Fight Club: PRO returned for its second show in its new WRESTLEHOUSE with the 'Stranger Than Fixxion'. The group promoted two big matches ahead of time as Fight Club: PRO champion Travis Banks would defend his title against former champion 'The Bruiserweight' Pete Dunne. Also scheduled was DTTI winners #CCK (Chris Brookes & Kid Lykos) taking on Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate) going in I had high expectations so rather than going on and on, let's start the review she'll we.
The show opens as per usual going right into the action and the first match of the night is a singles match between to Aussies out of the Fight Club: PRO Dojo. Singles Match: Kyle Fletcher vs. Mark Davis The show opened with Fight Club: PRO trainee/contenders/young lions match and this was a real hot opener. Davis is over from Queensland, Australia and is a 10-year pro while Kyle is a 2 plus year pro from Sydney Australia. Both men looked confident and didn't seem to show any nerves whatsoever. Davis and Fletcher did their big spots as soon as the bell rang and the crowd picked up on it almost immediately by reacting to the two young men's big spots. Fletcher got a near fall with an impressive looking Michinoku Driver while Davis got a near fall with a sit down powerbomb. Fletcher, who's incredibly young and still new to the business, looked really good in the closing stages and his striking ability is up there with Travis Banks. Davis has a tremendous upside as well as he seems to have a real presence about him in the ring. Davis got two more near falls with a DVD and another powerbomb then began to toy with a downed Fletcher which only fired up the young man. Fletcher hit some sort of fucked up Canadian destroyer then followed it up with a running big boot but didn't go for the pin. Then Davis battled back with another DVD and a pump handle Piledriver to pick up the win. Winner: Mark Davis Three Corner Tag Team Match: Wolfgang & BT Gunn vs. The Hunter Brothers (Jim & Lee Hunter) vs. Extra Talent-ed (Ricky Star & Aaron Solow) Solow and star cut a generic heel promo before the Hunter's are introduced, talking about how they paved the way for the UK guys in WWE because they were in CWC last summer. This crowd was supposed to boo the heels for that but laughed much like this reviewer. Early on, the Hunter's did some sick double team moves to Star and Solow. BT Gunn came in and kicked some ass for a bit along with Wolfgang. Then it got taken up a notch as all three teams battled back and forth. Again a match in Fight Club: PRO suffering from the legal man syndrome. Anyway, after more back and forth action which really wasn't anything special the Hunter's picked up the win over Solow with a Swanton Bomb. This match was really nothing special it existed to get these guys onto the card and it really wasn't needed if I'm honest but still a fun spot match. Winners: The Hunter Brothers (Jim & Lee Hunter) Singles Match: 'Remorseless' Dan Moloney vs. Clint Margera Dan comes out and starts pushing around announcer Matt Richards and referee Joel Allen and gets Matt to call him the "hardest mofo in Fight Club: PRO" and he doesn't care as he will fight anyone now and out comes Clint Margera. Clint mocks Dan and then says "If you're the hardest mofo in the room, then let's make this a no DQ match!" This was your typical Clint Margera match and I do enjoy a good Clint Margera walking brawl. He and Jimmy havoc are the best at it in this country. Both men brawled all over the new WRESTLEHOUSE knocking each other's head off of ring barricades, walls, onto people's chairs, into the top of the bar and basically anywhere in the building. Some of the action was missed as the two cameras set up couldn't capture the action so there were prolonged periods of the ring just being shown but then that happens a lot in indy wrestling and is nothing new. Finally, they get back into the ring and DAN introduces some chairs. Then both men trade strikes and nail one another with a pair of suplexes. Clint throws a chair at DAN then goes to drill him with a suplex off the top onto some unfolded chairs. Dan counters and puts Clint through them with his Worldstar finishing move to pick up the win. Afterwards, Dan gets the microphone and says some things and out comes the Session Moth Martina who begins to flirt and wiggle her hips in Dan's direction, of course, Dan nails Moth with a big right hand. Then 'Stone Cold' Shay Purser hits the ring and he goes toe-to-toe with Dan. I would assume the youngster was hitting the beers with his mates outside the Spar beforehand because he had grown some beer muscles to step up to Dan. Then session Moth and Shay work over Dan and give him a double stunner and a new tag team is born and I'm calling it now: these two are going to win the DTTI in 2018. Winner: 'Remorseless' Dan Moloney Four-Way Match: Will Ospreay vs. Jordan Devlin vs. Mark Haskins vs. Omari This was originally scheduled to be Haskins vs. Devlin then changed to a triple threat, then a four-way before the bell as Omari came out and held up his four signalling this was now a four-way. Early