I’ll be frank right from the start. If Chikara was still up and running shows, I probably would not be reviewing this year’s version of the 16 Carat tournament. There were certainly some very good wrestlers involved, but I was not inspired by much of the field or the match-ups. Last year featured some incredible done through all four rounds with guys like El Generico, Noam Dor, Marty Scrull, and Zack Sabre stealing the show. Of those four, only Sabre was in the tournament this year. With much trepidation, I went into the 2013 16 Carat with low expectations.
Mostly because I’m not as familiar with the storylines of the company and a tournament lends itself more to discussing matches in order, that’s how I’m approaching this review. Night one started with a four involving Michael Dante, Jay Skillet, Sebastian Sage, and Kim Ray. Very brief opener meant to showcase Dante more than anything else if you ask me. There was very little flow or purpose behind what they did, and the fact this went five minutes only fed into this just being “a match” instead of a bang-up way to start the show.
The tournament began properly with my most favoritest wrestler in the worldm Bad Bones. My grammar in that sentence is poor on purpose because I loooooooove Bad Bones so much. Okay, I hope you’re getting my sarcasm at this point. For those who don’t remember, Bad Bones is pretty infamously stupid for his behavior at a wXw show in Philadelphia back in 2010. In wrestling Shinobu, well there isn’t much to say except he lost. They started quickly. Shinobu is sort of a high flyer out of Big Japan. He didn’t get a chance to really go all out, but the way he won, a top rope lungblower, came off as impressive and shocked the crowd right from the very first tournament match. The very definition of an average match as they got under ten minutes and kept things pretty simple.
Karsten Beck is essentially a slightly more talented Joey Ryan. What I think should separate tournament shows from others is the quality of wrestling and the way finishes are executed. Beck’ s schtick of winning matches in the dirtiest way possible make sense within context, but only hurt the credibility of tournament. Paul Tracey, his opponent, used to be his associate, but now they’re feuding. A slightly better back and forth match since there was heat and a story. Beck piledrove Tracey on the floor and won by count-out in pretty anticlimactic fashion. I’m not a fan of doing the “Davey Richards waits until 19 to jump back in the ring,” but to see a grudge match end this way felt awkward and also didn’t feel natural.
Something that differentiates wXw with independent companies in the United States is their love of big men. They love their giant stiffs. Robert Dreissker is a fairly pedestrian wrestler who does some decent power stuff, but I don’t think his skill set matches Yuji Okabayashi in any way. Lots of power stuff both ways. Then they moved into strikes, and man does Okabayashi chop hard, Right up there with guys like Roderick Strong and PAC. There were a couple major screw-ups on a wheelbarrow suplex and powerbomb. If a big man battle is going to work, it needs to be short and have a lot of intensity. This had neither and felt exactly like a two star match. Dreissker won in a bit of an upset with a Vaderbomb.
Given what the next match was, I expected a big turnaround in quality. I didn’t get it. I got Tommy End basically dominating Ricochet with power stuff. Lots of clotheslines, strikes, and head droppy kind of stuff. Ricochet’s offense felt more token than anything else, and I never got the sense that this world travelled superstar had a chance. I guess wXw missed the memo about all of Ricochet’s accomplishments. Why fly him across the Atlantic to get dominated in 11 minutes by someone who I admit is a very good wrestler in his own right and then wrestle in two superfluous tags. End won with his modified dragon sleeper as Ricochet passed out.
If 2007-2009 Chuck Taylor were wrestling in this tournament, I probably would have been psyched. 2013 Chuck Taylor? Not so much. He and Eddie Kingston had an 8 minute match that felt like a lot of other first rounders, too short to mean anything. They started dropping the finished almost immediately, so I knew this wasn’t going very long. Kingston won with the Backfist to the Future and sliding D in what I have to call an uninspiring effort by both wrestlers.
When you see Super Crazy wrestling Masada, I don’t see how you don’t cringe. Both guys are perfectly capable of being carried to a good match, but there’s no way these two are carrying someone else. I honestly enjoyed this match more than anything else on the card up to this point, which I think says more about everything else than what Masada and Crazy did. They had a very ECW style match that at least had some flow and build-up to it. There was just enough insanity for me to enjoy the match. The finish was odd as Crazy rolled Masada up after a missed moonsault to get the win. It’s always funny to see veterans of the sport complain about crazy wild matches ending after a roll-up… and then see two veterans use that as a finish.
