When we last left FIP
Dunn and Marcos beat the tag team champions in a non-title match. Jay Fury and Jerrelle Clark decided to team up after a close contest at the end of a Four Way Fray match. Rainman turned on Antonio Banks after a tag team win over the Heartbreak Express. Adam Pearce lost in his debut and Tony Mamaluke continued his undefeated streak with a win over James Gibson in a great match on his way to a title match with Homicide on this show. Gibson looked strong however, hitting a tiger driver on Steve Madison to close out the show.
Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard, the best team in the business.
VS.
The white T-shirt wearing Fipper is #4 and the horned Fipper is #5. Madison and Stevens attack before the bell but the Fippers come back when Madison gets knocked down. The #5 hits a DDT on Stevens but #4 gets hit with an Ace Crusher from Madison. Stevens tags in and pins #4 for 2. He hits a vertical suplex and tags to Madison. They hit an elevated inverted bulldog and Madison hits a bodyslam. He hits a second rope legdrop after tagging to Stevens. Stevens hits a second rope kneedrop and they follow up with an STO/legsweep combo for 2. Madison hits a piledriver on #5 and dumps him. Madison and Stevens hit an Axe Bomber/backdrop driver combo on #4 for the win at 3:20. That's one crazy finisher they have there. The match was just a long squash.
Rating: *
Dave Prazak comes out to issue an open challenge for a match with Samoa Joe. Ace Steel comes out and cuts a borderline racist but also borderline funny promo on Joe, complaining about Joe's interference in his match the night before. We have a match!
VS.
Joe misses a chop to start and Steel fires back. He stretches Joe's arms and clubs his chest. He takes Joe off his feet with a clothesline in the corner and then chokes him with his wrist tape. He puts on a headlock but Joe absorbs his shoulder blocks. Steel stomps on his foot and then headbutts his groin. He goes for the corner dropkick but gets stuck in the Tree of Woe. Joe dropkicks his face and then beats him around the ring. He kicks at Steel's chest and hits a high knee in the corner. He puts on a chinlock and hits a back elbow. He hits a bodyslam and a kneedrop for 2. He goes to the eyes and then hits another bodyslam. Steel catches him with a boot to the chin coming off the top rope. He hits a clothesline and a forearm. He hits a second rope dropkick for 2. He hits the corner dropkick and a northern lights suplex for 2. He hits a swinging DDT but Prazak distracts the referee. Adam Pearce uses the distraction to run out and hit Steel with a piledriver. Joe locks on the choke for the win at 9:50. For whatever reason Steel wrestled as a heel for the first part of the match. It picked up near the end but I had trouble getting there.
Rating: **¼
Pearce and Joe put the boots to Steel after the match until Spanky, Sal Rinauro and Azrieal make the save.
VS. VS.
This is scrambled egg rules. The Heartbreak Express attacks Dunn and Marcos before the bell. Dunn and Marcos come back with stereo dropkicks and the Heartbreak Express bails. Clark gets a roll up on Dunn for 2 and then dives out onto the Heartbreak Express on the floor. Fury hits Dunn with a dropkick but Marcos hits him with a head scissors takedown and a falcon arrow for 2. Sean hits an avalanche and a butt splash on Marcos. Clark hits a Pele kick on Sean and trades chops with Dunn. Dunn hits him with a Gory bomb for 2. Clark comes back with a pumphandle suplex. Clark and Fury hit a double hiptoss and a double uranage for 2. Marcos hits Clark with a swinging neckbreaker. Dunn hits a superkick on Fury. Dunn and Marcos hit the Stacker Senton on Fury for 2 when Phil saves. The Heartbreak Express hit a double flapjack on Marcos. Clark and Fury hit a double enziguiri on Sean for the win moments later at 3:57. This was a nice fast-paced, little match, and thankfully short given my feelings on most of the participants.
Rating: **
VS.
Azrieal rushes the ring and attacks before the bell. He hits a head scissors takedown and Pearce bails. Azrieal follows him out and gets chopped a bunch. Pearce jaws with the fans and ends up chopping the post. Back in the ring Azrieal puts on a wristlock and stomps the hand. Pearce comes back with a swinging neckbreaker and hits a big boot to the chest. He dumps Azrieal to the floor where Prazak drops an elbow on him. Back in the ring Pearce gets 2 with a cocky cover. He goes for a suplex but gets rolled up for 2. Pearce comes back with a clothesline and puts on a chinlock. Azrieal fights out but runs into a knee to the gut. Pearce hits a bodyslam and climbs the ropes. He misses a second rope fistdrop and gets knocked down by an enziguiri. Azrieal hits a back elbow and a dropkick. He hits a series of mounted punches and climbs the ropes. Prazak crotches him and Pearce hits a piledriver for the win at 6:01. The match was just getting going when they wrapped it up.
