BG Says: FIP Impact of Honor

June 10, 2006 – Orlando, Florida

The idea here is that FIP is putting on an ROH style show. Instead of the usual heel/face emphasis and heavy crowd interaction the show will be more focused on the in-ring product. Let’s see how it works out.

When we last left FIP
This show takes place eight months after the previously released FIP DVD, and thus I don’t really have anything to put in this section. From memory recent FIP events included Colt Cabana winning a six-man elimination match to earn an FIP Championship match on the show before this against Bryan Danielson, who he’d be facing on this show for the ROH World Championship. Steve Madison turned on partner Erick Stevens after losing a feud to Sal Rinauro and Cabana. Madison then hired of Dragon Gate’s Shingo Takagi to face and defeat Stevens, leading to a match between the two FIP regulars on this show. Finally, Fast & Furious defeated Chasyn Rance & Seth Delay on their way to an ROH Tag Team Championship match on this show. Going out of order is a little annoying for me because I’m into continuity, but it does give me an opportunity to use a new set of pictures in a few places!

Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Jared David. Jonathan Gold is the new ring announcer.

VS.
The Cougar is Tony Kozina under a hood. He gets a new set of stats being as they don’t acknowledge that it’s the same guy. Sal kicks things off with a headlock and floats into an armbar. The Cougar goes after the ankle but Sal quickly gets away. Cougar grabs a headlock but Sal reverses to a head scissors hold. Cougar flips away and puts on a wristlock. Sal reverses to a headlock and hits a hiptoss. He hits an armdrag and a dropkick. He hits a kick to the back of the head for 2 and puts on a chinlock. A dropkick lands on the top of Cougar’s head and Sal follows up with one to the face. He hits a delayed vertical suplex for 2. He goes for Sliced Bread #2 but Cougar drops him on the floor. Back in the ring Cougar gets 2. He rams Sal hard into the corner and hits a kneedrop for 2. He hits a back elbow for 2. He hits a snap suplex for 2. He hits a clothesline for 2. Sal comes back with a superkick and a clothesline. He hits a back elbow and a leg lariat. He hits a stunner for 2. He hits a moonsault press for 2. Cougar blocks Sliced Bread #2 again and hits a German suplex for 2. He unloads with knees to the face and hits a climbing knee in the corner for 2. He climbs the ropes and comes down with a hurricanrana over the top rope to the floor. That was pretty nuts. Back in the ring Sal gets a sunset flip for 2. Cougar gets la magistral for 2. He hits a springboard bulldog for 2. He climbs the ropes but Sal catches him with a Manhattan drop on his way down. He follows up with Sliced Bread #2 for the win at 12:31. The bulk of this was pretty lousy but the end fired up the crowd and when all is said and done that’s what an opener is supposed to do.
Rating: **¼

Dave Prazak and ROH and FIP Champion Bryan Danielson come out for some stick time. Danielson rips on the fans before giving Prazak the FIP title belt and the night off. Danielson goes to the back as Prazak talks about Homicide’s imminent return. He proclaims that Danielson’s reign has been superior than Homicide’s in every way and then tells Homicide to be careful when he gets back.

VS.
They lock up and Pourteau forces Delay to the corner. He puts Delay on the mat with an armbar but Delay reverses to a wristlock. He hits a springboard crossbody for 2. Pourteau comes back with a roll up for 2 but Delay goes right back to the wristlock. He hits a hurricanrana and Pourteau bails. Delay tries to follow him out with a plancha but completely wipes out on the floor. That was painful to watch. Back in the ring Pourteau hits a backdrop. He hits a kneelift and rakes the eyes. Delay misses a dropkick and Pourteau hits an elbowdrop for 2. He rakes the back and chops Delay down. Delay goes for a sleeper hold but Pourteau goes to the corner to break. Delay comes off the top with a crossbody for 2. He hits a back bodydrop and a leaping forearm. He hits a bodyslam and climbs the ropes. He misses his reverse senton and Pourteau hits him with a powerbomb for the win at 5:43. Delay deserved to lose as he wrestled that match like a retard. For his part Pourteau is just too flabby to wear his singlet the way Kurt Angle does.
Rating: *½

