Dark Pegasus Video Review: Full Impact Pro — Violence is the Answer

Full Impact Pro — Violence is the Answer by J.D. Dunn Twitter.com/jddunn411 Brightkite.com/jddunn411 Facebook.com/jddunn411 Examiner.com Last time out, in the clusterfuck that was the FIP Tag Title Tournament… thingie, DP Associates claimed the FIP Tag Team Titles. During the show, Steve Madison turned on his partner James Gibson and said his past success was meaningless. April 23, 2005 From Arcadia, Fla. Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard. Opening Match: Spanky vs. “The Master of the Backbreaker” Roderick Strong. I actually like this venue much more than their previous ones. It looks like every other indie now, but at least the ring isn’t on the roof and the crowd is on the first floor. Or the ring is on the top of a moving bus, and the crowd is on a merry-go-round or whatever the hell else they were doing. This should be good. Spanky unleashes the usually array of lightning fast moves, but Strong catches him in a huracanrana and counters to the Boston Crab. Strong zeroes in on the back, of course. Spanky comes back with the superkick and hits a frogsplash for two. Roderick counters Sliced Bread #2 to a backbreaker and the Yakuza Kick to another backbreaker. Spanky flips out of another one and hits Sliced Bread #2 out of nowhere to pick up the win at 8:10. Could have used more of this. The finish seemed to come out of nowhere. Good opener to get the crowd going, though. **3/4 Dave Prazak announces the tag team titles will not be defended on this show because Arcadia doesn’t deserve it. So he’s bringing out his new monster Ryze to kill anyone who wants to challenge him. Ryze (w/Dave Prazak) vs. Antonio Banks. Banks asks how Prazak got Yao Ming to stop playing basketball. Actually, if you’ve seen Ryze, that’s pretty good. Big tests of strength early. Banks can’t get him up for a slam and throws out his back, so Ryze goes to work on the back. Lots of power moves from the monster. Another bodyslam fails, and a double clothesline puts both guys down. Banks roars back and finally hits that slam. Malicious Intent (a roundhouse back kick) finishes Ryze at 6:27. Greatest thing ever: a group of about 300 Floridians (many of them kids) singing Ludacris’ “Move Bitch (Get Out Da Way)” to celebrate. This was like every Akeem/One Man Gang vs. Hulk Hogan match ever. Not that that’s a bad thing. ** CM Punk comes out to claim his status as the messiah of the rejects. Lenny Leonard tells him to shut up because he’s not the real champ. Punk goes after Leonard, prompting Prazak to call for Mark Nulty to be on standbye. Hahaha! Homicide saves Leonard from a beatdown and chases Punk away. Four-Way Fray: “The Soul Assassin” Rainman vs. “Saved by the” Sal Rinauro (w/Spanky) vs. Kahagas vs. Jared Steel. Before the match, Spanky gets down on his knee and proposes to Sal… that he be Spanky’s protégé. Steel is starting to look like a slimmed-down JBL. This is a lot of “hit your stuff, get jumped from behind” formula early. Steel ducks a spinkick from Kahagas and Flatlines him at 3:03. Sal sneaks in and rolls up Steel at 3:11. That leaves Sal alone against the much larger Rainman. Rainman overpowers Sal, but Rinauro perseveres through pluck and determination. Sal counters a spinebuster to a huracanrana and gets the big upset with the Throwback at 7:06. This would be the beginning of Sal’s successful stint, which only recently stalled out as he went back to being a jobber in ROH. He would work out much better as a heel. **1/4 “Fast” Eddie Vegas (w/Dave Prazak) vs. Dunn. The timekeeper, who hasn’t been paying attention all night, gets called out by Lenny Leonard. Apparently, Dunn doesn’t get a first name. He should just go with initials. Worked for me. This match is all about Eddie being totally frustrated by Dunn’s armdrags and huracanranas. He can’t get any momentum. Finally, Prazak just hops up on the apron and grabs Dunn’s leg so Eddie can blindside him. Nothing wrong with the match, but it’s too long for what they have to offer. Dunn comes back with a sunset flip and a Blue Thunder Bomb. I’m pretty sure the timekeeper rang the bell. Dunn gets the Gory Pedigree, but Prazak has the ref tied up. Jimmy Rave comes out to distract Dunn, allowing Vegas to roll Dunn up for the win at 13:14. Too long for them. Dunn is a good babyface, but they just didn’t have enough interesting things to do to fill up the time. ** After the match, DP Associates lay the beats down to Dunn & Marcos, but Jerrelle Clark come for some revenge for the night before. “Mr. 630” Jerrelle Clark vs. Jimmy Rave (w/Dave