Fight Club: PRO’s first show of 2017 took a while to be released… but was worth it in the end!
Held on February 10, it was about a month before this hit FCP’s Vimeo channel, amid rumblings of them falling foul of WWE’s nebulous, non-specific guidelines. So of course, the first person we see out is Pete Dunne, who’s opening up the show with a title match!
Fight Club: PRO Championship: Pete Dunne (c) vs. Joe Coffey
We’ve got graphics for this show, which is one of a notable list of production upgrades FCP has undertaken in the new year. This crowd is hot for Joe Coffey, who gets chopped by Dunne in the corner… but Peter decides to go after a fan in the crowd, before Coffey takes him back into the corner for a clean break.
Dunne takes down Coffey with a wristlock, but quickly finds himself caught between Coffey’s legs, only to escape and grab a headlock as the pair went back and forth in the opening moments, which led to some overhand chops that took the champion into the ropes, before he popped up Peter into a powerslam for a two-count. Try saying that five times fast! Dunne went to the outside as referee Shay Purser was needed to clear the crowd for a faked-out dive, as Dunne then took one of the chairs and smashed it into Coffey’s shoulder. Amusingly, Dunne wrenched away at Coffey’s fingers in time to the fans’ harmonising of “Iron Man”, and then set-up for a Pedigree… because LOL WWE.
Coffey backdrops free, but he rolls through into a Giant Swing that Dunne put the brakes on by grabbing the beard. A PK off the apron takes down Coffey outside the ring, before Dunne tries to bring him back in with a superplex, only to get shoved off and taken down with a missile dropkick instead. The Coffey comeback continued with a series of Stinger splashes, then a step-up crossbody that almost won him the title.
They trade headbutts, before Coffey succeeded with the Black Coffey discus lariat… but Dunne rolled to the floor and ended up falling prey to tope! Back inside, Coffey deadlifts Peter for a bridging German suplex that gets him a near-fall, before he chops away Dunne’s attempt at grabbing the nose. Coffey goes for another crossbody, but Dunne swats it away with a forearm, then hits a tombstone for a near-fall.
From the kickout, Dunne grabs a keylock, but that’s powered out of and turned into a suplex… only for a pop-up powerbomb to instantly be switched into a triangle choke by Dunne… so Coffey lifts him up for a giant swing then a powerbomb whilst in an armbar. Good heavens, Coffey is strong!
They go back to forearms, and although it seems that Coffey’s down to one arm, that doesn’t stop him from hitting a rolling forearm to get another two-count. Dunne blocks the Black Coffey with BITING, then with his head, before a Bitter End leads to another near-fall. From there, Dunne goes back to the Kimura, and Coffey’s forced to tap. A fun opener which was surprisingly competitive – my word, Joe Coffey is one of those guys who somehow works for high-profile promotions yet doesn’t seem to have that much attention on him right now. That needs to change… ***½
#CCK (Chris Brookes & Kid Lykos) vs. FTW (Nixon Newell & Kay Lee Ray)
Before watching this show, I came across a tweet from Chris Brookes that obscured Lykos’ unmasked head with a sticker. Sadly, it looked like a slice of Billy Bear – a shaped sandwich meat that’s available in the UK. I now cannot unsee that…
Newell and Brookes start by exchanging arm wringers in the early going, then arm drags before a dropkick catches Brookes in the chin en route to an Octopus hold. Irony! Lykos comes in and gets a forearm from Kay Lee Ray, before they trade small packages that led to another brutal forearm from the Scotswoman.
