BRM Reviews wXw World Tag Team League 2017: Day 1 (GREAT!)

[Big Red Machine]

wXw World Tag Team League 2017: Day 1 (10/6/2017)- Oberhausen, Germany

BLOCK B MATCH: EYFBO vs. The Rottweilers (Homicide & Low Ki)- 6.75/10
It’s so great to see Homicide and Low Ki teaming together in a high-profile match again. They’ve both definitely still got some juice left in them (especially Ki) so I’d love to see them staying around the indy scene but picking their spots for as long as they can make it. EYFBO actually looked up to the Rottweilers early on and Homicide was one of their mentors, but they definitely didn’t back down from the two indy legends, and actually picked up the upset win in an exciting showcase match.

BLOCK A MATCH: The Young Lions (Lucky Kid & Tarkan Aslan) vs. The Spirit Squad (Mikey & Kenny)- 2/10
I’m extremely disappointed that the Spirit Squad and the Rottweilers aren’t in the same block, because nothing would make me happier than seeing Low Ki kick the living sh*t out of Mike Mondo. This started out with dumb comedy, then progressed to boring wrestling before finally achieving some level of tolerability in the last few minutes. At least the Spirit Squad lost. Kenny was attended to by medical personnel after the match.

DA MACK vs. JULIAN NERO- no rating, good segment.
We got a good video package to bring us up to date on the story, complete with English subtitles. The gist of it was that Nero played off of some insecurities Da Mack has been having after a string of losses to recruit him as a client with the promise of helping him regain the wXw Shotgun Title, but it was really a plan to set Da Mack up as a tomato can for his pal, Robert Dreissker in a #1 contendership match. Da Mack found out about it, and now he wants this match to prove to Nero that he’s not just a tomato can.
They did some good bigger heel vs. small babyface stuff for a bit until Da Mack made a short comeback but missed his big high risk move. This allowed Nero to hit a Bombs Away Knee Drop and get the pin, although Da Mack kicked out just a split second too late. This was a good, creative way to give Da Mack something while still having him lose clean so it still feels like he has a lot more to achieve, so they can get a bit more mileage out of this feud. Good booking.

BLOCK A MATCH: A4 (Absolute Andy & Marius Al-Ani) vs. Massive Product (David Starr & Jurn Simmons)- 8/10
Before the match A4 cut a promo while dressed in Batman and Robin masks and capes, plus t-shirts that said “Batmandy” and “Robinani” on them, all in white (aside from the lettering of course, with Andy talking in a very deep voice and Al-Ani talking in a very high-pitched one. Then they came out to the ring dressed like this. I think they’re on drugs. They eventually took their masks off and everyone sold it as if it was this big shock. I hate this sort of sh*t so much.
Once the match started it was all serious, though, and this was seriously awesome. The stuff between the three larger men was definitely the highlight, but Starr definitely held up his end of the bargain as well. The last three minutes or so were pretty nuts, especially the finish.

wXw SHOTGUN TITLE MATCH: Ivan Kiev(c) vs. “The Avalanche” Robert Dreissker- 6/10
The story of this match was Dreissker’s size advantage, which Kiev’s plan to overcome relied on using help from his RISE cohort Pete Bouncer. The plan was almost a total failure, as Dreissker thwarted almost everything they tried, and the only way Kiev was able to salvage anything from this match was to have Bouncer cause a DQ when Dreissker had him pinned after hitting him with the Boulder Dash.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT-GREAT!
All of RISE came out to beat Dreissker down. Dreissker’s friend Julian Nero came out to make the save but by that point Dreissker had already been dispatched, so Nero was essentially running into a five-on-one. RISE made quick work of him and were preparing to put him down the same way they had just done to Dreissker- two guys holding his arms to immobilize him while John Klinger nailed him with a title belt- but Ilja Dragunov, Klinger’s challenger tomorrow night as well as Dreissker and Nero’s former stablemate in Cerberus (although that partnership did not end amicably), came out to make the save, taking on all of RISE by himself and coming out on top! Dragunov then cut what the announcers told me was a big babyface promo saying he would win the wXw Unified World Wrestling Title from Klinger tomorrow.

BLOCK B MATCH: The Briscoes vs. Ringkampf (Timothy Thatcher & WALTER)- 8.5/10
The best way to describe this match would be “sporting but mean.” There was no real malicious intent here, but these are just two mean teams facing off in a match where both want to win very badly in order to get this short tournament off on the right foot. Props are also due to the crowd. It’s always electric whenever the Briscoes wrestle overseas due to how rarely they do so, but this wXw crowd was hot for the Briscoes in a babyface way, but still made it clear that their home promotion guys were their favorites. It was a very fun atmosphere.

A GREAT show from wXw! The thing that drew me to this tournament was the fresh match-ups they created with their specific choices of outside talent, but as usually happens when I poke my head into wXw for a random tournament, it’s the booking of the wXw core group that leaves me wanting to see the next show.