Rating: *½
Pearce goes for a post-match beat down but Azrieal fights back. CM Punk comes out and they hit Azrieal with a spike piledriver. Ace Steel chases them out of the ring after the fact.
Antonio Banks brings Bushnell up to speed on Rainman's nefarious antics. He does so while simultaneously saying that this is his first time in the city and calling himself a hometown guy. Like us, Banks doesn't know why Rainman turned on him and we don't get an answer right now because Rainman runs out from the locker room and attacks him.
VS.
Rainman pounds on Banks to start. Banks fights back and hits a big boot in the corner. He washes Rainman's face and hits a kneelift on the apron. He hits a snapmare on the floor and boots the back of Rainman's head. Rainman goes to the eyes and starts choking. Back in the ring Rainman goes low. He tosses Banks back to the floor but ends up getting tossed into the front row. Banks tosses him into a wall and the referee calls the match a no-contest at 4:30. This served its purpose but as a match it was useless and we still don't know why Rainman turned on Banks.
Rating: DUD
VS.
Spanky and Sal had only won one straight two-on-two tag team match before this, so on that note they are undeserving of the shot. On the other hand they were unfairly removed from their number one contenders' match at In Full Force, so I suppose they're getting this shot in the interest of fairness. Sal and Eddie start. They trade holds and Eddie tags to Rave. Sal grabs a chinlock and tags to Spanky. Spanky gets a headlock takedown and a shoulder block for 2. He hits four more, getting 2 each time. Sal and Eddie both tag in as Spanky and Rave are blown up. Sal smacks Eddie's ass, an activity that he's done enough to put him under suspicion. He puts on a headlock and then trips Eddie as he goes for a shoulder block. Spanky tags in and puts on a headlock. Rave tags in and puts on a chinlock. Spanky goes back to the headlock and tags to Sal. Sal puts on a cravat but gets distracted by Mr. Milo Beasley long enough for Rave to catch him with a clothesline to the back. Eddie tags in and tosses Sal up through the ceiling. That wasn't an exaggeration Sal literally broke the ceiling. It gets 2. Rave comes in illegally and puts on a chinlock. Sal tries to fight out but Rave slams him to the mat by his hair. Rave hits a snap suplex for 2. Eddie tags in and hits an elbowdrop. He hits a stiff kick to the back and puts on a front facelock. Spanky gets the tag but the referee didn't see it and he forces him out. Rave pummels Sal and pins him for 2. That spot may work on the kids in the crowd but logically it doesn't make sense from the referee's standpoint. Eddie tags in and walks into a moonsault press. Rave and Spanky tag in and Spanky cleans house. He hits a neckbreaker for 2. He gets a roll up for 2. He hangs Rave up on the top rope and then goes for a sunset flip but Rave rolls through and hits the running knee for 2. Eddie tags in and puts out his knee for a bulldog from Rave. It gets 2. Eddie hits rolls through a pair of snap suplexes and a fisherman buster onto his knee for 2. Sal tags in and hits a leaping forearm for 2. Eddie blocks a blind charge but walks into a neckbreaker and a roll up for 2. Rave tags in and hits Ghanarea for 2 when Spanky saves. Sal hits a stunner on Rave and tags to Spanky. Spanky hits a superkick but Eddie catches him with the spiked legsweep. Milo pulls Sal to the floor and Prazak hands Eddie a belt. Rave holds Spanky for Eddie but ends up getting hit. Spanky hits Sliced Bread #2 on Rave using Eddie as a base for the win and the titles at 20:18. The first half of this match was spent trading holds that didn't go anywhere and a lot of the second half was filled with spots I hate. On the other hand the finish was interestingly overbooked and everything after the ceiling break was actually quite fun.
Rating: ***¼
After the match Spanky rolls Milo into the wall. Prazak and Rave blame the loss on Eddie and walk out on him. It can be assumed from Prazak's movements that Eddie is out of DP Associates. Before the FIP title match Prazak asks that the winner give a member of DP Associates a shot at the title.
VS.
