wXw 16 Carat Gold 2009 Final Report

1. 16 Carat Gold SF: Shingo Takagi over Zack Sabre Jr by ELBOW/CHOKE DEATH COMBO.

Holy fuck did this ever rule!!! This is the sleeper match of the weekend. Zack was extremely aggressive here. He came right out of the gates swinging. And of course Shingo was happy to go toe to toe with him. Zack got the advantage by injuring Shingo's arm (which he sold like Ricky Steamboat in his prime). However Shingo struck back, taking out Zack's leg and then going to work with some of the most awesome leg attacks I've ever seen. He was switching from one leg lock variation to another and it was soooo smooth. I was just in awe. And I think it was this match that saw Shingo do A FIST DROP TO THE KNEE!!!! Awesome! But Zack fought back, like he had been doing all weekend. Shingo once again had to break out a more severe finisher, as that little story continued on. You wanna know what finisher he used? Have a look at my sig.

2. 16 Carat Gold SF: Drake Younger over Steve Douglas via Drake's Landing

The second semi final delivered in spades too. If you've read my prior reports you know the deal with these guys. The crowd loves one of them and they HATE one of them. Thus we had yet another match with insane heat. Drake was on fire and Douglas probably put in his best performance of the weekend here. The nearfalls were EPIC and when Drake pulled out the win with the Landing the place exploded.

3. Streetfight: The Kartel (Sha Samuels & Terry Frazier) over Martin Stone & Erick Stevens pinning Stevens.

Oh this was soooo much fun. I dunno what it'd be like for a DVD viewer but this is the type of match that a live crowd adores. They brawled everywhere. I followed around Erick and Terry Frazier and was witness to them destorying the merch table, the Subway sandwich stand and even THE WALL.
Erick's excitement is so contagious. You just can't help but go crazy and cheer when he's beating up some dude. Oh and PRO-TIP, do not high five Erick Stevens! He will break your hand! I can't imagine what a chop is like. As disappointed as I was that Stone (who was also great) and Stevens lost, the finish was hilarious. The Kartel had pretty much not had one offensive manouvre all match, but when Stone fell out of the ring they both rolled up Stevens and piled on for the quick pin. They then proceeded to roll out of the ring, completely dead but with their hands raised.

4. Sternau over Dan Paysan via Ace Crusher

Apparantly this was Sternau's debut on a main show. And he did a good job. I imagine Paysan is a great guy for a rookie to wrestle, because he's so damn smooth in the ring and just makes everything so easy. The one scary point was Sternau going for a standing moonsault and not getting all the way over but credit to him, he put it behind him and didn't let it effect him afterwards. Thankfully he didn't seem hurt. Fine little match.


5. wXw LW Title: Tommy End (c) over Tatsuhito Takaiwa via submission

This was the big Takaiwa match of the weekend. He and Tommy went at it hard and had a very good match. The last few minutes were killer. Takaiwa busted out his double Powerbomb/DVD combo and a sick sick Michinoku Driver. I don't think I've mentioned End's finisher in any of the reports but it's really cool. He hits an RKO and then rolls back into a cool looking submission. He put down Takaiwa with that to keep the belt.

6. wXw WH Title: Bryan Danielson (c) over Absolute Andy, Adam Polak & Tyler Black
- Danielson succeeds in V1 pinning Black with The Peruvian Necktie

By far the best of the three 4-ways we saw during 16 Carat. The schtick at the start with Polak and Bryan being BFF's was hilarious. The Krakow Butcher was the first man out, pinned by Tyler Black. But upon leaving he busted him open with his spike. Danielson jumped all over that and proceeded to lay a beating on Black for the next while. Andy got the hot tag and ran wild. He had Danielson beat with the Sharpshooter, until we saw what I seriously considered one of the most CREATIVE spots I've seen in a long time. Toilet paper started flooding the ring, and everyone was like WHAT THE FUCK, pissed off that some fan was doing this. But it was not a fan, it was Steve Douglas up on the balcony! So so awesome. Andy let it distract him and Danielson small packaged him for the pin. Then we got about 10 minutes of Danielson/Tyler. It was great. Up there with their ROH matches for sure. Bryan's training at Xtreme Couture in Vegas paid off, as he busted out A PERUVIAN NECKTIE to make Tyler submit/pass out.

