Dark Pegasus Video Review: Full Impact Pro — Hot Summer Nights 2008

Full Impact Pro — Hot Summer Nights 2008 by J.D. Dunn Yes, I know I skipped a few shows, but the main event in this one was calling to me. July 19, 2008 From Crystal River, Fla. Your hosts are Dave Prazak and Sean Davis. The Mighty Ox is your ring announcer. Roderick Strong comes out to say that it’s not about the fat rednecks in the audience. It’s about him and Erick Stevens finishing their feud once and for all. Opening Match, Three-Way Dance: Chasyn “Not Cocky” Rance (w/Cat, Amanda and Mimi) vs. Chris Jones vs. “The Bad Seed” Shawn Osborne. Nice to see they’re giving the random skanks names. Osborne waits for Jones to turn his back and then jumps him. Jones is the next-generation Evan Bourne, but he looks a little like Crash Holly. He cleans house on both guys with his quickness, but Chasyn appears to wreck his knee. Osborne takes that opportunity to jump Jones from behind again. Osborne hits a backbreaker, but Jones kicks his way back in and fells him with a dropkick. Osborne looks like Sean O’Haire and Brent Albright had a kid. He boots Jones and nails him with an Airplane Spin into a neckbreaker. Oh, but Chasyn sneaks in and schoolboys Osborne to eliminate him at 4:02. Jones is still out from the neckbreaker, so Rance covers him and eliminates him at 4:06. Ha ha! That’s so YRR. Jones looked fantastic. Osborne didn’t really do much outside of a few power moves, so he gets an incomplete. **1/4 The rest of the YRR comes out to gloat. Sal Rinauro has threats for Joey Ryan and the Age of the Fall. He calls out former YRR member Rain, but she brings the Age of the Fall with her. A big brawl ensues, and the Age of the Fall clears the ring. Rain (w/Leva) vs. Mercedes Martinez. Rain still wants competition, so Mercedes Martinez answers on behalf of the YRR. Martinez squashes Rain in the corner with her weight advantage, but Rain comes back with a bulldog. Mercedes blocks the Rain Drop with a poke to the eye. Mercedes rides her down with an STF and gets two off a suplex. Rain comes back with a DDT. She hits a back elbow in the corner and rocks her with forearms. They’re in the ropes, though. Mercedes drags her back to the center and finishes with the Fisherman’s Buster at 6:31. Martinez gives her another Fisherman’s Buster just to be a bitch about it. Leva hops on Mercedes’ back, but she gets squashed too. Then, Mr. Milo Beasley blocks Martinez’s path and gets booted out of his wheelchair, which is just weird because he’s *faking* that injury. Surprisingly good match from Rain, who I like as a manager but not so much as a wrestler. **1/2 The Dark City Fight Club calls anyone who wants to fight since Machete walked out of the promotion and there’s no Black Market. The other half of the Black Market, Shawn Murphy, offers to take them up on their challenge, so we get… Shawn Murphy vs. Jon Davis (w/Kory Chavis). Total slugfest until Jon Davis hits a backdrop suplex and they slug it out from their knees. The yay/boo chant has even infected Crystal River. Murphy hits a Bubba Bomb into the Gannosuke Clutch. Chavis senses the submission is near, so he hops in and attacks Murphy for the DQ at 2:44. 3/4* Machete RETURNS! That leads to… No DQ: Joey Machete vs. Kory Chavis. The brawl spills out into the crowd and over by the merchandise table. Machete hopes off a chair and drives an elbow into Chavis’ chest. Back to the ring, Chavis hits a Michinoku Driver. Machete is busted open, of course (because he’s Machete). Chavis goes up, but Machete catches up with him and hits a Super Rude Awakening at 4:19. ** Machete says they are the alpha dogs, and they want a tag match with the DCFC in a weapons match. Recap of the Strong-Stevens Redefined match. Pro-Wrestling Riot commercial. FIP Tag Team Titles, 2/3 Falls: The YRR (w/Mimi) vs. The Age of the Fall. First Fall: Black and Jacobs take the early advantage, out-wrestling both of their opponents and isolating Kenny King. They doubleteam and grab a double choke. Blade distracts Black long enough for Kenny King to hit a jawbreaker and tag out. The YRR isolates Black, but Black hits Blade with a dropkick and tags in Jimmy. Jimmy rolls up Blade, but King suckers Black into distracting the ref. That allows Blade to turn them over. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Mimi trips up Jimmy from the floor, allowing Blade to schoolboy him for the win at 11:13. Second Fall: Jimmy tosses Blade to the floor, and it’s a four-man fracas over by the guy in the Hooters shirt. Prazak and Davis’ sucking up to each other is pretty funny. Back in, the Age hits a partner-assisted senton for two. King interferes from the outside, and the heels take over on Jacobs again. They take him to the floor and let Mimi get in a slap. Jimmy blocks a charge with an elbow and yanks down the ropes to send a charging Kenny King over. Jimmy dives! Oh, but King yanks Tyler off the apron. Pretty cool sequence. Jimmy rolls between the YRR and tags in Black. Black hits a double crossbody, and a heel miscommunication leads to Blade clotheslining his partner. King gets cute with a back handspring, but Jimmy spears him out of his boots (figuratively). That sets up the T-Gimmick on Blade to even things up at 20:10. Third Fall: Sal Rinauro runs down and shoves Black off the top rope. The YRR isolates Jimmy again. Black gets the blind tag, though, and hits a springboard dropkick. Mimi gets involved, so Black spanks her to the approval of the crowd. Sal tries to interfere and gets F5’ed by Black. Oh, but Kenny King