Full Impact Pro was the other indy company booked by Gabe Sapolsky the creative mind behind ROH. FIP was a take on the classic wrestling territory more clear cut faces and heels stuff he knew wouldn't fly in the northeast but might work just fine in the Florida based FIP. He even once said. "FIP is a show you can kick back relax and drink a beer while watching." The company also gave him a chance to try different things with many of his usual ROH cast. For example CM Punk and Samoa Joe teamed in FIP in a stable. This is first two shows from FIP that featured the crowning of the first FIP champion. FIP got pretty good reviews and the owner of of Sal Hamaoui now works with Gabe in EVOVLE and DGUSA. So lets take a look at the 2004 debut shows.
Ok these aren't actually the debut FIP shows as the company ran a few before this but this was the first one's Gabe booked and thus would be cannon as comic book fans would say. Right off the bat I have a few issues I'm not a fan of crowing a champion right away I think Gabe did it right with ROH run a few shows get the stories down than do crown a champion. But it could be the owner wanted a tournament and or Gabe didn't want to repeat what he did in ROH.Also they booked a huge arena for this and they didn't sell well enough so we have very bright lights and black stands trying to cover that. Note to all indy promoters start small and build you don't look impressive running a big show with five people there. Now they claim there was a hurricane that night and maybe there was but man it doesn't change the fact there were about as many people in the crowd as were wrestling on the show.
Lenny Leonard welcomed us to the show. Unlike ROH FIP had no backstage segments any promos were done in front of the crowd. I like this approach as it does feel like an old school TV show would do. I also like Lenny Leonard who would go on to call ROH after this. Our announce team is Mark Nullity and Gabe using the name Matt Pike who claims he is the brother of Jimmy Bower I assume this was Gabe's lame attempt at humor. They claimed they were int he FIP mobile studio. The idea being the mobile studio could follow FIP anywhere but I really don't what makes that different from ROH or TNA or WWE. Plus like ROH all commentary was done after the show. Also they kept saying they were inside the FIP mobile studio and I don't just mean the announce team they seemed to say everything was talking place inside of it.
Round 1 Night 1
Scoot Andrews vs Kahgas- Andrews was called the Black Nature Boy but I don't why he had no robe didn't try to work like Rogers, Flair, or Landel. Kahgas they said was from Japan and he wore Kung FU style pants. Andrews worked as the heel. Commentary got weird as Nullity seemed to imply Andrews was the son of Ric Flair. I think also tried to tried a shot a companies that had phantom title changes. Kahgas picked up a win with a stunner in a very forgettable opening match. Not anything I couldn't see on any indy show at the time. I am big believer in the concept of you want the open to really hot so the crowd is pumped right at the start. To be honest if this wasn't a tournament and I just saw on another FIP show later on the only way I would remember them wrestling would be if the commentators told me.
Joshua Masters vs Lex Lovett- Master had a symbol on his head. Before the match he spoke that his leader would make an impact tonight and that Homicide and AJ Styles couldn't' stop him. Master was going to be the first member of CM Punk's New Dawn stable. Lovett was a guy you would see on the indies a lot. The commentary teamed mocked Masters. Nullity ran down Lovett's list of accomplishments including being NWA Jr. Heavyweight Champion. I do like that touch as it makes the FIP title seem like a bigger deal if an accomplished guy wanted it. Lovett worked a head lock early one but maser caught him a head scissors. The announcers played up how strange Masters was. Lovett went for German suplex but Masters low blowed him right in front of the ref and than rolled him up for the win. What was with that booking the ref should have DQ'ed Masters. Match as really short both openings were. It might have been time issue with the venue but in that in case do a smaller tournament and have longer matches I can see four minute matches on TV.
Slim J vs Jerrelle Clark-Slim J was a small guy doing a white rapper gimmick who looked like he was about twelve years old. Clark was a guy known as Mr. 630 because that was the only move he did well. I remember him as a jobber in TNA that for some reason thought it was a good idea to dress just like AJ Styles. We got a lot of flips and arm drags early on. Slim J got control and Gabe seemed to imply he would never book him again. Clark went for a series of roll ups getting two counts. Slim J missed a splash and Clark rolled him up for the win. Another short and forgettable match.
