wXw kicked off it’s annual October festival of tag team wrestling in Oberhausen with a stellar line up including Ringkampf taking on CCK and defending tag champions Monster Consulting beginning their weekend against a team they know very well in Jay-FK. The main event would see Jurn Simmons and David Starr look to end their savage year long rivalry in a Hair versus Hair match.

Westside Xtreme Wrestling
World Tag Team League Night 1
October 5, 2018
Tubinenhalle
Oberhausen, Germany

Watch: wXw Now

Toni Storm def. Meiko Satomura

We kick things off with two of the top women’s wrestlers in the world right now going one on one. This was actually my first time seeing Toni live and she undoubtedly has the aura that all superstar wrestlers have. Being that this was the beginning of what could possibly be a long weekend of wrestling for both, they seemed to leave a lot in the tank for a future match. Toni would earn the win with a second Strong Zero after Meiko had kicked out of an earlier one. ***

World Tag Team League A Block
Lucha Brothers (3) def. Okami (0)

Block A got the tag team action underway and oh boy did it begin with a bang. Inside the first minute all four men where laid out on the mat after a breathless exchange of superkicks and stiff as hell strikes. The action never let up and Okami became instant fan favourites with their willingness to chop and lariat anyone stood in front of them. Lucha Bros picked up the three points following a double foot stomp assisted package piledriver. A hell of a way to begin the tournament and an omen for what lay ahead in all of the Block A matches. ****1/4

World Tag Team League B Block
Monster Consulting (3) def. Jay-FK (0)

The reigning wXw World Tag Team Champions Monster Consulting got their weekend off to the best possible start with a win over Jay-FK. No tag team champions have ever entered into Tag League as champions on Friday and left on Sunday evening still in possession of the gold. Monster Consulting would get off to a winning start thanks to a blue thunder bomb from Avalanche.

Jay-FK seemed to have a perfect plan for a lot of the match. They were able to isolate Avalanche and keep him grounded to negate his superior power with a series of double teams and a healthy dose of cheating. Cheating and shortcuts would play a massive part of their story over the course of the weekend but on this night Monster Consulting proved too wise for the “Fresher than you” duo. ***1/2

Shotgun #1 Contendership
Julian Pace def. Emil Sitoci, Fred Yehi & Lucky Kid

A shot at Marius Al-Ani and his Shotgun Championship was at stake in this four way match. Before the match could begin however Al-Ani would cut a promo running down all of the competitors before they combined to throw him to the outside and get the match underway.

As you would expect in a four way match the action was nonstop and pretty frantic. Lucky Kid appeared to be on his way to victory before Al-Ani hit him with a title shot to his back while he was attempting a handspring cutter. Julian Pace would ultimately benefit from this to get the biggest win of his career so far and earn a shot at Al-Ani on night 2 with a Code Red on Lucky for the three count. ***1/4

World Tag Team League A Block
Calamari Catch Kings (3) def. Ringkampf (WALTER & Thatcher) (0)

Last years World Tag Team League victors Ringkampf were back once again and looking for back to back wins. Their first obstacle in their way though was the reunited Calamari Catch Kings team of Chris Brookes and Jonathan Gresham. It was CCK who would somewhat surprisingly get the win and the three points.

The match was superbly built around the interactions of Gresham and WALTER. The size difference between them was quite the visual but at no stage did Gresham look inferior to the massive Austrian. Throughout the match Gresham would provoke and downright piss off WALTER and then avoid him at all costs. Brookes and Thatcher played their roles perfectly and all four men would be involved in the finish. Following a rare miscommunication between Thatcher and WALTER, Gresham would capitalise and wrap Tim up in the octopus hold while Brookes tied WALTER up in the ropes in his own octopus. With WALTER unable to help Thatcher had no choice but to tap out. ****1/4

World Tag Team League B Block
Aussie Open (3) def. Team SPLX (Angelico & Cobb) (0)

We close out the first night of tag action with a pair of World Tag Team League debutantes. With Mark Davis and Jeff Cobb on opposing teams the last thing I expected to see was some big lad lucha exchanges but that’s exactly what we got early on. Cobb’s strength soon took centre stage and it really is staggering to see just what he is capable of.

However, the more experienced teamwork of Aussie Open proved to be vital as a Sydney Stinger on Angelico brought the boys from down under their first points of the weekend. Despite an opening night loss Team SPLX showed flashes of great teamwork that by the end of the weekend would leave me clamouring for more of Team SPLX in other promotions. ***1/2

Hair vs. Hair No DQ
David Starr def. Jurn Simmons

A loss to Ringkampf in 2017 World Tag Team League Final would lead to the end of Massive Product and begin the year long feud between Jurn Simmons and David Starr that culminated on this night in the most brutal way imaginable. After a double KO in their Last Man Standing match at Fan Appreciation Night, a must be a winner hair versus hair match was the agreed upon stipulation to end it all.

This match had it all! It had crowd brawling, a cane, staple gun, thumbtacks and even waxing strips! Yes waxing strips, which Jurn would use to remove a significant amount of hair and skin from Starr’s chest before using a lemon on the raw skin. A brawl through the balcony and press area above the main floor of the Turbinenhalle would lead to a spectacular David Starr balcony dive onto Jurn. The match only escalated from there on.

Once both men made it to the ring a wicked cane shot to the head would bust Starr wide open. The staple gun was soon introduced with both men feeling the indiscriminate wrath of the metal staples. Following a brainbuster onto a chair David Starr would introduce the thumbtacks to proceedings. Oh how he would regret this, as not once but twice Jurn would doctor-bomb his former partner into the thousands of golden skin piercing tacks.

Amazingly Starr would not only survive Jurn’s onslaught but he would turn the tables and use Jurn’s own cane against him before a second rope package piledriver through two chairs covered in tacks finally proved enough to end this war. The most personal, most brutal and violent match I have ever had the pleasure of witnessing live. A war. ****3/4

When it dawned on him that he had lost Jurn would try to escape but Emil Sitoci and Dirty Dragan would prevent his exit and fittingly the trio of Starr, Sitoci and Dragan would shave the Massive One bald to the delight of the Oberhausen crowd.

Final Thoughts:

The World Tag Team League 2018 kicked off in great fashion with a very strong batch of tag matches forming a strong base which was capped off perfectly with a magnificent hardcore main event between David Starr and Jurn Simmons.