Germany’s Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) returns this Friday for wXw FAN (Fans Appreciation Night), with another huge night of the best in European pro wrestling. wXw FAN has been an annual tradition with wXw since 2004, and fans get to vote on bookings throughout the weeks leading up to the big event. Now that the card is set, let’s have a look at what’s going down in Hamburg this Friday night!
wXw Shotgun Championship, Stipulation To Be Determined: Emil Sitoci (c) vs. Avalanche
Last year, these two briefly teamed together, but for the past four months, Avalanche and wXw Shotgun Champion Emil Sitoci have been at each other’s throats. Sitoci is a veteran of European competition, as the Netherlands star is an 18-year veteran of wXw, Pro Wrestling Holland, and more. Avalanche is another longtime wXw star as the Austrian formerly known as Robert Dreissker is a 3x wXw World Tag Team Champion with Monster Consulting, Cerberus, and The AUTsiders. In June, Avalanche defeated Sitoci in his first match to gain the Shotgun title, but his count out victory failed to secure the title. In August, they faced off once again at wXw Toronto, with Sitoci scoring the win. They go at it a third time on Friday and the fans will vote on the stipulation for the match that night, between Falls Count Anywhere, Hamburg Streetfight, or Bullrope Match. Regardless the outcome, this feud has gotten personal and it will not end pretty.
Lucky Kid vs. Pete Bouncer
Lucky Kid has been riding a high ever since winning this year’s wXw 16 Carat Gold tournament this spring, but on Friday he faces a former stablemate in RISE‘s Pete Bouncer. Lucky Kid left RISE earlier this year, turning his back on the stable to side with Schadenfreude and Pete Bouncer is determined to make Lucky Kid pay for his actions. Bouncer has been costing Kid several key matches of late, so Lucky Kid will be looking to put an end to Bouncer’s shenanigans once and for all.
Valkyrie vs. Toni Storm vs. Faye Jackson vs. Holidead
An international fatal four way between four exceptional talents. Former NXT UK Women’s Champion Toni Storm returns to the promotion where she’s a former 2x wXw Women’s Champion to face three women hungry to prove their worth to the wXw audience. Dublin’s Valkyrie is the reigning Over the Top (OTT) Women’s Champion and last year upended Jordan Devlin for the Irish Junior Heavyweight Championship. Faye Jackson has been a star on the US indies for years now, but made her European debut earlier this year with wXw. She’s back in Germany for another tour and will look to continue to make a name for herself in Europe with this huge match up. The fourth entrant is another US indie staple in Holidead, one half of former Shine tag team champions Twisted Sisterz, who is becoming a regular on the Europe scene, also working with PROGRESS.
wXw World Tag Team Championship: WALTER & Ilja Dragunov (c) vs. Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher)
Since becoming stars in NXT UK, the German crowds have turned on wXw veterans Ilja Dragunov and WWE UK Champion WALTER, but that didn’t stop the powerful duo from capturing the wXw World Tag Team Championships last month. They’re facing the team they dethroned in Australia’s Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher), who have dominated the UK and mainland Europe for the past few years, as former 2x PROGRESS Tag Team Champions, 2x Defiant Tag Team Champions, RevPro Undisputed British Tag Team Champions, and 2x ATTACK! Tag Team Champions. Aussie Open will be looking to show that their loss to WALTER and Ilja was a fluke as they look to add a second reign in wXw to their trophy case.
wXw Women’s Championship: Amale vs. Tenille Dashwood
French indie star Amale Winchester has been all over Europe, breaking out with Tigers Pro Wrestling (TPW) in her native France in 2012. Now she competes all over Europe and this past June she upended Toni Storm to become the new wXw Women’s Champion. Her opponent was chosen by the fans and IMPACT Wrestling‘s Tenille Dashwood beat out Holidead and Valkyrie with 55% of the vote to be the challenger at wXw FAN. Dashwood has made a big return to pro wrestling after departing Ring of Honor earlier this year and winning gold in Germany would be just the boost she needs right now.
wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship: Bobby Gunns (c) vs. Veit Müller
Another fan voted challenger, as Veit Müller edged out Marius Al-Ani to face wXw World Champion Bobby Gunns this Friday at wXw FAN. It will mark the first singles contest between Müller and Gunns and Müller’s first shot at the World title. Bobby Gunns has been arrogantly unstoppable since he defeated Absolute Andy for the gold this past March, fending off challenges from the likes of Shigehiro Irie, Marius Al-Ani, Lucky Kid, Joey Janela, Ilja Dragunov, and most recently, Mike “Speedball” Bailey. Müller has been on the rise the past year as one of wXw’s breakout stars and a huge chance for him to take the ultimate step in his career.
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.
