BRM Reviews wXw We Love Wrestling #16

[Big Red Machine]

wXw We Love Wrestling #16 (6/18/2021)- Oberhausen, Germany


ROTT & FLOTT INTERVIEW- good
I really hate the “there is a conspiracy against me!” character, but Schenkeberg did a great job of using it to complain about being cheated while remaining a heel.

NIKITA CHARISMA (w/Michael Schenkenberg) vs. DOVER (w/Icarus)- 4.5/10
Charisma charged right at Dover the moment the bell rang, treating this like a grudge match. It didn’t do much for him, though, as Dover controlled most of the match. The finish saw Dover try to cheat by hitting Charisma with his entrance mask, but Nikita ducked it and took advantage of the referee being distracted to kick him in the nuts. Nikita then won via roll-up.

ANDY JACKSON INTERVIEWS THE ARROWS OF DOVER- good
Andy asks them why they tried to cheat when Dover was dominating the match and they didn’t need to. They had no answer, and just left. I fully expect them to go through with this heel turn, but this is a good way to at least delay it, if not actually make it bigger when it happens by having Avalanche lecture them again and having them pretend to see the error of their ways and regain his trust before cheating to take the titles from Anil and Avalanche at some point down the road.

EARLIER TODAY, ANDY JACKSON INTERVIEWS DENNIS “CASH” DULLNIG- meh
Dennis is once again certain that Hektor Invictus will be with him in spirit tonight. He says he is going to avenge his previous loss to Norman Harras tonight.

DAN INTERVIEWS NORMAN HARRAS- good
This gave us some good insight into Norman’s mindset. He realizes that he is slipping and is trying to put on a good face, but he is so focused on his fall from grace and his need to regain the Shotgun Title that you worry he is going to become dangerous, especially if he begins to fail again. Maybe to himself, maybe to others, or maybe to both.

DENNIS “CASH” DULLNIG vs. NORMAN HARRAS- 4.5/10
Yeah, Norman’s confidence is completely shot. Needing the referee’s help to get out of his ring jacket was a great little touch to show us that something is not right with him.
They told a good little story with Norman’s confidence going up and down based on how he was doing. Norman had won their previous match by pulling Dullnig’s tights on a pin, so this time Dullnig had a second pair of tights on and Norman just yanked the first pair down when he tried to go for a sunset flip. Dullnig hit the shocked Norman with a seated senton, then hit a piledriver for the win. The second pair of tights said “Hektor” on them and looked “distinctly homemade” (to use Dave Bradshaw’s words).

ANDY JACKSON INTERVIEWS DENNIS “CASH” DULLNIG”- fine
He insists that he has made Hektor proud by winning.

DAN INTERVIEWS TEAM wXw WRESTLING ACADEMY- fine
Avalanche did all the talking. He said that all he was doing last week was making his opinion known to the Arrows of Hungary about their cheating. He said this that their opponents tonight were up-and-comers who would surely give it their all and try to outdo each other, but he was certain he and Anil would win.

ENDER KARA & PARIS BALLIS vs. TEAM wXw WRESTLING ACADEMY (“The Avalanche” Robert Dreissker & Anil Marik)- 6.5/10
This was good. Paris and Kara didn’t get along, each tagging in when the other didn’t want. For the finish, we got the reverse of it when Paris started doing poorly and tagged Kara in when Kara wasn’t ready, and Kara was soon obliterated by the tag champs, with a pin coming after an assisted facebreaker and a TERRIFYING Blue Thunder Bomb.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- good
Kara and Paris argued at ringside and got into a shoving match, each blaming the other for the loss. Paris tried to establish that Kara was the weak link by saying that he has won a match in wXw but Kara hasn’t. Kara pointed out that they actually both have one win, though Kara’s was back in 2020. He said he wants his first win of 2021 to be against Paris, and he challenged him to a match next week. Paris accepted. After a commercial break, we would learn that that match was made official for Fans Appreciation Night 2021: Night 1.

