BRM Reviews wXw Shotgun 2020, episode 5 (7/3/2020)

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews wXw Shotgun 2020, episode 5 (7/3/2020)

Post by Big Red Machine » Aug 29th, '20, 19:48

We open with an announcement about the fallout of the #SpeakingOut movement on wXw. Julian Pace and Jay Skillet have both been fired. Because Pace was involved in a major part of the remaining episodes, they have cut him out, but this has also resulted in a lot of the footage involving Bobby Gunns and Pretty Bastards being cut as well.


OPENING BIT- not so good… but also confusing
Mike Schwarz gives Alpha Kevin some grilled chicken because it’s good protein. He then leaves to go buy beer because he’s Mike Schwarz and that’s what he does.
Melanie Gray shows up, startling Kevin. She complains about him eating chicken again. He tells her about Ezel jumping him, but he’s talking as if it had just happened rather than the two weeks ago I assume it happened because that’s when this aired.
As if on cue, Abdul and Aytac show up again. They put a cloth bag over Mella’s head which apparently incapacitates this former multiple-time wXw Women’s Champion. Kevin is okay fighting the one on his own, but the other jumps in, he gets beaten up.

BABY ALLISON vs. KILLER KELLY- no rating, fine segment
The story here was that Kelly was in a bad mood, so whenever Baby Allison started up with her weird, sexualized licking bullsh*t, Kelly got angry started to beat the sh*t out of her. They did this enough times to get their point across and allowed Baby Allison to have a little bit of credibility (although just sitting there in the begging and letter herself get soccer-kicked worked against that) before going home.

AVALANCHE GIVES HEISENBERG ADVICE FOR HIS MATCH AGAINST MARIUS AL-ANI NEXT WEEK- good
They’re establishing a real mentor student relationship here between Avalanche and these youngsters. He advices Heisenberg not to try to match cardio with Marius, but rather to try to use his strength advantage to put him away quickly.

DAS HIMMELSCHLOSS WITH SPECIAL GUEST MELANIE GRAY- bad
Both Alpha Lovers were supposed to be guests but Kevin was injured by the assault we saw earlier. Levaniel asks Melanie how she is doing, to which Melanie responds (paraphrasing) “I saw some goons beat my husband up earlier today, so I’m not doing well.” Levaniel then says (again, paraphrasing) “I don’t want to minimize your emotions, but the last time we were against each other, Kevin hit me and it hurt, so (this last part isn’t paraphrasing) he had this coming. Moving on…” TREMENDOUS!
Levaniel asks Melanie is she needs “support” and if Kevin’s injuries mean he is no longer able to take care of Melanie. He’s such a great scuzzbag. Melanie says that the EMTs are still working on him. Levaniel suggests that she try to get revenge, on Ezel for attacking Kevin.
Mike Schwarz comes out with schnapps for everyone to drink. Levaniel doesn’t want to, but gives in to peer pressure. Levaniel pretends to like the schnapps, even though the face he made while drinking it indicates otherwise. Melanie did not like it, and outright said it made her eyes start tearing up. Levaniel asks for us to “cut to commercials, please,” and we do.
When we come back, Schwarz wants Levaniel to drink more. Something was said which caused the subtitles to add the parenthetical note “(sounds way better in German. We promise). Whatever this was, it also made Melanie start laughing. Schwarz got Levaniel to drunk more, putting him in the “I love you, bro” phase. Melanie tells Schwarz to stop getting Levaniel drunk.
Schwarz then cut a promo on Ezel, challenging them to a tag team match whenever Kevin is medically cleared. Melanie has her hands out, ready to catch Levaniel if he starts to fall backwards off his stool. Levaniel asks to drink some more. Schwarz agrees. After another commercial, we saw Levaniel turning into an angry drunk and shoving Schwarz, so Schwarz chokeslammed him.
I hated this segment. It went on forever, and Schwarz came off a bit like a bully. And for what? To set up a Schwarz vs. Levaniel match? That’s probably not going to be very good, and everything else that was necessary in this segment (the update on Kevin’s condition and Schwarz’s challenge to Ezel) could have been done in a backstage interview.

THE FINISH OF THE TAG TITLE MATCH- My guess from last week was wrong and Levaniel was not Andy’s tag partner. Instead it was Julian Pace, so they only showed us the finish of this match, where they didn’t have to show Pace at all. Said finish was Maggot countering an attempted F-5 by Andy into a small package to regain the titles. Even without knowing what we know now about Pace, that seems like the right call, as you get the belts onto a team for whom both members are able to be here, and you pin one of the rightful champions rather than the replacement partner to make the switch feel more legitimate.


This was definitely the worst episode of Shotgun 2020 so far, and not just because we only got one match. The big strike against it was really that Himmelschloss segment.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

Upcoming Reviews:
FIP in 2005
ROH Validation
PWG All-Star Weekend V: Night 2
DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3

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Re: BRM Reviews wXw Shotgun 2020, episode 5 (6/26/2020)

Post by cero2k » Aug 29th, '20, 21:00

Hey, read my private messages! Are these like tv shows? do you want them on the main site?
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Big Red Machine
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Re: BRM Reviews wXw Shotgun 2020, episode 5 (6/26/2020)

Post by Big Red Machine » Aug 29th, '20, 22:38

cero2k wrote: Aug 29th, '20, 21:00 Hey, read my private messages! Are these like tv shows? do you want them on the main site?
Sorry, Boss. I never got a PM.

These are like TVs shows. They're all under fifty minutes (although episode 1 of season 2 appears to be 2 hours). I'd say for the first season (first ten episodes- I'll start labeling season 2 as Season 2, Episode X) they can just sit here. Named shows (like Shortcut to the Top, can still go on the front page as usual.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

Upcoming Reviews:
FIP in 2005
ROH Validation
PWG All-Star Weekend V: Night 2
DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3

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