Lykos gets caught in FTW’s corner, who repeatedly exchange tags to pepper Lykos with slingshot dropkicks before a camel clutch/dropkick combo leads to a near-fall. It’s all FTW in the early going, with the Dirty Wolf crossed with a Power Ranger forcing a blind tag to Brookes, which helped #CCK land the Code Breaker/back senton combo to turn things around. #CCK isolate Kay Lee for a while, and you know what that means… wet willie time! But not until Brookes had dropkicked Nixon off the apron…
Newell tried in vain to get a tag, draping her boot on the top rope to get as much reach, but it seemed she wasn’t needed as Lykos called for – and failed – with a brainbuster three times in a row. Nixon finally gets the tag, instantly taking down Lykos with an enziguri before Brookes took a flying ‘rana. Nixon sidesteps a charge as Lykos accidentally tope’d his partner, before Kay Lee hit a step-up flip senton onto the #CCK pile on the floor as Nixon finally flew in with a Shining WIzard off the apron! Lykos takes a couple of superkicks en route to a German suplex for a near-fall, before Newell’s thrown outside, leaving Kay Lee to take on Brookes.
Lykos drills Kay Lee with an Air Raid Crash for a two-count, then catches her with a Lo Mein Pain off the top as #CCK looked to get the win with a Magic Killer – but Nixon crawled through Lykos’ legs to break up the count. #CCK came back with the Ink Bomb (Gory Stretch mixed with a Blockbuster), but Newell kicked out at two. Some more forearms from Brookes and Newell led to a clash of heads and a pair of tags, as Lykos and Kay Lee went at it with similar forearms… until they connected with simultaneous head kicks.
We then bizarrely got a chicken fight, with Kay Lee and Lykos slapping each other on top of their partner’s shoulders, before they both went for the elevated Codebreaker spot. Ray won out, as Newell followed up with a Welsh Destroyer, before an insane sequence led to a Destroyer-like piledriver out of the corner that almost won the match!
Another headbutt from Newell just earned her a Lykos superkick, before a running enziguiri from Kay Lee Ray downed the wolf, who then grabbed the referee as Brookes used the baking tray as a set-up for another Ink Bomb. However, Nixon pulled down Brookes, allowing Kay Lee to hit a Gory Bomb on Lykos, as an insane ending series saw a senton bomb from Ray and a step-up Shining Wizard get FTW the win. An awesome outing that packed in much much more than I could ever get down in one viewing – a perfect match for this crowd as Nixon began to wind down her Fight Club: PRO career…. ****
After the match, Nixon thanked the crowd for their ovation, before Chris Brookes came in… they hugged it out, but it was a sham! Brookes ran into her with a big boot to the head, before rolling her to the floor… then came some familiar music as AFI was drowned out by the appearance of Jimmy Havoc! You know it’s a hot crowd when you can’t hear the entrance music…
Havoc goes toe-to-toe with Brookes, but Havoc’s attacked from behind by Mikey Whiplash – and their scheduled match starts earlier than expected!
Jimmy Havoc vs. Mikey Whiplash
Whiplash lays into Havoc at the bell, stomping his head and clubbing his back with forearms, before an uppercut from Havoc just sent Whippy into the ropes for a rebound lariat.
Havoc pulls down the rope as Whiplash sent himself to the outside, and was promptly met with a tope that saw both men land in a couple of seats. Which Havoc then threw into the ring, but they ended up staying outside as Whiplash pulled apart one of the metal chairs… only for Havoc to use and sodomise him with it.
Yeah, I know Whiplash is into that kind of stuff, but I don’t think steel chair sodomy was what he was after here. Nor was another trip into chairs on the other side of the building, as Havoc continued to fill the ring up with chairs. Whiplash cut-off a tope, then flew in to Havoc off the top rope for a near-fall as all those chairs that Havoc had thrown into the ring came into play… almost!
Whiplash blocks being thrown into a chair he’d wedged in the turnbuckles, before blocking a hiptoss onto an open chair… as he then cut-off a Rainmaker with a forearm. A series of rebound lariats ended up with a chair being thrown at him, and then Havoc finally lands that Rainmaker for the win. That was… odd. Not like these guys to tease immense chair-based pain and not deliver, but it was refreshing! ***
After the match, Havoc called out Whiplash for being a dick for the way he assaulted him, or in Jimmy’s words “what was that for?” Whippy replies that he was proving a point – so Havoc returns to sit-down and have a discussion. He accuses Jimmy of only being a deathmatch guy – by almost kicking a chair into the Internet’s Alan Boon – whereas Whippy is “better than him” because he can wrestle. The proof? Whiplash came out to wrestle, but Havoc had to bring weapons into it…
This ended up becoming a challenge for a match between the two for a proper wrestling match under World of Sport rules, before Whippy makes good on his promise to insult every fan in the building.
