BRM Reviews wXw Dead End 2023

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews wXw Dead End 2023

Post by Big Red Machine » Mar 27th, '23, 12:16

wXw Dead End 2023 (1/7/2023)- Hamburg, Germany


AXEL TISCHER vs. LAURANCE ROMAN (w/Amboss)- 7.5/10
We started the year off with a really strong, basic wrestling match. Roman worked over Tischer’s knee. Everyone knew that Tischer was going to win (he’s getting a world title shot next month), but it never felt like I was just sitting there waiting for the inevitable finish. This loss made Roman feel like someone who could be a credible threat to a top guy.
I really liked that there were no post-match shenanigans from Amboss here. Tischer is a product of their generation, and so they don’t treat him the same way they treat the youngsters they are so angry at.

DAN MALLMAN INTERVIEWS AMBOSS- great

ELIJAH BLUM & AIGLE BLANC vs. AMBOSS (Robert Dreissker & Icarus)- 6.5/10
Amboss jumped the bell on the babyfaces. They got the win in eleven minutes without any (other) notable cheating.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- we’ll see where it goes
The rest of Amboss came out and it seemed like they were about to attack the fallen babyfaces when (somehow still) Director of Sport Norman Harras came out and declared that this violence would no longer be tolerated. He ordered all of Amboss to come to his office right away… aside from Dover, because the next match would be…

DOVER vs. PETER TIHANYI- 6.5/10
Dover gets the clean win and works over Tihanyi’s knee. This was a nice, solid win to show that Dover is back at 100% now that he has returned from his arm injury.

DAN MALLMAN INTERVIEWS NORMAN HARRAS- good
Dan’s first question was to ask Norman what he discussed with Amboss. Norman said he couldn’t reveal specifics, but that what Amboss was going to do was not okay and that things had to change.
Dan then asked Norman about him interfering in the Bobby Gunns vs. Metehan 16 Carat Gold Qualifier at wXw 22nd Anniversary at the end of last month. He made an excuse for why he was at the production controls when the lights went out and didn’t take any responsibility for what were clearly nefarious and malicious actions on his part. Dan noted that because of those “technical issues” affecting the outcome of the match, a rematch has been signed for tonight, and the “board of directors” has made the stipulation part of that rematch. Dan asked Norman what he thought about this, and Norman said that it was the right call. He was clearly trying to show remorse (probably fake) without outright admitting to any wrongdoing. He said that because 16 Carat Gold is such a prestigious tournament, he would personally ensure that the rematch has no outside interference of any kind, and he said that he would stake his job on that.
The idea here seems to be that this board of directors is now watching Norman closely. While this is a welcome change to the storyline, I can’t help but ask where this “board of directors” was before this. It’s not like Norman just stared abusing his power at the previous show.

16 CARAT GOLD QUALIFYING MATCH: Bobby Gunns vs. Metehan- 8/10
This was more the match I think we were all expecting last time. This match ended because of interference, too. Metehan’s old running buddy Aytac came out on the stage to try to interfere but Norman Harras stopped him…but while that was happening (and the referee was distracted with it), Rambo came out of the crowd and attacked Gunns. Bobby was able to dispatch him but it bought Metehan time to recover, and to pull off the bottom turnbuckle pad, so that when he dodged Bobby’s attempted Penalty Kick, Bobby kicked the exposed turnbuckle, which allowed Metehan to hit the Evil Eye for the win, ending Bobby Gunns’ winning streak in Hamburg that goes all the way back to 2017. Obviously I’m suspicious of Norman Harras, as everyone should be, but at least now they’re back to giving him some real plausible deniability.

wXw UNIFIED WORLD WRESTLING TITLE MATCH: Levaniel(c) vs. Tristan Archer- 6.5/10
Levaniel cut an excellent babyface promo before the match. This match felt like it was just getting started when Levaniel hit the Galactic Facecrusher out of nowhere and got the win. Announcer Dave Bradshaw pushed this in a way that certainly sets up a story (Archer dominated but Levaniel just needed one mistake to capitalize off of, so either we’ll be getting rage and fury from Archer or the Galactic Facecrusher getting pushed like the RKO…or both), but that doesn’t change the fact that in this moment, this was disappointing.

UNSANCTIONED MATCH: Jurn Simmons vs. Vincent Heisenberg- 8.5/10
They got a totally different referee, and had him dress in a generic old-school bowtie, slacks, and button-down shirt rather than the wXw referee shirt, and they took all of the wXw logos off of the mat and ring-skirt. We were also told that everyone involved- announcer, cameramen- were given the option not to participate and told that if they did so, it would be I a personal capacity rather than as wXw employees.
These two had a great weapons match, and they did everything they could to make it feel wilder and more out of control than your run-of-the-mill no DQs match, including pulling up the ring skirt. I popped huge for the return of the Viking Execution, which Jurn got the win with.


This was a good show from wXw, mixing the feeling of a big show with what was clearly intended to be a show to set things up for the rest of the year (although that makes the decision to use the “Dead End” name- usually in February- to this spot on the calendar a little odd). Next comes… the KAFIGSCHLACHT!
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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