CM Punk vs Vordell Walker- Punk trashed the people in the stands. Punk said he accepts all the outcast and misfits of the world. He was also pissed AJ Styles and Homicide were main eventing. He declared this was the start of a New Dawn.Walker seemed to think yelling a lot would get him a response as he kept yelling yeah over and over again. Punk was heeling up hard. Walker scored a quick roll up as Punk took time to mock the crowd. Punk and Walker exchanged arm locks. Walker hung with Punk early on. Punk baited walker into the corner and tripped him finally taking control. Joshua Masters made his way to the ring. Punk worked a more old school style than he usually did on the indies its actually a testament to who talented the guy is. Walker had a nice mix of power moves and some high flying spots. Punk worked a sleeper and Walker broke it with a chin breaker. For some reason the announcers kept acting like the no idea why Masers was out there even though any idiot could tell he was there with Punk. Walker landed a beautiful exploder suplex followed by the northern lights suplex for two. Master hits a big slam but Master jumped on the apron to distracted the referee. Masters tripped Walker on a suplex and held his foot so Punk could win. First real good match of the night. Walker looked good here and Punk well was CM Punk. Post match Punk declared Masters was the first soldier in the New Dawn.
Jason Cross vs Rainman- Both guys were out of NWA Wildside. Rainman would later go to be part of the Darkcity Fight Club. Cross worked for TNA for a bit. The announcers said we could see this match wrestled as much on the second and third ropes as we see it on the ground. The two men that wrestled mostly on the ground exchanging holds. Cross got compared a lot to AJ Styles given he looked like AJ and worked a similar style the problem is he just lacked that it factor that AJ had plus he was working in a lot of companies AJ was in so he came off as lesser AJ than his own man. Rainman hit a good sit-down power slam. Gabe felt the need to joke about how bad he on ROH commentary which makes me wonder than why was he calling FIP to. Cross hit a good running shooting star press than in some flawed logic Rainman got right up and landed some big punches. Finally towards the end of the match Cross went for the for the top rope and hits tornado neck breaker for 2. Normally I wouldn't talk about how much a guy went to the to the ropes but I find it strange they talked about how much flying there would be in a match that had almost none. Rain hit his finisher the side splitter for the win. Decent match sadly it felt like Gabe and Nullity had no interest.
Austin Aries vs Roderick Strong- This is what is I'm talking about when I said FIP gave gave a chance to do different things than he would do in ROH. At the time these two were stable mates in Generation Next so they wouldn't face each other there. Aries had one of his fingers tapped up. Aries insulted the state of Florida and the history of Florida wrestling. Now FIP held all its show in Florida so a way for cheap heat was to mock the state. And it felt like almost anyone that faced Roderick Strong who is from Florida would do this. It did set in with Old School Territory style but someone like me in Nebraska really doesn't care if Aries hates Florida. Aries' promo also showed how far he has come in that skill set it wasn't awful but he could it much better now. Strong came up to stand up for his home state. Strong cut his usual bland promo. Damn I forget how heavyset Strong was back in the day. For some strange reason Nullity talked about how big a heel Strong was usually in Florida. Given they had just set him up as the face its just a stupid comment. At the time of writing this TNA just debuted The Wolves as faces so imagine if Taz and Tenay started talking about how they had injured various teams when they first teamed together. Even match early on but Strong seemed to have control. One Aries usual spots was to get caught in a head scissors do a headstand escape and hit a dropkick they set up for twice and both times Strong drove Aries back to the ground before the could escape and than on the third time Aries finally hit it I think it should been the other way around Aries hits once or twice than on the third Strong finally blocks the move. Aries countered one of Strong's backbreakers into a side russian leg sweep. Aries placed Strong a submission but Strong powered out and lock in a boston crab. Now maybe he wasn't using it as a finisher yet or maybe it fell under the "he wants to do more punishment first" logic but logically shouldn't Strong have gone for the Strong Hold witch was the modified version of the crab. Aries went for a frogslpash but Strong was to far out and he missed they commentary team covered saying it was meant to be a head but. Aries hit locked in the rings of Saturn but Strong rolled through for a side cradle. You know I think Aries actually landed more backbreakers in this match. Aries got the got the win with a fish hook using the two tapped up fingers. Good match but it seemed rough around the edges. Sadly the commentary team kept hyping what a classic it was and instead of heeling the match I felt it damaged it since it wasn't a classic.