Post match Danielson challenged Paul London to come and try to take his belt.

8. Doug Williams over Chris Sabin via Chaos Theory

I expected this to be good..... but nowhere near as good as it turned out to be! Some of the best exchanges of the entire weekend were right here in this match. Sabin is seriously just a pleasure to watch. The guy does everything seemingly so effortlessly. He's one of the most athletically co-ordinated dudes I've ever seen. The highlight of the match for me was a sweet sweet tornado DDT off the ropes. Loads of teases of the Chaos Theory and when Doug finally hit it, the place exploded. Sabin who for the third night running worked heel, got a standing ovation post match and "made up" with the fans and shook hands with Doug.

9. Big van Walter & Sami Callihan over Bad Bones & Daisuke Sekimoto when Walter pinned Bones with a GIANT POWERBOMB

This match... OH THIS MATCH!!!! One of my favourite tags this year for sure. These guys all brought it 110% So many incredible exchanges, so many great SHEEEER POWAAAH spots, so much hard hitting and it was all structured really well. Amazing when you consider most of these guys had never wrestled each other, and heck, we had one guy that speaks Japanese, one who speaks English and two who speak German. But THE INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE OF PROWRES made this click perfectly and gave us one of the best, most memorable matches of the whole weekend.

10. 16 Carat Gold 2009 Final: Shingo Takagi over Drake Younger via The Last Falconry winning the 2009 16 Carat Gold Tournament

I don't really know what I can say about this match. Much like Shingo/Tyler from night 2, words don't do it justice. The intensity and drama was off the page. I was flipping out like you seriously can't imagine, all through this match. I may have burnt several thousand calories as someone said! Both guys bled, chairs came into play, Drake busted out an insane, INSANE dive and we got some killer killer nearfalls. Probably the match of the weekend. Either this or Tyler/Shingo. You can't split them. The story of Shingo's finishers concluded so beautifully in this. Drake survived all the things that put previous opponents away. The Bloodfall didn't work, MADE IN JAPAN didn't work, and the choke didn't work. So for the first time all weekend we saw The Last Falconry and that was not to be kicked out of.

Shingo was presented with the trophy and announced that he was coming back in November AND WAS BRINGING FRIENDS (Dragon Gate ahoy!). You could see this meant the world to him and that was confirmed by reading his blog today. This is a guy that lives to be a pro wrestler, and he was able to experience a true classic pro wrestling adventure in Germany. It didn't matter that there wasn't 60,000 people there. It didn't matter that it wasn't in the Tokyo Dome, or Madison Square Garden. This was as real and as awesome as it gets, and every fan and wrestler there knew it. Especially Shingo Takagi.

Like I said in a prior report, all the people I met at these shows were soooo nice. Adam, Jonas, verbec, Evan, Andrew and countless countless others. At a time when so many wrestling crowds are filled with total jerks, it was so refreshing to see a crowd that literally had NOT ONE asshole that I noticed. And everyone was so helpful and accomodating too, which comes in handy when you don't speak the language.

And then the next morning it was time to go home, after a great great trip.

I had been bumping into Big Daisuke all weekend to the point where everytime I turned around he was seemingly behind me. I said to myself as I walked into the airport "I wonder if any of the wrestlers will be in here". Of course the first person I notice amongst the thousands roaming the departure terminal, as I walk through the doors was the Japanese man built like a tank, no doubt getting ready to German Suplex something. I should have known he'd be there. Heck I was surprised he wasn't sitting beside me on the plane to Ireland.

wXw 16 Carat Gold 2009 Day 2 Report

1. 16 Carat Gold 2009 Quarter Final Match: Zack Sabre Jr. over Bryan Danielson via Mousetrap

Awesome story here. Very Razor/123 Kid esque. Danielson just dicked around with Zach for the whole match, acting cocky as hell and spending as much time berating the fans as beating up his opponent. It was so much fun. Of course, much like 123 Kid shocked Razor with that moonsault press in 1993, Zach shocked Danielson with a flash pin out of nowhere. He then jumped right into his adoring fans arms as Burning Heart kicked in over the PA. Bryan had the greatest hissy fit ever.

