Everything Burns on March 14th, 2014 in Ybor City, Florida
Mister Saint Laurent comes out to start the show. He is not happy because he does not control the FIP World Heavyweight Title. Saint Laurent will be adding a new member to his group tonight. Kennedy Kendrick is announced as the new member. Larry Dallas interrupts and gets into an insult battle with Lenny Leonard. Dallas says that he also missed having control over FIP titles. However, Dallas fell in love in the Bahamas and realized the titles don’t mean anything. Why is this segment happening? Jack Gallow comes out, adding to the list of wrestlers I don’t know. Also in the Bahamas, Dallas won the FIP Bahamas Championship, which he brings out. Can this segment stop? Dallas challenges Saint Laurent to a match between their associates. Josh Hess now interrupts. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?!? This all leads to…
Opening Match: Jack Gallow vs. Josh Hess
Gallow lays in a series of punches and hits an overhead suplex. Hess avoids a corner charge and connects with a leg lariat. Gallow hits a german suplex and applies an ankle lock for the win at 1:57. Larry Dallas also pins Hess after the match because he can. He retains his Bahamas Championship. I was just not into this whole opening segment. They introduced a lot of wrestlers without giving them much of a role and everything ran together. I’m sure that some find Dallas making a fool out of himself amusing but I am not one of those people.
Match #2: Blake Edward Belakus vs. Aaron Epic
Epic snaps off a few armdrags and connects with a dropkick. He misses a charge and collides with the ringpost. Belakus immediately goes to work on the left shoulder. Epic fights back by avoiding corner punches and hitting a sit-out powerbomb. Both men are down. They exchange strikes and Epic gets the upperhand with a huge forearm smash. Belakus rolls through a uranagi and hits a modified gourdbuster for the victory at 5:54. Belakus was ten times more impressive here than he was on the last set of DGUSA shows. He needed to wrestle Roderick Strong yesterday. This certainly could have been longer considering Epic’s talent, but Belakus seems to be someone worth watching out for on the coming shows. **
Match #3: Aaron Solo and Jason Cade vs. David Starr and JT Dunn
Cade snaps off a hurricanrana on Dunn and connects with a dropkick. He follows with a nasty enzuigiri on Starr. Dunn catches Cade with a flying double stomp and the Juicy Product isolate him. At one point, Dunn hits a guillotine leg drop from the apron to the stage. That was pretty insane. Cade makes the tag after stomping Dunn’s face into the canvas. Solo hits a neckbreaker on Dunn and connects with shotgun knees. The Juicy Product hit a superkick-german suplex combination on Solo for a nearfall. The Juicy Product follow with roaring elbows for the win at 6:51. Both teams were extremely impressive and it’s really unfortunate that this match didn’t receive more time. I’d be shocked if the Juicy Product didn’t become regulars and Cade should certainly be given another look as well. This card could be on a roll right now with longer match times. **½
Match #4: Earl Cooter vs. Maxwell Chicago
Cooter attacks before the opening bell. Chicago fights him off with a clothesline and hits a butterfly suplex. Chicago shows some hesitancy to dive and settles for a thesz press. Cooter takes control with a lariat from the middle rope. Chicago crotches him on the top rope and hits a neckbreaker. Cooter misses a top-rope moonsault by a mile and both men are down. Cooter hits a brainbuster over his knee for a nearfall. Chicago responds with a jawbreaker and hits the Gimmick Stealer for a two count. The referee gets awkwardly bumped and Cooter brings a chair into the ring. He hits Chicago with the chair and covers for the victory at 7:58. Moose comes out after the match to make the past eight minutes irrelevant. I think we’re greatly overestimating how entertaining Chicago is in the ring. He’s great in small doses but I feel like I’ve seen this match ten times before. I very rarely say the same thing about someone like Colt Cabana. I have no idea why this was the longest match on the show thus far. *
Match #5: FIP Florida Heritage Title: Gran Akuma © vs. Lince Dorado
Dorado tries a quick rollup to no avail. Akuma gets him in a surfboard and they wrestle to a stalemate. They battle over a knucklelock and once again arrive at a stalemate. They do some lucha exchanges and Dorado lands a dive to the floor. In the ring, Dorado hits a slingshot senton and lands a standing moonsault. Akuma responds with a backcracker out of the corner and takes control. Dorado attempts to fight back but falls victim to a high-angle brainbuster. Dorado armdrags Akuma to the floor and follows out with an asai moonsault. In the ring, Dorado lands a flying crossbody and connects with a handspring back elbow. Akuma blocks a charge but Dorado hurricanranas him off the top rope. They trade headbutts. Akuma hits a snap german suplex and adds a huge sit-out powerbomb for a nearfall. Dorado responds with a michinoku driver. Akuma connects with an enzuigiri and a missile dropkick. He hits a rolling death valley driver for a two count. Dorado reverses a lungblower into a spike piledriver of sorts to become the new FIP Florida Heritage Champion at 17:16. These two had excellent chemistry together, so many of the exchanges that could have came off awkwardly actually appeared well thought-out and fluid. The title change makes sense, as Dorado has been one of the highlights of recent FIP shows. This was a strong match to close out the first half, which was exactly what this show needed. ***¼
Match #6: SHINE Title: Ivelisse © vs. Leva