VS. VS. VS.
As you can see Chavis is Rainman. His stats stay in tact as it is acknowledged that he is the same person. He has joined up with So Cal Val and the Heartbreak Express as their bodyguard. Kenny King is the kid from Tough Enough. Chavis and Rance pair up as do Drago and King. King hits a back suplex on Rance for 2. Chavis clotheslines Drago to the floor and Rance follows them out with a suicide dive. King hits everyone with a spinning plancha shortly after. Back in the ring King gets 2 on Drago. Drago comes back with a clothesline. Rance hits an enziguiri on Drago for 2. Drago comes back with an exploder on Rance and a drop toehold on Chavis. He goes after So Cal Val but Rance catches him with a superkick. Back in the ring Chavis hits a cobra clutch Bubba bomb and keeps the hold on to eliminate Drago at 2:58. King takes control of Chavis, setting him up top and hitting a palm strike. Chavis blocks the superplex but Rance runs in and boots him to the floor. He rolls up King for 2. He puts on a headlock but King comes back with a springboard blockbuster for 2. He hits a tiger driver on Chavis for 2. Chavis comes back with a suplex into a slam to eliminate King at 5:57. Rance gets a roll up on Chavis for 2. He hits a crossbody for 2. He hits a hiptoss but Chavis swats away a dropkick. Rance dodges an elbowdrop and hits a hurricanrana for 2. Chavis goes to the eyes and hits a boot to the face. Rance picks up the win at 8:01 by reversing a vertical suplex to a roll up. Drago is awful, I want to say that first. The move Chavis used to pin King looked like it hurt him more than King. The rest of the match was the usual trash they put into a four-way fray, although the final two minutes with Chavis and Rance was decent.
Rating: *¾

This was billed as Dragon Gate vs. ROH/FIP, but Davey Richards was just barely less of a newcomer to the ROH/FIP promotions than Takagi was. They lock up and Richards grabs a headlock. Takagi reverses to a wristlock but Richards escapes with a kick to the shoulder. He goes back to the headlock but he can’t overpower Takagi. He gets a head scissors takedown and a pair of armdrags into an armbar. He drops a leg on Takagi’s arm and hits an armbreaker. He hits two more but Takagi grabs a chinlock. Takagi hits a giant swing and goes back to the chinlock. He hits a big kneedrop for 2. He hits a clothesline in the corner and a bodyslam. He marches on Richards’ chest and hits a back elbow. He hits a DDT for 2 and starts working the neck. They trade strikes and Richards hits a handspring kick. Takagi bails and Richards follows him out with a plancha. Back in the ring Richards hits a springboard dropkick. He hits a running forearm and a clothesline for 2. Takagi comes back with a gutbuster and what I think was supposed to be a Black Hole Slam. He hits an STO into the Manriki but Richards gets to the ropes. Richards blocks a blind charge but falls victim to a northern lights bomb for 2. Richards blocks the Blood Fall and puts on the Stretch Muffler. His neck is too messed up to keep the hold on and he releases. He hits a bodyslam and climbs the ropes. Takagi shoves the referee into the ropes to crotch him and then brings him down with a second rope exploder for 2. Richards comes back with kicks but runs into a lariat. Takagi follows up with the Blood Fall for the win at 12:36. I was a bit disappointed as this was the match I was most looking forward to on this DVD, but that’s not to say it was a bad match.
Rating: ***

