Tyler Black doesn’t choke and wins a world title!
-Yesterday, I went over the disappointment that was Melborne Meltodown II. Today, I finally put 2008 FIP to bed with  this show. We’ve got three huge championship matches and some possible surprises forthcoming.
-Taped from Crystal River, Florida
-Your hosts are Lenny Leonard and Wolfie McLariat
-Brett Thunder vs. Gran Akuma
Never seen or heard of Thunder before. Crowd responds to Thunder by booing him and calling him a chicke. Way to welcome the newcomer.  Crowd is immediately better in Crystal River than in Melborne. Akuma works circles around Thunder and focused on the arm. Quick roll-up gets two before a submission hold is applied. Would have been hilarious if Thunder tapped. Thunder comes back and drives arm of Akuma into the mat. Chinlock. Thunder kicks away at Akuma and resumes his own work on Akuma’s arm. Series of pins and reversals. Neither can keep the other shoulder’s down. Double boot sends both men down.  Akuma with hard leg kicks followed by one to the midsection. Leaping kick in the face gets two. Thunder holds the tights and almost gets three. To the top rope. Thunder headbutts Akuma off. He cartwheels off the ropes. Akuma rolls him up. Victory roll into the rubix cube. Akuma gets the win.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Gran Akuma/8:40/**
Okay opener. Akuma looked decent and Thunder showed me a little bit. Would like to see Thunder somewhere, either in FIP or another indy.
-Jonathon Gold announces the tag team title match and brings out Shannon Rose to explain what happened to Tyler Black. He introduces Black and the executive director of the FIP championship committee, Larry Zybszko. Black explains the concept of bad flights and implies Heartbreak Enterprises had something to do with the flight issues. Wonder what the real issue was. Zybszko announces the voice on the voicemail was Baby Doll. Sean Davis comes out and does what he does best, yells a lot. He implies Shiozaki doesn’t have to defend the world title in the main event.  Zybszko knows Baby Doll well and the world title main event is on. Davis likes this about as much as you’d imagine and slaps Black in the face. Champion and challenger start going at it before some members of the locker room break them up.
-Sal RInauro vs. Brad Attitude
Conspicuous by their absence are the other members of Y.R.R. Sal stalls before the match even starts, and the crowd responds by calling him a chicken. Whole lot of cock talk here tonight. Attitude has some fun with Sinauro to start. I smell a comedy match.  Headlock applied, and if this were Mike Quackenbush, the bell would have sounded. Rinauro runs into the ringpost on the outside much like he did on Quack in Chikara a year or so later. Wonder if that’s the first time he pulled out that spot. Rinauro actually gains control and works over the back. Attitude with some right hands and elbows. Running neckbreaker gets two. Rinauro spits in Attitude’s face and dodges a bind charge. Springboard lariat gets two. Attitude hits a flying flatliner for three.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating:  Brad Attitude/7:56/*1/2
-Good comedy to start and a solid win for Attitude as he establishes himself in FIP. No complaints.
-Jigsaw vs. Shawn Osborne
Damn ref forgets to ring the bell. Osborne attacks Jigsaw to start, but he gets hit with a crossbody. Headlock by Jigsaw. Back and forth but Osborne hits a lariat and a chop in the corner. Osborne works over Jigsaw as the crowd gets into it. Uppercut and a kick leads to a roll-up. Osborne elbows Jigsaw down. Elbow from the second rope. Backbreaker and Osborne holds it. Osborne charges. Jigsaw holds the top rope and dives to the outside. Double stomp and a leaping enziguri gets two for Jigsaw. Knee strikes and a forearm. Osborne drops him neck first on the top rope and hits a high knee strike. Chop in the corner before placing Jigsaw on the top rope. Jigsaw pushes him off but misses a double stomp. Superkick blocked. Spear by Osborne, but he fails to pin Jigsaw. Suplex countered into a roll-up. 1-2-3! JIGSAW WON A MATCH! In FIP or ROH, this is a big deal.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Jigsaw/6:39/*1/2
-Short energetic match.