2. 16 Carat Gold 2009 Quarter Final Match: Steve Douglas over Daisuke Sekimoto via Half Nelson Suplex Hold

Sekimoto was flat out incredible in this match. The crowd were soooo behind him and he was just FEEDING off their energy. One of the best spots of the whole weekend was a FREAKING PELE KICK that he busted out of absolutely nowhere when Douglas was trying for his finisher. They did some of the hottest nearfalls of the whole weekend and I was SURE Daisuke was gonna win, but just when I expected another big kickout he was actually kept down for the 1-2-3. My heart may have broke Ralph Wiggam style right at that very moment.

3. wXw World Lightweight Championship: Tommy End over Dan Paysan, Chris Sabin & Emil Sitoci (c) to become the 15th champion
- Chris Sabin d. Dan Paysan via Cradle Shock
- Tommy End d. Emil Sitoci via Outside Cradle
- Tommy End d. Chris Sabin via Owari Death Combo #2

This match had a tough time following the prior one. The start and end were really good, but the middle dragged at times. Sitoci used the Johnny B. Badd "Badd Blaster" gimmick so in a way it was all worth it. The highlight of the match was when it was down to Sabin and Tommy. Big babyface win to give End the belt. Got over huge of course. Moshing commenced.

We then got an intermission and I popped out to the McDonalds that was near the venue to get my FIRST EVER MCRIB~! I give it a solid ***3/4. It would have been higher but they seriously put about ten buckets of sauce in this thing and I had to spend as much time wiping most of it off as I did eating the thing.

4. 16 Carat Gold 2009 Quarter Final Match: Drake Younger over Big Van Walter via La Magistral Cradle

Unfortunately I missed alot of this match getting back from McD's. What I saw of it seemed good though. Considering how great these two were on Night 3, I'll be looking forward to seeing this match again on DVD.

5. Sami Callihan over Erick Stevens via Chain Assisted Right Punch

This was awesome. Both guys were bigtime over and Erick was perhaps even more amped up than the prior night, if that was even possible. Loads of hard hitting as you'd expect and some cool stuff down the stretch. I wasn't a huge fan of the interference spot for the finish but eh whatcha gonna do. Stevens goes 0-2 for the weekend. A TRUE CRIME (which only gets worse the next night). He's perhaps more over with the loss though so it's all good.

6. 16 Carat Gold 2009 Quarter Final Match: Shingo Takagi over Tyler Black via MADE IN JAPAN

Match of the weekend up to this point. Absolutely and completely mind blowingly awesome!!!!! GET THIS DVD FOR THIS MATCH! I don't even know where to start with reviewing this... I mean I can't possibly do it justice. Just two great wrestlers going at it 120% in front of one of the hottest crowds you'll see anywhere in the world. They traded bigtime nearfalls before Shingo won with MADE IN JAPAN. One of the nearfalls was from the move Shingo won with the prior night. So he had to bust out something bigger.

7. 6-Man Tag Team Match: The Kartel (Sha Samuels & Terry Frazier) & Tatsuhito Takaiwa over Doug Williams & Martin Stone & Absolute Andy via Death Valley Driver from Takaiwa on Stone

Good solid 6 man between guys the crowd loved and guys they hated. Takaiwa really should have been decked out in English Football gear. A nice Chelsea shirt would have been sweet! The Kartel continue to frustrate the babyfaces by picking up a win.

8. wXw World Heavyweight Championship: Bryan Danielson d. Bad Bones (c) via Cattle Mutilation to become the 21st champion

It's not often you get a show opening and closing with American Dragon matches. Danielson was more serious and intense here than in his prior two matches of the weekend. He was resorting to his whole arsenal of moves, because Bad Bones was THAT TOUGH! Really dramatic match. Bones is from the area and the crowd adore him. One of those matches you just completely lose yourself in. When Bryan won the belt I could audibly hear Ralph Wiggam'ing from every inch of the building. Hearts were broken like it was Dallas in 1983 and a Von Erich head just got slammed into a cage door. Danielson cut a promo saying how the first match of the night didn't matter, he got the last laugh and that the belt was nothing to him. He was just happy that he made us so sad! Awesome main event.

