Blair’s Soliloquies, Issue Forty-Three

Remember, this opinion only belongs to me and no one else, most likely.

The second half of the list, plus some more stuff.

My apologies for the lackluster review of the Believe event, but I was enraged by the selfish and self-indulgent actions of a person who shouldn’t even be in pro wrestling at all, treating poor Maxwell Chicago like garbage and ruining any future he has in the fed. I do have a few things to mention from the show that I should’ve brought up in the review.

The building was pretty cold. I can’t really blame Believe for it… but I will instead! I can’t believe they still run shows in that ghetto-ass building in the outskirts of the ghetto of Orlando.

NIC THE DESTROYER was not in attendance, sad to say. For various reasons, he was at WXW instead.

During one match, there was a slingshot suplex; I mention that as back during the last decade I knew some people in the Chicagoland area who would always mark out for the move, as hey it’s pretty cool and all; I don’t know if they still feel the same way about it, but I figured it should be mentioned anyhow, in case anyone else reading this also enjoys the move. Speaking of moves, one of the James Boys during the tag match used an Indian Deathlock. Seriously, I can’t recall any other time I’ve seen that move live at an indy show. Talk about an old-school move that you rarely see anywhere. I remember Triple H-aping Harley Race, as he’s wont to do-using it more than once, but that’s about it.

On a more serious and sad note, I have to say RIP to Ed Chuman, the promoter of NWA Midwest. Back in the day when I lived in Illinois I went to more than one NWA Midwest event, and one night after a show me and some people I knew went to an after-party and Ed was there so a long chat was held with him. Of course I didn’t really say anything, but it was interesting listening to him. He’s been called “a character” and I can say that is unquestionably true. I didn’t realize he was in ill health so I am sad to hear that he passed away last night.

Now, onto unveiling the second part of the list. Interestingly enough, these seven matches are from only 3 different shows, and all related to Full Impact Pro. I had to put number 7 on the list as while move for move it wasn’t like an ROH bout in any sort of way (or the FRAY match that preceded it, for that matter), it was such great entertainment and considering that one of the guys in the bout was up there in age and hasn’t really wrestled all that much (to my knowledge) in the past 20 years, it was the best possible outcome for the matchup. From the second night of the Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup on on November 21st.

7. Outlaw Ron Bass defeated Sean Davis (w/ Phil Davis & Amy Vitale) in a bullrope match. For what this was, it was awesome. The regular folks there lapped it up. They were so excited to see Sean finally get his just desserts after all the interference he’s done in recent months. Sean came out first and then he got scared when he heard Bass’s music, which was the classic rock staple Crazy on You, by the great Heart. He was really scared when he saw that Bass had a bullwhip with him. The bout started and the Outlaw put on the bullrope. However, Sean stalled as he was scared and didn’t want the contest to begin officially. However, he was trapped in the corner and finally, the bullrope was tied to him, and Bass dominated the opening minutes. Sean tried to escape but Ron simply yanked the rope and Sean fell down, much to the crowd’s amusement. I tell you, the regulars there LOVED this and some people, including those random people around me, lost their minds and they were just rabid, wanting to see Sean whipped with a bullwhip and bleed. I started to wonder what those good old boys did and didn’t know about professional wrestling, but no matter the case, this was the main event to those fine fellows. Phil was a cheater and he got involved by throwing power in Bass’s face. By that point Sean was already bleeding. He wore down Bass for a bit but then Ron made the comeback. The ref was bumped and Phil got in there. Sean went to hit Bass but as you can guess already, Bass moved and Phil got hit instead. After one last cowbell shot, Davis was down for the count.

Like I said, for what this was, it was great entertainment and it worked for the crowd, that’s the most important thing. It was SO different from the previous match, that’s for sure.
It was a lot of fun, and it felt like I was at a Championship Wrestling From Florida show circa 1978 or so. Number 6 happened to follow the above match at the JPMC, as it was the finals of the tournament.

6. Davey Richards defeated Silas Young to win the 2009 Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup Tournament. This was a very good contest. You can read the move by move stuff in Alan’s review but it was a heated bout, and the other wrestlers-well, except for Moxley-came out to watch and they made noise themselves. I wasn’t expecting to see a Shooting Star Press from Richards but that’s what we got here. He won the match with his Cloverleaf submission. Afterwards, Davey gave his props to everyone else in the tournament.

Personally, I wish that the crowd would’ve been more into Silas Young. Besides him coming out to an all-time classic in the Journey song Don’t Stop Believin’ (which the crowd didn’t give two craps about the Saturday night of the tournament) I enjoyed his style of wrestling and how it wasn’t all about doing crazy stuff that gets kicked out of when it should be finishers. That was a reprieve from some of the matches I saw during that long insane drama-filled weekend. But, it was a nice main event to what was a long show.

Number 5 is from the first night of the JPMC on November 21st.. It was a nice main event to what was a long show, to repeat myself.

5. Davey Richards defeated Drake Younger. This was the main event, between the FIP World Champion and the CZW World Champion. This was another very good bout although I thought that once again, by the end there was some overkill involved. I remember that the bout started off with technical wrestling from both guys, so that was at least a change from the norm here. Drake took control for a bit but then Davey worked over Younger’s knee for a few minutes. It wasn’t long before Drake didn’t really sell the knee, but what can you do? Stuff happened and the ending was Younger tapping out to the Cloverleaf. After this long bout was over with, Davey gave his props to Drake and that got applause.

Number 4 once again has Davey Richards in it. It is from the second night of the JPMC. I wish I could’ve said more about it, but in the link I provided to this night it has a link to Alan Wojcik’s write-up of the same bout and it’s much more detailed than mine.