Mamaluke is undefeated against quality opponents and thus pretty deserving of this shot. They work the mat to start and Homicide bails. Back in the ring Homicide gets aggressive on the mat. Mamaluke pins him for 2 and goes after the arm. Homicide grabs a headlock but Homicide comes back with armdrags. Mamaluke hits a hiptoss into an armbar but Homicide tries to power out. Mamaluke rolls him up for 2 but gets rolled up for 2. He puts on a cross armbreaker but Homicide rolls him over for 1 and then gets to the ropes. He hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and puts on a seated abdominal stretch. He gets a crucifix pin for 2 and puts on the Rings of Saturn. Mamaluke gets to the ropes. Homicide drops an elbow on Mamaluke's chest as he hangs over the middle rope for 2. Mamaluke rams Homicide's shoulder into the post and hits a hammerlock suplex for 2. He goes back to the cross armbreaker but Homicide gets to the ropes. Mamaluke hits a tornado armbreaker and puts on a hammerlock. He kicks at the arm but Homicide catches him with a dragon screw. Mamaluke puts on an armbar and the crowd gets behind him. So much for the 187 Stick Up Kids. Homicide rolls out and hits a back suplex. Homicide hits a back bodydrop and a back elbow. He hits the Ace Crusher for 2. He hits a spinebuster for 2. He hits a clothesline with his bad arm and collapses. He hits a powerbomb for 2 when Mamaluke locks in the cross armbreaker. Homicide powerbombs out and puts on the Royal Octopus. Mamaluke tries to roll out but Homicide catches him in the sunset flip position for the win at 14:51. They played off of their matches from the night before well, but this just didn't really flow for me.
Rating: **½
DP Associates attacks Homicide in full force after the match. Steel and Azrieal try to make the save but the numbers are against them. Roderick Strong evens things up and the main event begins.
VS.
Strong hits a clothesline at the sound of the bell and Punk bails. Back in the ring Punk hits an armdrag and celebrates. He puts on a wristlock but Strong reverses to one of his own. Punk hits another armdrag and celebrates with the referee. He puts on a headlock but walks into a pair of armdrags and bails. Back in the ring Punk takes off his ring jacket and uses it to choke Strong. They trade chops, which goes badly for Punk. Strong gets fired up with mounted punches but Punk comes back with a Manhattan drop. Strong returns the favor and chops Punk down for 2. He puts on a chinlock and hits a crossbody for 2. He gets a headlock takedown and hits a shoulder block forcing Punk to bail. Strong slingshots him back into the ring and goes back to the headlock. Prazak distracts him long enough for Punk to hit a series of knees to the gut. He kicks Strong to the floor where Prazak beats on him. Back in the ring Strong hits a slingshot shoulder tackle. Punk pulls him by the tights into the turnbuckle and then chokes away. He puts on an abdominal stretch and gets some help from Prazak. Strong goes for a crossbody but his head hits the ceiling and Punk catches him with a gutbuster. Punk hits an elbowdrop for 2. He puts on a body scissors hold but Strong rolls back for 2. He misses an elbowdrop and Punk dumps him to the floor. Prazak tags him with some chops and Punk tries to suplex him back into the ring. Strong blocks and gets a sunset flip for 2. Punk comes back with a clothesline and puts on a chinlock. Strong fights out but runs his gut into Punk's knee. Punk hits a stiff kick to the back and one to the chest for 2. He goes back to the abdominal stretch but Strong escapes. Punk puts on a sleeper hold but Strong escapes and puts on a sleeper of his own. Punk gets his back on but Strong escapes with a chinbreaker. Punk quickly puts it back on but Roderick fights out. He hits a side suplex and a back elbow. He hits a hurricanrana and goes for the half nelson backbreaker. Punk blocks so Strong dropkicks him out of the ring and follows up with a crossbody to the floor. Back in the ring Strong gets 2. He goes for the gutbuster but Punk blocks. Strong goes gets a sunset flip for 2 pulling Punk's tights down in the process. Punk hits a clothesline and climbs the ropes but Strong slams him down. Punk goes to the eyes and pulls up his tights. Strong hits the gutbuster and the Sick Kick for 2. Punk goes low and hits the mule kick. He hits a spear for 2. He goes for another but spears the referee by mistake. Strong rolls him up but there's nobody to make the count. Punk hits a back suplex for 2. Prazak holds Strong for Punk but ends up taking the clothesline himself and Strong rolls Punk up for the win at 24:57. They had a similarly weak roll up finish at ROH's Escape from New York shortly before this. The rest of the match was pretty great, although not as good as the aforementioned match or their first match in ROH. Still, it's the highlight of this DVD.
Rating: ***½
The 411:
Despite being on the top of the card Punk has not made his farewell run seem important. Sure the matches were good to very good, but since selling the New Dawn to Prazak I’ve had a hard time taking Punk’s desire to “dominate Florida” seriously. Whereas his ROH farewell tour saw him sticking around until he lost the World Championship, in FIP he just sort of seemed to be hanging out for the sake of it. Aside from that little nugget of truth it should be said that it takes a while for this DVD to get going. The title change comes as part of a fun match but then Homicide and Mamaluke disappoint. The main event is a fun farewell for Punk as all the cheating he did in FIP came back to bite him in the ass. There’s not much to go out of your way for here, so grab Heatstroke Night One instead. You can get this DVD at ROHWrestling.com.
