Euro Fury: Fight Club Pro Pulp Fixxion Part 2

Fight Club Pro Pulp Fixxion Part 2

 

October 22 2016

 

I had the privilege of going to this show. It was my first live Fight Club Pro experience. It was in Wolverhampton at the Fixxion Warehouse. Announcer in the ring is Matt Taylor-Richards.

 

Dan Moloney vs. Shane Strickland

You can tell it’s going to be a good night as Dan gets enormous heat right off the bat. His shit boots give the crowd cause to have a bloody good laugh for most of the match. Strickland and Moloney milk the abuse for all it’s worth. Dan in particular as he walks to the back, triggering loud yelling of “Dan” in an Alan Patridge style until he comes back. They do have an actual plan of attack but I appreciate them keeping the ‘shit boots’ narrative throughout. Moloney looks ever so slightly out of his depth at times although he’s gotten much more comfortable in big match scenarios over the last year. They do a lot of very tidy strikes, especially the chops. Dan’s chops are the pride of the Midlands. His boots are not. Shane banters away as Dan puts a beating on him. At one point laughing hysterically at Dan’s boots while he’s being kicked. It’s charming to the extreme. If you glance over to the bar during this match you’ll be able to see Melina Perez getting all fired up and having a good time. It’s usually a positive sign if wrestlers have come to watch the show. The strikes and some of the counters in this were top drawer. Including the finish where Moloney transitions seamlessly into the spiralbomb. Hot opener. Shit boots.

Final Rating: ***1/2

 

Kay Lee Ray vs. Nixon Newell

These are probably the best two women wrestlers in the UK. We can discount Toni Storm because she’s Australian and wrestles in Japan most of the time. That leaves KLR and the girl with the shiniest wizard. They do a tidy feeling out process including a speedy near falls sequence that Kay Lee could probably do with her eyes shut and a nice counter out of the Gorybomb from Nixon. They go to have a dance-off but KLR can’t dance so she brings in a substitute: Kimber Lee. “Please, I cannae do that”. Nixon decides to provide her own surrogate; Shane Strickland! Both of them bust out some ****3/4 moves. Kimber does the Worm. Strickland does a bunch of shit that would banter any Englishman off the dance floor. Underage ref Shay Pursor then nails an outstanding dab. My word. The form on that was perfection. With the antics out of the way we get into the meat of the match, which is Kay Lee Ray attempting to wrestle circles around Nixon only to discover Nixon is really good too. Lots of dives and vicious chops ensue. Kay Lee accidentally chops Shay so he trips Nixon up allowing her to hit a Stunner. Amazingly that wasn’t as convoluted as it sounds. When they’re not doing fun spots these two just batter each other with the strikes. This is what Fight Club Pro is all about. It’s almost unfair that they’ve had a match that runs the entire gamut of pro-wrestling. How do you follow that? They even have the epic conclusion with Nixon surviving a Gorybomb and the Welsh Destroyer finishes. Very strong match. Probably the best one-on-one in women’s BritWres for 2016.

Final Rating: ****

 

Travis Banks vs. Fire Ant

I’m sure you get the gimmick by this point. Travis Banks is great in every single match but he never wins. “Kick him in his stupid ant face” says someone in the front row. Awww. Poor Fire Ant. “We all love your ant face” respond the rest of the crowd. No hurt feelings in the Fixxion. The speed that they operate in during this match is incredible. Fire Ant brings everything he’s got and Travis hangs right in there with him. There’s one flub where Travis can’t get a springboard and they recover from that with ease. With interest as Travis hits his insanely fast tope. The women in the last match both did topes but at half speed compared to how Travis does them. It’s with the kind of reckless abandon that I love. This match is so fluid that it makes wrestling look easy. As if the entire thing is a piece of piss and anyone could do it. I didn’t think it was that special live but that’s the skill involved. It makes everything look too simple. Travis does a rather exaggerated front flip off a super rana in another slightly awkward spot but in general the work is on point. Not only that people are really fired up at the prospect of Travis getting a win. His loss streak is pretty firmly established over this weekend. Fire Ant gets a fluke roll up for the win and Travis’ losing streak continues. The disappointment on the fans faces is incredible. They’re so invested in Travis Banks’ story. He’s so good but he just can’t get the win.

