FIP Heatstroke: Night 1
FIP Heatstroke: Night 1 (8/5/2005)- Crystal River, FL
â€"1983?†â€"Welcome to World Class Championship Wrestling from the world-famed Sportatorium in Dallas Texas?†What the f*ck? Did they somehow stick the art on the wrong DVD?
Oh. Okay. It’s a trailer for Heroes of World Class. As you would expect form a DVD about the Dallas Territory, there was a lot of talk about various people dying (although David was the only Von Erich death mentioned in the trailer).
DUNN & MARCOS vs. DP ASSOCIATES (Jimmy Rave & â€"Fast†Eddie Vegas) (w/Dave Prazak & Mr. Milo Beasley)- 4.5/10
Prazak cuts a standard heel promo saying that the people of this town don’t deserve to see a title match, so he’s making a non-title open challenge, which is answered by the Ring Crew Express.
Dunn & Marcos pick up the upset victory. Also, the top rope broke. On commentary later in the night, Prazak would later give the whole Rockers vs. Hart Foundation excuse, claiming that the broken rope means that the match shouldn’t count.
CM PUNK & ADAM PEARCE PROMOS- fine.
Apparently Pearce joined DP Associates while I wasn’t looking. I mean literally. One moment Punk was talking, I turned around to grab my glass of Dr. Pepper, and when I looked back, Adam Pearce was randomly standing there with Punk and Prazak. Punk cut a pretty great promo that got almost no response from the crowd. Then Pearce told them all to shut up, and that got the boos.
This was kind of pointless. Yeah, it built up the Punk vs. Steel match later, but it wasn’t like this was necessary to show- especially the last two minutes which were just Punk and Pearce trying to pick fights with fans. It really felt like they were stalling for time to fix the broken rope, and this is a fine way to keep the crowd entertained while that is happening… but with all of the other random cuts we get on the usual FIP DVD, I found it a bit baffling that they didn’t cut out the rope-fixing time, too.
FOUR WAY FRAY: Jerrelle Clark vs. Roderick Strong vs. Azrieal vs. Jay Fury- 6.5/10
A good match with one or two good stories here. This was one of the first times watching FIP that it really felt to me like we had a bunch of young guys trying to get over with the more modern style of wrestling that had gotten so much acclaim for ROH, IWA-Mid South, and JAPW (and within a few months, would start gaining a lot more attention in PWG out west). THIS is more of what I have been hoping to see out of FIP. A good step forward.
Speaking of good steps forward, I’d have to go back and check my records, but this is the first time I can remember where it really felt like Roderick was the veteran presence/established name in the match. It’s cool to see Roddy making these little strides towards the top in the promotion he would become arguably THE major star of.
Azrieal getting eliminated first kind of surprised me, considering that the last weekend’s worth of shows seemed to be about positioning him as a new top babyface via his ideological split with the New Dawn after Punk sold out and his acceptance by Spanky, Rinauro, and Cabana in their alliance against the New Dawn/DP Associates mega-stable.
Perhaps more interesting, though, was the second part of the match, which consisted almost entirely of Clark and Fury double-teaming Roddy and working together to eliminate him. It will be interesting to see if that goes anywhere. Clark once again got the best of Fury, but cut a promo afterwards putting him over and they showed each other respect after the match. Fury’s continues to rise as a future star in the promotion.
STEVE MADISON PROMO- he cuts his standard promo about how he ran James Gibson out of FIP, but then things took a turn for the surprising when he noted that he had chased Gibson into â€"taking an easier job back with the WWE.†I didn’t realize that this had happened yet, and if it had, I’m amazed that Gabe allowed Madison to mention it considering that Gibson was about to win the ROH World Title in a week when the current angle in ROH was that Gibson was trying to win the title specifically to stop CM Punk from taking it to WWE.
Then JAMES GIBSON showed up! Madison ran away like a little wuss as soon as he saw Jamie. Madison ran all the way out the door, while Jamie then cut a great little babyface promo saying that he would finish his business with Tony Mamaluke right now, and then he’d be coming for Madison.
