Euro Fury: Fight Club Pro Infinity 2016

Fight Club Pro Infinity 2016

 

November 25 2016

 

We’re in Wolverhampton at the Fixxion Warehouse for the final FCP show of 2016. This is available on Vimeo at vimeo.com/ondemand/fightclubpro. It’s £4, which is about five bucks stateside and I’d highly recommend seeing it. If for no other reason how incredibly fired up a small Indie crowd can get some times. I would know, I was there! What’s worse is I’m on the hard-cam side so you can see me marking out too. At least at Progress shows I’m hidden away in the wings.

 

Infinity Semi-Final

Joe Coffey vs. Trent Seven vs. Mikey Whiplash vs. Omari

This is the first of two four-way elimination matches. The winners meeting in the final later tonight. Omari should go on your ‘ones to watch in 2017’ list. He’s come out of the FCP academy and apart from an unfortunate lack of ring gear looks the part. Well, his boots look good but I’m not keen on the footy shorts. Mikey banters with the fans before we get underway. “You’re an advert for pulling out”. Trent is equally delicious out there, having fun with trainee Omari. After shoulderblocking him he adds “I’ll teach you that one next week”. Mikey hops back in, doing an arm ringer and shouts “I can wrestle too”. The banter continues with everyone yelling “ask him” with Mikey in an armbar and Shay Pursor eventually checking. “He said no”. “Thanks Shay”. “You’re welcome”. Trent is clearly enjoying himself here, loving interaction with everyone in the match and the crowd. It feels like a special night. Omari freaks everyone by hitting End of Days on Coffey, which is hugely impressive from the young man. Omari gives up in the Angle-killing Boston crab of Coffey though and is first man out.

 

Trent takes exception to the treatment of his trainee. This leads to everyone chopping the shit out of each other. Mikey takes out Coffey with the DVD in somewhat surprise fashion.

 

Mikey hits the same on Trent but he kicks out. Seven’s love of small buildings and how to behave in front of this crowd is perfect. The little “oh shit” when he’s being taken over is wonderful. Mikey is also great, calling a girl in the audience a “slag” prompting Trent to fire up on his comeback and yell “she’s a lovely girl”. Mikey eats a piledriver off the top and Seven advances to the final. The Banter was strong in this one.

Final Rating: ***1/2

 

Infinity Semi-Final

Tyler Bate vs. Travis Banks vs. Chris Brookes vs. Jimmy Havoc

It’s a pity that Travis’ entrance is clipped because the noise when he came through the curtain was insane. Travis dominates the match with his storyline. He’s the one with the most to prove and he’s going to blow everyone else away with sensational topes right out of the gate. Tyler is the secondary babyface in the match, getting in his fun spots but the reaction to everything Travis does is huge. It’s been a long, long time since I saw an entire crowd get so fired up for one wrestler. The action is good too with bags of effort and minimal resting, because there are four guys who can slip into the action and interact. The way everyone casually throws in crazy spots is incredible. Like Bate’s moonsault to the floor out of nowhere. It’s all tidy, fluid and well planned. The first match relied heavily on strike duels and crowd interaction. This has far more planning to it. Everyone gets their personality and move set across. Brookes is first out, eating an Acid Rainmaker.

 

Naturally Brookes takes this badly and comes back out to brawl with Havoc resulting in Jimmy getting counted out while destroying the Fixxion’s chair set up.

 

This gives Havoc an ‘out’ and a future storyline in FCP. With that business done the crowd fully get behind Travis Banks. Although either storyline in the main event would work. If it was Tyler you’d get Moustache Mountain exploding and if Travis wins it pays off his year long losing streak. It’s clear the direction the crowd want to go in as they loudly cheer for Banks and even jeer Tyler. Tyler! The near falls where Travis is almost beaten (brainbuster, Axe Guillotine Driver) are incredible. Then Travis gets a partially fluke roll up and progresses to the final. People are losing their minds around the ring. God bless Travis Banks.

