This weekend, Germany’s Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) celebrates its 18th anniversary as a company with their annual anniversary show, and the line up is huge. wXw has a lot to celebrate this year, emerging as Germany’s premier wrestling company and entering into an alliance with the WWE in a similar position to EVOLVE in the US, PROGRESS in England and Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) in Scotland. That alliance is responsible for the evening’s 6-man main event.
Timo Theiss vs. Julian Pace
Two emerging stars from wXw Wrestling Academy look to make their mark in the card’s opening match. Timo Thiess recently took out another Academy hopeful, Norman Harras, on the Road to 18th Anniversary Live Events, and now he has his sights on ending any momentum Julian Pace is hoping to muster.
Killer Kelly vs. “Alpha Female” Jazzy Gabert vs. YUU
A huge triple threat match with wXw Women’s Championship pecking order implications, featuring three international stars. Portugal’s Killer Kelly was the first ever wXw Women’s Champion, but has made bigger waves the past year as a participant in the 2018 WWE Mae Young Classic and then joining the NXT UK brand. She remains a viable threat in wXw as well and will be looking to get back in title contention. The Alpha Female is a legend in German and European indie wrestling, as well as Japan. While North American fans only got a taste from the first Mae Young Classic, Jazzy Gabert is a former World of Stardom Champion, Pro Wrestling EVE Champion and Swiss Wrestling Entertainment (SWE) Ladies Champion. YUU is becoming one of the emerging new stars from the Japanese joshi scene, only entering the game in 2016. She’s spent the majority of her career with Tokyo Joshi Pro, holding the TOKYO Princess of Princess Championship for 255 days, as well as working for DDT Pro. She’s expanding beyond Asia and this is a huge opportunity for the young wrestler.
Bobby Gunns vs. Shigehiro Irie
Despite being only 25 years old, Bobby Gunns is a 6-year veteran of the sport, coming out of the Westside Dojo and debuting with wXw in 2012. At the end of last year, he finally struck wXw gold, winning the wXw Shotgun Championship last December and holding it for over 200 days. But he’s in for a big fight on Saturday night, when he faces a Japanese monster in Shigehiro Irie. Irie is a 10-year veteran with DDT Pro, who has also seen wars in Big Japan Wrestling (BSW), All Japan (AJPW), Pro Wrestling NOAH and NJPW. As part of Team Dream Futures, he dominated the DDT Pro tag division, capturing the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team titles an astounding six times. Following the group’s breakup, he went onto become a 3x KO-D Openweight Champion, DDT’s top singles title.
wXw Shotgun Championship Match: Marius Al-Ani (c) vs. Lucky Kid
A huge singles match for wXw’s Shotgun Championship, featuring two young stars better known for their tag team history. Marius Al-Ani is a former partner of World Champion Absolute Andy in A4, who held the wXw Tag Team Championships for over 200 days in 2016 and 2017 until their breakup this year. Lucky Kid, a member of the treacherous RISE stable, was a longtime partner of Tarkan Aslan in the Young Lions, who captured gold all over Germany, as 2x German Wrestling Federation (GWF) Tag Team Champions plus one run as wXw Tag Team Champions. Lucky Kid is looking for his first piece of singles gold, and he’s got to go through Marius to do so.
wXw Tag Team Championship Match Gauntlet Match: JAY-FK (Francis Kaspin & Jay Skillet) (c) vs. The Crown (Jurn Simmons & Alexander James) vs. Emil Sitoci & Avalanche vs. RISE (Ivan Kiev & Pete Bouncer) vs. RISE (Da Mack & Tarkan Aslan)
The team of Jay Skillet and Francis Kaspin – known collectively as JAY-FK – won the vacant wXw Tag Team titles in this year’s wXw World Tag League Finals this past October, and now they face four formidable tandems in a gauntlet match to retain those belts. The Crown is lead by former 2x wXw World Champion Jurn Simmons, pairing with US indie wrestler Alexander James (a former CZW Junior Heavyweight Champion and MCW Rage Champion); former Monster Consulting member, Avalanche, has a new partner in European indie veteran Emil Sitochi; and RISE is so determined to take the gold that they’ve sent two teams – one featuring former wXw Shotgun Champion Ivan Kiev alongside Pete Bouncer, and the other featuring WWE Cruiserweight Classic competitor and former 3x wXw Tag Team Champion Da Mack, pairing with former Young Lion Tarkan Aslan.
wXw Women’s Championship: Toni Storm (c) vs. Kellyanne
Toni Storm continues to work across Europe despite her recent win of the 2018 Mae Young Classic and emergence as one of the leading stars for NXT UK, as she recently reclaimed the wXw Women’s Championship for a second time. She faces a fellow Aussie in Kellyanne, who just recently made her wXw debut. Kellyanne is a long time veteran of the Aussie indie scene, where she’s the reigning Pacific Pro Wrestling (PPW) Women’s Champion and a veteran of Melbourne City Wrestling (MCW), Riot City Wrestling (RCW) and Battle Championship Wrestling (BCW), as well as US indies like SHIMMER and Shine, and Pro Wrestling EVE in the UK.
wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship Match: Absolute Andy (c) vs. David Starr
Since leaving the confines of tag team A4, Absolute Andy has shown he can be the absolute best in wXw. He returned to singles glory, capturing his second wXw World Heavyweight title in August at wXw Shortcut to the Top, defeating Ilja Dragunov and ending the Russian’s 147-day reign on top. Since then, Andy has fought off challenges from Dragunov, and Zack Sabre Jr. His opponent is US indie star David Starr, who has a great run in wXw since debuting with the company in 2016. A former wXw Shotgun Champion, he’s faced Andy before (defending his Shotgun title against him at 16 Carat Gold in 2017 and in tag team action), but now Starr has his sights on wXw’s richest prize – the Unified World Wrestling Championship.
Ringkampf (WALTER, Axel Dieter Jr. & Timothy Thatcher) vs. British Strong Style (Pete Dunne, Trent Seven & Tyler Bate)
The main event is an epic encounter between two of the most popular factions of all time in Europe. Ringkampf has made big waves the past year, mostly due to the emergence of WALTER as arguably the best wrestler in the world, and the domination of WALTER and Timothy Thatcher in tag team wrestling. They’re reunited with a former stablemate, Axel Dieter Jr., who departed wXW last year to join WWE. He now competes for NXT and NXT UK under his real name, Marcel Barthal Jr., but for one huge night, Dieter Jr. is back and putting back on his Ringkampf gear. The trio faces the undeniable main event of NXT UK (and much of the UK indie scene) in British Strong Style, featuring WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne and former NXT Tag Team Champions Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven and former WWE UK Champion Tyler Bate), in what will be a match of epic proportions.
