In Full Force 2013 on December 6th, 2013 in Orlando, Florida
The show begins with Roderick Strong coming out for an in-ring interview. Strong says that his primary goal is to win championships in Full Impact Pro. Larry Dallas and the Bravados interrupt. Dallas informs Strong that he is the king of the promotion now and offers him a spot in the Scene. Strong does not respond very kindly to the offer. The Scene attempt to attack Strong but Rich Swann, Pinkie Sanchez, and Los Ben Dejos come out to make the save. Strong promises Dallas that he is going to take the FIP World Tag Team Titles from the Scene. Strong and Swann exchange words before leaving the ring.
Opening Match: Latin Dragon vs. David Starr
Dragon snaps off an armdrag and a headscissors. Starr blocks a dive attempt and hits a delayed vertical suplex. Mister Saint Laurent appears at ringside to take notes on the action. Dragon lands a flying crossbody but finds knees on a standing moonsault. They exchange rollups to no avail. Starr connects with a boot and hits a german suplex. He misses a flying elbow drop. Dragon hits a michinoku driver for a nearfall. Starr avoids a flying double stomp and hits an olympic slam. Starr connects with a roaring elbow for the win at 5:41. This opener was designed to be a short yet competitive match to put Starr over, but the crowd didn’t seem to care and they certainly didn’t become more invested as the match progressed. The action was fine but probably not as clean as it could have been. *¾
Match #2: Maxwell Chicago vs. Jonny Vandal
Vandal was supposed to challenge Gran Akuma for the Heritage Title, but Akuma could not make the show. Chicago tries a quick rollup to no avail. He pokes Vandal in the eye, stomps on his foot, and lands a splash. Vandal explodes out of the corner with a lariat. Chicago hits a double underhook suplex and eventually manages to kip up. Vandal lands a crossbody and connects with a basement superkick for a nearfall. Chicago ducks under a flying crossbody but runs into a lariat. Vandal hits a stranglehold backcracker. Chicago responds with a springboard ace crusher and both men are down. Trina Michaels jumps onto the apron and starts kissing Chicago. This allows Vandal to sneak in a rollup with his feet on the ropes for the victory at 6:05. I’m not extremely familiar with Chicago’s history in FIP but I do wonder why Vandal needed to cheat to defeat him. This match was slightly better than the opener due to the crowd’s willingness to get behind Chicago. **
Match #3: Caleb Konley and Andrew Everett vs. Jon and Trey Williams
The Washington Bullets are making their debut in FIP. The Bullets immediately start targeting Konley’s left arm. They do the same to Everett. Jon takes down Everett with a dropkick. Trey catches Konley with a high knee strike. Everett blind tags into the match with a double springboard dropkick. He lands a standing shooting star press onto Trey. Everett misses a springboard corkscrew splash and the Bullets isolate him. He manages to avoid some offense and make the tag. Konley connects with an enzuigiri on Trey and hits a tornado DDT on Jon. Everett connects with a corner dropkick on Jon and Konley adds a northern lights suplex for a nearfall. The Bullets catch Konley with a series of kicks. Jon lawn darts Everett into the corner. The Bullets hit a double team leg-liner on Konley for a nearfall. Everett lands a fosbury flop to the floor onto Trey. In the ring, Konley hits a death valley driver on Jon from the middle rope. Everett adds a shooting star press for the win at 13:29. I think the Konley/Everett project is working out quite nicely thus far. I had no idea who the Bullets were before this match but I was pleasantly surprised with how fluid they were as a team. Overall, I liked the general vibe of this match and perhaps some of that feeling is due to how laid back FIP is as a promotion. Both teams received a chance to just put on a good match without any antics from Larry Dallas or any other storyline considerations. ***
Match #4: FIP World Heavyweight Title: Trent Baretta © vs. Lince Dorado