Overall this was a great great show. Even better than Night 1. Shingo/Tyler, Dragon/Bones and Daisuke/Douglas were the standout matches.

I went to the fans afterparty, and I have to say that everyone was so unbelievably nice. Just some of the coolest guys around. I'll probably talk more about the people I met when I do my overall thoughts on the weekend.
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wXw 16 Carat Gold 2009 Final Day

Shingo won the tourney in the main event against Drake Younger. They brawled all around
the T-Club, both bled from the foreheads and used chairs on each other.
After the match Shingo announced he would come back to Germany... but not alone but with
the Dragon Gate promotion. This will happen in November.

Bryan Danielson defended the wXw title against Absolute Andy, Tyler Black and Adam Polak
in a 4 way elimination bout. Great match, especially the final two (Danielson vs Black). This is
awesome chants. Danielson had unbelievable heel heat after he spat on the championship
belt and wiped his crotch with it. He said the title was worthless to him and he just won it to
rub it under the fans' noses. For the show in may, he announced his return and that he would
defend the title against Paul London.

Doug Williams beat Chris Sabin in another awesome match. Great technical stuff from both.

Bad Bones teamed up with Sekimoto-san to fight Sami Callihan and Big van Walter. An
ultrastiff match with lots of deadly lariats and ground and pound type pummelling. Also
Sekimoto-san pulled out his deadlift suplex on Walter (who is quite the big guy).

Erick Stevens again got murder pops, but also lost again. I really really hope we wil see him
again here as the crowd just loved him.

Full results:

16 Carat Gold Tournament - Semi Finals
Shingo b Zack Sabre jr.

16 Carat Gold Tournament - Semi Finals
Drake Younger b Steve Douglas

Tag Team Streetfight
The Kartel (Terry Frazier & Sha Samuels) b Martin Stone & Erick Stevens

Sternau b Dan Paysan

wXw World Lightweight Championship
Tommy End b Tatsuhito Takaiwa

wXw World Heavyweight Championship - Four Way Elimination Match
Bryan Danielson (c) b Absolute Andy, Adam Polak and Tyler Black

Doug Williams b Chris Sabin

Big van Walter & Sami Callihan b Bad Bones & Daisuke Sekimoto

16 Carat Gold Tournament - Finals
Shingo b Drake Younger to become 16 Carat Gold 2009 winner.

Best match: 4way title match, worst match: Sternau vs Paysan.

Most heat: Danielson, Kartel
Most pops: Andy, Shingo, Stevens

TAll in all a great weekend with lots of excellent matches. But this also meant three days
standing and drinking and chanting and clapping -- "I'm done Gus." ;)

Cheers,
Timo Knopf

- wXw 16 Carat Gold 2009 - Day 1 Results!

- wXw 16 Carat Gold 2009 - Day 1
March 6th, 2009 - Saint, Oberhausen

Attendance: ~300

1. Alternate Four Way Dance: Sami Callihan over Sha Samuels, Tommy End and Dan Paysan via pin on Paysan
2. 16 Carat Gold 2009 Opening Round Match: Daisuke Sekimoto over Martin Stone via German Suplex
3. 16 Carat Gold 2009 Opening Round Match: Drake Younger over "Cracow Butcher" Adam Polak
4. 16 Carat Gold 2009 Opening Round Match: Steve Douglas over Tatsuhito Takaiwa
5. 16 Carat Gold 2009 Opening Round Match: Bryan Danielson over Doug Williams via low-blow followed by The Small Package
6. 16 Carat Gold 2009 Opening Round Match: Zack Sabre Jr. over Terry Frazier via submission
7. 16 Carat Gold 2009 Opening Round Match: Big van Walter over Erick Stevens
8. 16 Carat Gold 2009 Opening Round Match: Shingo Takagi over Absolute Andy
9. 16 Carat Gold 2009 Opening Round Match: Tyler Black over Chris Sabin

- Notes:
- Walter, Takaiwa and The Kartel attack Zack during and after the match. Williams, Stone and End out to make the save.
- Jakobi asks Andy to be with him in against Stevie and Sternau. Andy strikes Sternau down and refuses.
- Black vs. Sabin was described as match of the night.
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