Dark Pegasus Video Review: Full Impact Pro — Heatstroke ’08

Full Impact Pro — Heatstroke ’08 by J.D. Dunn August 23, 2008 From Crystal River, Fla. Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard. The British Lions vs. Rex Sterling & Damian Wayne (w/Heartbreak Enterprises). Sean Davis delivers the most shrill promo in the history of FIP. YOU’RE JUST JEALOUS OF JAPAN! Never heard of the British Lions (Chris Gray and Tommy Taylor) before, but they immediately impress me by working a very 1980s style – kind of like the British Bulldogs meet the Midnight Express. Apparently, they’re under WWE developmental contracts. Prazak busts out “berried” and even spells it for us. Yes, it’s gone viral. The Lions do some nice doubleteams, including a leapfrog double-goozle. The heels cheat to take over, leading to the usual face-in-peril formula. The finish is total Cornette-style (with Baby Doll looking on in the heel corner, even!). Sean distracts the ref while Phil sneaks in and nails Gray with the brass knuckles. Sterling and Wayne pick up the win at 12:07. The Lions look very good, if a bit small. The WWE might have something there. **3/4 Lorelei Lee vs. Mercedes Martinez Nice to see Lee taking a page out of Velvet Sky’s wardrobe catalogue. Very nice. She’s not much of a match for “The Booty Vulture,” though. That gimmick didn’t last long. Martinez is just too powerful for her. Lee gets the occasional spunky comeback, but Martinez stays on top. Martinez finishes with the Fisherman’s Buster at 8:56. I like Martinez, but I’ve never really been able to get into her because she’s never used anywhere (even SHIMMER) to a significant degree. ** The YRR come out with their new (awful) music. “I Get Money” is so much better. Rinauro says he handpicked his opponent for his “Florida fighting spirit.” FIP Florida Heritage Title: Sal Rinauro (w/the YRR) vs. Chris Jones. Jones, for those who don’t keep up with Florida, is the second coming of Evan Bourne. Rinauro toys with him early, but Jones comes back with a series of atomic drops. That is one achy taint. Jones gets the plucky 1-2-3 Kid match out of Rinauro, but Rinauro blocks his huracanrana and hits the springboard spinning kick at 7:28. Jones impressed enough here to get a rematch where he finally made good. **3/4 Chasyn Rance (w/The YRR) vs. Shawn Osborne. Rance, who is not cocky, calls out some jabroni and gets Osborne. Leonard has to explain that he was suspended for last month’s show because he called Rance “the shortest member of the YRR.” Rance tosses YRR groupie, Cat, in front of Osborne and then suckerpunches him. That gives Rance control for most of the match, although Osborne comes back with a spear. Rance rolls him up and puts his feet on the ropes for the win at around 4:22 (didn’t hear a starting bell). **1/4 Jason Blade is so cocky with all their success, he sends the rest of the YRR to the back and calls out anyone from the back. Did no one learn from The Honky Tonk Man? That leads to… Jason Blade (w/Cat) vs. Austin Aries. Not only did Blade not learn from the Honky Tonk Man, he didn’t even learn that YOU CAN’T HEADSCISSOR AUSTIN ARIES! Blade takes a powder before taking over, allowing Prazak and Leonard to argue over who is ahead on points and reference Clash of the Champions I. The commentary is just hilariously bizarre as they go from Prazak scoring the match for Jason Blade to Leonard trying to take points away just to piss of Prazak to talking about Daizee Haze to whether or not Davey Richards is in Japan. It’s like they drank the bong resin and just went stream of consciousness on the match. Aries comes back with atomic drops, apparently having seen the success Chris Jones had with them. Blade takes a great 1980s bump over the top off the last one, setting up the heat-seeking suicida. Back in, Blade fires back desperately, but Aries kicks him in the face and finishes with the Last Chancery at 13:12. Blade doesn’t have much personality outside of being a pretty boy, but he worked well with Aries and came up with a good match. Blade and Prazak complain that Aries actually tapped out as he was drumming up support during a camel clutch, so the result shouldn’t stand. ***1/4 Pro-Wrestling GEAR commercial. Weapons Match: The Black Market vs. The Dark City Fight Club. If you’ve ever seen a Black Market match, you’ve seen this match… at least until the end. It’s a lot of street fight stuff with thankfully few wrestling moves. Seriously, how often do you see a suplex in a street fight? We do get the powerbomb through chairs spot, and Murphy gets sent into a table (which does not break). The finish sees the DCFC handcuff Murphy to the corner. Mercedes Martinez runs out, ostensibly to help, but then she trips up Machete, allowing Chavis to hit the Dark City Driver at 10:02. Heel turn! If you like brawls, this isn’t so bad. **1/2 Roderick Strong complains about the YRR running their mouths, so he calls out Kenny King. Oooh. This should be good. Roderick Strong vs. Kenny King. I’m not sure why, but Strong looks so much smoother in front of the FIP crowd compared to the ROH crowd – both on the mic and in the ring. Roderick abuses King early on, including