BRM Reviews wXw Back to the Roots 2022 (great!)

[Big Red Machine]

wXw Back to the Roots 2022 (1/15/2022)- Oberhausen, Germany


wXw has this shot split up into two parts, but I’m just reviewing both in the same thread, as it was all taped as if it was one show, and they flat-out say that on commentary. I guess they just wanted to spread it out across two weeks of their usual “TV” airing slots instead of doing even more tapings.

I could do without the Nintendo parody graphics.

GULYAS JR. vs. MICHAEL SCHENKENBERG (w/Nikita Charisma)- 4.75/10
This was fine for what it was (although it really didn’t need to go almost ten minutes to do what it needed to do), but I don’t really care for any of these guys. Rott & Flott are generic undercard heels, and Gulyas just doesn’t work for me. “Big, fat, smelly guy” is not my idea of a babyface, and I don’t particular want to see that as a heel character, either.

ROTT & FLOTT PROMO- meh
Nikita Charisma alleges that they haven’t been booked in a while because they were going to sue wXw. They point out that it is very coincidental that Absolute Andy’s name just happened to be picked in the Shotgun Title lottery right after he steps down as Director of Sport and one of his good friends, Francis Kaspin, winds up as his replacement. He then made it clear (while leaving some legal breathing space) that he has left fifty Euros for Kaspin to bribe Kaspin into entering them into16 Carat Gold.
Schenkenberg then made fun of Oskar Munchow and complained about being booked against a big, fat, smelly guy.

MICHAEL KNIGHT VS. BOBBY GUNNS VIDEO PACKAGE- great!

TRISTAN ARCHER vs. CARLOS ROMO- 7/10
What Archer did in that “take turns hitting each other” chop battle (instead of throwing a chop, with Romo standing there all polite, he just punched him in the face) is what everyone should do, and shows why that spot is so dumb. Speaking of dumb, could we not have done that spot IN THE RING so that the referee didn’t have to stop counting them out to let them do their dumb spot?
That one spot aside, I really liked this match. It’s nice to see Romo finally make it to a main show in wXw, and this spot as a promising babyface who could still feel elevated in a clean loss was the perfect spot for him. I really liked the lariat that set up the finish. It really came off like Romo went for a dropkick and Archer just knocked him down by clonking him in the head with a lariat. It had a rawness to and Romo didn’t sell it as this big spot so much as he just got knocked out of the air by it, which made it feel less like performance and more like something that happened during an actual fight.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- very good
Archer’s promos have greatly improved since turning heel. He says his dream has been to be in the 16 Carat Gold tournament, but he must forgo it this year because he wants a shot at the wXw Unified World Wrestling Title, which he feels he deserves because Levaniel “stole” the #1 contendership from him by hitting him with a low blow in the #1 contendership Ladder match at the Anniversary Show.
Jurn Simmons came out to defend his sometimes tag team partner Levaniel and to scold Archer for being whiny and jealous. Jurn says that his match is now, so Archer had better leave. Archer does so.

JURN SIMMONS vs. OSKAR MUNCHOW- 4.5/10
This was short but good. They’re putting a lot of effort into making Oskar look like he can be a real threat. He went fifty-fifty with Jurn here before losing to the Spear.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- good
Rott & Flott had a mic in the balcony and made fun of Oskar. Oscar ran up the stairs and chased them all over the building and to the back.

EARLIER TODAY, ANDY JACKSON DID A FACE-TO-FACE INTERVIEW WITH BOBBY GUNNS AND MICHAEL KNIGHT- great!
Gunns insists that Knight won’t last fifteen minutes against him, and says that he can make Knight tap to simple moves like a headlock or a wristlock. Knight reminds Gunns that when Gunns went for his signature armbar, Knight rolled him up and pinned him.

wXw SHOTGUN TITLE MATCH: Absolute Andy(c) vs. Dennis “Cash” Dullnig- 6.75/10
Dullnig was an annoying clown before the match, so Andy punched him in the face. Andy also got him with a “look! Over there!” trick early on to it an F-5 for what was quite the believable nearfall. Dullnig took control for a bit and this wound up being quite good, even with the limited state that Andy still seems to be in.

NO TIME LIMIT AND NO COUNT-OUT MATCH: Bobby Gunns vs. Michael Knight- 7.75/10
This one was weird for me. It was one of those were it felt like they were trying to have an “epic” match, and some of those spots worked for me and others just didn’t. It was still great and Knight feels elevated, even with this defeat, but the match didn’t feel like it was at the level it needed to be in order to be what they (and, I think, the booking) were going for, which was this big, really star-making performance for Knight, while also catapulting Bobby back into the ranks of title contention. It succeeded at the latter, but not quite with the former. Knight still feels like a big up-and-coming star for wXw, but not any more than he did going into the match.

DAN INTERVIEWS BOBBY GUNNS- good
Shockingly, he put Knight over. Dan noted that while Bobby Gunns has frequently main evented Night 2 of 16 Carat Gold (the big world title match spot of the weekend) over the past few years, this year he will be in the tournament proper for (shockingly), the first time. Bobby says that he’s in it to win it. He feels like someone who is on the path to a babyface turn.