Ralph Mosca vs Justin Credible- Credible cut a promo before hand and well one point tried to get the fans to do his That my friends is Just Incredible line but like one person did it with him. Mosca jumped Credible at the start. Mosca sent Credible into the crowd and we got a look at the awful attendance for the event. Mosca actually tossed the bigger star on card around for a while. Finally the match returned to the ring. Gabe claimed Credible was one of the biggest start wrestling had ever seen and well I like the guy but come on Gabe I am all for hyping guy up but in WWE the guy was a jobber. Mosca went for move off the top but Credible hit a super kick for the win. Short brawl sadly I don't think the fans were all that into Credible.
Homicide vs AJ Styles- Cide cut in his own words a short and sweet promo saying we were looking at the next world heavyweight champion in FIP. AJ also cut a short promo saying he would be world champion. Small problem FIP didn't bill its title as a world title until years later when it was defended overseas it was simply the FIP Heavyweight title. Gabe and Nullity put over both AJ's and Homicide's credentials. We get a nice wrestling exchange to start as the two great wrestlers traded for position. In a nice touch it was pointed out the winner of this match would face Punk's lackey Joshua Masters. Homicide actually did a lot more mat wrestling than I'm used to see from him the guy really could grabble anytime he needed to. Same goes for AJ he pretty much can do it all and I liked them playing with people's expectations since with Homicide you expect brawling and A you expect flying. Finally AJ took to the air and hit a flying cross body for a two. AJ went for a baseball slide but Homicide moved and allowed him to drop AJ into the guard rail. Homicide started to act more and more like a heel even low blowing AJ behind the referees back. Now maybe this Homicide and AJ just calling the match in the ring but given they were setting up for the winner to face Punk who was clearly a heel I find it odd he was doing this. Homicide disused out punishment until he missed a diving head but allowing AJ to recover. AJ hits a beautiful snap power slam for two. AJ hit the flying inverted DDT but Homicide got his foot on the rope at two. AJ went for for the clash but Homicide fought out and managed to hit AJ with a piledriver. AJ accidentally shoved Homicide into the refers taking him out. CM Punk ran out and attacked both men with a chair. AJ got the chair the ref came to and saw AJ holding the chair over a fallen Homicide and DQ'ed AJ. Now in modern wrestling we often scream about cheap finishes like this but I'm going to defend this. The key was to get heat on Punk how ruined the show. Post match Homicide a tops conhildo onto Masters while Punk bailed out. Homicide threw Masters into the ring to let AJ hit the Styles Clash to send the fans home happy. Post match AJ put Homicide over as his pick to win. He also hinted he would be coming for the belt once Homicide won it. Very good match my only issue was Cide working so much as heel given he was going to be the top face in FIP. I'm not saying he should be a white meat baby face that would have sucked and been really stupid but having him low blow AJ and taunt the fans was a bad idea. Again that could have been AJ and Cide making that call that night.
Night 2 Round 2
Lenny Leonard welcomed us to night two. The New Dawn of CM Punk and Joshua Masters came out. Punk said Masters was just the first to follow him there would be more. He commanded Masters to stop Homicide and injury him at all costs. I guess the "Hurricane" was still out there since it was another poorly attended event. I get the had to build a fan base but than don't run a big arena. One pice of advice I will give all would be indy promoters start small. FIP could afford to roll the dice on a arena and bigger names because ROH had a hand it in. But way to many Indy shows over load with a big venue and huge names.
Joshua Masters with CM Punk vs Homicide- Masters tried to jump Homicide at the star but it was no good . Homicide quickly took control. Gabe and Nullity ranted about Punk ruining the main event the night before. Cide hit the Ace Crusher and than the lariat for the win. Punk tried to attack Homicide as soon as the fight turned against he ran. Another really short open. But it does make Homicide look dominate.
Kahagas vs Rainman- Rainman thanked everyone for the opportunity and said he was going to be champion.Rainman worked a a headlock at the start. Kahgas started doing a lot of moves you would except from an Asain wrestler with a marital arts gimmick IE chops and kicks. Rainman hit the side splitter for a another win. Another short match another match where Kahagas didn't impress me I know what Rainman can do but that is based more on his later career than anything here. From what I understand Kahagas went on to be NWA world champion in 2013.
