By Sean Radican, Torch Newsletter contributor

Torch DVD review
Radican’s Quick Hits
FIP The Usual Suspects

Results

(1) The Carnage Crew d. The Heart Break Express.

(2) Dunn & Marcos d. The Carnage Crew.

(3) Roderick Strong & Jerrelle Clark d. Vordell Walker & Homicide.

(4) Sal Rinauro & Spanky d. Steve Madison & James Gibson.

(5) Jimmy Rave & Eddie Vegas (w/Dave Prazak) d. Evan Starsmore & Aaron Epic.

(6) Jimmy Rave & Eddie Vegas (w/Dave Prazak) d. Dunn & Marcos

(7) C.M. Punk & Don Juan (w/Mr. Milo Beasley) d. Spanky & Sal Rinauro.

(8) Antonio Banks d. Rainman and Jared Steel.

(9) Three Way Elimination Tag match: Jimmy Rave & Eddie Vegas d. Roderick Strong & Jerrelle Clark and C.M. Punk & Don Juan to capture the FIP Tag Team titles.

The Undercard

The undercard featured mostly short matches to determine who would be the first FIP Tag Team Champions. The announcers did a good job of explaining that there was no format as to how the first ever FIP Tag Team Champions would be crowned. They said it would be the last team left without a loss. The undercard featured the Carnage Crew and Dunn and Marcos, both veteran teams in ROH. The other teams The Heartbreak Express and Jimmy Rave and Eddie Vegas. The rest of the teams in the tournament consisted of one ROH wrestler being paired an FIP wrestler.

If you’re looking for great matches, you won’t find them on the undercard, but you will be entertained by the antics of DP Associates manager Dave Prazak and the mic work of C.M. Punk, who seemingly manages to get Don Juan over as his partner with the FIP crowd.

Best matches on the release

Roderick Strong & Jerrelle Clark d. Vordell Walker & Homicide. The match began with a slow feeling out period between Homicide and Strong. Strong hit a flurry of offense and then a dive to the outside on Homicide. Walker eventually tagged in and laid in some chops on Strong, but Strong countered with some heavy chops of his own and tagged in Clark. Clark caught Walker with a hurricanrana. Strong and Clark tagged in and out and worked over Walker for a long period of time.

Homicide got the hot tag and went to work on Clark. Clark attempted to make several comebacks, but was cut off by Homicide. Clark eventually cut off Homicide and tried to crawl to his corner, but was unable to tag out. Clark eventually hit a nice tornado DDT on Homicide and tagged in Strong, who ran wild. The action broke down and all four men were in the ring. Homicide hit a Tope Con Hilo onto Strong to the outside. Strong eventually came back into the ring and went at it with Walker. Strong was able to lock in the Stronghold on Walker, which he eventually turned into a pinning combination to get the win. (**3/4)

C.M. Punk & Don Juan (w/Mr. Milo Beasley) d. Spanky & Sal Rinauro. They did several amusing eye poke spots to begin the match. Punk worked over Rinauro’s arm and kept giving it to Juan to slam over his shoulder while the ref was distracted. In a hilarious spot, Rinauro gave Juan Punk’s arm and Juan slammed it over his shoulder several times until he realized he was hurting his own partner.

Punk and Juan eventually got the advantage on Spanky and tagged in and out to work him over. The crowd rallied behind Spanky, but Juan cut off his comeback attempt. Spanky eventually tagged out to Rinauro, who ran wild on Punk. Juan blind tagged himself in and hit a pumphandle slam on Rinauro. The finish saw Juan and Rinauro tag out, which left Spanky and Punk in the ring. Punk hit a spinebuster on Spanky. Punk then rolled up Spanky near the ropes and Beasley held his hands for leverage to get the pin. This was short, but fun. (**1/4)

Three-Way Elimination match: Jimmy Rave & Eddie Vegas d. Roderick Strong & Jerrelle Clark and C.M. Punk & Don Juan (w/ Mr. Milo Beasley.) to become the FIP Tag Team Champions. The match began its early stages with Punk chopping strong and then running away, which was hilarious. The crowd rallied behind Strong, who fired chops into Punk’s chest. Juan and Clark ended up in the ring. Juan landed a neck breaker on Clark for a two count. Clark pinned Juan quickly with a hangman’s neck breaker, as Punk was unable to break up the pin.

Vegas came in and quickly gave Clark a tombstone for a nearfall. Eventually all four men ended up in the ring. Clark hit a reverse hurricanrana off the second rope on Vegas for a nearfall. Rave and Vegas eventually hit Double Penetration on Clark to get the win as Prazak held Strong back from making the save. (**1/2)
The match was fun while it lasted, but the pins weren’t very dramatic for either elimination. Strong laid out Prazak with a nice back breaker, which Clark followed up on with a springboard moonsault.

Overall rating: 5.5/10. This was a much easier show to watch than other FIP releases because of the bigger crowd in a larger venue. If you can accept the fact that there aren’t any great matches on this release and enjoy comedy, you should give “The Usual Suspects” a try. Weak undercards usually plague FIP releases, but there isn’t anything that stands out as terribly bad on this undercard. Usually FIP showcases two or three very good matches, but that is the exception to the rule here. Everything was just average or a bit better, but the action is fun while it lasts.

This release is available for purchase at ROHWrestling.com.

Contact:S_Radican@Yahoo.com

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