FAST TIME MOODO vs. PETER TIHANYI-7.5/10
We were told that Moodo is wrestling as a single here because Stephanie Maze reinjured her knee at the Anniversary Show.
This was a great up-and-comers match with an INSANE-looking finish, which they (with help from the announcer) set up brilliantly for by placing it right after the “Tihanyi has learned from the finish of their previous match” spot, using that to pull the rug out from under you with the finish. My only issue with the match was the one segment towards the end where they went outside forever without getting counted out, seemingly just so they could do some spots by (and off of) a low balcony/railing. The match was already going great. You they didn’t need to kill the rules just to do that one spot (and remember that this match, like the previous match, was a rematch from a recent match, and in that match they had to add a “no count-outs rule” because the previous Gunns vs. Knight match had ended in a count-out, so it’s even more glaring that they just ignored the rules here).

wXw WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Arrows of Hungary(c) vs. Aigle Blanc & Senza Volto- 8/10
Excellent back-and-forth tag team action, with everyone getting to show their stuff.

TRISTAN ARCHER ASSAULTS LEVANIEL DURING HIS ENTRANCE- good
Archer hits Levaniel low and locks him in a submission. Jur Simmons came out and chased Archer away. Axel Tischer came out and was angry with Archer. He also had a stare-down with Jurn, as they’re unhappy with each other after a series of “controversial” finishes.
Levaniel insists that despite the attack, he is still able to wrestle, so we still get our…

wXw UNIFIED WORLD WRESTLING TITLE MATCH: Axel Tischer(c) vs. Levaniel- 7.75/10
The story here was Tischer seeming to be unwilling to take advantage of Levaniel’s injured neck going in, but Levaniel put up such a crazy fight and just plain wouldn’t stay down that Tsicher realized he had to get vicious… and it still took a while to put Levaniel down. The crowd actually started to boo Tischer (even though he really didn’t do anything wrong), which is exactly the reaction wXw wanted. The idea that they got Axel Tischer back and are trying to turn him heel is crazy… and the fact that it seems to be working is even crazier.

DAN INTERVIEWS AXEL TISCHER- awesome!
Axel was playing himself off as a total babyface here, saying that sometimes, things like an eye-poke will happen, and that’s what it is. When asked if he was overly brutal against Levaniel, he said “what should I do? Give up and give him the title? I did what I had to do to do.” He said he was more than willing to face Archer, Levaniel, or Jurn, and that he is a fighting champion and stands for sportsmanship. Axel and Dan both did a wonderful job here of letting Axel be a babyface, but also someone who you could understand why is getting annoyed.

HANDICAP KAFIGSCHLACHT: Team wXw Wrestling Academy (“The Avalanche” Robert Dreissker & Anil Marik) vs. Baby Allison, Vincent Heisenberg, & Maggot- 8/10
With so few people, they’re foregoing the War Games format they have often used for this match and everyone is eligible to come in at the beginning. The heels tried to enter with weapons, so the babyfaces stopped them to negate that advantage. They then baited Heisenberg in and worked him over while trying to keep him in the doorway so that the others couldn’t get in. Normally this would feel heelish, but with this being a handicap match, I’m fine with it. Heisenberg’s size also helps.
Even when Heisenberg was out of the corner by the door, Maggot didn’t come in right away, instead waiting for a moment when both babyfaces’ backs were turned.
Baby Allison refused to enter the match, so they just locked the door without her. I didn’t like that. The match can’t officially start without all of the competitors in the cage. She tried to get involved by sticking a stick through the cage and poking at Avalanche, but he just grabbed it and pulled her forwarded until she smacked into the cage. They did come up with some clever ways for her to affect the match from the outside, and she did eventually get in through a big hole that was opened up in the side of the cage, but I still don’t think the match should have officially started until everyone was in the cage.
The babyfaces fought valiantly, but the numbers game caught up to them. The heels handcuffed Marik to the ropes so they could beat Avalanche up without him interfering (fulfilling a promise from a promo), then went over to beat on Marik. They used a chain to tie Marik’s other arm to the ropes and we got some pointless Jesus imagery (really, there is no thematic connection here at all) as they made him watch them beat Avalanche up some more. They threatened to Pillmanize the arm that Avalanche needed surgery on a few years ago, so Marik gave up. I guess Anil hasn’t seen the Fall Brawl 1997, or AEW’s Blood & Guts match.
This was an excellent weapons match, but this finish doesn’t end this feud, and I think this feud is at the point where it really needs to be over.


AT THE POST-SHOW MEETING, FRANCIS KASPIN MAKES SOME ANNOUNCEMENTS-
1. Senza Volto, Aigle Blanc, Michael Knight, Vincent Heisenberg, and Maggot have all been entered into 16 Carat Gold. Announcing Knight but no Bobby Gunns, who just beat him cleanly, was odd.
2. The main event of 16 Carat Gold 2022: Day 2 will be Axel Tischer defending the Unified World Wrestling Title against Jurn Simmons and Tristan Archer, and Levaniel in a Four-Way Dance. Tischer look quite bothered by this.
I liked this “post-show meeting” as a format for us to see the locker room react to announcements, but I was outright startled to see Bobby Gunns being so nice to Levaniel when he was announced. I think they need to pay more attention to who sits next to who (yes, it’s possible that this was on purpose as part of Gunns turning face, but even for that, for him to be nice to an often-comedic character like Levaniel felt like a stretch).
I also could have done without Kaspin picking on that unnamed student, but it’s possible that that will go somewhere as well.



This was a great show from wXw. Francis Kaspin wasn’t lying in that post-show meeting when he said the year was off to a great start. The road to 16 Carat Gold starts now!