Dark Pegasus Video Review: Full Impact Pro — Dangerous Intentions 2008

Full Impact Pro — Dangerous Intentions 2008 by J.D. Dunn April 26, 2008 From Crystal River, Fla. Your hosts are Lenny Leonard and a cast of thousands. We open with footage from the tremendous brawl between Roderick Strong and Erick Stevens at Supercard of Honor III. After it was over, the No Remorse Corps attacked and shaved Stevens’ head. Now, Stevens looks for the best revenge – taking Roderick’s FIP Title. Opening Match: Chasyn “Not Cocky” Rance (w/Kat) vs. Jigsaw. Surprisingly boring match with Rance dominating with a Cobra Clutch. Erick Stevens is on commentary. Rance hits a glancing superkick. Jigsaw hulks up and fires off a dropkick. That sets up the running knee and the Jig and Tonic at 5:41. * After the match, the YRR hit the ring and put the boots to Jigsaw. Jay Briscoe and Austin Aries make the save. Rex Sterling (w/Heartbreak Enterprises & Baby Doll) vs. Chris Jones. Before the match, HBE introduce their newest member – Baby Doll. Yes, the Baby Doll — the one who seconded Dusty Rhodes and Tully Blanchard. Sadly, she’s much larger than Sterling. Jones looks good for the second straight show. Not only does he have some great moves á la Evan Bourne, he also does a good job playing to the crowd. Of course, the 4-5 people at ringside get involved, allowing Sterling to hit the superkick at 5:04. NUMBERS GAME~! I really like Jones and hope he continues to get shots in FIP. *1/2 Seth Delay is upset with the tactics of the Heartbreak Entertprises, so we get… Damian Wayne (w/Heartbreak Enterprises & Baby Doll) vs. “Cool” Seth Delay. This was a good way to establish Wayne as the enforcer of the group because he looks comparatively big when he’s in there with Delay. Wayne takes over after a missed dropkick. Delay takes a good beating before coming back with a huracanrana and a flying forearm. Lenny complains about the Baby Doll/Dusty picture angle that went nowhere. Delay misses his backflip legdrop and falls to a piledriver at 6:58. ** Roderick Strong is out to explain his actions at Redefined. He simply had no choice, he had to get his baby back. FIP Florida Heritage Title: Sal Rinauro (w/the YRR) vs. Delirious. Rinauro stalls *forever* because the fans keep taunting him for being a chicken. When the match finally gets going, it’s pretty good. Rinauro hits a move, plays to the crowd, hits a move, plays to the crowd. Delirious uses his head to come back. That sets up the Panic Attack and Shadows Over Hell, but Kenny King, Chasyn Rance and Jason Blade come out to distract Delirious. Rinauro charges but gets dumped on his cronies. Delirious keeps fighting them off, but that allows Sal to hit his springboard flying kick for the win at 16:01. **1/2 The Black Market comes out to thank the fans for their support during injury. They vow revenge on the Dark City Fight Club for attacking Machete’s family. That leads to a big unsanctioned brawl between the two teams. After a good ten minutes of brawling, the DCFC douses Joey Machete with gasoline and threatens to light him up, but the locker room clears to make the save. Well, that’ll certainly put some *heat* on the angle. Ha haha haha! ::ahem:: Davey Richards vs. Tyler Black. Black is a babyface in Florida, so Davey gets some heat by spitting on his hand in lieu of a handshake. Black makes a great babyface, even better than his semi-heel act in Ring of Honor. The crowd actually seems to have sympathy for him as he splats off a missed pescado. Davey throws a few kicks, mostly targeting Black’s ribs. Black catches him with the Paroxysm, but it only gets two. Davey catches him on top and hits a German Superplex. That sets up a running kick that sends Black flying. Davey locks in a Texas Cloverleaf, but Tyler makes the ropes. Davey gets distracted by the crowd. They collide for a double KO. Davey tries a handspring kick, but Black dropkicks him right in the face. That sets up an F5 and the Small Package Driver to put Davey away at 14:23. *** The YRR runs in to attack Black for taking Lacey and Rain away from them, but Austin Aries and Jay Briscoe make the save. That leads to… FIP Tag Team Titles: Jason Blade & Kenny King (w/the YRR) vs. Austin Aries & Jay Briscoe. Blade and King are completely disoriented and overmatched until Aries and Jay crash into one another. The YRR isolates Aries, and he plays the Ricky Morton role like a champ. The YRR set up for something, but Aries fights them off and rolls into the tag to Jay. Jay cleans house, hitting King with a Flatliner into the buckle. Jay and Aries hit the Steiners’ old Doomsday Bulldog. Blade makes the save. The YRR’s experience together and treachery pays off as Blade shoves Briscoe into the path of Aries IED. Blade winds up on top and puts his feet on the ropes for the win at 9:10. Decent formula tag, and I liked that the YRR beat some big names with only their own cheating to give them the advantage and not 4-5 guys out there interfering. **1/2 Tyler Black returns to say he’s bringing in Jimmy Jacobs to even the score with the YRR. Tyler really needs to work on promos as he stumbled through this one. FIP World Heavyweight Title, Last Man Standing: Roderick Strong vs. Erick Stevens. These two have raised the bar on stiffness so far that it’ll be hard to top it. While this one still features tons of stiff shots, it threatens to topple into absurdity as they brawl out near the concession stand and Stevens hits Strong in the head with a DVD. Thankfully, Strong gets pissed and just LAUNCHES a section of the guardrail at Stevens. I should point out that Sean Davis is the guest analyst for the last half of the show and does a damn fine job. Back inside, they up the violence even more as Stevens wedges a chair in the corner and tosses Strong into it headfirst. Strong gets creative with a backbreaker on the top turnbuckle. That’s the Strong I miss in ROH, finding new and interesting ways to work in backbreaker variations. Stevens valiantly comes back with a TKO on a chair, but Strong stacks up chairs on the outside. Stevens and Strong fight on the apron, but Strong wins and delivers the HALF-NELSON BACKBREAKER THROUGH THE CHAIRS! Crazy spot. Stevens… just manages… to make it to his feet before the count. Back in, Strong goes for the kill, but Stevens roars back with the Doctorbomb. They fight to the top where Strong punts Stevens in the mouth. That sets up a Tiger Driver. Stevens keeps getting up, though. Strong hits a Yakuza Kick. And another. Stevens staggers to his feet as Leonard wonders if the ref should stop the match. Finally, Strong sandwiches Stevens’ head in between two chairs and hits a Yakuza kick that resounds through the gym. That’s enough to put Stevens down for the ten count at 23:54. I’m going to run out of hyperbole if these guys continue to put on matches like this. Their Redefined match is a Match of the Year Candidate, and this one is a worthy follow-up. Stevens plays a great Magnum T.A.-ish babyface who hangs in there based on determination while Strong always manages to outwit him thanks to his experience. This is quickly shaping up to be the in-ring feud of the year. ****

The 411: The Strong/Stevens feud carries the day once again. I thought this was a bit of step back because it didn't feature *any* outside/backstage segments like Unfinished Business did. Those are really vital to building up these characters, otherwise it just looks like a bunch of thrown-together matches. The show delivered where it counts, though, and I anxiously await the next installment of Strong vs. Stevens. Thumbs up.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]