springboards back in and hits Black with an awesome neckbreaker for the win at 22:34. It’s so interesting to see Jimmy and Tyler playing the babyfaces after months of seeing them as heels in ROH. They make a great babyface team, especially because Tyler is so over. ***1/4 After the match, Black challenges King to a singles match. FIP Florida Heritage Title: Sal Rinauro (w/The YRR) vs. Joey Ryan. Ryan’s pre-match promo is hilarious as he claims to be a former WCW Cruiserweight Champion who spent 12 years training with Dory Funk in the Florida Dungeon. He promises to bring sleazy back. Rinauro wants to have a gentleman’s match because his face is where he makes his money. They do an intentionally sad version of the Japanese armdrag battle into a kip up. That leads to a discussion on whether it’s “nip up” or “kip up” and if “nip up” is a racist term. Both guys offer a handshake, and both guys double-cross each other with eyepokes. Rinauro misses a corner charge and gets clotheslined. That leads to a Butterfly Suplex and dropkick from Ryan. THESZ PRESS! Ryan gets two off a superkick and rolls through a schoolboy to an Oklahoma Roll for two. Rinauro goes to the eyes, and that’s enough to set up his springboard spinkick (The Salivator?) at 10:02. Good introduction for Ryan, even though he was arguably more over than Rinauro. Given some investment into his character, he could be a good addition to the Florida scene. **1/2 Non-Title: Nigel McGuinness vs. Go Shiozaki. Nigel’s pre-match spiel, telling Go that the fans over here really hate chops, is great heel work. Go sucks up to the crowd, saying he loves “chops, punches, moonsaults, and the U.S.A.!” Drill, baby, drill! Go chops Nigel out of the ring, so Nigel stalls until the swelling goes down. Go wins the battle of chops, of course, but Nigel takes it to the mat. Go escapes the Goku-Raku Bow-and-Arrow and lays in another chop. He chases Nigel around the ring as the crowd really gets into Go with a “Go Go Go Go!” chant. Nigel quickly pulls the ref between them and then cheapshots Go to take over. He chokes Shiozaki on the outside and pummels him back in the ring. Go catches him with a boot during a corner handstand attempt. That leads to a big flurry from Go, including the Orange Crush for two. Nigel avoids a charge and hits the Tower of London. ONE, TWO, TH-NO! Go knocks him back and hits a flying shoulderblock. That sets up a superkick, but Nigel catches him with a short lariat. Go shrugs it off and hits a thrust kick. His moonsault misses, but he ducks the Jawbreaker Lariat and schoolboys Nigel for the upset win at 13:40. It’s nice to see Go getting over by workrate alone. The crowd was really behind him at the end. Oh, but his night would not be over… ***1/4 FIP World Title, Dog-Collar Match: Roderick Strong vs. Erick Stevens. Strong enters first, which I don’t care for, but that’s between him and his God. Strong ducks to the floor, but Stevens tries to pull him in by the neck. They take it to the floor where Roderick rams his back into the apron and pummels him. He takes him over in front of some young kids and strangles him with the chain. FIP, it’s FANtastic. Back in, Strong continues to strangle Stevens and smashes his head in a chair with another chair. He tosses Erick over the top and hangs him. Stevens is brutally busted open. He pulls Strong to the floor and yanks him into the post. A straight right to Strong’s face busts him open. Back in, a TKO gets two for Stevens. Strong crawls through his legs and crotches him with the chain in a cool spot. The SLUG IT OUT! I was hoping for chops, but this works. Stevens hits a German Suplex and a Doctorbomb on the chain! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Stevens goes up, but Roderick catches him, and they fight on top. LARIAT BY STEVENS! Roderick falls to the canvas. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Stevens takes too long to capitalize and gets nailed with an enzuigiri. That sets up the Yakuza kick into the press gutbuster into the Tiger Driver. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Strong measures him now and kicks him in the head. And again. And again. On the final kick, Stevens catches him and slams him down. That sets up a lariat and a Doctorbomb. ANOTHER DOCTORBOMB! ONE! TWO! THREE! Stevens regains the title at 18:27. They seemed to be searching for moves to do with the chain rather than getting over the hatred that made their previous matches so successful. Still, this is a worthy addition to their feud, even if it is a notch below some of the great brawls they’ve had. **** Phil Davis and Go Shiozaki attack Stevens after the match. Apparently, Larry Sweeney has sold Sean Davis the contract of Go Shiozaki in FIP. Sean challenges Stevens on behalf of Go. Roderick Strong turns babyface and comes back to make the save, but he’s unsuccessful. Go buries Stevens under the Japanese flag. Ooooh. The Crystal River fans do not like that one bit. Once both men recover, Roderick hands over the FIP belt like a true champ.

The 411: Good, old-fashioned booking here with the blowoff to the excellent, long-running Roderick Strong/Erick Stevens feud only to set up the next feud immediately. Think Flair vs. Steamboat to Flair vs. Funk. I wish they'd put a little more into production to aid characters and storylines. Hopefully, FIP can survive through the economic downturn because this has been a great year for them in terms of expanding the in-ring product. Thumbs up for Hot Summer Nights 2008

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]