Leva comes out in a Ghostbusters uniform and dances. Guess who’s winning this match. They begin with some chain wrestling and both women try quick rollups to no avail. Leva begins to target the left shoulder. She connects with a double stomp and applies a chinlock. Ivelisse fights back with a lariat and a springboard crossbody. She lays in a series of kicks. Leva connects with a few forearms as Ivelisse talks her through what’s going to happen next. Ivelisse applies a dragon sleeper. Leva knees out of the hold and connects with a knockout kick. She follows with a stroke for a nearfall. Ivelisse kind of hits a crucifix bomb. Leva bulldogs her into the corner and connects with a flying double stomp. She adds two superkicks. Ivelisse blocks a third one and goes back to the dragon sleeper. Leva powers out of the hold. Ivelisse sunset flips out of the corner and pins Leva to retain her title at 15:47. I’m not sure what happened here. I understand that SHINE wants to be a serious promotion and I admittedly have not seen a full show. However, the action was sloppy and the match itself felt extremely long. There was not any semblance of a story aside from the grueling nature of the contest. On a card that is already starting to feel long, this was not a welcome addition. *½
Eddie Graves and company run out and attack Leva. The Submission Squad makes the save, leading to…
Match #7: Eddie Graves, Johnny Vandal, and Teddy Stigma vs. Evan Gelistico, Gary Jay, and Pierre Abernathy
The Submission Squad clear the ring. Jay lands a dive to the floor onto Vandal and Stigma. Gelistico follows with a dive of his own. Trina Michaels spits water into Jay’s eyes. Stigma lands an impressive dive over the top rope. In the ring, Vandal connects with a bicycle kick on Jay and the heels isolate him. Jay comes off the middle rope with a flatliner on Stigma and makes the tag. Abernathy and Gelistico clean house. Stigma hits Sole Food on Gelistico into a double team neckbreaker. The Submission squad hit some triple team offense on Vandal for a nearfall. Everyone connects with a strike and all six men are down. Michaels provides another distraction, allowing Stigma to boot Gelistico for the win at 9:49. A decent, if rushed introduction to the Submission Squad. The match was going along fine until the flat finish. We’re seven matches into this show with only one meaningful match having taken place, so a lot of these contests are starting to run together. **¼
Match #8: Roderick Strong vs. Biff Busick
Now we’re talking. They battle over a knucklelock and Strong applies a headscissors. Busick escapes and returns the favor but Strong reverses into a surfboard. Both men try a series of rollups to no avail. Strong creates an opening with a leg lariat. Busick retreats into the crowd and Strong gives chase with a couple of chops. In the ring, Busick snaps Strong’s neck across the top rope and throws a chair into the ring. He thinks better of using it. Busick takes over until Strong escapes a wheelbarrow suplex and hits a backbreaker. Strong connects with a dropkick and hits an olympic slam. Busick responds with a half nelson suplex. They exchange forearms and Busick fires off an uppercut. He hits a dead-lift gutwrench powerbomb. They battle up top and Strong drops Busick back-first across the top turnbuckle. Busick reverses a pin attempt into a rear-naked choke. Strong escapes, hits a gutbuster, and connects with the Sick Kick for the victory at 18:23. This is one of those cases where I’m sure they could have had a better match, but this was about the perfect contest for its spot on the card. They didn’t tire out an already worn-down crowd with excessive nearfalls and left the crowd with a lot of energy for the main event. This is also the unique type of match that you want to be presenting on FIP shows. As mentioned, the match was about what I was expecting given its place on the card and that’s not a bad thing. ***½
Match #9: CZW World Heavyweight Title: Drew Gulak © vs. Timothy Thatcher
I have never watched Thatcher wrestle, but he seems extremely similar to Gulak style-wise. They aggressively lock-up and Thatcher connects with a chop. The action goes to the mat where they appear to be evenly-matched. Gulak applies a legbar and they start kicking each other while tied up. Thatcher synchs in a cross armbreaker but Gulak keeps his hands clasped. The intensity picks up as they began trading blows on the mat. They trade uppercuts and headbutts. Gulak hits an overhead suplex from the middle rope. He comes off the top rope with a lariat. Thatcher suplexes him from the apron into the ring. Thatcher follows with the Tower of London. He locks in a fujiwara armbar. Gulak rolls through and hits a scary piledriver for a nearfall. Thatcher hits a gutwrench suplex and goes back to the fujiwara armbar. They trade slaps and Gulak hits a regalplex. Thatcher fights off an ankle lock and a figure four. After some maneuvering, Gulak grapevines a figure four to retain his title at 19:38. Give Gulak someone who can hang with him on the mat and you’re probably going to get good results. Thatcher was impressive and while you have to be in the mood for this type of wrestling, it was certainly a prime example of the style. The crowd didn’t seem overly familiar with Thatcher, but I find that entertaining mat wrestling doesn’t lose a lot from a passive crowd. Gulak has been doing extremely well in the WWNlive universe and if you enjoy his style you should check out this one. ***½
Overall: The three matches that you’d expect to come through on Everything Burns do so. However, I think this show loses a lot of points for not having a cohesive card. Watching this show in one sitting proved to be tiring. I think that the opening segment/match and the SHINE Title match could have been cut from the card to give more time to Belakus/Epic and the Juicy Product tag team match. I truly believe that there was enough quality talent on this show to put together something great but FIP seems to have a problem with trying to pack everyone on the show in some capacity. Five dollars for the live viewing of this show was certainly reasonable and recommended, but I wouldn’t give a clear recommendation for the replay unless you’re overly interested in the big three matches on the card.