BRM Reviews wXw We Love Wrestling #10: Slam in den Mai (4/30/2021)

[Big Red Machine]

wXw We Love Wrestling #10: Slam in den Mai (4/30/2021)- Oberhausen, Germany


MICHAEL KNIGHT INTERVIEW (sorry, I don’t remember the name of the tall interviewer guy)- meh

wXw SHOTGUN TITLE MATCH: Norman Harras(c) vs. Michael Knight- 4.25/10
Harras won a short match cleanly.

ANDY JACKSON INTERVIEWS NORMAN HARRAS- very good
Norman and Andy have great chemistry. I don’t think any other pair would be able to get over the fact that Norman has now won cleanly twice in a row without actually outright saying it the way these two did. Norman’s next challenger will be Gulyas Junior. Norman is dismissive, as am I.

MAGGOT & FRIENDS VS. TEAM FRANCE ANGLE- tremendous!
Because Aigle Blanc ran to the back and lost by count-out after Baby Allison pulled off his mask last week, a rematch has been signed for tonight, but we are told that neither he nor his mask have been seen, so the match won’t take place. Maggot comes out and says that Aigle Blanc is here, and out comes Heisenberg carrying an unconscious person who is clearly not Aigle Blanc wearing the Aigle Blanc mask (we would later be told that it was wXw Wrestling Academy student Feyyaz, who was the guy polishing Marius’ trophy last week). Heisenberg dumped him into the ring and Baby Allison played referee while Maggot pinned “Aigle Blanc.”
They took his mask off and celebrate with it until Aigle Blanc’s tag team partner Senza Volto came out and dropkicked Heisenberg, then demanded the mask. Maggot wouldn’t give it to him, so they brawled. Senza was able to get the best of Maggot and toss Baby Allison off of him when he jumped on his back, but Heisenberg took him out with his finisher. Baby Allison then locked him in a submission hold and Maggot took Senza’s mask, too. Senza ran to the back while the dastardly heels celebrated, culminating in Maggot sticking both masks down his pants. I’m so sad that they couldn’t do this in front of a full crowd. It would have been amazing.
In an interesting note, while Maggot and Baby Allison are always animated, Heisenberg is… not quite stoic, but almost seems kind of depressed. Maybe he’s having second thoughts about joining this group?

PETER TIHANYI vs. LEVANIEL- 4/10
Levaniel won a short match cleanly.

ANDY JACKSON INTERVIEWS LEVANIEL- fine babyface stuff from Levaniel


They teased a big announcement next week about an SL Wrestling event.

HEKTOR INVICTUS & DENNIS “CASH” DULLNIG INTERVIEW- decent
The point here is that these two are not getting along at all.

LEON VAN GASTEREN & TIM STUBING INTERVIEW- fine
To contrast, this teacher/student duo is very much on the same page. Stubing needs to learnt to emote better.

LEON VAN GASTEREN & TIM STUBING vs. HEKTOR INVICTUS & DENNIS “CASH” DULLNIG- 5.75/10
This was decent wrestling that was essentially serving as a background for the story they wanted to tell with Hektor and Dennis to set up the finish. Basically, Hektor has this flag he carries around with him with his own logo or coat of arms or whatever. During the match, Dullnig picked it up and started waving it to cheer him on (which the referee really shouldn’t have allowed, even if Dennis wasn’t the legal man). For the finish, Dennis brought the flag into the ring. Hektor came off the apron trying to stop him, but the referee only saw Hektor getting into the ring, so he went to intercept him, allowing Dullnig to hit Leon with the flag, knocking him out. When Dennis discarded the flagpole (the flag had since come off of it) Hektor went to get it, and the referee turned around to see Dennis pinning the unconscious Leon for the win. This was a good twist on the usual where situation of the babyface inadvertently distracting the referee and thus allowing the heel to cheat.

ANDY JACKSON INTERVIEWS HEKTOR INVICTUS & DENNIS “CASH” DULLNIG- mixed
Dennis was happy, but Hektor was angry with him. I’m not an expert on flags (I really mostly know some terms and also American Flag Code), but my understanding is that it’s the flag that’s more important than the pole… but Hektor seems to think it’s the other way around. Hektor seemed irrationally upset here, and I know I’m not the only one who felt this was, because after a while, Dennis flat-out asked why this flag and/or flagpole was so important to Hektor. Hektor had no answer. The emotions and the dynamic here worked very well, but the specifics really needed work. If Hektor had been upset that Dennis’ actions resulted in his flag being thrown on the floor, this would have worked a lot better for me.

TEAM wXw WRESTLING ACADEMY INTERVIEW- fine
A #1 contendership matches has been signed for next week between the Arrows of Hungary and Rott & Flott. Our babyface champions would rather face the Arrows of Hungary because, unlike Rott & Flott, the Arrows of Hungary are honorable wrestlers who don’t cheat.


2 OUT OF 3 FALLS MATCH FOR THE wXw UNIFIED WORLD WRESTLING TITLE: Marius Al-Ani(c) vs. Bobby Gunns- 7.75/10
This was an exciting title match and felt like a big deal, but once again I feel that these guys weren’t given anywhere near enough time. A two out of three falls match for the world title should not go less than nineteen minutes, and especially with the two guys in the company with the biggest gas tanks.
I also have to take issue with the booking here. Marius is on a freakin’ undefeated streak. He shouldn’t be dropping a fall unless it’s absolutely necessary for a story, and this does not seem to be that. This felt like having Bobby tie it up because “that’s what you do in two out of three falls matches in pro wrestling.”
Well guess what? It doesn’t have to be. Yes, Marius is still undefeated, but by having him lose a fall here, you are sacrificing what could have been an important resource; a feather that you could have given someone to put in their cap and elevate them even in a loss to Marius: being the first person to score a fall on him during his streak. That is the sort of accomplishment that takes a midcarder who you think has potential and turns him into an upper-midcarder who, once he his built up to another title shot, would have a real shot at winning the belt (especially if Marius is still the champion). And wXw just wasted that on the guy who needed it the least. Just because “everyone always” has their two out of three falls matches go 2-1 doesn’t mean it’s not better to have yours end 2-0 sometimes (and that’s ignoring the obvious fact that if you zig when people expect you to zag enough times, they’ll start going into these matches not sure what the final score will be, and thus it will make the second fall more exciting).


This was another slightly disappointing show from wXw. It was always going to be a one-match show, but if you’re going to do a one-match show, you need to make sure that match has the time to be what it needs to be, and they didn’t do that here. The angle with Maggot’s group and Team France saves this from being even more disappointing, but wXw NEEDS to start letting their matches deliver again.