By Sean Radican, Torch columnist

RADICAN’S FIP “ASCENSION” iPPV BLOG
APRIL 26, 2013
YBOR CITY, FLA.
AIRED LIVE ON WWNLIVE.COM

(1) Jonny Vandal (w/The Scene) beat Derek Ryze. Ryze’s tights say follow on the front with his twitter handle on the back. I hope he didn’t pay too much for those tights. Vandal took control during the early stages of the match and worked over Ryze’s leg. Vandal sent Ryze to the outside, which allowed Dallas and Trina to put the boots to him. Vandal worked a chinlock before tearing at Ryze’s nose. Ryze tried to fire back, but ate a big lariat from Vandal. Vandal went for a figure 4, but Ryze kicked him to the outside. Ryze hit a leg lariat and sold his leg as he went up top. Ryze continued to dominate the action as the crowd got behind him. Ryze hit a big roundhouse kick, but Vandal kicked out at the last second. Vandal ducked another roundhouse kicked and hit a superkick on Ryze for the win.

Leonard interviewed Dallas after the match. Dallas said Reed’s back was sore from carrying Caleb Konley. Dallas said The Scene had done some spring cleaning and put over Vandal. Dallas said he was going to come after his tag team titles soon. Dallas said Dos Ben Dejos had stolen the tag titles. Dallas invited them to come out because he had an offer for them. Dallas said Cruz & Rios had beaten the Scene with the B team because Caleb was in the ring. Dallas told Ben Dejos that he would get them citizenship if they gave him the titles. The Bravados then came out and jumped Cruz & Rios. Mia Yim then came out to chase them away. Dallas jawed with Yim from ringside telling her to go back to the message parlor. Leva Bates got on the mic and said Yim was going to teach Dallas a lesson for women everywhere. Bates told Dallas to get some wrestling gear and they would see him later tonight.

Star rating: (**) – This was a short, but solid opening match. Vandal worked over Ryze’s leg for the first half of the match, but they ignored it and went to a back and forth finishing sequence to end the match.

(2) The Bravado Brothers (Lancelot & Harlem Bravado) w/ The Scene beat Tommy Taylor & Kenneth Cameron. The Bravados jumped Taylor and Cameron while they made their entrance. Taylor took control of Harlem inside the ring. Leonard explained that Cameron had turned down an offer to join the Scene last month. Cameron & Taylor tagged in and out to work over Harlem. Lancelot hit a knee on Taylor from the apron allowing Harlem to nail him with a big kick. Lancelot began working over Taylor. Taylor got a quick small package, but Lancelot wiped him out with a clothesline. The Bravados began working over Taylor with tandem offense and posed for the crowd, which drew some boos. Taylor countered the Bravados and hit a double monkey flip, which drew a pop from the fans. Cameron got the hot tag and ran wild with some lariats that didn’t look particularly good. Taylor and Cameron hit a double team knee drop off the second turnbuckle on Harlem, but he kicked out. It looked like Cameron & Taylor were going for a doomsday device on Harlem, but Lancelot made the save. The Bravados then hit the gentleman’s agreement on Cameron for the win.

The fans booed after the Bravados got the win and posed for the fans. Leonard interviewed Cameron & Taylor after the match. Cameron said they felt robbed after Dallas interfered from the outside. Taylor called the Bravados a useless team. Leonard asked Taylor about facing Uhaa Nation for the Florida Heritage title. Leonard said when Nation came back from Japan; Taylor would get the first shot at his title. Taylor got a mixed response when Leonard made the title match announcement. Taylor said he would be in FIP and wasn’t going anywhere. Taylor said he understood Nation had commitments, but when you’re a champion, you should defend it regularly. Taylor said he’d take the title from Nation when they had their match.


Star rating: (**1/4) – This was a basic match to establish the Bravados in FIP. They did a good job of turning the crowd on them after initially getting cheered. I’m excited to see them in FIP, as they have a big upside that they never got to fully showcase in ROH. Hopefully they end up making their way to EVOLVE and DGUSA.

(3) Maxwell Chicago beat Mikey Webb. Maxwell nearly beat Webb by trying to get him to show off his abs only to roll him up from behind for a nearfall. They did some comedy with Chicago getting tired doing the crisscross spot before Webb took down Chicago with a dropkick. Webb looks like he’d fit right in with the Young Bucks with the tassels on his ring gear. Webb crotched Chicago up top and worked a headlock before Chicago pushed him to the floor. Chicago cut Webb off as he got back into the ring and bit away at his face. Chicago dominated the action for several minutes until Webb hit a side suplex. Both men were slow to get up and the crowd clapped before they went back at it. Maxwell called for the figure 4, but he couldn’t figure out how to apply it properly. Webb shoved him away and got a small package for a nearfall only to eat a neck breaker. Webb finally managed to escape the cobra clutch by driving Maxwell down to the mat. The crowd tried to rally behind both men as they were slow to get up. Webb ran wild on Chicago and capped a big sequence with a huge clothesline for a nearfall. The fans chanted for Chicago after he kicked out. Chicago fired back with the lethal combination for a nearfall. Chicago ducked a splash off the top and rolled up Webb with his feet on the ropes for the win.

