Since 2015, Germany’s Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) has held an annual World Tag Team tournament, featuring international teams competing against some of wXw’s top tag team combinations. Past winners include WALTER & Zack Sabre Jr. (2015), David Starr & Shane Strickland (now NXT’s Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, 2016), Ringkampf (WALTER & Timothy Thatcher, 2017), and last year’s winner, Jay FK (Francis Kaspin & Jay Skillet). This year’s tournament is being held over the course of this weekend, and wXw has pulled through despite an astounding eight wrestlers pulling out to due to unforeseen circumstances (injuries, family emergencies, etc.). But wXw still has a fantastic card, with some top tag teams still competing. With wXw’s World Tag Team titles now vacated, due to the injury to Aussie Open and Schadenfreude‘s Mark Davis, the field is wide open for a new team to emerge as the top tandem in wXw.
First Round Action
Arrows of Hungary (Icarus & Dover) vs. Violence is Forever (Dominic Garrini & Kevin Ku)
Arrows of Hungary have been a force in Europe since teaming up in 2013, working for Hungarian Championship Wrestling (HCW) and Pro Wrestling Holland (PWH). In 2015, they made their German debut and have been regulars with wXw and German Wrestling Federation (GWF) ever since. They’re 3x tag team champions in Europe, with reigns in HCW, GWF, as well as Italy’s Frontier Championship Wrestling (FCW). They face a rising duo from the US indies in Violence is Forever, formerly known as Sadkampf. The union of former EVOLVE and Catch Point star Dominic Garrini with Southern indie star Kevin Ku has proven to be a hard hitting success story, as they’re the reigning Pro Wrestling Freedoms (PWF) and Southern Underground Pro (SUP) Tag Team Champions.
Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch vs. Timothy Thatcher & Veit Müller
NXT is sending a lone representative to the wXw World Tag Team festival, and it’s the hard-hitting duo of Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch. The duo are constantly in the hunt for the NXT Tag Team Championships, and now they’re heading to Germany to test their mettle against some of the world’s best. It’s going to be a tough first round match-up, as they face off against former wXw Tag Team Champion (and World Tag Team tournament winner) Timothy Thatcher. Thatcher isn’t with his usual Ringkampf partner, WALTER, this time around, instead teaming up with one of wXw’s most exciting rising stars in Veit Müller.
Work Horsemen (JD Drake & Anthony Henry) vs. Anti-Fun Police (Chief Deputy Dunne & Los Federales Santos Jr.)
A match-up between two top teams from the US and UK indies in the first round. The Work Horsemen have been one of the most dominant tag teams in the US indies the past couple years, with reigns in EVOLVE Wrestling, Freelance Wrestling and Atlanta Wrestling Entertainment (AEW), not to mention their own singles careers – Drake is a former WWN Champion and Henry is the reigning Full Impact Pro (FIP) World Champion. They take on the UK’s Anti-Fun Police, the reigning 2x International Pro Wrestling (IPW) World Tag Team Champions who compete throughout the British indies, such as PROGRESS, ATTACK!, Defiant Wrestling, and more.
Schadenfreude (Kyle Fletcher & Lucky Kid) vs. Purge Club (Pete Bouncer & Ivan Kiev)
With his partner Mark Davis out of action due to injury, Aussie Open’s Kyle Fletcher went to Schadenfreude for a new partner, chosing wXw’s own Lucky Kid. As part of Aussie Open, Fletcher has dominated the UK indie scene in recent years, as 2x PROGRESS Tag Team Champions, 2x wXw World Tag Team Champions, 2x Defiant Tag Team Champions and RevPro Undisputed British Tag Team Champions. He’s pairing with the winner of this year’s wXw 16 Carat Gold tournament in Lucky Kid, in a tandem that could just take it all. Their opponents are former wXw Tag Team Champions Purge Club, featuring former wXw Shotgun Champion Ivan Kiev and Pete Bouncer. The duo have held wXw tag team gold before when they were in the stable RISE, but now that they’re out on their own they’re looking to prove their still as powerful.
Jay-AA (Jay Skillet & Absolute Andy) vs. Pretty Bastards (Prince Ahura & Maggot)
A new team in the tournament could just be the darkhorse of the tourney with their combined experience. Featuring former wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion Absolute Andy, AA is also a seasoned tag team veteran, a 4x wXw World Tag Team Champion who most recently won gold in A4 alongside Marius Al-Ani. He’s teamed with former wXw Tag Team Champions Jay-FK in recent months, and for the tournament he’s pairing up with Jay Skillet from that unit. Skillet is a tag specialist himself, as a former 3x wXw tag champion himself. The Pretty Bastards have been teaming together since 2017 and have been a rising threat in the wXw tag team scene for the past year. They’re also regulars with German Hurricane Wrestling (GHW), where they’re the reigning tag team champs.
David Starr & Norman Harras vs. The Crown (Jurn Simmons & Alexander James)
David Starr is a superstar in wXw and was originally slated to team up with Eddie Kingston in the tournament, his stablemate from the US indie faction WRSTLING. But due to a family emergency, Kingston had to withdraw late this week and Starr named his new opponent on Friday afternoon, in wXw Academy standout Norman Harras. His opponents feature someone he’s quite familiar with – The Crown’s Jurn Simmons, despite being a 2x wXw World Champion, was also the tag team partner of Starr for years in Massive Product. But this weekend, Simmons is firmly in the camp of The Crown, his new team with US import Alexander James. Two former partners are set to collide to show their superiority in this one.
https://twitter.com/wXwGermany/status/1180139450996801536
Non Tournament Match: Jonathan Gresham vs. Flamita
Flamita was originally supposed to be in the tag team tournament alongside his MexaBlood partner Bandido, but Bandido’s recent injury in Ring of Honor halted those plans. But the high flying luchador is still heading to Germany, where he’ll now face off in singles action against Ring of Honor mat technician Jonathan Gresham.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can watch wXw replays on wXw Now, their streaming service.