Prazak). The ref finds THREE foreign objects on Rave… well, two and a sock near Jimmy’s crotch. THE CROWN JOO-ELLS! Okay, so as a refresher, Prazak invited Clark to join DP Associates, but he turned him down, so Prazak formed the team of Rave and Fast Eddie to get revenge on him. This goes just like the previous match with Clark dominating until Rave dumps him to the floor where Prazak brings down the set on him. Back in, Clark comes back with the Pélé and the Clark Bar. That sets up the handspring moonsault and a pump-handle facebuster. Rave hits a back kick out of nowhere and the running knee for two. Prazak tries to interfere again and gets knocked on his ass. Clark finishes with the Clark Tower at 10:43. Clark can be a good wrestler when he settles down, as he did here. **1/2 The Heartbreak Express and Don Juan bond over how much they hate Arcadia because it’s filled with beer drinkers and potato-chip eaters. The Carnage Crew interrupts the festivities and wants revenge for costing them the tag titles the night before. They call the Heartbreak Express “faggots” and recruit Marcos as their partner. Marcos & The Carnage Crew vs. Don Juan & The Heartbreaks Express. Actually, it was Dunn & Marcos who cost the Carnage Crew the titles, which makes the night before that much weirder. The heels work in the Incredibly Gay Pile-up spot. They bail and come back for more when Marcos and the CC get the STRING SECTION STRETCH! ::Rock out:: Marcos eventually assumes the fip role. Funny spot as Sean trashtalks Loc, hoping to drag him into the ring to distract the ref, but Loc no-sells, so Sean runs over and gives him the gayest slap in all of San Francisco to get him to come in. Marcos jawbreakers out of a sleeper to get out of trouble. Hot tag to Devito. The faces whip the heels together. That sets up the Rocket Launcher Senton from the babyfaces at 14:06. Much better than I thought it would be. I know Sean and Phil don’t have the greatest physiques, but they really would be at home in the WWE. **3/4 Steve Madison complains about how fat the people of Arcadia are and tells everyone James Gibson cost them the tag team titles. Gibson attacks, and we’re under way. “The Redneck Messiah” James Gibson vs. “The Modern Miracle” Steve Madison. Madison actually shows some personality here, doing the Cabbage Patch before he drops an elbow. Good stuff from both guys. Madison is a good all-around wrestler, and James Gibson is a beast in the ring when given a chance. If you’ve only ever seen him as Jamie Noble, you haven’t seen him. Gibson gets a Butterfly Lock and a Texas Cloverleaf, but Madison makes the ropes and pulls a chain out of his tights. Why didn’t the ref find *that* one? Madison clocks Gibson during a backdrop attempt and gets the pin at 10:46. Madison really showed he was good enough to hang with James Gibson, and I’m surprised he never got a real shot in TNA. *** After the match, James apologizes for letting the fans down. He promises a better performance next time if they get a rematch. FIP Heavyweight Title, Anything Goes: Homicide vs. CM Punk (w/Mr. Milo Beasley). So Homicide is the real, actual FIP Champion, but CM Punk stole the physical belt several months ago and has been pretending he is the champion, even “defending” the title. Kind of a formula for all the matches tonight. It’s about 60/40 Homicide until Milo Beasley trips Homicide up from the outside, allowing Punk to jump him. Why Milo has to hide his interference, I’m not sure. It’s “Anything Goes.” Then again, maybe they’ll cut off his benefits if they see him out of the wheelchair. They brawl around the ring, and Punk puts the boots to ‘Cide. Homicide finally hulks up (in the actual Hogan sense complete with pointing and screaming, “You!”). He goes after Milo, though, and Punk is able to clock him from behind. Punk blocks a piledriver once but can’t do it a second time. That gets the pin at 16:12. This felt very much like a big time main-event payoff. No wonder Punk became a big star in the WWE (and Homicide probably could be if TNA took the shackles off him). Milo tries to escape with the belt, but Homicide tracks him down and retrieves it. ***3/4 After the match, Homicide celebrates with the kids. Gotta love that.

The 411: Probably the best FIP show to that point. Solid show up and down the card with everything either being good wrestling, advancing an angle, or paying off a storyline (or a combination of all three). The moniker Violence is the Answer doesn't really fit, but then this was quickly becoming a family-oriented promotion. Thumbs up.
Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]