DAN INTERVIEWS ROTT & FLOTT- meh
They’re coming across as a little too delusional about where they stand in the company.

ICARUS (w/Dover) vs. MICHAEL SCHENKENBERG (w/Nikita Charisma)- 5/10
Icarus tried to use the mask as a weapon but got foiled… but then, moments later, he was able to lock in the Heart of Europe for the win. Icarus and Dover had a little exchange afterwards suggesting that Dover still thinks cheating is the way to go to succeed but Icarus isn’t so sure anymore.

ANDY JACKSON INTERVIEWS BABY ALLISON & VINCENT HEISENBERG- decent heel stuff building up their feud with Senza Volto and Aigle Blanc.

IVA KOLASKY & PETER TIHANYI vs. BABY ALLISON & VINCENT HEISENBERG (w/Maggot)- 4/10
A solid win for the heels.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- EXCELLENT!
Vincent Heisenberg attacks Tihanyi after the match, and just like last week with Levaniel, Aigle Blanc and Senza Volto came out to make the save…only this time the heels were counting on it, as Maggot is healthy now (if his injury was ever real in the first place, although I’d hope wXw got an actual doctor’s note from him) and was about to attack them with hit crutch… except that he got caught and had to back off… but that distraction allowed Baby Allison to slip into the ring and hit the babyfaces in nuts. The heels beat them down and went for their masks until security came out to pull them off. After a commercial break we were told that the big hair vs. mask match \that was postponed due to Maggot’s “injury” has been booked for next week at Fans Appreciation Night 2021: Night 1.

wXw SHOTGUN TITLE MATCH: Prince Ahura(c) vs. The Rotation- 6.75/10
Really great personality stuff early on, and a very exciting match, even knowing that there was no way the title was going to change hands. Very good for the time it got.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- great!
Ahuta cut a cocky promo, and then it was time to draw the lottery ball to see who his next challenger would be. At this point Norman Harras stumbled out, looking all disheveled again. He said that Ahura had offered last week to let him draw the ball after his next defense (which Ahura had done, albeit as a way of mocking Norman). I was certain that Norman was going to cheat in some way and make sure he picked his own name (and I’m sure he tried to get as good of a look as possible) and he picked one of the balls and got all excited, and held it up for the camera… and then Andy told him he had picked Levaniel. The combination of Andy’s genuine excitement (it’s that special kind where you know his job is to be a hype-man but he comes off so genuine that you accept it) and Norman’s crestfallen look were tremendous. Ahura resumed making fun of Norman, then cut a great promo on Levaniel as well.

wXw UNIFIED WORLD WRESTLING TITLE MATCH CONTRACT SIGNING- fine
Why do we need a weigh-in for a title that doesn’t have a weight requirement? Hell, the “Unified” in this title’s name comes from the fact that it was the result of the wXw Heavyweight Title being unified with the wXw World Lightweight Title. It shouldn’t matter one bit what anyone’s weight is!
Anyway, weighing happens, then the guys cut promos on each other. Marius blew Archer away, as you would expect. He even cut a better promo in English than Archer did, and Marius usually cuts his promos in German. Archer comes across like an overconfident midcarder and feels like he’s totally out of his league against Marius and doesn’t even know it.
They started shoving each other, but Dan the interviewer got between them. The contract was signed, and then we took the official photo. These two did a great job of bothering each other and making you feel like violence could break out at any moment if either guy pushed the other’s buttons just one time too many. Take notes, Cody. That’s how you do one of these things right (other than the weighing part. That was just as dumb a when you did it).

This was a good go-home show from wXw, putting several matches on the board for the two Fans Appreciation Night shows. In addition, we got some good story-telling outings, and a very good main event (especially for the time it got), and took the Arrows of Hungary’s story in an interesting direction. Good stuff. Let’s hope the Fans Appreciation Night shows can deliver on the foundation that this show built.