Chicago walked over to Leonard and kissed him after the match. Leonard said Chicago was 3-0 in FIP now. Chicago teased singing to the crowd and then he sang a song before leaving. The crowd LOVED his singing and started a Maxwell chant. Leonard told the crowd to stop encouraging him.

Star rating: (**1/4) – This was a fun match with Chicago’s comedy keeping things lively. Even though he cheats, the crowd seems to like him. Webb looked good in his FIP debut and has a major league look. I wonder how Chicago wrestles in that suit. He looked awfully hot during the match.

(4) Chasyn Rance (w/MSL) beat Lince Dorado. Dorado overwhelmed Rance with a flurry of offense during the early stages of the match. Dorado continued to dominate the action and he caught a kick from Rance, but Rance kicked him with his other leg to gain the advantage. Rance took Dorado down to the mat and eventually grabbed a guillotine. The crowd finally began getting behind Dorado, who tried to free himself. Dorado escaped and eventually rolled through a sunset flip and hit a dropkick. Once both men recovered, Rance caught Dorado with a running kick and grabbed an abdominal stretch. Rance used old school tactics like raking Dorado’s eyes as he continued to control the action. Dorado eventually escaped an octopus submission by countering it into a side slam and both men were down again. Dorado dominated the action once both men got to their feet and hit a kick to the back of Rance’s head, but only got a 2 count. Rance finally fired back and hit a superkick that sent Dorado to the floor. Rance missed a springboard to the outside, but it didn’t look good because he waited too long and Dorado was obviously out of the way. Dorado then nailed him with a dive through the ropes. Dorado hit an enzuguri on the apron and followed up with a SSP off the top, but MSL got on the apron to distract the ref. Rance hit an enzuguri and then the Chasyn driver on the chair for the win.

Dorado sold the effects of the Chasyn driver after the match ended.

Star rating: (**1/4) – They had some good exchanges, but the crowd was largely flat for the match. Having another heel win thanks to outside interference was a bit much given that it had already happened in another match on the undercard.

(5) FIP Tag Team Champions Dos Ben Dejos (Cruz & Rios) beat KOA (Sugar Dunkerton & Aaron Epic). Cruz & Rios grounded Epic with a series of tandem maneuvers during the early stages of the match. Epic tagged out and Sugar gyrated in the corner and strutted around the ring before going at it with Rios. Dunkerton countered Rios and hit a nice arm drag. Sugar then did an over the top celebration after hitting the arm drag. Dunkerton and Rios then had a gyrating contest and Leonard said he wasn’t sure if either man got served. Rios fired back and hit an arm drag. Dunkerton tagged out and Epic yelled at him only to be taken down with a pair of arm drags. Epic tagged out right away. Rios ran wild on Dunkerton and covered him for a 2 count. The crowd fired up with Rios in control, but Dunkerton dragged him neck-first over the second rope. Rios ducked a charge against the ropes and sent Dunkerton to the outside, but Epic cut him off. Cruz ran in and sent Epic to the outside and wiped out the KOA with a dive through the ropes. Rios then wiped them out with a moonsault to the floor. The crowd fired up and chanted for Rios & Cruz. Rios went up top, but Epic tossed Dunkerton’s drink in his face. Dunkerton then began working over Rios while Epic took out Cruz on the outside.

The KOA began working over Rios. Epic put on his headband while working him over in the ring. Rios was unable to make the tag after briefly escaping from Epic. Dunkerton began working over Rios’s leg and he eventually dragged him over to the ropes and snapped his leg over it. Rios fired back and took out KOA. Both Dunkerton and Rios tagged out. Rios ran wild on Epic with a flurry of offense. Epic fired back with a death valley bomb on Cruz for a 2 count. Cruz fired back and hit a doublestomp off the top on Epic, but Dunkerton made the save. KOA eventually cut him off with a tandem slam for a nearfall and the action broke down. The action continued at a furious pace and eventually Dunkerton and Cruz were left alone in the ring. Cruz hit Dunkerton with sliced bread and Rios finished him off with a springboard moonsault for the win.

After the match, The Bravados attacked Cruz & Rios. Epic and Dunkerton ended up grabbing the tag titles and ran to the back. Everyone eventually ended up leaving the ring.

Star rating: (***1/2) – Fantastic tag match that was paced well and built up to a good finish. KOA got the heat on Cruz for a long period time and worked over his leg before Rios got the hot tag leading into a hot finishing sequence. I liked that they didn’t do a ton of nearfalls down the stretch and Dos Ben Dejos simply won the match by isolating Dunkerton.

(6) Trent Baretta beat EVOLVE Champion A.R. Fox in a non-title match. Baretta dominated the bulk of the match with Fox continuously mounting comebacks. The match was very good, but it was more of a case of Fox following the typical formula where he hits the same sequence of moves that he usually hits. Baretta looked really good in this match compared to his outing in DGUSA filling in for Samuray Del Sol against Jon Davis at “Open the Ultimate Gate 2013.” The crowd was behind Fox down the stretch. They went to a double cross-body spot and both men were down. Both men began exchanging blows from their knees. Fox evaded Baretta with a matrix, but walked right into a superkick from Baretta for a nearfall. Baretta ended up countering a small package from Fox to get the win.

