BG Says: FIP In Full Force 2007
Posted by Brad Garoon on 09.01.2007
Roderick Strong vs. Davey Richards, Part 2 of 2.
February 3, 2007 – Crystal River, Florida
When we last left FIP
Necro Butcher and Mad Man Pondo made short work of the Briscoe Brothers in singles matches and stole their tag title belts. Claudio Castagnoli caused trouble for the Black Market but was put down by Colt Cabana and Erick Stevens. Roderick Strong made Davey Richards quit to retain his World Championship, but must pin or make him submit twice tonight to keep his title.
Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard team up for commentary goodness on this DVD.
VS.
Hallowicked grabs a headlock to start. Delay puts on a wristlock but Hallowicked comes back with a hammerlock. Delay hits a dropkick and puts on an armbar. Hallowicked hits the Go2Sleep to the gut and a vertical suplex for 2. He hits a hiptoss and puts on a seated abdominal stretch. He dodges a blind charge and hits a variation of the Iconoclasm for 2. Delay comes back with a head scissors takedown and then clotheslines Hallowicked to the floor. Hallowicked dodges a dive and hits a big boot for 2 back in the ring. He hits the Rydeen bomb for 2. He climbs the ropes but misses a swanton bomb. Delay hits a weird powerbomb after an awkward leapfrog goes awry. That gets 2. He climbs the ropes and goes for a crossbody but Hallowicked rolls through and ties Delay up. Delay kicks Hallowicked away and gets a sunset flip for 2. They trade roll ups until Delay hits the Yoshi Tonic for the win at 8:33. The crowd turned on the match a little there, and to be honest the wrestlers didn’t do too much prove they didn’t deserve it.
Rating: *½
Dave Prazak brings Shingo out to the ring but stops for a promo on the way. He talks about the Eddie Graham Memorial Battle of the Belts next month, which will decide the winner of the new Florida Heritage Championship. The FIP Champion and the tag champs are already in the tournament, but Prazak suggests a few qualifying matches be held tonight to decide who else will get a spot in the 8-man tournament. Shingo should of course be in the first one.
VS.
They lock up and Shingo powers Jigsaw to the ropes. He gets a headlock takedown and hits a big shoulder tackle. Jigsaw hits a pair of armdrags and a head scissors takedown. Shingo bails and baits Jigsaw into a chase, which always works out well for the heel. Prazak distracts the referee so Shingo chokes Jigsaw with his Japanese flag. He hits a back elbow and a fistdrop for 2. Shingo distracts the referee while Milo Beasley hits a legdrop on Jigsaw on the apron. That gets 2 for Shingo. He goes to the eyes and hits a leg lariat for 2. He hits a vertical suplex for 2. He puts on a half crab and then switches to a crossface. Jigsaw gets to the ropes. Shingo hits a clothesline in the corner but Jigsaw blocks a blind charge and hits a leg lariat. Shingo bails so Jigsaw follows him out with a big dive. Back in the ring Jigsaw comes off the top with a dropkick for 2. He goes for a swinging DDT but Shingo counters to a spinebuster for 2. Jigsaw hits an enziguiri and a superkick for 2. Prazak distracts Jigsaw but it’s not enough to keep the masked man from hitting a crucifix bomb for 2. Milo trips Jigsaw and Shingo hits the Last Falconry for the win at 12:10. I could not have been less interested when this match started but they ended up reeling me in without much trouble. The finish was almost identical to the one the night before, but at least Leonard acknowledged that on commentary.