on all four men went back and forth which then lead to Will Ospreay's new spot where he gets some Stretch Armstrong like martial and flings it back into his operants first on the receiving end of this spot was Omari who got whipped in the head then Jordan who took it in the balls! Jordan looked annoyed by this new spot Ospreay is doing but it got a good reaction from this crowd. They then hit some dives which were to be expected in a match like this. Back in the ring, Haskins had Devlin trapped in a sharpshooter but Ospreay broke up the hold. Omari came close with an armbar but this time Devlin broke it up. All four men broke out a number of variations of kicks to one another as the crowd chanted Fight Club: PRO. Devlin nailed Haskins with a brainbuster for a near fall. Devlin took control of the action and worked over Omari to boos. Omari fired up and nailed Devlin with a big roundhouse kick for a near fall. Ospreay entered the ring and nailed Omari with a phenomenal forearm. Ospreay did a Spanish Fly and a sky twister press for a near fall on Devlin. Devlin countered the Os-Cutter into a German then Haskins returned and nailed Devlin with a DVD and took Ospreay down into a Sharpshooter. Omari was back in and kicked Haskins in the jaw. Ospreay worked over Omari with some kicks then Omari hit the big O to Ospreay to pick up the win. I think I would have enjoyed this flippy-do match more if I was there live but watching it back on DVD it kind of felt flat to me. Anyway, I'm overjoyed for Omari. He deserved this big win and he's only going to become more of a star with a clean pinfall win over Ospreay. Winner: Omari Women's Match: Kay Lee Ray Vs Millie Mckenzie I can't say I know too much about Millie but she was pretty much over the second she came out to the ring which was a good sign and as usual Kay Lee Ray was over because she's Kay Lee fucking Ray. Early on both girls exchanged some solid looking strikes. KLR then works over Millie with some chops but the youngster battled back with a hurricanrana and a dive out onto KLR. Millie gets a near fall off of those dives then KLR battles back with some solid looking forearm strikes. KLR no sells a number of Millie's strikes then removes her shirt and the two go back and forth with chops to each other's upper pectoral region. KLR follows it up with a suplex for a two count. KLR then has her Guerrero Bomb countered into a Code Red by Millie for another near fall. Millie looks impressive here with her strikes and selling. KLR and Millie do another strike exchange and then Millie nails KLR with a wheelbarrow smash for a near fall. KLR is making Millie look great here and that's her talents as a performer shining through. KLR battles back with her Guerrero Bomb for a near fall then KLR applies the Koji clutch and Millie is forced to tap out. This was a really good solid 10 minute plus encounter. Millie was made to look like a million bucks and I would argue she currently wasn't carried but she was lead to a good outing thanks to one of BritWres' better female grapplers. So far this has been my match of the night, I really enjoyed this one. Winner: Kay Lee Ray Fight Club: PRO Title Six Man Scramble Match: Travis Banks (Champion) vs. Trent Seven vs. 'The Bruiserweight' Pete Dunne vs. Kid Lykos vs. Tyler Bate vs. Chris Brookes So before we start the match review a little backstory. Before the show the announced main event and semi main event was Travis vs. Pete in a rematch from the First Female of Fight Club show back in March along with Moustache Mountain vs. #CCK earlier on in the show (which was not on the DVD here) Fight Club: PRO owner and brother of (nope I won't kill kayfabe) Martin Zaki revealed a new Fight Club: PRO title belt which he presented to champ Travis Banks. Anyway, this lead to Dunne, Bate, Brookes, Lykos and Seven hitting the ring and after some back and forth it was announced tonight's main event was now a six-way. It seems kind of odd they didn't add this to the DVD or VOD, but then who really cares? Early on BSS all join with one another as #CCK all come together and the crowd chants their respective favourite team now back and forth. Then all six go back and forth with one another eventually the Pete, Lykos, Banks and Bate spill to the outside as Brookes and Seven are left in the ring. The two trade chops then Brookes applies an Octopus stretch. Bate saves his partner then Lykos is in and both teams square off and nail each other with dropkicks. Seven and Brookes roll to the outside as Lykos and Bate are left in the ring. Bate marches around the ring then locks up with Lykos and does some fancy work with Lykos. The two do some cartwheels and show off as people call Lykos a "shit wolf". Lykos does a backflip and bate does one as well as the crowd chant "You got served!" at the Shit Wolf. Both then do it and out of nowhere, Pete enters and bites both Bate and Lykos' fingers. Finally, Banks and Dunne come face-to-face as the other four sneak around ringside not even pretending to sell. Eventually, all six men are in the ring and now I can't keep up. #CCK and BSS square off