Final Rating: ***3/4

 

Kimber Lee vs. Chris Brookes

Kimber is on her way to WWE, if rumours are to be believed, so we’d better make the most of her on the Indies while we can. Brookes claims that he lost to Kimber the last time they met because he loves her. Instead of wrestling he wants to do “grappling with no clothes on”. In the back, lads, not in the ring that would be really awkward. Brookes draws a lot of heat but there’s no escaping this is the least important match on the show. There are several notable timing issues. Kimber gets blocked going for a dive and it’s blatantly obvious she’s not going through the ropes. There’s never a dive to block. Suspension of disbelief is key in wrestling and there’s never a feeling that this fight is on an even kiel. Which wasn’t true of Nixon & KLR tagging against men on another FCP show this year. It’s not a gender issue. They just don’t click. Brookes when he’s being disgusting, wet willy especially, is at his peak as an entertainer. It’s weird that someone as tall as Brookes does almost no power related moves. He’s just a dick. Brookes ends up getting the submission win and the crowd are not best pleased. They grew into this match after a dodgy start. Brookes dickish behaviour allowed Kimber to shine as the babyface. Not either guys best work though.

Final Rating: **3/4

 

Mikey Whiplash vs. Clint Margera

If you’ve never seen Whiplash in FCP you’ve probably not seen him at his peak. Margera is a death match wrestler by trade and these two do horrible things with chairs in this match. But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. They do spend a few moments briefing considering what would be called a ‘traditional’ professional wrestling match, within the confines of the squared circle and involving holds and counter holds. That does not last long. Virtually all the chairs get destroyed, as is traditional in the Fixxion. The chairs destroyed include all the Northampton lads (Alan Boon and pals) who are forced to stand up from this point on. The match is a combination of hard-hitting strong style offence and Margera’s perverse love of chair abuse. Margera survives a DVD onto a chair and throws a chair at Whiplash’s head while he’s on the top rope. The noise that makes is absolutely sickening. Mikey then gets superplexed through two set up chairs. It’s brutal stuff. These two are legitimately nuts for even considering taking bumps of that nature in front of 100 people. It gets worse with Margera taking a horrible bump off the ropes through a chair to the floor. The end finally comes when Margera takes a DVD onto two chairs set up sideways, as if a normal set up chair isn’t terrifying enough. On the VOD you can see me head to the bar, in need of a stiff drink. It’s tough to rate matches that are this visceral. It was a better experience live, that’s for certain.

Final Rating: ***1/2

 

Fight Club Pro Championship

Pete Dunne (c) vs. Trent Seven

Peter has taken to attempting to bite fans who flip him off. Trent gets the kind of entrance you’d expect for the wrestler who built this house, almost literally. Dunne’s response is to senton him during Trent rolling into the ring. It is spectacular heel work. Pete also cuts off Trent doing the bowling chop, which comes back into play moments later when Seven rubs his hand on his crotch and ass before allowing Pete to bite it. This is why Trent brings a towel to the ring. You never know when you might need one. From there they take it in turns to suplex and slap each other. It’s a rough and tough match up and considering they’re tag partners in Progress the hate is palpable. Trent is a perfect babyface and Pete is a perfect heel. Trent knows when he can be playful, screaming for Shay to help him in a surfboard, and when to take things seriously. Meanwhile over by the bar Shane Strickland, Kimber Lee and Melina Perez are loving the action. This is British Strong Style. The action suits the venue and it’s grimy and violent and rough as fuck. The occasional display of athleticism is tempered by a procession of stiff strikes and no selling. It’s brilliantly done and the chemistry is virtually flawless. There’s something about the sweaty Fixxion Warehouse that suits the match. It’d be good in any ring but in this ring, in this building it’s great. The biting, the striking, the big moves and the focus and feel. Everything is right. The match peaks, in terms of ridiculousness, when Trent tries a Dragon Superplex and Dunne slips out to land on his feet. It’s insane and it leads right into a crazy striking sequence and a massive spinning piledriver that Pete kicks out of. From there we get Trent accidentally killing Shay with a tope, which allows Pete to survive a second spinning piledriver. Joel Allen replaces Shay but the delay allows Pete to go low, hit Drop Dead and finish with a sleeper. Trent, losing consciousness, has to tap. The finish is perhaps just a shade underwhelming but the match was fantastic.

Final Rating: ****1/2

 

 

8.5

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

What a show this was. It had something for everyone. There was comedy, strong style, flying, disgustingness, hardcore, dancing and storytelling galore. Plus a subtle build on several wrestlers, especially Travis Banks and the prolonging of his agonising losing streak. From Moloney’s shit boots to spotting wrestlers in the crowd to ‘Everybody Dance Now’ to the British Strong Style explosion at the end of the night everything hit. It was a great show to watch live and the VOD is the same. The Margera-Whiplash match loses some of the impact on tape and that’s down to the audible difference between what the microphones pick up and what it was like in the building. The difference is palpable. Also Brookes and Kimber Lee wasn’t as good as I remember it but everything else was better. Get on the Fight Club Pro bandwagon now. They’ve been consistently the best UK product in the second half of the year and I’m anxiously looking forward to what they do in 2017.