Dan Moloney vs. Andrew Everett
Or “Dan Molney”, as the graphic read. No wonder he looked so peed off – Mr Moloney can see into the future… and that future involved a lot of people making fun of THAT promo from the WWE UK tournament!
A big boot knocks down Moloney at the bell, but the two immediately go after each other with open slaps and chops, increasing in ferocity. Everett uses his agility to roll back and take Moloney to the outside with some headscissors, before he clears the crowd for an Asai moonsault off the turnbuckles! Moloney ends that offence with a forearm as Everett springboarded into the ring, before they went outside… where Moloney knees Everett into a chair. Back inside, another knee gives Everett a receipt for daring to try for a roll-up, but Everett doesn’t learn his lesson and flips back into some superkicks after blocking a fireman’s carry facebuster.
Everett keeps up the pressure with a Pele kick and a reverse ‘rana – of course for a near-fall – before he goes up top for a shooting star press. He aborts it in mid-flight, then gets caught with an Electric Chair that popped up into a Blue Thunder Bomb for the win. Short again, but that was a hell of a finish, even if it looked painful on impact for young Andy. ***½
Clint Margera vs. Eddie Kingston
Kingston stalls for time, then goes immediately into a tie-up as the pair roll around the ropes, refusing to break… until Kingston decides to powder to the outside.
Eddie heels it up by playing up his TNA/Impact home base, which just means that the crowd roar for the simplest of things. Like a headlock from Margera! That’s followed up with a neckbreaker, but Kingston trips Clint and crotches him in the bottom rope, before simply poking him in the eyes.
The front row gets cleared… but it’s just a troll job as Kingston rolls Margera back inside, then hits a powerbomb, as he’s then sent outside for another dive. Yeah, that hard-camera side’s getting a lot of action! Kingston bullies referee Shay, which’d go down well in another promotion, before he goes to lay into Margera with the machine-gun chops… which Clint quickly resists.
Margera comes back with some flying forearms in the corner, then a diving uppercut for just a one-count, before a delayed tornado DDT sees that go up to a two-count. Kingston comes back with a brainbuster and an implant DDT, again for a two-count, before Margera landed a falcon arrow as the tables turned back and forth.
Margera no-sells a back suplex, before a second one laid him out as Potty Mouth Kingston followed up with a lariat for just a one-count! Kingston orders the referee to watch as he chopped Margera… so Clint takes off his t-shirt for more of the same, before dishing out some discus forearms to an increasingly-sweary Eddie. We get another dive attempt, but Kingston throws chairs at Margera before putting the front row’s seats into the ring where he looked to superplex Clint onto… but instead Clint picked him up and delivered a Finlay roll off the top into the chairs for the win. Chalk up another brutal match at Fight Club: PRO – and one that worked in this setting, even if it were a bare bones outing. **¾
Trent Seven vs. Travis Banks vs. Mark Haskins vs. Tyler Bate
Well, if this isn’t a stacked main event, I don’t know what is! Billed as a “WrestleHouse four-way”, this was Haskins’ first match back in England after his neck injury forced him to take a few months off… yet he still didn’t get the loudest pop of the night, as that was saved for Tyler Bate.
After the world and their dog received chants, we finally got going – with referee Joel almost getting dragged into it from the get go! There’s an entertaining series based on basic holds, with Mark Haskins taking down Trent and Travis with a single headlock, before Trent and Tyler started working over wristlocks… ending with this weird four-way amalgamation of armbars and grunting that led to a clean break.