some echoey chops around ringside. King hits the Elijah Express, but Roderick chops his way back into the match again. King yanks him off the ropes and controls on the mat. CROSSFACE CHICKENWING! Sort of. Roderick is tough little bastard, though. King needs to work on his handspring kick, but I love the combination into the jumping side kick. Roderick breaks up a springboard move and gets a superplex for two. King is dazed, though, so Roderick is able to finish with the flying Yakuza Kick and the Tiger Driver at 16:06. One of King’s best matches. He needs more control of his offense and to showcase his personality in the ring more, and more matches like this will help. ***3/4 Tyler Black complains that his match with Kenny King was cancelled, so he’s going to target another Age of the Fall enemy – the Necro Butcher. Falls Count Anywhere: Tyler Black (w/Mr. Milo Beasley & Leva) vs. Necro Butcher. Big brawl to start, which goes badly for Tyler. You gotta love Necro’s no-nonsense right crosses straight to the face. Finally, Tyler gets desperate, drags Milo out of his wheel chair, and throws him at the Necro Butcher. Tyler gets smart and targets Necro’s punching hand. Necro tries to improvise with his foot but knocks out the ref. Black hits a sad version of God’s Last Gift as Necro thinks its just a regular small package. Milo counts three, but of course, that’s unofficial. Leva tries to revive the ref for the real count, but Necro recovers and BLASTS Tyler with a chairshot before that can happen. Necro with the Tiger Driver on the chair! ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Necro sets up for a Death Valley Driver through a chair, but Milo breaks it up. Necro gives him a chokeslam and goes after Leva. That allows Black to recover and hit God’s Last Gift on the chair! OUCH! ONE! TWO! THREE! Tyler gets the win at 17:31. This seems to be a brief one-off heel turn for Tyler because the Age of the Fall were feuding with the YRR and Tyler has since gone on to win the FIP Title. Anyway, I really like the booking and psychology here. ***1/2 FIP World Title: Erick Stevens vs. Go Shiozaki (w/Heartbreak Enterprises). Well, how’s this for a slice of fried gold. This would be Erick Stevens’ second “But I just won the damn thing!” match this year. The crowd is appropriately xenophobic (if there is such a thing), turning Go into a great heel even though he hasn’t done anything heelish on the show save for the sleazy stubbletee. This one takes a while to get going, but once it does, it ROCKS, BABY! Shiozaki tries to twist Stevens’ head off with a hanging Dragon Sleeper and knocks him into next week with a flying knee. His chops on the floor are sickening, knocking Stevens across the floor. Back in, Shiozaki tries to put Stevens out with a couple of different sleepers, but Stevens gives him a jawbreaker and Samoan Drop. Stevens nearly gets the win off a powerslam, but Shiozaki kicks out and chops him back into the corner. A significant minority of the crowd is now chanting for Go. Stevens blocks the German Suplex on the apron and hits a pump-handle slam back in the ring. Nice moment as Stevens goes for a flying shoulderblock for the second time in the match, but Go sidesteps him and chops him out of the sky. FISHERMAN’S BUSTER! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Go superplexes Stevens, but the champ hulks up, no sells a superkick, and hits a discus lariat! CHOPFEST! Stevens goes for the TKO, but Go turns it into the Dragon Sleeper! Stevens squirms out and O’Connor Rolls him, but Go reverses that to the Dragon Sleeper! Stevens fades but pushes off the ropes and flips over Go’s shoulders. GERMAN SUPLEX! LARIAT! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Stevens gets distracted by Sean Davis, which allows Go to hit the GO FLASHER! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Sean takes his shirt off in protest. ::shudder:: Go heads up top for the moonsault, but Stevens yanks him down and lariats him. He calls for the Doctorbomb, but Sean and Phil hop up on the apron. The ref is busy with Phil, allowing Sean to splash Stevens with his giant gut. That sets up Go’s moonsault! ONE, TWO, THREE! FIP has a new champ at 26:32. The crowd is PISSED. The Heartbreak Express busts out the Japanese flag as they’re pelted with garbage. They managed to get this one over by sheer force of will and workrate. Neither guy has developed an in-ring personality to speak of, and the result was like tuning into ESPN on some late evening and watching two boxers you’ve never heard of have a hell of a fight. Eventually, they just win you over by heart and determination. That’s what this match was. Just a sliver behind Stevens’ earlier unsuccessful defense against Roderick Strong. ****1/4 Stevens gets a nice standing ovation as he recovers.

The 411: A great main event highlights this show. I don't know how much mileage you can get out of the "evil Japanese champion" anymore, but he certainly has a great heat-getter for a manager. Stevens and Strong are good babyfaces, and you have to wonder if the promotion is big enough for both of them. Thumbs up.
Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]