again then PETER goes around poking everyone in the eye. BSS do the Triple H water spitting gimmick and work over Travis as a trio. Lykos is in and he gives Bate a Spanish Fly. Banks dives out onto BSS and then Brookes and Lykos do the same. Trent does his best dive then Tyler leaps out onto #CCK at ringside. PETER goes up to the second rope and nails everyone with a moonsualt. Lykos then does another dive. Back in the ring, Lykos gets worked over by PETER. Brookes gives seven a twisting brainbuster then Bate hits Brookes with a Rock Bottom. Banks is back and he works over Bate and nails him with a German of his own. PETER is back and he drills Banks with a bitter end for a near fall. Dunne works over banks some more which only fires up the Kiwi Buzzsaw. Then all six battle back and fourth as PETER forearm smashes everyone. Bate does his big Nigel McGuiness lariat to Lykos then Lykos nails Dunne with a swinging DDT. Banks traded kicks with Bate and Seven then misses a dive to the outside onto Dunne. Travis does a Coast-to-Coast dropkick to Brookes before nailing Lykos with a Michinoku style cradle shock for another near fall. PETER comes in and low blows everyone - even poor old Joel Allen. Dunne drills banks with a Pedigree then former two-time Fight Club: PRO champion MK Mckinnan (the only two-time champ in history may I add?) jumps into the ring. Last time he appeared, he helped to cost PETER the championship. MK nails Dunne with a spin kick and dives out onto Dunne and Trent. Travis and Tyler come face to face and exchange slaps and forearms with one another. Brookes and Lykos return while Dunne and Trent have disappeared to the back with MK. Bate nails Lykos and Brookes with a pair of superkicks as #CCK have Bate all to themselves. Eventually, the numbers game catches up on Bate but he does a good job of battling #CCK. Trent Seven returns but Pete does not I would assume him and MK are off fighting in the back. Brookes hoists Lykos up onto his shoulders and flings Lykos off and Lykos nails Bate with the assisted code breaker/senton splash combo move Brookes and Lykos are so good at. They then point to Travis to nail Bate with a Tridal kick but as Travis comes off his #CCK brothers show their true colours and turn on him when Brooke's nails Banks with their cooking sheet. Another assisted Codebreaker senton splash by #CCK and Brookes covers banks for the one, two and three. Wow, the crowd comes unhinged as we have a new Fight Club: PRO champion and its Chris Brookes! Well, what do you say about a main event like that? Well, I didn't like it in fact. I felt it was worked far too much like a six man tornado tag for my liking rather than a scramble. I can appreciate Brookes getting his moment and winning the big one in Fight Club: PRO because, let's face it, no one has worked harder than him in that promotion in the last two years, but what really got me annoyed was the fact Travis lost the belt. It was too soon after such a long journey to the belt to take it off of him in my opinion. Now if Brookes is only holding the belt for a few months then yeah ok I get it but was it really time for Travis to lose the belt already in this reviewers opinion no It was not. I would argue all day that this was not the right time to have Travis lose the belt. Going forward it makes no sense to me why they did this title change as #CCK, the Brookes and Lykos team, have more of an upside as a unit. Why not create some sort of tag team title belt for them as they had won the DTTI recently? Brookes' hard work needed to be acknowledged but at the expense of Travis Banks losing the title who I would argue has been success as champion for Fight Club: PRO? Yes, the argument could be there is more money to be made in the chase but Fight Club: PRO have already told that story last year. This move makes no sense to me but I must admit I'm happy for Brookes getting the belt even if it's a caretaker reign. Anyway, rant over and feel free to argue with me over this at Twitter but I think I've made my point pretty clear on this. Winner: Chris Brookes (And NEW Fight Club: PRO Champion) Overall it was another easy watch as it totalled in at just under 2 hours. There were a lot of good matches on this show but nothing was really special in my opinion. I really enjoyed the KLR/Millie Mckenzie match as well as the four way (even though that under delivered for me). This wasn't Fight Club: PRO's best show this year by far, in fact, it may be the worst show of their's I've seen this year. That's not saying it wasn't good because it was and had its moments. It's just Fight Club: PRO have had so many great shows this year you kind of feel disappointed when they don't live up to their expectations. Anyway, head on over to Vimeo and buy this show or head on over to Fight Club: PRO big cartel and buy the DVD. Again thanks for reading my review and as always I'll finish with I'll see you at the matches. @Billy_Jay83
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Billy Johnson25 years of watching graps Archives
December 2017
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