Another wacky series sees Joel trip Travis after he’d been caught in a waistlock, much to the amazement of the Kiwi Buzzsaw. The tongue-in-cheek stuff continued with a load of indy’riffic near-falls, then a four-way dropkick that led to a triple kip-up… because Trent can’t apparently do one. But then he can! Comedy!
Things crank up a notch when we get a faked-out Haskins dive… before he suddenly changed his mind and wiped out Trent and Travis with topes, only to eat a massive plancha from Tyler. Travis goes airborne next, before Trent completed the set with a low-pe. WrestleHouse!
On the outside they exchange gunshot-like chops, before Haskins decides to switch it to kicks, battering Banks with a leg lariat as he was sat on the apron. Inside, a chop and a brainbuster from Trent nearly wins him the match, before Banks breaks up the cover and spars another series that led to Bate taking a bicycle knee to the floor. Haskins then catches Trent and Travis in a camel clutch/Boston crab combo for a brief spell, only to catch Tyler in a sharpshooter after the young ‘un interfered.
Trent wrapped up Travis ine one at the same time, just so he and Haskins could slap each other silly, by which point Banks had recovered to leather them with kicks. Then no-sell a chop from Trent, as the intensity of this “fun” main event started to go off the scale. A backslide from Bate was rolled through, so Banks just kicks him in the head, before he’s dropped by a trio of boots in the corner.
They run through some more four-way stuff – quadruple superkicks, quadruple Bop & Bang punches, which leave everyone laying – before we go back to the shots. Haskins rages at Bate, before a Rainmaker from Seven almost gets him the win over Banks, who he then takes up for a superplex, but instead gets knocked down as Haskins jumps up and tries for a superplex into the crowd. Thankfully Seven breaks that up and just chops both men down before trying for a double top-rope piledriver. Yeah…
That somehow gives way to Tyler catching Trent in a torture rack airplane spin, which was painful and dizzying, but somehow Tyler caught a crossbody from Haskins and lifted him up into a regular airplane spin. Jesus, Tyler Bate is a freak. In a good way. Banks manages to connect with a springboard roundhouse kick to avoid an airplane spin for himself, but everyone else breaks up the cover.
More insanity follows as we lead to Bate and Banks laying into each other, before a diving knee gave way to Bate hitting a Koppo kick, then the Tyler Driver for the win! Jesus… this was not your typical match, but oodles of fun. Comedic and hard-hitting, with plenty of stuff that showed that everyone here took themselves seriously whilst being able to stick their tongue into their cheek as well. It’s definitely one that you need to experience just for the wackiness of it. ****¼
After the match, we had the usual shenanigans with the babyfaces glad-handing everyone… until Travis Banks was left alone. Cue Pete Dunne, who attacked Travis from behind and laid him out with a pair of Bitter Ends. In a match that might just get him a two-count! Dunne derides Banks for not being able to win a match, yet still expecting to win a title…
Dunne then offers Banks a match there and then – with a title shot to use whenever he wants if he wins. Peter reckons that’s a safe bet because Banks only has two wins in Fight Club: PRO… and our match is on!
Travis Banks vs. Pete Dunne
Dunne immediately blasts Travis with a forearm in the corner before the bell… but as soon as Joel Allen called for that bell, Banks springs into the corner, taking down Dunne with the springboard roundhouse, and there’s his third win! (Not Rating)
Travis Banks now has his title shot from winning Infinity last year, and a second one to use whenever he wants after capitalising on a cocksure Dunne… and that’s sending everyone home from the Fixxion happy!
What Worked: Pretty much everything – from the seed that was sewn of Travis Banks getting a second title shot under his belt, to the beginning of Nixon Newell’s farewell, and the weird-but-wonderful WrestleHouse main event. Thumbs up all round as FCP started 2017 how they ended the prior year…
What Didn’t: Nothing from this show, but it’d have been nicer to have had this out quicker. Hopefully whatever issues led to the delay were a one-time only thing, since the month-long gap between show-day and the VOD release really killed a lot of the buzz around this.
Thumbs: Up
- “All The Best” is currently available to purchase now via Fight Club: PRO’s Vimeo channel