Star rating: (***3/4) – I really enjoyed this match, but if Fox learned how to carry himself like a champion in the ring, I think he could have better matches than he’s having right now without having to resort to doing a series of spectacular maneuvers to pop the crowd. The best example of this is the three dive sequence, which plays into the law of diminishing returns. If you can’t get a reaction with one dive and have to resort to three, maybe the sequence of dives shouldn’t be done at all because it’s not like they got a huge response during this match. Baretta likely earned himself more high-profile bookings coming out of this match. He looked really good.

(7) Mia Yim (w/Leva Bates) vs. Larry Dallas (w/The Scene). Dallas got in some offense during this match, but his cockiness always got the best of him and allowed Yim to get the upper hand. Dallas’s outfit deserves 1 billion stars, as he came out wearing the Bobby Heenan singlet with a suit jacket. He looked more like a creepy down-sized Big Show than Heenan. Yim beat the crap out of Dallas at certain point during the match. Down the stretch, Dallas hit Yim with the sickest German suplex that I’ve ever seen. I seriously thought I had seen the end of Yim. Dallas ended up being distracted with the girls going at it at ringside. Dallas climbed the ropes to get a better look at the action, which allowed Yim to finish him off with a powerbomb.

Star rating: (**3/4) – This was a really entertaining match and it was a blast to see Dallas get his butt kicked. Yim landed some hard shots on Dallas during the course of the match. The highlight of the match, which is possibly worth the price of admission, was Dallas’s German suplex on Yim. I’ve never seen such torque on a German.

(8) FIP Champion John Davis (w/MSL) beat Homicide. Davis started the match working over Homicide’s arm. Things seemed to fall apart a bit and both guys seemed out of sync once Homicide began mounting his comeback and they were putting together some rapid-fire sequences, particularly the one that ended with Homicide hitting Davis with an ace crusher. MSL ended up interfering down the stretch and with the ref distracted Rance ran in and hit a low blow on Homicide. Davis then finished him off with three seconds around the world.

Homicide chased off Davis, MSL, and Rance after the match and signaled that it wasn’t over between him and Davis.

Star rating: (*3/4) – The match started off promising, but fell apart down the stretch. If they were going to do outside interference for this match to lead to the finish, they should have toned it down on the undercard or not done it at all in other matches.

Overall thoughts: The first half of the card was slow with some solid, but unspectacular matches. The second half of the card heated up with Dos Ben Dejos vs. KOA, Dallas-Yim, and Fox vs. Trent.

On the undercard, Maxwell Chicago stood out as an entertaining comedy act against the debuting Mikey Webb. They put on an entertaining match and Chicago’s Sinatra-style knock off gimmick seemed to really connect with the crowd. It was also nice to see the Bravados debut in FIP and hopefully it leads to them getting a shot in DGUSA and EVOLVE down the line. They had a solid outing picking up the win over Taylor & Cameron. It was odd that Taylor was set up to challenge for the Heritage title held by Uhaa Nation by cutting a promo after his team lost a match.

I see a lot of potential in Dos Ben Dejos and KOA. They put together a really good match that built well and lead into a really nice finish. I’ve always enjoyed Dos Ben Dejos when I’ve seen them in the past, but ROH and DGUSA/EVOLVE should take a close look at Dunkerton and see what their missing out on. He’s one of my favorite acts to watch on the independents and as part of the KOA, he can work face or heel. I’ve seen Epic in Beyond Wrestling and Wrestling Is Art and it seems like he’s ready for bigger things as well.

Baretta-Fox had the best match on the show. I’m hoping to see Fox’s work progress past the point where he relies on a particular sequence of maneuvers to get the crowd into his matches. Fox needs to work on carrying himself like a butt kicker in the ring so he has more presence beyond his amazing offense. If Fox could learn to work a hold and tell a story in the ring, he would be able to put on some truly memorable matches in the ring. That being said, Baretta and Fox had a really good match and Baretta looked really good in the ring on this night.

Dallas-Yim in the semi-main event was a ton of fun. Just watch this match and enjoy Mia kicking Larry’s butt all over the ring. Dallas did way better than I expected in terms of his in-ring performance. His Bobby Heenan tribute singlet was hilarious as well. One spot that’s likely to get a lot of replays if word gets around is his sick German suplex on Mia Yim, which was bonkers.

The main event between FIP Hvt. Champion Davis and Homicide was a letdown. It got off to a promising start, but once they went to a higher gear, things fell apart. There were also a lot of matches on the card where the heels interfering lead to the finish, so Rance’s run in along with MSL’s interference felt like a retreat at this point of the show.

This card is a little thin in spots, but there’s enough here to warrant a purchase if you’re interested in seeing what FIP is all about now that the company has returned to running a regular schedule.

You can purchase “Ascension” at WWNLive.com

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