Final Rating: ****

 

Dan Moloney vs. Sean Kustom

Dan milks the boot abuse for all it’s worth. The peak being when someone throws baby booties into the ring and Dan sells their arrival for an eternity. When the action gets underway Moloney takes Kustom to strong style school. Dan is one of the hardest hitting up and comers in BritWres and Kustom isn’t on his level. Which is terrifying because Moloney is still a teenager. They have a tidy match, which is quickly becoming Moloney’s trademark. That and milking the abuse of his footwear. Kustom slips over at a critical point in the match, which is unfortunate and Dan lets him get back into position. Kustom definitely has promise and I’ll be interested in seeing if he can go away, improve and come back to the UK again. Dan finishes him with the spiralbomb. A chant of “stand up if you hate shit boots” erupts and Moloney sits down in the ring. He’s going to be a star. Sooner or later. Probably sooner.

Final Rating: ***1/4

 

Kay Lee Ray & Nixon Newell vs. The Hunter Brothers (Lee Hunter & Drew Parker)

Drew Parker is Lee Hunter from the past, brought here in a time machine, by the injured Jim Hunter. The crowd chant “Lee with abs” and Lee thinks it’s aimed at him. KLR goes to get a couple of post-it notes so she can distinguish between current Lee and Lee that’s actually Drew. They read “Lee V1” and “Lee with abs/Jim”. Drew Parker is another teenager that’s really good. It’s insane where all these new talents keep coming from. A successful scene will breed more interest and improve the incoming talent pool. This match is done largely for comedy value. Like duelling chants of “let’s go Lee” and “let’s go Lee”. That’s not to say it’s a match without skill and timing. It’s well structured and jolly good fun. Shay gets into the antics by telling “other Lee” to get out of the ring on a tag. The Hunter’s pulling twin magic and the crowd chanting “check his abs” with Drew covering up his abs is what wrestling is all about. Nixon Newell tries so hard pretending to be KLR that she accidentally busts her nose. I love how the ladies manage to persuade Shay that Nixon is actually KLR via the power of kisses. The twin magic stuff in this match is so ridiculous that it ends up involving switches in front of the referee and Drew snogging Shay. It’s all good stuff. Kay Lee takes a few sickening bumps, especially considering it’s a comedy match, and is dumped on her neck and lands on her head. The latter being a swanton that scared the shit out of me. Great comedy match but some minor flubs on the complex double teams brought it down a notch.

Final Rating: ***1/2

 

Infinity Final

Travis Banks vs. Trent Seven

Trent even gets booed here, showing just how into Travis everyone is. This is a respectful yet violent match. An example of early violence is Trent sitting Travis on a chair at ringside and then wiping him out with a tope. Trent works in his usual sickening ring post spots with Banks showing even more fire than during his fiery losses during his FCP run. The bit where Banks gets thrown out of the venue and strolls back in, swatting aside chair shots is incredible. The intensity that Banks exudes is rare in the wrestling world. Only the very top guys have it. Trent has that connection to the crowd and knows how to please them but Travis is all about the graps. The combination works a charm here. Trent brings the psychology and Travis brings the story. The match feels important. The “you can’t beat him” chants symbolise how the crowd is with Travis Banks to a person. Trent has to be strong in this match. He has to bring his all or a Travis win means nothing. Which is why the crowd have conniptions when Banks eats a piledriver off the top fucking rope and kicks out. Is that a touch excessive? Perhaps but it shows that this is Banks’ night. Tonight nothing will beat him. He’s done with jobbing. The way he pops up after a piledriver and stares Trent down is incredible. Now Trent sells the fear, knowing he’s unloaded everything and Travis is still standing. The emotion and energy for Travis surviving after that is astonishing. They’ve got the crowd firmly in the palms of their hands. Travis has one last grand moment of no-selling, popping out of the Rainmaker at one before surviving a final piledriver. Everything Trent has done feels like a logical finish but Travis will not lie down and die. Not tonight! Trent goes for another Rainmaker but Travis escapes and hits his springboard Enzuigiri for the win. And the crowd goes wild. The reactions of the crowd really make this. It’s a good match without them audience but the crowd loving Travis Banks this much made it historic.

Final Rating: ****1/2

 

Post Match: Trent tells us a story about Travis setting up the ring at Infinity last year and how he thought Travis was the future of British wrestling from the moment he first saw him. This felt really special and Travis Banks has definitely arrived.

 

 

8.5

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

Tape doesn’t do Fight Club Pro justice. Get yourself along to the Fixxion Warehouse and see this company in person. The live atmosphere and the extras that brings will convert you to FCP fandom, I guarantee it. This show was blow-away good live. It’s still good on VOD but it perhaps loses some of the atmosphere. As a live event it’s almost unparalleled on the year for me.