BRM Reviews FIP Big Year One Bash

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews FIP Big Year One Bash

Post by Big Red Machine » Sep 3rd, '21, 15:42

FIP Big Year One Bash (9/2/2005)- Arcadia, FL


Welcome to BRM’s Monthly “This Day in Wrestling History” Review Series. This month we’ll be finishing up our loosely-connected Summer of Sapolsky by returning to the hidden purpose of this series, which is to force me to watch DVDs which I bought many years ago and have been doing nothing but gathering dust on the shelves of my childhood bedroom. This one I hadn’t even opened the box of so I had to take the tape off the top before plugging it in. But now that I have done that, it’s time to finish off the Summer of Sapolsky with a bash. Specifically, an FIP Big Year One Bash.


EVAN STARSMORE vs. ERICK STEVENS (w/Steve Madison)- squash
After the match, Madison cut a promo asking for another opponent for Stevens, resulting in…

CHASYN RANCE vs. ERICK STEVENS (w/Steve Madison)- 2/10
Stevens won a short match, with his power beating out Rance’s speed. This was Stevens demonstrating his ability to defeat a more experienced opponent.
After the match, Madison sent Stevens to the back and made an open challenge, resulting in…

STEVE MADISON vs. TONY MAMALUKE- 5.25/10
Madison attack Mamaluke on his way into the ring. Madison worked the back while Mamaluke worked the arm. This was pretty good for the time it got. I’m not someone who needs a hot crowd to enjoy a match or even to think that the match was amazing, but it definitely helps. And this crowd was into it. They weren’t super-hot, but they were chanting for Tony, and there was one woman who jumped to her feet and started clapping when Mamaluke got the win, and it’s just plain fun to see people who are that into the show.

LENNY LEONARD INTERVIEWS HOMICIDE- good angle
The mic wasn’t very good so this was hard to hear. Homicdie was nearing the one-year mark as champion and promised to hold the title for another year. Nigel McGuinness ran in and attacked him, running his arm into the ringpost. Nigel said he was going to win the title and take it to England. The fans chanted “USA!” at him.

ANTONIO BANKS PROMO- good
He’s understandably quite upset that his partner in a recent tag match, Rainman, jumped him after the match. He warns Rainman that from now on, any time Banks sees him “the war is on.” Unforutnately for Banks, he was attacked by LaDuke Jakes, leading to…

ANTONIO BANKS vs. LADUKE JAKES- 3.75/10
This was another short match. Banks was a good babyface, never backing down from the big monster and using his brain to beat him (in this case using a leg sweep to finally take him off of his feet and then quickly covering him for the pin. Jakes’ has goofy, monster-heel body-movements and facials, but they worked here.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- fine
Banks got jumped from behind by Rainman, who he is wrestling tomorrow night in a no DQs match. Burce Steele came out to make the save, leading to…

BRUCE STEELE vs. RAINMAN- 5.75/10
They had a decent hoss fight. Rainman won by pulling the tights.

FIP TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Sal Rinauro & Spanky(c) vs. DP Associates (Jimmy Rave & Jay Lethal) (w/Dave Prazak & Mr. Milo Beasley)- 6/10
The babyfaces win clean in a very basic match.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- meh
The Heartbreak Express come out and convince Sal and Spanky to but their titles on the line for the chance to get revenge on the Heartbreak Express for… something. Then again, if it was me, the merely the chance to legally do something that could cause Sean Davis’ to be wired shut would be reason enough to put the titles on the line.

FIP TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Sal Rinauro & Spanky(c) vs. Heartbreak Express- 1.5/10
The heels cheated to win a short match.

JERRELLE CLARK & JAY FURY vs. SETH DELAY & AZRIEAL- 6.75/10
The future pairing of “The Fast and the Furious” pick up another win.

SPANKY SAYS GOODBYE TO SAL RINAURO AND THE FANS- fine
He’s off to WWE. He charges Sal with getting the tag titles back from the Heartbreak Express.

ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: James Gibson(c) vs. Roderick Strong- 8.25/10
It’s Roddy and Gibson. You know how it’s goes. Roddy works the back, Gibson is an awesome babyface and sells his ass off, and the match is awesome.

FIP TITLE MATCH: Homicide(c) vs. Nigel McGuinness- 6.75/10
This was a little disappointing. Nigel worked Homicide’s shoulder a bit, but the match often seemed so even that it didn’t feel like a big part of the match. Homicide worked over Nigel’s head and pinned him with a running lariat, which was a little ironic, considering the direction Nigel’s offense would take over the next few years.


This was a decent show from FIP. The real (and only) highlight was the ROH World Title match, but the rest of the show at least went by quickly and painlessly. The show was quite short at just one hour and forty-eight minutes, and the way the DVD is cut has a rushed feel to it with the way it jumps from match to match. There were even cuts between the end of the Erick Stevens matches and Steve Madison promos where he hopped into the ring to set up the next match. I’m not sure Homicide even had time to stand up after pinning Nigel in the main event before the DVD ended. Between things like that and the bad audio on the mics, despite Gabe’s protestations that “IT’S A DVD PRODUCT!”, this one really didn’t seem like it. I’d like to be able to promise you that the production will be better on next month’s show, but it’s WCW in the early 90s, so I can’t guarantee it.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

Upcoming Reviews:
FIP in 2005
ROH Validation
PWG All-Star Weekend V: Night 2
DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3

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