was nowhere to be seen.

MATCH 3: Da Mack vs. T-K-O

The ‘new’ RISE emerge sans Bones and Bouncer and it appears Da Mack is the de-facto leader. Da Mack’s opponent in this impromptu match is T-K-O – whom is making his feature event debut after being a part of wXw’s live events for the past few months.

There’s not really much to say for the match itself, it’s a little bit of an awkward encounter with Da Mack managing to get the pin in quick fashion, winning clean after hitting the Killswitch – with the debutant T-K-O failing to match Mack.

Following the bell, Bouncer appears on the stage and Mack orders his men to attack him. However, Kid, Aslan and Kiev turn around and chase off Mack – indicating that Mack has been ousted from RISE! Bouncer comes to the ring and embraces with his RISE friends – the OG four are back together again.

MATCH 4: Tables, Ladders and Chairs Match for wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship #1 Contendership:

Absolute Andy vs. Marius Al-Ani

One of wXw’s longest running feuds came to a head in this match – this time with an opportunity at the Grand Prix of professional wrestling on offer in a match which harks back to A4’s first wXw Tag Team Title win in this very building at Broken Rules 2016. Al-Ani emerges and he’s gone full ninja – now sporting a hat channeling Raiden from Mortal Kombat. You never go full ninja.

This match was by far the longest on the card, being just shy of half an hour – but there was plenty of cool spots and lots of stories to be told in this time. The action spilled out of the ring in the early parts of the match, with Al-Ani and Andy battling at ringside. I’d previously said that you never go full ninja – and Al-Ani went even further by brandishing a Japanese style fan. I was ready to shit on this but then Andy goes to the other side of the ring and grabs a wrench. The two circle each other in the ring before Andy swings for Marius’ head – which he ducks and then whacks the veteran in the thigh with the fan before proceeding to batter Andy in the corner of the ring. Much cooler than it had any right to be. 

The match was a complete clash of styles, with Andy taking advantage of the lax rules as much as possible and Al-Ani trying to use his high-flying techniques. Andy gets the upper hand (quite literally) midway through the match when he tapes Marius’ hands behind his back and beats the shit out of him with a chair. Eventually this leads to the spectacular comeback where Al-Ani fights off Andy with no arms – favouring his strong kicking game. Even more incredible is when Marius starts ascending the ladder hands-free – which of course means he can’t collect the contract. Andy gets back into the ring and F5s Al-Ani through a table on the outside – giving the veteran enough time to recapture his valuable contract and keep the meme making community in business for another week. Truly epic.

MATCH 5: wXw Shotgun Championship #1 Contendership:

Ivan Kiev vs. Lucky Kid vs. Alexander James vs. Mark Davis

A last minute change to the card saw Gunns sit this match out due to injury – with the match now for the Shotgun number one contendership instead. RISE’s Ivan Kiev replaces the Bremen man – giving the faction a remarkable advantage in this bout. Kiev and Kid begin the match by going for the weird finger touch thing but they’re both blindsided by Alexander James who has no time for this kind of tomfoolery.

It certainly feels like this was put together at the last moment (I’m not entirely sure when wXw knew about the Gunns injury) as Kiev is merely a passenger in this bout – rather than working alongside Lucky, Kiev is on the receiving end of just as much offence as everyone else. Odd considering RISE had effectively solidified earlier this evening. Much like the tag match that opened True Colors, this was another frantic match which doesn’t stop. In the end, Davis puts away Kiev with the Close Your Eyes and Count To I Can’t Say That On Commentary for the win.

At the end of the match our champion comes out and “congratulates” Davis by lamping him over the head with a bicycle kick before scarpering into the crowd. Gunns and Davis will face off at the next show in Frankfurt.

MATCH 6: wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship:

Ilja Dragunov © vs. WALTER

Here we go again. The two cornerstones of wXw face off in a hotly anticipated rematch from last year’s 16 Carat Gold final – this time however, we’re in Dragunov’s backyard – and the raucous Dresden crowd is fully behind their man. wXw head of talent relations Tassilo Jung announced that two major newspapers and a local TV station had done features on Dragunov’s homecoming – such is the star that he is becoming. It’s unthinkable that someone in the UK would get anything close to this sort of coverage.

Dragunov still looks a mess, with his chest showing unhealed scars from his recent matches in London and Oberhausen. Dragunov can never been accused of a lack of heart, with the Russian storming straight in and trying to chop down the big man. This doesn’t go exactly to plan, and WALTER pastes him to the point where the big Austrian seemingly hurts his hand.

More recent fans of Ring Kampf are conditioned to think that WALTER has always been a wholesome, sporting competitor – but this match saw a more opportunistic and desperate man emerge from the frustration of not being able to put Dragunov away. After the referee is bumped out of the ring by a Torpedo Moskau – the new referee – Mr. Rainer Ringer sprinted to the ring after a WALTER German suplex and powerbomb, but not in enough time to count the Dresden man out. WALTER is absolutely furious at this and gesticulates at the new official. Ringer isn’t taking this and shoves WALTER away after his shirt is grabbed. Big mistake. WALTER replies by booting Ringer in the face, knocking out the second referee. Head official Tassilo Jung arrives at ringside and calls the match off – Dragunov has seemingly retained via disqualification.

Dragunov is too much of an honourable man to retain like this – especially in his hometown – and orders Jung to restart the match. Faced without much of a choice, the official restarts the match and WALTER continues his assault on the Russian. More chops are rained down on him and he’s even thrown into the audience, sending chairs flying. WALTER sends the man back into the ring and slaps the headlock onto Dragunov – however, he’s able to fight out of it with a backdrop. The time is nigh and Dragunov smashes WALTER with the fatal Torpedo Moskau for the 1-2-3. What a battle.