Stevens rushes the ring and slugs Madison down. He hits an overhead suplex and Madison bails. Stevens hits a shoulder block off the apron and beats Madison around ringside. Back in the ring Stevens hits a side Russian legsweep and an elbowdrop for 2. He hits a bodyslam but a senton hits knees. Madison hits a kneelift to sent Stevens to the floor. Stevens comes back with a slap but Madison rams him into the post. Back in the ring Madison slugs away. Stevens starts bleeding as Madison hits him with a vertical suplex. He works over the cut on the face and then hits a second rope shoulder tackle for 2. He comes off the second rope with a stomp to the chest. He puts on a butterfly hold but Stevens fights out. Madison shoves him to the mat and goes back to work on the cut. He puts on a Sasori-Gatame but Stevens gets to the ropes. Madison blocks a blind charge but falls into a powerslam. Stevens hits a running forearm and then unloads with them. He hits a running knee and another running forearm. He hits the senton for 2. Madison goes for a piledriver but Stevens blocks and hits a TKO for 2. He can’t hit a gutwrench suplex because his back is cashed out so Madison gains control with a northern lights suplex. He goes back to the Sasori-gatame Stevens gets to the ropes. Madison hits a bodyslam and climbs the ropes. He comes down with a legdrop for 2. Stevens hits a German suplex but Madison comes back with an Ace Crusher for 2. He hits the Axe Bomber for 2. He tries again but Stevens ducks and the referee takes the blow. Stevens unloads with strikes and hits a gutwrench powerbomb. He tries to revive the referee as Chasyn Rance comes out to help. Stevens goes back to work on Madison but Rance nails him with an enziguiri. Madison hits the dazed Stevens with a piledriver for the win at 12:39. This was obviously going to be the first match in a longer feud so the finish isn’t too frustrating. Everything up to that point was a quality brawl as well.
Rating: ***¼

After the match Rance and Madison hit Stevens with a spike piledriver. Stevens mentor Roderick Strong makes the save to prevent any further beatings. Rance and Madison dub themselves Young, Rich and Ready for Action. The name YRR doesn’t do much to inspire fear as a heel stable in my opinion.

At this point in the DVD there is a match between the Heartbreak Express and the Masked Fipper #13 and the Super FIP Machine. The DVD started skipping like crazy in the middle of the Heartbreak Express’ pre-match promo and didn’t get normal again until Bryan Danileson’s intro to the following match. I know it sounds too convenient to be true, but that’s the way it crumbles. I will say that the Masked FIP Machine was just a giant fat guy. The Heartbreak Express won, also.

VS.
The setup for this match can be viewed for free on ROHVideos.com. In the video Cabana made fun of Danielson’s complexion, so the title match that was scheduled for Chicago in ROH got moved up to this show. They fight for crowd approval to start, and since this isn’t ROH the mega-heel Danielson actually draws boos.

They lock up and Cabana taunts Danielson. Danielson attacks with a hammerlock but Cabana reverses to a toehold. Danielson takes a powder and jaws with the fans. The stalling goes on a long time but Danielson eventually reenters the ring and puts on a cravat. Cabana reverses to a wristlock and hits a dropkick. Danielson bails again and complaints about tooth pain. The crowd tells him to accept the pain and quit. He threatens to do so but by count out but his pride gets the best of him and he rushes back into the ring at 9. He rams Cabana’s face into the mat repeatedly until Cabana blocks and returns the favor. Cabana hits another dropkick and Danielson bails again. Cabana chases him around ringside but misses a dropkick back in the ring. Danielson misses an elbowdrop and Cabana hits a bodyslam. He fakes a stomp and hits an elbowdrop for 2. Danielson hits a pair of European uppercuts and rams Cabana’s head into the turnbuckle for 2. Cabana comes back with a monkey flip and climbs the ropes. Danielson knocks him down and chokes him in the corner. He hits a knee to the gut for 2. He slugs Cabana on the nose and hits a kneedrop. He hits another knee to the gut for 2. He puts on a surfboard stretch and then hits another European uppercut. He hits a kneedrop and starts working the nose. He hits a snap suplex and climbs the ropes. He hits the diving headbutt for 2. Cabana comes back with a back suplex. He rolls Danielson up for 2. He gets a few more roll ups for 2 and then spins Danielson around the ring. It’s not enough to put Danielson down for 3 so Cabana climbs the ropes. He comes down with a missile dropkick for 2 and puts on a headlock. Danielson hits another knee to the gut but Cabana cuts off his momentum with a cannonball in the corner. He climbs the ropes again but this time Danielson cuts him off and hits a superplex. Cabana nudges up and it looks to be a double pin but both men kick at 2. Danielson puts on the Cow Killer but Cabana gets to the ropes. Cabana gets a backslide for 2. He hits a lariat and the referee counts three but then realizes that Danielson’s foot was on the bottom rope. The match continues and Cabana goes for Colt 45. Danielson blocks it and hits a roaring elbow for the win at 22:33.