Austin Aries vs Jerrelle Clark- The fans started to clap for Aries who told them he didn't want them. He again insulted Florida and said he wold beat another home state star in Clark. Lenny Leonard asked Aries about the tape on his fingers. Aries claimed he had a hang nail. Decent promo it was about getting over Aries illegal aid. Clark gut you basic generic face promo about keeping the belt in Florida. Clark hit a Asai moonsault to the floor on Aries. Clark had good high flying but he lacked any real charisma so it's not shocking he was never more than a jobber on a higher level. Aries used the basic finger to the eye to take over. Clark sent Aries over the top but Aries came right back in with an elbow. Aries went for the fishhook but Clark escaped. Clark came back with a stunner. Clark hit a standing moonsault again showing that he could fly. Clark went for the 630 but Aries moved Aries hit the brain buster into the fishhook for the win. One of the better Clark matches I have ever seen.
CM Punk vs Justin Credible- Interesting note when Punk debuted on the New ECW a few years later it was against Credible. Credible claimed he was going to put the FIP belt right next to his ECW title belt. Punk started out by stalling heading to the floor. And than he stalled some more and than he stalled some more. Now stalling can get you some heat but I felt this just went on way to long. FInally they got going. Credible hand control early and even outwrestled Punk early. Punk sudden faked a injury to get the ref to hold Credible off and than clipped the leg once his back was turned. Punk worked the leg. Punk locked in the figure four. Credible rallied by his leg would always fail him. In a stupid logic moment Credible hit the Superkick using his bad leg the move got a two count. Punk rolled up Credible and held the ropes for a win. Blah match both guys can do better and the stalling went on to long.
Semifinals
Austin Aries vs Homicide- Some fan and Homicide had an exchange before the match. I don't know what he said but again Homicide your a face ignore the fans and work like one. Really annoying they must have put a microphone in the crowd to try and make it seem bigger the problem is you could hear the fans better than the commentators in this match even worse they put the microphone next two really annoying kids that would yelling anything out. Aries hit some hard forearms and kicks but Homicide fought back. Again we got some good chain wrestling from both men. Homicide kept pulling on Aries noise witch was playing on the fishhook Aries had used except the referee kept counting for a break. Homicide sent Aries to the outside and Aries hit the ring steps. Aries responded by ramming Homicide's arm into the post. Aries worked over the arm even hitting a spring board splash onto Homicide outstretched arm and a modified hammer lock. Aries again went to post Cide's arm but this time Homicide blocked the move and set Aries to the ground again. Aries fought out of the cop killer. Homicide final hit the lariat with a his good arm for the win. Another good match I liked some off the stuff they did with the arm. Bu Again Homicide works heelish and the damn kids being able to yell over the commentary was annoying. Post match we see Aries has bloody noise.
CM Punk vs. Rainman- Punk insulted Lenny Leonard and talked how sick it was that people looked up to thugs like Homicide. He also claimed Homicide had put Joshua Masters in the hospital. Decent Punk promo. Punk offered his hand to Rainman who refused. The announcers said they hoped Masters would wise up about Punk feeding him to the Wolves. Nullity tried to talk about how big this match was for Rainman sadly the damn microphone by those kids blocked him out. Punk bailed out and yelled at the crowd. Rain man got a quick rollup for two. Punk clammed Rainman was pulling his hair and tights. Punk bailed out again but Rainman hit a baseball slide. Nullity said it was a mistake given that Punk had been in various brawls in his carer and Gabe countered that Rainman had been in bloodbaths in NWA Wildside and I liked that exchanged because its similar something you might here in boxing or MMA. Rainman worked over Punk's arm. Punk disgraced the referee and thumbed the eye but his advantage didn't last long. Rainman went for the old ten mounted punches spot but Punk hit him an atomic drop. Punk hit a nice looking running flying lariat. Punk main offense was chokes he wold lock an illegal one in and than break before the five count. Rainman went for a running Yakuza kick in the corner but Punk moved. Rainman countered a belly to back suplex for two and than hit a sit-down power bomb. At one point the camera shot got really blurry and stayed that way for a bout thirty second I get you have to move the camera shot but you couldn't find a non blurry angle. Punk low blowed and put his feet on the ropes for another stolen win. Much better than Punk previous match with Credible since there was much less stalling.
Punk got back on the microphone and demanded Homicide come out right there right now to start the finals. Homicide ran out and started to brawl with Punk. Joshua Masters returned and helped his mentor but Rainman made the save. Good segment to keep getting Punk heat but I wish they had done something for Punk to "further injure" Homicide's arm.
