BRM Reviews FIP With Malice (Bad)

[Big Red Machine]

FIP With Malice (3/25/2005)- Lakeland, FL

OPENING SEGMENT- Lenny Leonard brings out CM Punk who stole the FIP World Title belt at ROH Do or Die IV. Punk says he will defend the belt like a true champion and he will take on anyone. James Gibson comes out and challenges Punk to a match. Punk immediately recants on his challenge, then cheapshots Gibson and runs away. Gibson then cuts a great little promo.

EVAN STARSMORE & ERICK STEVENS vs. THE HEARTBREAK EXPRESS- 2/10
We get some dull action with the Heartbreak Express working over Starsmore, then a lame finish during which I am about 90% sure that Davis’ arms were under the ropes.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- the fat one says cuts a promo that reminds me why I really f*cking hate this delusional gimmick. They come off as horribly lame thirteen year old boys in men’s bodies. Especially with the fat one’s obnoxious cracking voice. They actually find a woman in this small crowd… but that woman was a plant because it is SoCal Val. They start to hit on her but Don Juan comes out and Val decides that she likes Don Juan rather than the delusional disgusting fat slob. Who could have possibly seen that coming?
The thing that I didn’t see coming is that Don Juan and the Heartbreak Express guys actually seem to become friends, and rather than a woman-rescuing babyface, Don Juan turns out to be a heel, dissing the women of Lakeland, FL. Val was heelish, too, laughing at Don Juan’s comments.

TONY KOZINA vs. DON JUAN (w/SoCal Val)- 2.75/10

ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Austin Aries(c) vs. Insane Dragon (w/Dave Prazak)- 6.25/10
We got a nice little heel-on-heel segment setting up this match (though the crowd was too into Aries for him to be too much of a heel). The match itself was decent, but nothing to write home about. It felt about right for the third match on the card. Insane Dragon got his foot on the ropes just as the three count was made. I can’t imagine this not being intentional, but no one acknowledged it in any way. On commentary during the next match, Prazak did claim that Insane Dragon’s shoulder was up for the third count.

BRYAN DANIELSON vs. RODERICK STRONG- 7.5/10
Lenny Leonard accidentally introduces Roddy as the “master” of the backbreaker.
Obviously not their best match together, but still great. Lots of good striking and arm-work. Punk jumps Dragon after the match, but Gibson makes the save.

VORDELL WALKER PROMO- how a guy with such a boring promo got so over I will never understand. Walker is interrupted by Jared Steel who proclaims that he, not Vordell, is the hottest prospect. He then challenges Vordell to a match. Then Masada comes out and he challenges them to a three way match. This was so f*cking boring I almost turned the TV off.

MASADA vs. JARED STEEL vs. VORDELL WALKER- 6/10
A good match, aside from Masada’s pathetic “leg clip” at the end. It looked like he tried to low blow Walker, but missed and only wound up tapping his inner thigh.

STEVE MADISON & SAL RINAURO vs. JIMMY RAVE & “FAST” EDDIE VEGAS (w/Dave Prazak)- 6/10
Standard babyface in peril stuff.

JAMES GIBSON vs. CM PUNK (w/Mr. Milo Beasley)- 7.25/10
WAY too much stalling by Punk in the beginning.
You want to know how to be a great heel? Just do despicable things. Like, for example, bringing a guy to ringside in a wheelchair, then, when the ref’s back is turned, have him get up and start punching the babyface in the head… then quickly get back into the wheelchair.
The match was very good, but nothing compared to what they would do a few months later in ROH. After the match, Bryan Danielson comes out and the two babyfaces beat up the heel two-on-one. Wouldn’t it have build to tomorrow night’s big match a lot better if Punk ran away from Dragon without Dragon getting his hands on him?

Overall, a bad show from FIP. The first two matches stunk, and the matches that weren’t disappointing (Punk vs. Gibson, Dragon vs. Roddy) just felt bland. This show was barely over two hours long, but it was still tough to sit through.

[badnewzxl]

now, was FIP ROH's "developmental" or was it merely a smaller promotion ROH tried to co-promote? I always thought it was to ROH as OVW was to WWE/is to TNA....

[Big Red Machine]

now, was FIP ROH's "developmental" or was it merely a smaller promotion ROH tried to co-promote? I always thought it was to ROH as OVW was to WWE/is to TNA....

That was the perception that developed, but it was always it's own thing. I'm not totally sure when they brought Gabe in to do the booking, but a lot of the co-promotion seems to have started in early 2005. I think the only guys who regularly worked for both before that were Cide, Punk, Rave, Roddy, and Azrieal. It wasn't really developmental, but ROH definitely found talent that they wanted to use from there (Kenny King, Erick Stevens) and were willing to push that talent quickly because Gabe knew them already, but there was never an official connection other than co-promotion.


I might be wrong on this, but I think that FIP's promoter, Sal Hamoui, was involved with the production side of ROH's DVDs for a while, too. I know he does the same for Evolve (and has since day 1), and FIP now shares a lot of talent with them.

[badnewzxl]

I didn't know FIP still existed; wow.

[Big Red Machine]

I didn't know FIP still existed; wow.

I was unsure if they were still alive for a while, too, but then I hear about them having done an iPPV every once in a while.