The first wXw Marquee Event of 2018, wXw Back To The Roots XVII, and the Year starts with one of the most brutal matches of the year: “Die Käfigschlacht”, were RISE is caged with RINGKAMPF and Monster Consulting. Here’s a rundown of the full card.
Jay-FK vs Pretty Bastards
Two fairly new Teams squaring off. Francis Kaspin is a young ex-student of wXw´s wrestling academy who already had some pretty good performances in the past. His partner is Jay Skillet who returned from injury a couple of months ago. The team is a well thought out mixture of experience and talent. Their opponents are Maggot & Prince Ahura. They are a newly formed team that started wrestling as a team in the second half of 2017.
Jurn Simmons vs Dirty Dragan
Jurn attacked Dragan and he accepted the challenge. This match has to establish Jurn as a Main Eventer again after he lost to David Starr at the 17th Anniversary show last year. Jurn is a former two-time wXw Unified World Champion and also stepped into the squared circle for OTT, PROGRESS and WCPW in 2017. He had a great 2017 and improves in every match.
Prediction: Jurn Simmons
Da Mack vs Chris Colen
New RISE member vs ex-RISE member. Colen got defeated by the leader John Klinger at Broken Rules 2017 in a ladder match. Da Mack debuted for RISE at the wXw World Tag League. He is a former partner of NXT Superstar Marcel Barthel (fka Axel Dieter Jr) who was also in Ringkampf. Together they held the wXw Tag Team titles as “Hot & Spicy”. Da Mack is also a former WWE Cruiserweight Classic participant. Colen challenged Bad Bones at Broken Rules 207 for the wXw Unified World Title, but lost to his former RISE leader in a ladder match.
Prediction: Da Mack
“Session Moth” Martina vs Melanie Gray
This match was originally scheduled to be the final match of the wXw Women´s tournament, but never happened, due to Gray´s attack before the match started. Gray then lost to “Killer” Kelly, who eventually became the first-ever wXw Women´s Champion. This bout could determine the next contender for the wXw Women´s Championship. Martina is working multiple promotions this and next weekend and is looking to regain her title shot at Back To The Roots XVII.
Prediction: Session Moth Martina
wXw Women´s Championship: Killer Kelly (c) vs Toni Storm
The first ever wXw Women´s Champion in her first ever title defence. And her opponent is already one of the best in female wrestling today: Stardom performer, current PROGRESS Women´s Champion and WWE Mae Young Classic participant Toni Storm has been a regular with wXw for quite some years now. Wxw are doing a great job drawing attention to the title by putting well-known names into the title picture. Kelly won the title last month at the 17th-Anniversary show. The-25-year old made history on that show and tries to continue her path by defeating Toni Storm as her first challenger.
Prediction: Killer Kelly retains
Die Käfigschlacht (cage match): Ringkampf (Walter & Timothy Thatcher) + Monster Consulting (Avalanche & Julian Nero) vs RISE (Bad Bones John Klinger & Ivan Kiev & Tarkan Aslan & Lucky Kid)
The most brutal match of the year will be held inside a steel cage, although the past has shown that the competitors couldn´t be contained inside the 4 walls of steel and various weapons were pulled out. Avalanche already won two of these matches in a row by being the man that secured the win for his team in the end, so the former Cerberus member is the most experienced and feared man inside the structure. He will be flanked by his Tag Partner Julian Nero, who also was in Cerberus before and knows the cage too. The other two men competing alongside Monster Consulting are none other than the reigning wXw Tag Team Champions RINGKAMPF. Walter had a great 2017, competing for PWG (including a 5 Star match against Zack Sabre Jr.) and for Beyond, EVOLVE and PROGRESS. Speaking of EVOLVE: the former EVOLVE champion Timothy Thatcher is his partner. He won his first title in wXw when he and Walter won the wXw Tag League to capture the wXw World Tag Team titles. The 4 men standing across the ring are part of RISE. The wXw Unified World Champion John Klinger who defeated the 16 Carat Gold 2017 winner Ilja Dragunov at the 17th-Anniversary show in a bloody gruelling match to retain his title. His partners will be the former wXw Shotgun Champion Ivan Kiev who lost the title to Bobby Gunns on December 23 and the former wXw Tag Champions The Young Lions (Tarkan Aslan & Lucky Kid) who walked into the World Tag League as champions, but as we know did not come out with the belts.
Prediction: Walter submits Bad Bones