-FIP Tag Team Championship: The Y.R.R. (Kenny King and Jason Blade)(champions) vs. Roderick Strong and Erick Stevens
Again, it’s very interesting to note there are no members of Y.R.R. at ringside. Not even any random broads. Strong works over the leg of Blade and applies a modified surfboard. Blade comes back but is met with chops. Stevens tags in and uses some chops of his own. Strong back in. Blade pushes him into his team’s corner. King kicks away at Strong. Chops by Strong and a clothesline in the corner. Double team shoulder tackle by the challengers. Stevens shoulderblocks the back of King into the corner. Belly-to-back suplex gets two. Overhead slam. More double team by the new BFF’s. Vertical suplex by Stevens. He rolls into a neckbreaker. Chop by Strong. Blade grabs Strong’s leg, and the champions grab control of the match. King and Blade work over Strong on the outside. Heat segment on Strong. Blade and King are a fairly solid tag team. Would have been nice to see them get a chance in Ring of Honor considering this 13 month title reign they put together. Strong fights King on the outside, sunset flips Blade, and tags in his partner. Great hot tag. Stevens with a samoan drop on King. Choo choo on Blade. Blue river powerbomb gets two. Neckbreaker and a flatliner by Blade. Double team by the champions goes awry. King clotheslines his own partner. All four men battle inside and outside of the ring. Hart Attack clothesline on King gets two. King with a bicycle kick. Strong breaks the pinfall. Things settle down a bit. King counters out of a gutbuster and gets a modified powerbomb for two. Spinebuster by King gets two. Clothesline by Stevens takes King out. Enziguri by Blade. SICK KICK BY STRONG! Crowd is going nuts. All four men are down. Hard forearm exchange by Strong and King. Gustbuster. Clothesline by Stevens. Strong covers but only gets two. Blade saves the titles. Stevens takes Blade out of the ring completely. Strong charges but gets hit with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. Coronation only gets two. All four men brawl in the ring again. Superkick/German suplex combo on Stevens. They drop Strong on his head face first. 1-2-NO! Another combo by the champs gets two. Stevens  kicks Blade and clotheslines King. Release German suplex. Gibson driver and Doctor bomb get three on both members of the Y.R.R. NEW CHAMPS!
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: NEW FIP Tag Team Champions- Roderick Strong and Erick Stevens/16:36/***1/2
-Sad that the best match King and Blade has the champions was what would turn out to be their final match as the champions. Really good stuff all around. Strong and Stevens have good chemistry as both opponents and partners.
-Dark City Fight Club beat up Milo Beasley, Rain, and some other chick for passing out free merch. Christmas beatings I guess. I guess the other chick is with DCFC. Better than getting beat up.
-Oh no. Sean Davis is talking again. If I never have to hear this man’s voice again, I’ll be a happy man. He is definitely not ready to EVOLVE. Let’s skip all this talking and get to the match.
-Rhett Titus and The Heartbreak Assassins (Damien Wayne and Chris Escobar)(w/ Heartbreak Enterprises) vs. Grizzly Redwood and The Loggers
No idea who the Loggers are. The three lumberjacks do quite well for themselves. Doesn’t last as one of the Loggers gets worked over the Assassins and Titus. Babyfaces have had no offense since the opening flurry. Manley hits a sloppy dragon suplex. Titus knocks the two babyfaces on the apron down. Hot tag made and the babyfaces finally get some offense in. Assassins even fall for an old Three Stooges gag. Ending is a series of small packages eventually ending up with Redwood getting a three count on Titus.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Grizzly Redwood and The Loggers/6:43/DUD
-Horrendous and sloppy.
-Dark City Fight Club (Cory Chavis and Jon Davis)(w/Leva) vs. British Lions (Tommy Taylor and Chris Gray)
Whoever booked three straight tag team matches in a non-tournament setting is dumb. Big brawl to start.Taylor and Chavis end up on the outside briefly. Lions double team by Davis and work over the arm. Extended heat segment on Davis actually as the Lions show off their double-teaming. Davis counters Taylor, and it’s a heat segment on Taylor now. Gray quickly tags in and works the arm of Chavis. Hard clothesline by Chavis. Double shoulder block by DCFC.  Gray with an armdrag into the armbar. Davis rakes the eyes. DCFC resume their double team work on Gray. Taylor boots Chavis on a blind charge. He doesn’t make the tag but instead places Chavis on the top. Davis rams Gray throat first on the top rope. DCFC slowly dismantle Gray. Clothesline leads to a hot tag. Headscissors on Chavis. European uppercut. Hiptoss attempts. Double arm DDT but Davis breaks the pinfall. Lions try and double team Davis. Davis hooks a roll-up sort of. Gray gets a two count as Chavis breaks up the three count. Davis pounces Gray leaving Taylor alone. Uh oh. Davis throws Taylor completely out of the ring. Slingshot into a sloppy spinebuster by Chavis gets three.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Dark City Fight Club/12:59/**1/4
-Somewhat sloppy but still okay. Lions are a bit green but have a lot of potential once they get more experience. DCFC is capable of having good matches, but I wish they could look more dominate in some of their victories.
