BRM Reviews wXw 16 Carat Gold 2023: Night 2 (disappointing)

[Big Red Machine]

wXw 16 Carat Gold 2023: Night 2 (3/11/2023)- Oberhausen, Germany



16 CARAT GOLD TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Shigehiro Irie vs. Tristan Archer- 7.25/10
Irie picks up the win in a great opener, although not the blow-away festival of attempted lariats that I was hoping for when I saw these two matched up against each other.

16 CARAT GOLD TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Komander vs. Ahura- 7/10
They did some good stuff, building up to Komander’s big spots, but I really disliked the finish of Ahura ripping Komander’s mask off. Yes, they built up to that, too, but shouldn’t ripping the mask off be a DQ? If it’s not, that seems like a major flaw in wXw’s rules that should have been corrected by now. Additionally, it’s one of those finishes that feels cheap to me, because if this act is so disrespectful, you’d think the luchador involved would com back looking for revenge, but that almost never happens.
The crowd gave Komander a nice ovation, so that was good.

#1 CONTENDERSHIP GAUNTLET MATCH: Arez & Trey Miguel vs. Elijah Blum & Nick Schreier vs. Maggot & Psycho Mike vs. Zafar Ameen & Rambo (w/Metehan) vs. Rott & Flott- 5/10
The Maggot & Mike vs. Ameen & Rambo match had a botched finish that Metehan’s cheating less relevant. The final segment of Ameen & Rambo vs. Rott & Flott was thus a match-up of two teams of cheating heels, I don’t see how wXw expected fans to care who won. I certainly didn’t.

16 CARAT GOLD TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Axel Tischer vs. Masha Slamovich- 5.75/10
Tischer was the arrogant heel against Slamovich’s smaller babyface, although that didn’t work for me because the visual size difference wasn’t enough to make it feel like Slamovich couldn’t list Tisher up. Tischer got the win by choke-out, and left the hold in afterwards for seemingly no reason.

16 CARAT GOLD TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL MATCH: Francesco Akira vs. Peter Tihanyi- 8/10
Akira kept going for Will Ospreay moves, so I guess someone wants that match built up. Tihanyi picked up the win in a strong performance over a star with a bigger name, which is very important if wXw wants us to think that he has a chance to make it to the finals (and they need us to think that, because he’s the only local babyface left).

wXw SHOTGUN TITLE MATCH: Laurance Roman(c) vs. Davey Richards- 6/10
Roman won with a roll-up and a handful of tights. This only got ten minutes, but it’s still Davey Richards, and if Roman is going to be Shotgun Champion, he needs to do even better. It also would have been nice for Davey to put him over cleanly.

WOMEN’S TITLE VIDEO PACKAGE/ALISS INK PROMO- AWESOME!
“How many hunters does it take to kill a dragon?” Tremendous stuff!

wXw WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH: Aliss Ink(c) vs. Baby Allison vs. Ava Everett vs. Iva Kolasky- 6/10
There were some good ideas here for four-person spots that I hadn’t seen before, but not everything came off the way they wanted it to. I was very disappointed to see Allison win regain the title here, as I thought Aliss was doing an excellent job, and if wXw wants to build this division up, they need to stop bouncing the belt around. The finish does kind of build to an Aliss vs. Allison match, but it will be hard to pull off without making Aliss feel like a sore loser (Aliss hit Kolasky with the Dragon’s Tail, but was then speared by Allison, who then locked Kolasky in the Baby Exorcism for the submission victory).

wXw WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Frenchadors(c) vs. Arrows of Hungary (w/Amboss)- 5.5/10
Robert Dreissker and Laurance Roman initially came to ringside with the Arrows, but then went to the back… and then came out again a few minutes later. I really hope they didn’t just make some deal with Norman Harras.
The Arrows tossing Senza Volto into a Sunset Flip Powerbomb on a hunched over Aigle Blanc was way too hokey for my tastes. I also didn’t believe that a moment later, when Aigle kicked out after being hit with the Crossfire, that it was the first time anyone had ever kicked out of that move. The Arrows have been regulars for years, and were around intermittently before that, and I’ve never known them to have any other finish. And if that really was the first time someone has kicked out of it why the hell would you waste that on a spot just seven minutes into a match that everyone assumes will go a lot longer than seven minutes.
While we’re on the subjects of timing and things I didn’t like, Icarus made a save on a pin SEVEN SECONDS AFTER TAKING A TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER ONTO THE APRON.
Basically, this was a spotty match that didn’t work for me because it was too cutesy at times and because some things looked hokey. The finish was the heels using Driessker’s protective facemask as a weapon. I’m fine with the dirty finish here, as Amboss definitely still has legs even though they took the big loss in the Kafigschlacht, but the Arrows’ promo setting this match up framed it in such a way that them winning cleanly would make the Frenchadors look pretty weak (they pointed out that it took the Frenchadors and a third guy ten minutes to beat just the two of them in the Kafigschlacht after Dreissker had to be removed from the match due to injury), so this does a fine job of protecting the Frenchadors while getting over Amboss’ new weapon at the same time, but with the relatively short length of the match (less than twelve minutes), my intellectual understanding of that doesn’t make the match feel less disappointing.