JAMES GIBSON vs. TONY MAMALUKE- 7.5/10
Somehow I didn’t notice this during the last match, but rather than fix the broken rope, they instead moved each rope up one, so we only have a top rope and a middle rope (although I guess it’s technically not the middle rope anymore). As Dave Prazak noted, the lack of bottom rope should make things a lot more interesting in a match with two very technically-based competitors like these two.
Now THIS is what I like to see! Great submission-based wrestling that tells a story! This is what I was hoping to get from Roddy and Mamaluke recently and didn’t get. I won’t say this match has restored my faith in FIP or anything (I’m dreading the next match), but it’s enough to make me want to hold out for the next few shows (which including Roddy vs. Punk and Roddy vs. Gibson).
SAL RINAURO vs. ADAM PEARCE (w/Dave Prazak)- 4.5/10
It was fine once the comedy stopped. Sal wins via roll-up but gets attacked by DP Associates. Spanky makes the save, leading to…
SPANKY vs. SAMOA JOE (w/Dave Prazak & Mr. Milo Beasley)- 7.75/10
A perfect example of how they should be combining the more modern style with the Memphis-style stuff they seem to be big on. Props to Joe and especially Spanky for getting the crowd so into this.
THE HEARTBREAK EXPRESS vs. ANTONIO BANKS & RAINMAN- 4/10
Bottom rope is now fixed. For some reason, Rainman decided to turn on Banks after the match. If I had to guess, this was a rush-job so they could have him put over someone they actually saw something in (as opposed to the Heartbreak Express) before headed off to WWE.
ACE STEEL vs. CM PUNK (w/Dave Prazak)- 6.5/10
FIP HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Homicide(c) vs. Steve Madison (w/Erick Stevens)- 6.75/10
After the match, we got a brawl pitting Stevens and Madison against Homicide and Gibson, which the babyfaces won.
A MUCH better show than usual from FIP. They actually looked like a promotion I would enjoy watching this time. I’d even go so far as to call this show â€"good,†although it would have been nice to see the main event deliver a lot more.
â€"1983?†â€"Welcome to World Class Championship Wrestling from the world-famed Sportatorium in Dallas Texas?†What the f*ck? Did they somehow stick the art on the wrong DVD?
Oh. Okay. It’s a trailer for Heroes of World Class. As you would expect form a DVD about the Dallas Territory, there was a lot of talk about various people dying (although David was the only Von Erich death mentioned in the trailer).
DUNN & MARCOS vs. DP ASSOCIATES (Jimmy Rave & â€"Fast†Eddie Vegas) (w/Dave Prazak & Mr. Milo Beasley)- 4.5/10
Prazak cuts a standard heel promo saying that the people of this town don’t deserve to see a title match, so he’s making a non-title open challenge, which is answered by the Ring Crew Express.
Dunn & Marcos pick up the upset victory. Also, the top rope broke. On commentary later in the night, Prazak would later give the whole Rockers vs. Hart Foundation excuse, claiming that the broken rope means that the match shouldn’t count.
CM PUNK & ADAM PEARCE PROMOS- fine.
Apparently Pearce joined DP Associates while I wasn’t looking. I mean literally. One moment Punk was talking, I turned around to grab my glass of Dr. Pepper, and when I looked back, Adam Pearce was randomly standing there with Punk and Prazak. Punk cut a pretty great promo that got almost no response from the crowd. Then Pearce told them all to shut up, and that got the boos.
This was kind of pointless. Yeah, it built up the Punk vs. Steel match later, but it wasn’t like this was necessary to show- especially the last two minutes which were just Punk and Pearce trying to pick fights with fans. It really felt like they were stalling for time to fix the broken rope, and this is a fine way to keep the crowd entertained while that is happening… but with all of the other random cuts we get on the usual FIP DVD, I found it a bit baffling that they didn’t cut out the rope-fixing time, too.