-FIP Florida Heritage Championship: Chris Jones (champion) vs. Chasyn Rance (w/random broad)
Jones has already defeated two members of the Y.R.R. Why not a third? Hard lock-up that takes them all across the ring. Both men use the armbar in the early going. Test of strength but Jones gets out of it. Arm drag. Another test of strength that Jones is on top of. Monkey flip. Arm drag. Another armbar. Roll-up attempt fails for Jones. Elbow drop fails for Rance. Another armbar by Jones. Jones attacks the hamstring next.  Rance counters and gets a guillotine choke. He even uses what Leonard calls “ground and pound.” Not an MMA guy, so I wouldn’t know. Back and forth until Rance catapults Jones into the corner. Rance puts Jones on the apron. Jones counters and gets a sunset flip for two. Forearm and back fist. Leaping enziguri by Rance. Rance takes Jones in the corner and boots him. Forearm by Jones. Back and forth on the top rope. Jones doesn’t get a sunset bomb. Rance punches him but eats boot on a blind charge. Jones gets a rana into the roll-up for two. Rance misses another charge. Jones hits a leaping DDT. 1-2-NO! Jones to the top rope as Leonard makes Mike Hogwood jokes. Rance knocks Jones off. Back and forth. Rance goes for a spike. Jones hits a crossbody off the apron for two. Superkick by Rance. Jones gets a roll-up out of nowhere for three.
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: STILL FIP Heritage Champion-Chris Jones/14:55/**3/4
-Didn’t like the roll-up coming out of nowhere for a match that got this kind of time, but it was still a decent enough match. Rance and Jones has surprisingly good chemistry, and I got a little bit more out of the match then I was expecting.
-FIP World Heavyweight Championship: Go Shiozaki (w/Heartbreak Enterprises)(champion) vs. Tyler Black
Shiozaki won the world title back in August against Erick Stevens while this is Black’s second opportunity at the FIP championship. He actually wrestled Roderick Strong two years earlier for the title when he was traveling with some folks from AAW. Sean Davis gets on the goddamn mic again and tries to get the fans to chant Japan. Black starts quickly with a dropkick and fists to the face. Shiozaki flees to the outside. Black misses a springboard lariat but hits a dive and pistons Go with more rights. Shiozaki takes control of the match thanks to a Sean Davis distraction. Black nails the arm and gets a springboard lariat for two. Punch to the midsection by Go. They exchange strikes. Black irish whips Go to the corner and gets a clothesline. Rolling neck snap off the second rope. Knee drop off the ropes. Go hits an elbow to the jaw. Black dropkicks Go to the floor. Go hits a dropkick of his own and takes control of the contest. Shiozaki focuses on the knee with various moves and holds. Black tries to punch his way back into the back but to no avail. Superkick by Shiozaki gets two. Figure four leglock applied, but Black won’t give up. Black gets to the ropes. Black hits a basement dropkick. He gimps up and slowly fires right hands. Chops. Irish whip and his leg gives out as he lands. DDT by Black. Black gets all fired up. Running forearm but he can’t keep him up for a fireman’s carry. Phil Davis comes on the apron, but Black takes him out. Black reverses a whip and eventually gets hit with an F-5. Black goes for the Phoenix splash. Davis shakes the ropes, and the referee calls for the disqualifitcation. Zybszko demands the match re-start and bans both Davis’ from ringside. Match continues. Shiozaki dragon screws the knee. To the outside where Go continues stomping and blitzing the knee. Butterfly choke in the ring. Go Flasher countered. Black hits a knee strike. Go chops the knee on a Black dropkick attempt. Boston crab. Reversals lead to a series of two counts for both men. Black hits a backdrop driver. Black hits a running kick on the referee. Superkick by Go. Pele kick by Black. Everyone in the ring is out. Phil and Sean Davis come back out, but the FIP tag team champins counter the interference of Heartbreak Enterprises. The two wrestlers come to their feet and trade shots. Black gets a buckle bomb. Go rolls away from God’s Last Gift and hits a Go Flasher. 1-2-NO! Moonsault is met with knees. Superkick! Phoenix splash! 1-2-3! NEW CHAMPION!
-Winner (s)/Time/Rating: NEW FIP World Heavyweight Champion-Tyler Black/21:04/***1/4
-Overbooking aside, this was a good solid match with a lot of psychology. Bit of a disappointment considering the two men involved though.
Shiozaki superkicks Sean Davis in the face and clotheslines Phil Davis. Guess he’s done with Heartbreak Enterprises.
Final Thoughts: I can’t believe I waited 18 months to finally see these shows. This was not all that great a weekend of wrestling from Full Impact Pro. Unstoppable was slightly better and has more historical value with the two championship changes, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see either one of these shows unless you’re a hardcore Tyler Black fan. Minor thumbs down for this show. 

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