Four Wary Fray Vordell Walker vs Slim J vs Jason Cross vs Roderick Strong- The four way fray was the FIP version of the four corner survival the lets get as many guys as we can/filler mach ROH did on most shows. All four mean were tin the ring at once and it was an elimination match. Slim J and Cross jumped Walker and Strong at the start. The faces tossed Cross and hit a double team move on Slim J. Strong covered and Walker stopped him witch makes no sense given the rules and I know plenty of guys do that but all means is a lot of guys do something that makes no since. Walker no sold several shot from Slim J. Slim J hit some move that ape red to be an inverted rana around Walker midsection and it looked awful. We miss a lot of the action as we cut to Strong down not the ground and than cut back to Slim J going for a move on Cross. Cross hit a block buster on Slim J and eliminated him. Strong and Walker double teamed Cross but than argued over who would pin him witch again was stupid from a logic standpoint. Walker went for a suicide dive but it looked like he tried to stop at the last second and missed Strong. Cross hit a flip dive taking out the other two. Cross school boyed Walker after Strong had him a gut buster on him. Dumb fans started calling out for spots they wanted to see. Strong hit a back breaker power bomb on Cross to win it. Ok match but again it made no sense for anyone to break up pins.
FIP Heavyweight Championship Finals
CM Punk vs Homicide- Masters ran out and jumped Homicide. Punk went for a dive but Punk moved and Punk took out his own man. Homicide than hit the topi con hilo taking out the New Dawn. We get brawling on the outside with Homicide hitting Punk with a popcorn bucket. Punk tossed Punk into the stands. The announcers said the ref was letting it go although since the bell hadn't ran yet I guess its as all legal. Sadly brawling in the stands only showed us again how empty the arena was. The action pilled out into a hell and than outside. Gabe again claimed there was a hurricane well it must have been that rare dry and windless kind of hurricane. Given how small attendance was I think Punk and Homicide figured why do something they couldn't' do in a highly attended event with everyone fans being able to follow them. Punk picked Homicide and ramed his ribs into a streetlight. Finally they started fighting back into the building. Homicide sat Punk in a chair and than hit a lariat. Punk atomic dropped Homicide on the same chair. Before going back to the ring they headed into the men's room and Homicide gave hi a taste of the urinal finally wet get back into the area with the ring. In a funny moment Masters was still down at ringside. Punk posted Homicide on the ring post. Finally we get in the actual ring and we hear the bell as Punk hits a shinning wizard for two. Homicide blocked the welcome to Chicago and hit a pile driver and hit an great looking over head belly to belly. Punk blocked the lariat. Homicide hit the ace crusher and than the lariat but Masters pulled the referee out. Gabe claimed that was the cheapest tactic of them all. Punk went for the Pepsi Twist but Homicide ducked it and hit the lariat again to win. Very good match I liked the brawling they did on the outside. Usually matches like that are limited because it's just to hard and dangerous with a lot of fans around instead we managed to get some flowing action. They had Punk and Master use many of the heel moves they had done to win and each time Homicide got out.
Post match we see the alter room empty out to celebrate with the new champion. Lenny Leonard made the official announcement. Homicide thanked the fans for coming out and said he wold be a fighting champion and dared anyone to come face him for the title. Decent promo in a nice touch we see a graphic declaring Homicide as the first Finally Homicide remembered he was a good guy and played to the fans after the match even letting some of them hold the new FIP belt. Honestly Homicide was a great pick as the first champion. The guy at this stage could have a good match with almost anyone. And he could play face very well when he did it.
Emergence has some good and some bad. There are some very good matches here with like the finals, the Areis vs Homicide and even Walker vs Punk plus Styles vs Homicide. If you enjoy tournaments I think you will enjoy this show. But there are some issues commentary is below average. First that stupid claim attendance was low because of a Hurricane. Second we get two things repeated over and over and over again. "What is FIP going to be like in _____ shows." And "This is just like a very early ECW taping." Now i get they were trying to say FIP would be changing but you know this is the show I'm watching not 5, 10, or a hundred shows from now. Also be your own thing don't claim your the new ECW. Let FIP shine on its own. Plus as I said there a number of matches that were way to short. I don't think you need sixteen men do eight and have other guys in non tournament action. One final note FIP still runs today and it still puts on some very good shows.
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