FOUR WAY FRAY: Jerrelle Clark vs. Roderick Strong vs. Azrieal vs. Jay Fury- 6.5/10
A good match with one or two good stories here. This was one of the first times watching FIP that it really felt to me like we had a bunch of young guys trying to get over with the more modern style of wrestling that had gotten so much acclaim for ROH, IWA-Mid South, and JAPW (and within a few months, would start gaining a lot more attention in PWG out west). THIS is more of what I have been hoping to see out of FIP. A good step forward.
Speaking of good steps forward, I’d have to go back and check my records, but this is the first time I can remember where it really felt like Roderick was the veteran presence/established name in the match. It’s cool to see Roddy making these little strides towards the top in the promotion he would become arguably THE major star of.
Azrieal getting eliminated first kind of surprised me, considering that the last weekend’s worth of shows seemed to be about positioning him as a new top babyface via his ideological split with the New Dawn after Punk sold out and his acceptance by Spanky, Rinauro, and Cabana in their alliance against the New Dawn/DP Associates mega-stable.
Perhaps more interesting, though, was the second part of the match, which consisted almost entirely of Clark and Fury double-teaming Roddy and working together to eliminate him. It will be interesting to see if that goes anywhere. Clark once again got the best of Fury, but cut a promo afterwards putting him over and they showed each other respect after the match. Fury’s continues to rise as a future star in the promotion.
STEVE MADISON PROMO- he cuts his standard promo about how he ran James Gibson out of FIP, but then things took a turn for the surprising when he noted that he had chased Gibson into â€"taking an easier job back with the WWE.†I didn’t realize that this had happened yet, and if it had, I’m amazed that Gabe allowed Madison to mention it considering that Gibson was about to win the ROH World Title in a week when the current angle in ROH was that Gibson was trying to win the title specifically to stop CM Punk from taking it to WWE.
Then JAMES GIBSON showed up! Madison ran away like a little wuss as soon as he saw Jamie. Madison ran all the way out the door, while Jamie then cut a great little babyface promo saying that he would finish his business with Tony Mamaluke right now, and then he’d be coming for Madison.
JAMES GIBSON vs. TONY MAMALUKE- 7.5/10
Somehow I didn’t notice this during the last match, but rather than fix the broken rope, they instead moved each rope up one, so we only have a top rope and a middle rope (although I guess it’s technically not the middle rope anymore). As Dave Prazak noted, the lack of bottom rope should make things a lot more interesting in a match with two very technically-based competitors like these two.
Now THIS is what I like to see! Great submission-based wrestling that tells a story! This is what I was hoping to get from Roddy and Mamaluke recently and didn’t get. I won’t say this match has restored my faith in FIP or anything (I’m dreading the next match), but it’s enough to make me want to hold out for the next few shows (which including Roddy vs. Punk and Roddy vs. Gibson).
SAL RINAURO vs. ADAM PEARCE (w/Dave Prazak)- 4.5/10
It was fine once the comedy stopped. Sal wins via roll-up but gets attacked by DP Associates. Spanky makes the save, leading to…
SPANKY vs. SAMOA JOE (w/Dave Prazak & Mr. Milo Beasley)- 7.75/10
A perfect example of how they should be combining the more modern style with the Memphis-style stuff they seem to be big on. Props to Joe and especially Spanky for getting the crowd so into this.
THE HEARTBREAK EXPRESS vs. ANTONIO BANKS & RAINMAN- 4/10
Bottom rope is now fixed. For some reason, Rainman decided to turn on Banks after the match. If I had to guess, this was a rush-job so they could have him put over someone they actually saw something in (as opposed to the Heartbreak Express) before headed off to WWE.
ACE STEEL vs. CM PUNK (w/Dave Prazak)- 6.5/10
FIP HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Homicide(c) vs. Steve Madison (w/Erick Stevens)- 6.75/10
After the match, we got a brawl pitting Stevens and Madison against Homicide and Gibson, which the babyfaces won.
A MUCH better show than usual from FIP. They actually looked like a promotion I would enjoy watching this time. I’d even go so far as to call this show â€"good,†although it would have been nice to see the main event deliver a lot more.