Rating: **½
VS. [Loser Leaves Town for 90 Days]
Sal and Claudio attack before the bell. Murphy tosses Sal to the floor and slugs Claudio down. Murphy and Machete hit a double hiptoss on Claudio and then double-team him in the corner. Sal attacks them from behind but they come back with a double spinebuster. Claudio and Machete play tug of war with Sal. Machete wins and kicks Sal’s back. Murphy tags in and hits an elbowdrop. Machete tags in and gets poked in the eyes. Claudio tags in but Machete elbows him down. Machete hits an elbowdrop for 2. Murphy tags in and works Claudio over in the corner. Machete tags in and they slam Claudio off the top turnbuckle. Sal hits a cheap shot and Claudio hits a knee to the back of the head. Machete falls to the floor so Sal whips him into the barricade. Back in the ring Claudio hits a European uppercut. Sal tags in and hits a dropkick for 2. Claudio tags in and puts on an abdominal stretch. Sal pulls Claudio’s arm for leverage but Machete hits a hiptoss to escape the hold. Sal tags in and hits a forearm in the corner. He hits a dropkick for 2. He goes to the eyes as Claudio keeps Murphy too distracted to make the save. Claudio runs in and hits a back suplex on Machete for 2. Sal hits a legdrop on the apron and tags in legally. He stomps on Machete’s face and climbs the ropes. Machete dodges a double stomp and hits a clothesline. Murphy tags in and cleans house. He takes Sal and Claudio down with clotheslines and hits an overhead suplex on Claudio. He catches Sal coming off the top rope but Sal dropkicks him into the referee. With the referee down Claudio hits Machete with the briefcase. Murphy goes after Claudio allowing Sal to pin Machete for the win at 12:14. I’m tempted to make this my MOTY for giving me a few shows without the Black Market, but alas I’m too nerdy to compromise my star system. As it is the match was fine but could have benefited from more cheating from the YRR. The crowd wants a rematch but it’ll have to wait 90 days.
Rating: **¼
Machete makes sure to cut one more promo before he leaves. It’s actually a solid promo in which he admits that he knew the YRR was a group of slime balls before the match and they should have been better prepared for that. They lost, fair or not, so in 90 days they’re going to come back and make the YRR pay.
Sean Waltman comes out for a promo but can’t get two words in before Chasyn Rance comes out. He says he’s a big fan of Waltman… well he was fifteen years ago. He then lays Waltman out with the microphone. Waltman pops up and beats Rance to the ring where a match begins.
VS.
This is pretty much a last-minute replacement match to make us forget that Jake Roberts is a horrible drug addict. Waltman goes for the Bronco Buster but Rance avoids it. Rance comes back with forearms and a back bodydrop for 2. He puts on a surfboard stretch but Waltman gets a sunset flip for 2. Rance hits a neckbreaker for 2. He puts on a chinlock and hits a superkick for 2. He misses a moonsault and Waltman opens up with kicks. He hits the Bronco Buster and the X-Factor for the win at 3:39. Want to see this match for free? Turn on Raw next Monday at 9:30 and watch whatever they put on. It was wise to have Rance dominate most of the match, but I think it would have been better for the company had he gone over a name like Waltman.
Rating: *¼
VS.
Necro and Pondo had stolen the tag title belts the night before so the Briscoes demand they bring them to the ring for this match. Necro and Pondo oblige them and use the belts as weapons. Mark dives onto Necro on the floor as Pondo pulls out his staple gun. Pondo staples a dollar bill to Jay’s head as Necro hits Mark with part of the barricade. Jay staples a dollar to Pondo’s check so we’re back to where we were last night. Mark hits a crossbody on Necro on the floor as Pondo staples Briscoe’s testicles. He hits Jay with the CSP sign and Jay bails. Mark puts Necro in the ring as Pondo sets up a table on the floor. Mark hits a double jump moonsault and a leg lariat on Necro. Pondo works over a cut on Jay’s head with more staples. Everyone fights into the crowd where Necro throws chair after chair at Mark. He hits the chair-assisted bodyslam but Mark comes back with a suplex