Pro Wrestling has been reaching new heights all over the European continent. With WWE announcing NXT UK, wXw displaying one stellar event after another, GWF taking a more cinematic approach to wrestling, OTT selling out the National Stadium in Dublin or PROGRESS going to Wembley it’s even more important to think outside the box. While most of the attention is drawn to the United Kingdom or Germany people are overlooking some of the unfamiliar terrains of EuroGraps. Promotions all over the continent in places like France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain and some of the lower-league promotions in Germany are investing many resources into their products and keep producing talents on a regular basis.

In the following article I want to take a deeper look into the dark horses of European Wrestling and highlight a few talents and matches that might have slipped under the radar of some people. I’ll start with five matches today and I hope to transform this into a regularity going forward. All of the matches reviewed are available for free by the way.

Michael Schenkenberg vs. Veit Müller
(Maximum Wrestling – 20.01.2018)

The opening contest of my column is a singles match from January of this year. Fans of wXw should know Veit Müller from his appearances on Shotgun, but Michael Schenkenberg isn’t so unfamiliar with wXw despite being one of their top prospects in 2013 and 2014 and having fought in multiple title matches. Müller is a very throwback style of wrestler – harking back to the classical catch wrestlers from Hamburg whilst Schenkenberg is more or less a powerhouse type and is probably best known for being one half of Die Muskelkater with former Nero Consulting protege Toni Harting. Naturally the match starts with some chain wrestling. Michael Schenkenberg is the fan favorite in this one. The atmosphere appeals to be old school. The crowd is not a big fan of Müller, but he likes to take advantage of it and plays with it. They don’t do anything special the first few minutes, but that shouldn’t be emphasised anyway because everything they do seems fluent. First highlight of the match is Schenkenberg lifting up Müller out of an armbar attempt and putting him into the corner despite Müller weighing in at 110 kg. He takes control of the match after setting a trap.

The fans still don’t like him and with some very simple tricks he gets them to hate him even more.
Finally Müller puts on the armbar Schenkenberg escaped from earlier in the match – returning his focus onto the arm. We hit the 10 minute mark when Schenkenberg fights back, but Müller doesn’t give him a moments breath and continues on that arm. Everything makes sense.

Michael Schenkenberg comes back after little help from the referee who’s fed up with Müller’s nonsense who then gets nailed into the canvas with a gourdbuster. However Schenkenberg’s momentum gets curtailed when he’s distracted by the music of the Purge Club (Ivan Kiev & Pete Bouncer) whom he and his tag team partner Toni Harting are feuding with. Veit takes advantage and rolls him up with a handful of tights in 15 minutes.

Justin Sysum vs. Keith Lee
(3 Count Wrestling – 28.01.2018)

One of the rare UK matches I’ll cover, but it’d be little bit unfair to not write about it. Keith Lee is on his last few months on the independent circuit whereas this is my very first Justin Sysum match. On first impressions he has a great look and you can associate him with pro wrestling easily. Sysum is a very muscular guy, but that doesn’t matter in a match against Lee. I notice that is happening in front of a very casual crowd and it’s still crazy to me how big Keith Lee is live in person. Sysum is standing tall at 185 cm and weighing in at 95 kg yet looks like a teenager compared to Lee. However, he shows good fighting spirit by absorbing a lot of punishment. The commentators are also blown away by the size of Keith Lee.

Ten minutes in it seems like Sysum has seen enough and is leaving for the backstage area, but my god, all of a sudden he rushes down the ramp and jumps over the middle rope to overpower Lee with a spear-ish move. I’ve never seen anything like this before. He follows it up by a 450 splash. Out of nowhere the balance has been restored. Sysum hits a huge exploder suplex on NXT’s newest signing for a close two count. The match hits another level when Sysum kicks out of the Spirit Bomb – one of the many great nearfalls. The kids in the audience are fuming. Sysum hits three Germans on Lee but it’s Keith Lee who stands tall after a Ground Zero. I highly recommend this.

Juvenile X vs. Oliver Carter
(Championship of Wrestling – 10.02.2018)

These guys are familiar to people following wXw or GWF and their match is for the vacant cOw Interstate championship. After some technical wrestling it goes to the outside early on. Carter kicks his opponent to the chest and nails a moonsault from the apron. The fans are really into this. Carter goes for a springboard maneuver, but Juvenile X counters with a dangerous dropkick while Carter’s still on the top rope. Going forward X takes control of the match. X stops any comeback attempt from Carter very quickly. Carter reminds me of a young Kofi Kingston and he has the fire to get the fans to cheer him on. It’s pity there’s only one camera angle, but whatever.

Carter hits a rapid knee strike for a nearfall. 10 minutes in it seems like Carter is on the road to victory. X avoids a 450 and puts Carter away with a spinning spinebuster, shades of yer da. They trade moves, but nobody is able to get the upper hand. We get some close nearfalls. Finally Carter makes X tap out in a cobra clutch. Two of the finest up and coming pro wrestlers in Germany at their best.

T-K-O © vs. Senza Volto
(Championship of Wrestling – 10.02.2018)

This one happened at the same show as Carter and Juvenile X, but this time it’s for the cOw/WPWI United title. Split crowd. We get quick technical wrestling from the get-go. First highlight of the match is when TKO elevates with a moonsault to the outside that for some reason only pops half of the crowd. We get another highlight when a rapid exchange of strikes and kicks ends with a lariat by TKO. Later Volto shows off with a beautiful spanish fly and springboard cutter which is then followed by a shooting star press countered into a cutter by TKO. This kind of move always fascinates me and I can’t fathom why. Both are trying to top each other but now it’s Volto’s turn again as he hits a suicida DDT on the floor. Unfortunately, we get a very anticlimactic finish because TKO can’t get back to the ring before the ten count and the fans don’t like it. I would’ve loved to see another five minutes of this as well. Seek this one out.

Jurn Simmons vs. Tristan Archer
(WrestlingKULT – 10.02.2018)

Tristan Archer has been one of the most underrated European wrestlers for years now – having had his brief moment in the sunshine in WWE’s Cruiserweight Classic in 2016. His opponent… I don’t think need to talk about Jurn Simmons, right? I realise this match happened one month before Jurn’s injury and gives us a taste of what could’ve been. Despite his recent character change in wXw, Jurn is still the strong fan favorite in this one. The winner gets a shot at Carnage’s WrestlingKULT title at the upcoming WrestlingKULT does Carat show. Archer can’t get a grip of Simmons and as such Jurn toys with him. Archer needs to rake the eyes of Simmons as an act of desperation in order to get into this match. He begins to dictate the pace of the match when he hits the big Dutchman with a reverse STO into the turnbuckle and follows it up with a knee strike. Archer is an incredibly hate-able human being and he shows it brilliantly in this bout.

Simmons looks like he has it all wrapped up when he hits a superplex followed by a Massive Kick for a nearfall. Archer also nearly grabs the win with a german suplex and lariat combination. Simmons can’t put his opponent away with a gutwrench powerbomb – which offers the opportunity for Archer to counter a tombstone piledriver attempt with a headscissors to the turnbuckle – into a school boy pin for the three.

✏️@Spoilex16

📸 @GDPhotographyDE