16th November, 2013 – wXw 13th Anniversary Tour: Hamburg – Markthalle, Hamburg, Germany

November 16th, 2018 saw the five-year anniversary of one of the most definitive matches in the history of Westside Xtreme Wrestling. Taking place in front of the DAS POWERCROWD in Hamburg – all the stars have aligned for the local heroes in Hot & Spicy to pull off an upset against a team that had been running rough-shed over the rest of the roster for over half a year. Hot & Spicy earned their opportunity by putting on some outstanding performances, but it is actually their first ever title shot since arriving in the Essen promotion. Earlier in the show, two other hometown boys – Maxi Schneider and Michael Schenkenberg – had already lost their respective matches to Karsten Beck and Ilja Dragunov so it was all in the hands of Dieter, Jr. and Da Mack to bring one home for their city.  To add to the moment, Axel Dieter, Sr. is front row to support his son.

Going into the match the roles are very clear; it’s the classic good versus evil bout. It is something you do not see often in wrestling anymore, but wXw seem to thrive on these kind of matches. As always Dieter and Mack are in a hyped mood, but they are visibly more focused than usual. You can already sense it when Dieter goes for the first lock up against Walter, but the advantage is with the big Austrians. It’s clear – if you want to beat the AUTsiders you have to outpace them. Early on we get a glimpse of Hot & Spicy’s agility as they show a high and low combination on Dreissker followed by a double low dropkick. However, the tables are turned very quickly when Dreissker stops Mack with a clothesline and Walter boots Dieter from the apron to the outside. Walter chops the breath out of Da Mack and slaps Dieter right across the face who poetically falls right into the arms of his own father.

Da Mack buys himself some time when he drop kicks Dreissker and goes for the hot tag; Jr. runs wild and puts Dreissker into his place. The challengers try to get the upper hand by tagging in and out very quickly. Dieter aims for Dreissker who is in one of the corners, but he counters with an elbow and Dieter staggers into a clothesline from Walter while he is still on the apron. It is followed by a body avalanche (Hmm…) from Dreissker. The AUTsiders are on top and the fans DO NOT like this.

We all end up on the outside and Axel Dieter, Jr. is launched into the ring post which busts him wide open. There is blood everywhere. The Markthalle is in shock and I still to this day do not know if this was intended or not. I think it most likely was – but the lines between fiction and reality are blurred in this bout. Da Mack comes to the aid of his friend and partner, but gets beaten down and military pressed from the stage onto Dieter. If that was not enough Dieter gets sidewalk slammed through one of the benches they use in the Markthalle. The match took a huge turn here.

Back in the ring Junior is being piled on by the two Austrians – and a Death Valley driver from Walter looks to have it all wrapped up before Mack breaks the cover in the last second. DAS POWERCROWD rise to their feet and sing in unison: “Hamburger Jungs, Hamburger Jungs, wir sind alle Hamburger Jungs!”

Every time Dieter sees a small window to come back into the match he gets beaten down – which further open up the wounds on his forehead. It’s a horrible look. A back suplex attempt from Dieter is turned into a crossbody from Dreissker – who applies a headlock. Junior begins to fade – but he is a warrior. With the last drop of energy in his body he rises and… Back Suplex! Fans cheer as if Hot & Spicy had already won the match – and who am I to blame them? I am on my feet myself! Junior gets the much-needed tag to Da Mack who is firing on all cylinders. He goes for a pinning attempt after a rapid tilt-a-whirl headscissors takedown on Dreissker, but Walter breaks up the cover which brings Dieter back onto the scene. At this point I’m pretty sure his body is working on auto pilot. Meanwhile, Axel Dieter, Sr. is losing his shit on the outside.

It is unbelievable how Dieter is still standing on his own two feet (especially with the amount of blood he has lost). He fires off multiple European uppercuts, but Walter puts a short end to his resurgence when he powerbombs Dieter into the canvas. While his father is running wild on the outside Dieter is put into a Boston crab.

Walter can’t get the maximum amount of grip so he turns the manoeuver into a figure-four leglock where they sit opposite each other and just slap the shit out of each other. One of the slaps from Walter could have easily been the end of it all. Incredible scenes.

Eventually, Dieter gets to the bottom rope, but eats a powerslam from Dreissker shortly after as Walter heads to the top rope. Da Mack attacks Dreissker and grabs the leg of Walter to prevent him from splashing Dieter who stumbles to his feet and joins his tag team partner. Hot & Spicy hit a huge double team gorilla press on Walter. They follow it up with a double suplex on Dreissker onto the other AUTsider. There’s a quick cover – but Dreissker kicks out. Axel flies to the outside with a suicide dive to hold off Walter from getting back to the ring before the hometown boys hit Dreissker with a double enzuigiri. They go for the cover –  1… 2… 3! THE MARKTHALLE ERUPTS!

Walter cannot believe they’ve lost the titles against two underdogs, but the record books have been written. Everyone is on their feet. We get some post-match promo time where Axel Dieter, Jr. says that the first time he saw a wrestling match was actually inside the Markthalle. His father gets also the microphone and says that he is very proud of his son and he is the future of the business. This is definitely one of the most heartfelt moments in the history of wXw.

More than anything – this match paved the way for what wXw is today. It is the root for all that and more.

We have the up and comers against the established champions. We have the hometown boys against gargantuan monsters of men. You cannot always dictate crowd reactions, but when a special scenario like this falls into the their lap wXw are better than everyone. wXw had great matches before this, but this match was the one where international interest began to increase majorly.

It is also the birth of DAS POWERCROWD in Hamburg – they’d had two shows before – the first featuring an absolute barnstormer from Walter and Sabre Jr.

This third show – and the atmosphere that came with it – made Hamburg the killer town for wXw and now we are at well over 20 shows in Hamburg.

Last but not least we got a glimpse of what the future will bring for wXw. Hot & Spicy showed a lot of potential five years ago and lived up to it, but they took a path few would have predicted back in November 2013. Da Mack has proven himself as one of Germany’s best character wrestlers with his work with RISE as well as impressing in WWE’s inaugural Cruiserweight Classic. Axel Dieter, Jr. is now double the size he was back then and an established roster member with WWE NXT. Robert Dreissker had some up and downs to be honest, but found his mold as Avalanche and could (and should) be the ace of wXw now and into the future. Finally, WALTER became the final boss of independent wrestling – not just in Europe, but worldwide and is seemingly on an even more exciting journey if recent reports are to be believed.

Walter. Dreissker. Mack. Dieter, Jr.

They are the Four Horsemen of wXw.

 

✏️ @Spoilex16

wXw 13th Anniversary Tour: Hamburg is available on wXwNOW:

🇩🇪 https://www.wxwnow.com/en/events/wxw-13th-anniversary-tour-2013-hamburg