Dorado snaps off a hurricanrana and connects with a dropkick. He teases a dive to the floor. After another quick exchange, Dorado lands a dive to the floor. He follows with a crossbody from the top rope and licks the camera. Dorado is really going all-in on the cat gimmick these days. In the ring, Baretta blocks a flying crossbody with a dropkick and takes control. Baretta misses a moonsault and allows Dorado to come back with a handspring back elbow. Baretta retreats to the floor, where Dorado catches him with a beautiful springboard moonsault. Back in, Dorado lands a flying crossbody but runs into a double stomp out of the corner. He recovers with a quick hurricanrana for a two count. They battle on the apron and Baretta hits a DDT. Both men fall to the floor. In the ring, Baretta hits a tornado DDT for a nearfall. They collide on stereo crossbody attempts and fall to the canvas. They exchange forearms. Baretta connects with a superkick but Dorado answers with a reverse hurricanrana. They battle up top and Baretta hits a german suplex. He follows with a running knee strike for a nearfall. Dorado counters the Dudebuster with a backslide and connects with a knockout kick. Both men are down once again. Dorado finds knees on a shooting star press. He recovers with a series of kicks. Baretta military presses him and hits the Dudebuster to retain his title at 16:22. Ironically, like Roderick Strong, Baretta seems to be gaining a reputation of being able to have consistently great matches with much smaller opponents. I was concerned when they never showed signs of slowing the match down, but they were able to keep the action interesting and engaging for the entire sixteen minutes. Baretta has really established his place in independent wrestling over the past few months. ***½
Match #5: Earl Cooter vs. Josh Hess
Lenny Leonard accidentally announces Josh Hess as “John Hess.” I wonder who is winning this match? Mister Saint Laurent takes a seat at ringside. Hess lands a crossbody but seems too concerned with MSL at ringside. Cooter dives onto Hess from the apron and takes control in the ring. Hess escapes a death valley driver but awkwardly falls to the floor. Hess hits a rolling neckbreaker out of the corner. He misses a charge and collides with the ringpost. Cooter hits an inverted DDT for the victory at 6:21. Commentary kept themselves entertained by making fun of Cooter, but this match was pretty terrible. I never knew whether to take Cooter seriously or not and Hess looked completely lost in the ring. *
Match #6: Jessicka Havok vs. Mia Yim
Yim snaps off an armdrag and a hurricanrana. Havok kicks her to the floor and sends her into the guardrail. Havok misses a charge and falls over the guardrail. She quickly recovers and takes control in the ring. Yim tries to fight back with a hurricanrana but receives a few facewash kicks for her troubles. Yim avoids the last facewash kick and connects with a missile dropkick. She traps Havok in a tarantula and transitions into a code red. Havok responds with a saito suplex for a nearfall. Yim hits a german suplex but falls victim to a sit-out powerbomb. Yim recovers with a series of kicks and goes up top. Havok follows her but Yim knocks her back down to the canvas. Yim lands a 450 splash for the win at 11:09. These SHINE showcase matches typically suffer from a lack of crowd heat. Even in front of fans who I thought would have been familiar with the SHINE product, there was no response. As a result, the back and forth nature of this match just didn’t click. **
Match #7: Pinkie Sanchez, Eddie Rios, and Jay Cruz vs. Eddie Graves, Jesus de Leon, and Teddy Stigma
Sanchez frustrates Graves with his weirdness and dropkicks him to the floor. Sanchez teases a dive and starts a pretty intricate crowd clap. Cruz double stomps Graves’ arm while Rios just punts him in the head. Leon attacks Rios from behind and the heels isolate him. Rios hits a sunset bomb on Stigma and makes the tag. Sanchez connects with a leg lariat on Stigma and a pele kick on Graves. He monkey flips Stigma across the ring and dropkicks Leon. Saso Rivera catches Sanchez on a plancha attempt at ringside and slams him onto the apron. Sanchez is now worked over until he plants Leon with a tornado DDT and makes the tag. Cruz comes off the top with a seated senton on Stigma. He follows with a dive to the floor. Back in, Cruz lands a top-rope splash onto Stigma for a nearfall. Cruz causes some miscommunication amongst Graves, Leon, and Stigma. Stigma is finally able to slow down Cruz with a mafia kick. Graves enters the ring to follow with a double team neckbreaker. The match starts to break down. Sanchez connects with a shining wizard on Graves and lands a dive to the floor onto everyone. Rios follows out with an asai moonsault. Cruz superplexes Leon onto the crowd. In the ring, Graves hits a spinebuster on Cruz for a nearfall. Cruz superkicks Graves into a springboard ace crusher from Rios. Sanchez follows with a flying double stomp for the victory at 22:57. I was shocked at how much time this match received, but once again, the laid back nature of FIP allowed everyone to let loose and the contest ended up being a lot of fun. Los Ben Dejos, Sanchez, and Leon (formerly “Mr. 450” Hammett) are some well-rounded talents that FIP has access to who you don’t see in many promotions. Much like the previous tag team match on the show, some fresh talent received a chance to showcase themselves and these kinds of matches foreshadow good things for the depth of the FIP roster. ***
