BRM Reviews wXw World Tag Team Festival 2019: Night 1

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews wXw World Tag Team Festival 2019: Night 1

Post by Big Red Machine » Oct 22nd, '19, 17:06

wXw World Tag Team Festival 2019: Night 1 (10/4/2019)- Oberhausen, Germany


OFFICIAL TOURNAMENT PICTURE-TAKING- I’ve never been a fan of this sort of thing because there are certain people who shouldn’t be able to be in the ring together right now without a confrontation. In this case it’s Lucky Kid and Purge Club.

WORLD TAG TEAM FESTIVAL FIRST ROUND MATCH: Pretty Bastards vs. Jay-AA (Jay Skillet & Absolute Andy)- 6.5/10
Today I learned that in wXw it is illegal to drink a refreshment in the middle of a match. This was a fun opener with the right storyline result for several reasons (it establishes the replacement team as worthy of being in the tournament, it sets up for the beginning of possible dissension between Jay-FK and Andy, and there is a lot more storyline potential with Pretty Bastards going farther in the tournament if they turn out to be the ones who have attacked Leon van Gasteren and Julian Pace).

WORLD TAG TEAM FESTIVAL FIRST ROUND MATCH: Purge Club (Pete Bouncer & Ivan Kiev) vs. Schadenfreude (Lucky Kid & Kyle Fletcher)- 6.75/10
This had all of the necessary intensity for the Purge Club vs. Lucky Kid feud and a wonderfully-executed heel finish to keep the heat going. I also like the fact that Schadenfreude losing here keeps the fans from wanting to see Lucky & Fletcher go deep into the tournament, which is the role that seemed to be set up for Schadenfreude’s other, more well-known combination of Aussie Open before Mark Davis’ injury, thus keeping that story alive for next year.

JONATHAN GRESHAM vs. FLAMITA- 8/10
Awesome stuff. Why doesn’t Gresham get a bigger push anywhere?

AVALANCHE & ALEXANDER DEAN BACKSTAGE- good
This was follow-up to a promo Dean cut yesterday at Inner Circle calling Avalanche out. Avalanche is giving him the “you’re a disrespectful young punk” treatment but still managing to come off like a babyface because Dean is such a great provocateur. They agree to wXw Shotgun Title match tomorrow night.

WORLD TAG TEAM FESTIVAL FIRST ROUND MATCH: Work Horsemen (Anthony Henry & J.D. Drake) vs. Anti-Fun Police (Chief Deputy Dunne & Los Federales Santos Jr.)- 3.75/10
This would have been a lot better without the goofy sh*t at the beginning. Alan Counihan puts the Work Horsemen over as baddasses who utterly destroyed Norman Harras last night… and then they come out here and act like Los Federales Santos Jr.’s fingers are a gun.

WORLD TAG TEAM FESTIVAL FIRST ROUND MATCH: David Starr & Norman Harras vs. The Crown- 7/10
I guess Kingston couldn’t make it so Starr gets stuck with a replacement partner. Norman was eager to prove himself though. Unfortunately, things didn’t start well for him, as he was almost pinned seconds into the match after a sneak attack by The Crown. He fought very valiantly, though, eventually becoming one of the first people to ever kick out of Blood Eagle, and then getting the roll-up for what will surely be the biggest upset of the entire tournament.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- GREAT!
Jurn was FURIOUS after the match and the commentators noted that Jurn has turned on every partner he has had in wXw. Jurn grabbed James from behind… and hugged him. And then Alexander James nailed Jurn with an enzulariat. I’m very disappointed that this fantastic heel team has broken up, but the execution here was great.

MIXED TAG TEAM MATCH: Faye Jackson & Mike Schwarz vs. Amale Winchester & Levaniel- 4.25/10
They showed us a clip from earlier today in the ring that set this match up. Levaniel is one of the most entertaining undercard loser heel acts I’ve ever seen. Amale being into him is interesting, and it’s been more than hinted at that she and Director of Sport Karsten Beck are secretly seeing each other and that she has tried to use this fact to get favorable ruling from him.
The match was passable. The babyfaces won.

ARROWS OF HUNGARY VIDEO PACKAGE/PROMO- GREAT!
They’ve finally been chosen for World Tag Team Festival after years of trying and they feel like they need to prove that they belong in wXw.

WORLD TAG TEAM FESTIVAL FIRST ROUND MATCH: Arrows of Hungary vs. Violence is Forever (Dominic Garrini & Kevin Ku)- 6.75/10
That video package gave me a rooting interest here, and thankfully the Arrows of Hungary picked up the win. The general story here was power vs. technique, but there was definitely a sub-theme of the Arrows seeming like they were willing to do anything and fight through anything to prove they belonged. Part of that story was a balcony dive, which, while it fit the story, still required them to be on the outside forever without getting counted out. If you want to do a balcony dive, just do a ref bump first.

WORLD TAG TEAM FESTIVAL FIRST ROUND MATCH: Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan vs. Timothy Thatcher & Veit Muller- 8/10
This right here was a professional fight. They wrestled and they struck each other and they tried to win. That was it. They told a story in there about Veit being the babyface in peril, but it truly felt like a coincidence that there was a story told. Things just happened naturally in an order that happened to tell a story. The only spot I didn’t like was the “fight in a circle” spot.
The finish caught me completely by surprise, as both Veit wanting to win the tournament and being honored to have Thatcher as his partner and Thatcher putting himself through so many extra matches even though he has a title shot on night two were both big stories going into this weekend. My best guess is that Veit could turn heel after so many big disappointments in a row (he just lost a world title match, and now the disappointment of an early exit, plus his idol WALTER not turning out to be the man Veit had hoped), but at this point, my bracket is pretty well busted.


This was a good show from wXw, mixing great in-ring action, big storyline moments, and quite a few booking surprises in along the way. Hopefully they’ll step the in-ring action up for tomorrow night, but for night one this was a worthy performance. I’m almost more interested in the fallout from the big surprises on this show than I am the results of the tournament.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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