on the floor. He sets Necro against a garage door and sandwiches his head between it and a chair. Necro returns fire by repeatedly slamming Mark’s head into the garage door. Pondo sets up two chairs and bodyslams Jay through them. Mark hits Necro with a moonsault off of the barricade as Jay hits a chair shot to Pondo’s back. Necro pokes Mark’s eyes and tosses him back to the ringside area. He hits a series of double stomps as Pondo chokes Jay with the chain from the garage door. Mark hits a superkick on Pondo as Necro sets up two chairs in the ring. He tries to suplex Mark through them but Jay saves and the Briscoes hit a double suplex to the floor. That was a thousand times more painful looking than all the staple gun shots in the world. Pondo bleeds as the Briscoes double-team him in the corner of the ring for 2. The Briscoes hit a very manufactured looking Doomsday Van Daminator for 2. They set Pondo on a table and hit the top rope legdrop/big splash combo for 2 when Necro saves. Necro sets the chairs up back to back and hits Mark with a backbreaker onto them. Pondo sits Jay in a chair and comes off the top onto him with a side senton for 2. Necro goes for a superplex through an upright chair but Mark fights him off and double stomps him into it. Jay hits a Yakuza kick for 2. Pondo hits both Briscoes with a chair and sets up another table. He sets Jay up top and hits an ugly piledriver through the table for 2 when Mark saves. Mark hits a bodyslam and climbs the ropes. Necro throws a chair at him and puts him through a table on the floor with an ugly hurricanrana. That gets 2 back in the ring. The Death Match Kings pile chairs up in the ring and Necro hits Mark with a tiger driver onto them for 2. Necro keeps Pondo from taking out the referee and then slugs him down himself. He sets the referee up top and hits a super side slam through a table. A second referee runs out but Pondo tosses him over the top to the floor. Everyone ends up in the corner and the Death Match Kings end up the victim of some circus shit. Mark hits a big splash onto both opponents and counts the pin himself but referee Bryce Remsburg calls the match a no-contest instead at 17:38. Telegraphed spots (pretty much all the big ones) aside this was a fun, violent brawl that sets up a rematch beautifully. You’ve seen most of these spots before if you’re a Ring of Honor fan, but they came together well here. Necro and Pondo grab the belts and run out of the building.
Rating: ***¼
An ad plays for FIP Cage of Pain. Go ahead and check out my review of the show. Not a great show by any means but the YRR 6-man tag is a lot of fun and Richards vs. Danielson was solid and lead to the main event of this show.
VS.
Akuma grabs a wristlock to start. They trade holds and Akuma armdrags Stevens to the floor. He hits a baseball slide but Stevens counters a hurricanrana to a powerbomb against the apron. Back in the ring Stevens hits a backbreaker for 2. He puts on the bow and arrow and then kicks the back of Akuma’s neck. Akuma comes back with kicks for 2. He puts on a stranglehold and pins Stevens for 2. He hits the KneeDT but Stevens returns fire with a vertical suplex. Stevens hits a facebuster and a kneelift for 2. He hits a back suplex for 2. He hits a bodyslam but misses an elbowdrop. Akuma puts on a seated abdominal stretch and hits a knee to the face. Stevens hits the Choo Choo Avalanche and the Okalahoma Stampede. He hits a senton for 2. Akuma dodges the TKO and kicks the back of Stevens’s head for 2. Stevens blocks the Yoshi Tonic and rolls through a top rope crossbody to hit the TKO for 2. Akuma blocks a lariat and kicks Stevens’s face. He hits a snapmare driver for 2. Stevens goes for the Doctor Bomb but Akuma counters to the knee driver. He hits the Yoshi Tonic for 2. He climbs the ropes but Stevens dodges a frog splash and hits that lariat and the Doctor Bomb for the win at 11:51. These are two of the most consistent performers in FIP so it’s no surprise that this was a fun match. Akuma has really stood out amongst the CHIKARA imports. After the match Stevens thanks the fans and says that since he is Florida through and through it’s important to him that he wins the Florida Heritage Title.
Rating: ***¼
VS.