Match #8: Roderick Strong vs. Rich Swann
They wrestle to a stalemate. They battle over a knucklelock and Swann snaps off a hurricanrana. He follows with a dropkick and corner punches. Strong lays in his first chop to slow down Swann. Strong hits a butterfly backbreaker in the ropes. He takes Swann to the floor and hurls him into the ringpost. Strong takes over in the ring. When Swann tries to fight back, Strong slows him down with an olympic slam. Strong hits a superplex and applies the Stronghold. Swann reverses into a rollup for a nearfall. They trade chops and strikes. Swann ducks a lariat and connects with an enzuigiri. He lands a frog splash for a two count. Strong has the standing 450 scouted and hits a gutbuster. Swann anticipates the Sick Kick and hits a reverse hurricanrana. Swann follows with the standing 450 for a nearfall. Swann counters the orange crush backbreaker with a hurricanrana. They go back to trading forearms. Swann hits a tornado DDT out of the corner and both men are down. The Bravados run into the ring and attack both men, causing a no contest at 15:34. I’m not quite sure how to evaluate this contest. The match was well on its way to being something special and then the non-finish happened. If they were ultimately going to do a tag team match as the main event, its puzzling that this match lasted fifteen minutes. On one hand, I’m glad that we received a chance to see what Strong and Swann could do together but on the other hand, it all just seems unsatisfying without a conclusive finish. ***¼
Larry Dallas scolds Strong for turning down his offer to join the Scene. Dallas says that the Scene is not afraid of Strong and they’ll defend the tag titles at any time. Strong replies “what about now?” and delivers a Sick Kick to Larry Dallas, leading to…
Match #9: FIP World Tag Team Titles: Harlem and Lance Bravado © vs. Roderick Strong and Rich Swann
Swann superkicks Harlem for a two count. Lance hits a uranagi on Swann and the Bravados isolate him. Swann hurricanranas Harlem to the floor but can’t quite make the tag. Swann is finally able to tag out after hitting a double ace crusher. Strong hits a half nelson backbreaker on Harlem. Lance takes out Swann with a lariat. Strong suplexes Swann onto Harlem for a nearfall. Swann throws Lance to the floor and follows out with a dive. Strong connects with a high knee strike on Harlem and hits his orange crush backbreaker. Swann lands a standing 450 splash onto Harlem. Strong and Swann become the new FIP World Tag Team Champions at 5:51. How bad do the Bravados look right now? After Strong and Swann had a grueling fifteen-minute match, they were able to polish off the Bravados (who hadn’t wrestled tonight) with very little trouble. Even though Strong and Swann were able to have a solid singles match together, I would have much rather had that match only last five minutes and instead have this contest be more worthwhile, especially if a title change was going to occur. There were many factors at play that made me think the Bravados were surely going to retain. However, I think you have to weigh creating a genuinely shocking moment versus burying the top tag team in the WWNlive universe (they are, after all, the Open the United Gate champions). **
Los Ben Dejos come out after the match to congratulate the new champions. Strong refuses to shake hands with Swann, claiming that he’s only in FIP to show his dominance. Swann tells Strong that he better get used to him, because they’re stuck together as partners.
Overall: Typically, a consistently solid card with some historical significance is a successful recipe for a recommendation. Truthfully, I genuinely enjoyed In Full Force as it reminded me of an FIP show in 2008. The event featured familiar talent wrestling on a platform that allowed them to showcase themselves in a relaxed atmosphere. The buzz surrounding this show was mainly focused on Strong’s return to the promotion. Obviously, if you wanted to check out this show for Strong, you will be pretty pleased. He not only has a very solid singles match against Swann, but he also wins a title on his first night back. The only real blemish on this show (the underwhelming matches were pretty harmless and kept short) was the burial of the Bravados. However, I have a strong hunch that the uniqueness of Strong and Swann as tag team champions will make everyone forget about how the Bravados lost to an exhausted makeshift team in six minutes. Overall, I think there’s a lot to like about In Full Force and the show did spark my interest in FIP to some extent.