NO HOLDS BARRED JOB VS. CAREER MATCH: Norman Harras(job as wXw Director of Sport) vs. Bobby Gunns(career)- 4.75/10
This was not originally scheduled as a No Holds Barred match. Norman made it one just before the bell. They brawled for a bit, and Norman attacked the referee for daring to count on him. Eventually Norman’s allies would come out and beat Bobby down and tie him to the ropes. Norman cut a promo on wXw owner Felix Kohlenberg (who was sitting up in the production are), saying that he was the one who was really in charge, not Felix. Jurn Simmons, who had to pulled out of the tournament due to an injury, came out to help Bobby, but he got beaten down, as did all of the other referees. When Bobby would not submit at the threat of continued whippings with a belt, the heels got Jurn threatened to end his career if Bobby wouldn’t submit?
Are Jurn and Bobby friends? They’re allies at this moment, but neither of them is the kind of person who has many friends. Hell, Bobby was in a tag team with Michael Knight named “Only Friends” because the joke was the that they were literally the other one’s only friend.
At this point, predictably, Levaniel showed up to make the save. Where the hell as he been all of this time? He got overwhelmed, too, but then Michael Knight made his big return coming out to turn the tide for the babyfaces. Why the hell has he been all of this time, too?
The heels all got beaten up, but oh no, there are no referees. Levaniel took Felix Schultz’s shirt and Kohlenberg signaled that this would be allowed to count as an official pinfall, and Norman was pinned.
I really hated this. It is yet another example of something I have railed about in AEW recently (or maybe a little in the future, because I’m about six weeks behind on wXw) where segments are booked to maximize the number of big pops you get for a babyface coming out to make save, completely ignoring the logic of where these other babyfaces were before. Instead of each babyface taking a turn running into a four-on-one assault, if they had all come in together, they would have had a much better chance of winning.
This segment also ran afoul of two of my other bugaboos. The first is the owner who doesn’t do anything to correct an ongoing injustice until the big dramatic moment that the storyline calls for it. As I’ve said numerous times, Norman’s machinations have been obvious for months, and he should have been fired long ago (hell, he never should have been given the job in the first place), but even if we ignore that, Kohlenberg should have fired Norman the moment it became obvious that he had no intention of this being a fair fight, and he was abusing his power to end the career of one of the company’s biggest stars. But he just sat there, even as Norman taunted him directly.
The seconds bugaboo of mine that this ran afoul of is where the other babyfaces are. I am willing to give the Frenchadors a pass because they just wrestled, but where are the likes of Fast Time Moodo and Peter Tihanyi. Good upstanding citizens, and people who are far enough above the level of young trainee who could be intimidated by the idea of fighting the boss on matters of principle. Hell, where are Baby Allison and Maggot, who both feel that Norman screwed them out of a championship out of spite? If the injured Jurn is willing to get involved, surely they should be as well. I badly wanted Norman to lose this match, but not in a mess like this.


Despite a strong start, this turned out to be a very disappointing show from wXw because the top of the card just plain didn’t deliver. I have mostly enjoyed the post-CMJ booking regime. wXw has consistently been my favorite promotion since NXT’s decline in 2020, and have been in my top three from the moment I discovered them six years ago this weekend. At this point, though, it has to be said (and I know I’m not the first to say it) that the newer regime has a predilection for overbooking that can be problematic, and the past year has often felt that way. We’re past the point where shifting plans due to the pandemic can be an excuse. Hopefully Norman’s downfall will be the end of it. Hopefully.