wXw Amerika Ist Wunderbar Review

This is a show that has potential. It may not have that one blow away match, due to the absence of WALTER and Ilja Dragunov, but it should still be a consistent effort.

LAX vs The Crown

This was a solid way to kick off the festivities. I'm not the biggest fan of The Crown but LAX are usually good for a solid at worst tag match. A couple of awkward moments stopped this from being a bit more memorable. ***

Avalanche vs Darby Allin

Darby Allin is gonna die. In all honesty, Avalanche won pretty easily. Much more easily than I expected and Allin didn't even really take that much damage by his own standards. A small disappointment. **

Yuu vs Jordynne Grace

This was originally scheduled to be Yuu vs LuFisto but she had a family issue. The match was solid for something that was thrown together at short notice. I really like what Grace does in the ring but understandably we didn't get the best of it here. **1/2

Shotgun Title - Emil Sitoci vs Marius Al-Ani

I enjoyed this one. It was the best match of the night so far. I find both of these men to be a bit hit and miss but they both got a chance to show off their moves and it led to a fun match. Al-Ani is someone who has a really entertaining moveset when it comes together. ***1/2

Lucky Kid vs David Starr

Well, that match of the night didn't last long. Lucky Kid is on a roll after winning 16 Carat Gold and David Starr is performing at a top 10 in the world level to start the year. It was a well put together match that was made even better by the story of David Starr being infatuated by beating WALTER, and by proxy the man who beat WALTER. But he still couldn't get it done. This was the first great match of Mania weekend, and I'm going to be honest, from the perspective of both ring work and storytelling it will be tough to top. ****1/4

Following the match, Starr cut an impassioned promo on WALTER and the WWE, calling WALTER a coward for leaving and chastising the fans for allowing WWE to take over indie wrestling. He then quit wXw. It was an immense speech. Starr is on fire in 2019.

Absolute Andy vs Chris Brookes

I love Absolute Andy. He has a daft name. He's 35, but looks 45. He has a gut. But damn it, I find the man wildly entertaining. It may be the fact that I am also 35, look 45, and have a gut. Regardless, I enjoyed this match for what it was, a match that didn't set out to set the world on fire and it ended up being the sort of match that is nice to see in the middle of a card. ***1/2

wXw Tag Titles - Aussie Open vs The WorkHorsemen

Two teams I really like here, and they share a similar dynamic with the big guy/lanky guy combo. They worked really well together too. It was pretty much the match you would expect from these two teams, which is to say great. It wasn't close to the level of the Starr/Kid but who gives a fuck? I really want to see a full on Davis vs Drake hoss match though. ****

wXw Unified Title - Bobby Gunns vs Shigehiro Irie

This had the feel of a proper title match, with all the big suplexes and near falls that go along with it. Irie put in a great effort as the challenger but I never really felt that Gunns was going to lose it so soon after winning it. That doesn't take away from the fact that I thought this was a very good match though and was the third best match of the night when all was said and done. ***3/4

After the match, the music of Joey Janela played over the speakers and he came out to go face to face with Gunns. The King of Smoke Style naturally decided to light one up so the Bad Boy decided to get in on that action before challenging him to a title match in the future. 

Overall Thoughts

The show started off a little slowly, which isn't out of the ordinary, but it really hit its stride as it went on, producing three matches that are really worth going out of your way to see. Especially the David Starr vs Lucky Kid match, which was excellent.