4. Davey Richards defeated TJ Perkins. This did meet my expectations, and this was great stuff. There was technical wrestling early on and then the hard hitting started. There was also some high flying and I really dug it. The ending was Perkins running his shoulder into the ringpost and then Davey locked on a kimura and that was it.

It was quite the bout. I wouldn’t mind seeing it again. Nor wouldn’t I mind seeing a rematch of number 3… again, from the first night of the JPMC.

3. TJ Perkins defeated Arik Cannon. I thought this was a great contest myself. It stood out the most for me, so they obviously did something right. TJ did his usual unique stuff and I enjoyed that. Arik used his size advantage and power to brutally chop TJ’s chest (turning it red) but he chopped the ringpost (!), which was nutty but didn’t compare to some of the stuff I saw in the final two bouts on this card. Perkins worked over the hand for a bit, but then Cannon came back. I remember that the final few minutes were very exciting and Cannon strung together a nice set of high-impact moves but TJ still kicked out. Then, Perkins won the contest with his trademark submission hold which is like a Texas Cloverleaf.

Like I said, those guys did something right. It’s nice having TJ living in Florida. It’s been rumored (more than once) that he’ll be in FCW but that hasn’t happened… at least not yet.

Number 2 and 1 are from FIP’s event in Crystal River on October 3rd..

2. British Lions defeated Erick Stevens-Roderick Strong to win the FIP Tag Team Titles in a Steel Cage Match. This was a great bout. Heartbreak Enterprises weren’t out there, at least not until the end… as the Lions came out as the challengers, Erick and Roderick ran out and blindsided them, so the first few minutes they brawled on the outside and all four guys went back and forth and amongst other things you had the trademark “ouchie” chops from Roderick. Eventually they made it back to the ring… well, the Lions and Roderick did. Erick was kept outside by having his head slammed into the cage door. Whenever the now-bloody Stevens tried to get in there, he was thwarted a few times. Finally, he got in there and I saw that he was gushing blood from his forehead. I mean, it wasn’t as bad as that match in Crystal River he had a few years ago with Steve Madison, but it was still a lot of claret lost, you know. Once all four guys were in there, it was great stuff, with big moves, people getting flung into the cage, and all that. The key thing was that Roderick tried to do his flying boot to the face move but accidentally hit Erick instead. So, a few minutes later they were going to do another double-team move and it looked to be the time for them to win but out of nowhere Erick clotheslines Roderick and after a Doctor Bomb he left the cage. You heard some boos but the crowd in general was just in shock that this happened, as it came out of nowhere. The Lions were even confused but then realized that they could make the pin, so they did.

After the match, Heartbreak Enterprises hit the ring and they attacked Roderick (who during the match legit did something to his left arm. Judging by what I saw after the show, I don’t think it’s too serious a malady he suffered during the match, but after it happened he clearly was favoring that arm) but Tommy Taylor refused to do so. Finally, he attacked Heartbreak and they scurried out of the ring and left in there were Strong and Taylor. Tommy tried to give his newly won belt back to Roderick but he refused as his team still won the match.

Hopefully it’s not too long before FIP makes its return sometime this year (along with Pro Wrestling Riot). Number 1, it’s interesting where it’s placed, as a match between these two men was number 1 on my list of the best matches I saw live in the first half of 2009.

1. Davey Richards defeated Kenny King to retain the FIP World Heavyweight Title. This was another great contest. They waited until they were both in the ring to fight, but it didn’t mean that there wasn’t any outside of the ring stuff… King dominated early on and you even had Richards play a cowardly heel to the point that he kissed Kenny’s boots, but it was to no avail. He eventually got tired of the match and escaped the cage by climbing over the top to the floor. Well, Kenny did the same thing and they brawled to the merchandise table, where King powerbombed him onto the table. They made it back to the ring, but not before Kenny brought in a small table and some chairs. Davey was powerbombed onto the table but still, King couldn’t win the match. After that it was a back and forth affair where they both used big moves, Richards had some hard strikes and he was able to lock on several submission attempts, to no avail. The turning point was when Heartbreak Enterprises ran out (including Sean, now wearing only his gym shorts, briefs, and wrestling shoes) and they distracted ref Frankie Gastineau (who for some reason was hated here for the entire show. After this, they’ll *really* dislike him) and thus he missed Richards tapping out. Things continued and the ending was Kenny setting up a quartet of chairs up (as if he was setting up the chairs for a card game, to quote someone in the crowd) and he tried to do a move but Davey was able to get out of it and he got the win after he powerbombed King onto said chairs.

I do not know when I’ll be attending my show; I mean, as of now I have zero clue as to when it’ll be. The next few months may be busy for me anyhow but I’ll try to make it out to shows at least once in a blue moon. I’ll undoubtedly skip out on shows where Jared David is advertised to wrestle on. Speaking of that… the results of the latest Vintage Wrestling event are here; I legit did enjoy Mr. Wrestling 19’s ode to Jared David. I don’t know why other people buried it, but I guess they need a better sense of humor. As for the show, all I’ll say about it is that the match with Jared David sounds ho-hum (granted, I only know of the match results and nothing about the match or show quality) and was a waste of time-as almost everything with that Muppet is-and the attendance being that high was a genuine shock to me. Only a few people went there to see Jared David in action, I can guarantee that, despite what he may claim in the future. I’ll never regret my stand on walking out of the Mrs. Saint Laurent vanity plaything fed known as BELIEVE last weekend and not attending Vintage Wrestling last night. Even if I’m the only person in the world who feels this way, I am glad I made that stand. Rosa Parks I am not, but oh well.