Sweeney stalls to start. He goes for a sucker punch but Cabana blocks it and hits one of his own. Cabana puts on a wristlock and hits a hiptoss. He hits a dropkick and Sweeney bails. Cabana goes after him so Sweeney spits water in his face. Cabana slingshots him back into the ring and rams him into each turnbuckle. He puts on a headlock and hits a series of shoulder tackles for 2. He chops Sweeney in the corner and hits a clothesline. Sweeney uses the referee as a human shield and then chokes Cabana with a towel. He hits a double axe handle off the second rope for 2. He puts on a chinlock but Cabana comes back with a roll up for 2. Cabana hits a crossbody for 2. Sweeney hits a knee to the gut and takes down the straps. He hits another double axe handle and goes back to the chinlock. Cabana fights out and pulls Sweeney’s tights down. Ew. He hits an atomic drop and a bodyslam. Sweeney goes to the eyes and climbs the ropes, pants still down, but Cabana slams him to the mat. Sweeney rolls to the floor and pulls Cabana out. FIP has a bad habit of doing this mooning spot for too long. Remember when we all saw CM Punk’s nuts? I try to forget too. Back in the ring Sweeney climbs the ropes again but gets caught on his way down with a punch to the gut. Finally Sweeney pulls his tights back up but it’s not enough to keep Cabana from elbowing him down. Cabana hits the Flying Asshole and a lariat for 2. Sweeney misses an elbowdrop and Cabana hits a monkey flip. He goes for another monkey flip but Sweeney blocks it and pins Cabana with his feet on the ropes for the win at 11:12. Extended rump exposure aside this was a solid match, much better than their tag match from the night before.
Rating: **¾
VS. [2/3 Falls Match]
This is Richards’s third and final shot at the Strong’s FIP World Championship. They lock up and Strong grabs a wristlock. Richards gets a drop toehold and puts on a headlock. Strong stomps on Richards’s hand so he bails. Back in the ring Strong goes after a cross armbreaker but Richards counters to an STF attempt. Strong blocks that so Richards puts on a camel clutch. Strong counters to a camel clutch of his own but Richards counters that to the Kayak. Richards goes after Strong’s leg but Strong comes back with chops for 1. Richards puts on an anklelock but Strong gets to the ropes. Richards puts on the Indian deathlock but Strong fights out. Strong blocks a bodyslam and rolls Richards up to win the first fall at 7:26. Richards bails so Strong chases him around the ring. Back inside Richards regains control with a bodyslam for 2. He puts on the Mark Nulty Special but Strong gets to the ropes. Richards hits a vertical suplex but misses a legdrop off the second rope. Strong hits a backbreaker and a bodyslam. He climbs the ropes and hits a flying elbowdrop for 2. They fight to the floor where Richards opens up with kicks. He goes to the eyes but Strong regains control with a slingshot back into the ring. Strong puts on the leggy nelson but Richards gets to the ropes. Strong hits the gutbuster but gives away that his knee is hurting him and Richards dropkicks it. Richards hits a dragon screw and puts on the Stretch Muffler to win the second fall at 12:23. Richards dropkicks the knee again and then hits a springboard dropkick to the knee. Strong hits two enziguiris and a slingshot powerslam for 2. He sets Richards up top but Richards comes back with a sunset bomb for 2. He puts on a half crab and then switches to the Stretch Muffler but Strong gets to the ropes. Strong hits a backbreaker on the apron and then tends to his knee on the floor. Back in the ring Strong gets 2. He sets Richards up top again and hits a superplex for 2. Richards blocks the half nelson backbreaker and hits a shinbreaker. He wrenches Strong’s knee for 2. He sets Strong up top but Strong comes back with a flipping superplex for the win at 17:59. This was almost as good as the number one contender match these two had in FIP, and better than their FIP title match in ROH and the match from the night before. The first fall wasn’t very exciting but it set the stage for Richards’s dominance later in the match. After the match Strong lays claim to the Florida Heritage Championship.
Rating: ***½
The 411:
This show was pretty much on par with it’s counterpart from the night before. It did however have a better structure overall, as the title match was the main event and a good match to boot. The rest of the show started off as is usually does; decent but unspectacular. Stevens looked like a star in his match against Akuma and the Black Market is gone, so I guess there are more than a few nice things to say about this show. You can pick it up at ROHWrestling.com or FullImpactPro.com.