The final two matches really saved the show. I had a chance to see Jonathan Gresham stand around and do nothing during Wrestlecon weekend. How did he not get used by someone? There’s really no excuse, especially after watching him wrestle Ricky Marvin in a hell of a high flying match. I’m not saying he’s as exciting as some of the other high flyers I’ve seen, but Gresham is definitely on that second tier. Plus, he’s able to incorporate some European style moves. Marvin is similarly underrated and enjoyable to watch. His rolling surfboard is always great to see, especially on someone who can take it like Gresham. This eventually turned into the kind of back and forth match I’d been waiting all night to see. Gresham won in another shocker using the 450 splash, a spot that would also play into Gresham’s next tournament match. These guys finally turned the dial and finally made the show feel like something beyond just another wXw show.
The main event showcased two of Europe’s best technical wrestlers. You can tell Zack Sabre Jr. tours Japan frequently because of the confidence with which he wrestles with. The guy is so great at the type of wrestling which aired in England for so many years. He’s a sort of Johnny Saint with the volume turned up because not only is he able to wrestle that beautiful World of Sport style, but he also incorporates some stiff NOAH style striking and a touch of high flying. Moss has the type of look WWE would fall in love with , but he too can also wrestle on the mat extremely well. For 20 minutes, anyone who watched this got to the best of what Europe has to offer in the way of independent wrestling. Sabre’s patented finish is the cross armbreaker, and he goes for it quite frequently while also working over the left arm of the opponent. Basically, it came down to the cunningness of Sabre against the power of Moss. Moss almost ended Sabre with a series of rolling German suplexes. They worked into a victory roll position where Sabre ended up on top, locked arms, and got the three count. A fantastic cap-off to the show and a match well worth checking out.
The last two matches really elevated this show. I can’t say anything was actively bad, but I was underwhelmed with the first round for sure. Tough to really grade one night of the tournament without the context of the rest, but I felt this DVD was skippable and not really worth the 15 dollars on Smart Mark.
Grade: C
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-Taped from Oberhausen, Germany
-Michael Dante defeats Jay Skillet, Sebastian Sage, and Kim Ray. Dante pins Sage with a spear/5:11/*1/2
-2013 16 Carat Gold Tournament- First Round Match #1: Shinobu defeats Bad Bones by pinfall with a small package/8:01/**1/2
-2013 16 Carat Gold Tournament- First Round Match #2: Karsten Beck defeats Paul Tracey by count-out/12:14/***
-2013 16 Carat Gold Tournament- First Round Match #3: Robert Dreissker defeats Yuji Okabayashi by pinfall after a vader bomb /10:03/**
-2013 16 Carat Gold Tournament- First Round Match #4: Tommy End defeats Ricochet by knock-out with a modified dragon sleeper /11:18/**3/4
-2013 16 Carat Gold Tournament- First Round Match #5: Eddie Kingston defeats Chuck Taylor by pinfall with a sliding D/8:04/**1/4
-2013 16 Carat Gold Tournament- First Round Match #6: Super Crazy defeats Masada by pinfall with a roll-up/13:27/***
-2013 16 Carat Gold Tournament- First Round Match #7: Jonathan Gresham defeats Ricky Marvin with a 450 splash/11:50/***1/2
2013 16 Carat Gold Tournament- First Round Match #8: Zack Sabre Jr. defeats Johnny Moss/23:03/***1/2
Two of Europe’s best. Sabre goes for the crossarmbreaker immediately and has to duck a clothesline. Basic mat wrestling as Sabre holds onto the arm. Exchange of strangleholds. Moss with a bodyscissors. Moss controls the arm next. Sabre ties him in the ropes and slaps him. Moss with an armbar. Running kicks. Stiff ones too. Slaps and a side kick on Moss. Sabre with a rana into the cross armbreaker. Moss immediately counters. Rammed into the corner. charge misses. Sabre takes Moss up and over. Series of dives. Moss with a belly-to-belly suplex on the floor. Moss with a dropkick off the top rope. Clothesline to the corner and short lariat. Moss on the top rope. Sabre kick. Cross armbreaker. Moss out of it. Into the ropes. Kick to the arm. Moss with a chop. German suplex by Moss. Rolling German suplexes. Going for the knock-out. Victory roll. Sabre works his way on top and gets three.
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