Cabana’s foot was on the bottom rope but the referee didn’t see it at all. After the match another referee comes down to inform the first that Cabana’s foot was indeed on the ropes. The acting referee will have none of it and the decision stands. This set up their ROH title rematch in Chicago and put some bad feelings in their upcoming FIP title match. There was no ROH spirit in this ROH World Championship match. Almost half the match was stalling which never happens in ROH. Then this twenty-two minute bout only got out of first gear in the last couple of minutes. I was extremely disappointed in this and I hope that one of the numerous rematches lives up to expectations.
Rating: **¾

Strong and Clark start. They lock up and Strong tosses Clark into the corner. He puts on a wristlock and then puts Clark on the mat with a front facelock. Clark reverses to a hammerlock but Strong comes back with a leglock. Clark gets to his feet but Strong hits a modified STO for 2. Clark hits a pair of armdrags and a hurricanrana. Strong comes back with a rough forearm and tags to Aries. Aries hits a slingshot senton and an elbowdrop for 2. He puts on a headlock but walks into a head scissors takedown. Fury tags in and misses a dropkick. Strong tags in and hits a bodyslam. He stomps Fury for 2. Aries tags in and hits the corner elbow after Strong hits a hard chop. It gets 2. He puts pressure on Fury’s ribs and tags to Strong. Strong hits a scary chop and a butterfly suplex for 2. Aries tags in and they hit a double hiptoss. Aries hits a kneedrop for 2. Fury uses the Jaytrix to escape and tags to Clark. Clark cleans house on the champions. Clark and Fury hit stereo dropkicks and dives after the champions fall to the floor. Fury boots Strong hard in the face as Clark rams Aries into the barricade. Back in the ring Clark puts a chinlock on Aries. Fury tags in and hits a clothesline for 2. Clark tags in and the challengers unload with kicks. Fury swings Clark into a dropkick for 2. Fury tags in and hits a dropkick to the face for 2. He hits a stiff kick to the back and a basement dropkick. Clark tags in and hits a handspring splash for 2. Strong sets Clark in the Tree of Woe where Aries punts his back. Strong tags in and chops away for 2. He hits a series of backbreakers and holds Clark for a legdrop from Aries. It gets 2. Strong tags in and they hit a double atomic drop and a double back suplex for 2. Strong puts on a hammerlock and hits an elbowdrop for 2. Aries tags in as Strong hits a fall away slam. Aries comes in with a slingshot splash and an Asai moonsault for 2. He puts on a chinlock but Clark escapes with a jawbreaker. Strong tags in and cuts off Clark’s tag. He tosses Clark to the floor and throws him over the barricade. Back in the ring Aries gets 2. I guess he tagged in somewhere in there. Strong tags in and puts on the leggy nelson. He rolls over and gets 2 before putting on a camel clutch. Clark hits a DDT and tags to Fury. Fury cleans house, hitting a double clothesline on the champions. He hits an enziguiri on Aries and a neck breaking suplex on Strong. Clark tags in and hits a springboard moonsault for 2. Clark and Fury hit a neckbreaker/powerbomb combo for 2. Aries tosses Fury to the floor and hits a double backbreaker on Clark with Strong. They hit the chop/brainbuster combo for 2. They go for the powerbomb/dropkick combo but the challengers block it. Fury tags in and hits a frog splash on Strong. Aries pulls Clark to the floor and Strong hits a running forearm on Fury. He hits the sickest of Sick Kicks for 2. Fury clips Strong’s legs getting 2 for Clark. Clark hits a dropkick and the challengers go for a double superplex on Aries. Strong knocks Clark to the floor and the champions hit the dropkick/powerbomb combo on Fury for the win at 21:39. Now THAT was a match in the spirit of ROH. It had great double team wrestling, great tag team maneuverings by both teams and overall consistent and intense action.
Rating: ***¾