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FULL IMPACT PRO DVD REVIEWS

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*** Official OWW.com FIP DVD Reviews by Brad Dykens ***
January 13, 2007 - UNFINISHED BUSINESS - Crystal River, Florida

Unfinished Business is the annual event where at least a couple long-running bitter feuds are traditionally settled in some kind of gimmick match. The show opened with "Sweet & Sour" Larry Sweeney taking on one of his ROH rivals, Claudio Castagnoli. That clever little bastard Larry Sweeney was about to lose his first match in FIP when he changed direction and deliberately caused a double count out to insure that his undefeated streak would stay in tact ( 7 / 10 ).

The YRR faction of Steve Madison, Kenny King, Salvatore Rinauro, Chasyn Rance and Daffney came out raising their glasses full of Champaign signifying a premature declaration of victory in all their scheduled matches tonight. Daffney, who was looking exceptionally sexy, introduced her tag team partner for the night - Northeast Diva Talia Madison. Talia is the real life girlfriend of WWE's Gregory Helms, but I still can't figure out why she gets so many gigs.

Daffney and Talia were in for a rough night as they took on two wrestlers with a lot of international experience, Allison Danger and "American Angel" Sara Del Rey, collectively known as the "Dangerous Angels." The YRR tried to interfere but Black Market stopped them. Daffney and Talia were clearly over-matched and without some kind of outside advantage they quickly fell to Danger and Del Rey ( 7 / 10 ). The Dangerous Angels look awesome in their matching outfits.

The Heartbreak Express came out and talked about the Cage of Pain match last month and thanked the fans, letting everybody know that they are babyfaces now. Shiima Xion came out and claimed that he lost to the HBE last night because he had a crappy tag partner (Pelle Primeau). Xion introduced former WWE tag team, the Heartbreakers (Antonio and Romeo), who came out and did their classic highly unappreciated microphone routine. The Heartbreak Express said Pelle Primeau earned their respect last night and brought him out to round out the six-man-tag.

This was the debut of The Heartbreakers in Full Impact Pro, but it would be their only appearance too. The Heartbreak Express and Pelle Primeau defeated The Heartbreakers and Shiima Xion ( 6.5 / 10 ). Hot traditional indy-style tag team action from bell-to-bell.

"The Man from the Heavens" Jack Evans took on Gran Akuma in an exciting match. That mysterious annoying voice that seems to follow Jack Evans wherever he goes was back in the audience shouting "Come on Jack!," "Let's Go Jack!" and "Jack! Jack! Jack!" - I'd really like to know who he or she is so I can tell them to just shut the hell up! Until now, Akuma seemed to keep getting put into matches designed to get him over without actually winning. Well this time he was firmly over the crowd and managed to score a big time upset victory over Jack Evans ( 7.5 / 10 ).

A couple of "Jimmys" from Ring of Honor faced off in an FIP ring. Jimmy Jacobs, who is going as a babyface for the first time in years, was forced to tap out to Jimmy Rave's dreaded Heel-hook submission in a really good match ( 8 / 10 ). The Heel-hook is something they are pushing in ROH as one of the most deadly finishing moves in wrestling.

The "Gun for Hire" finally went into business for himself by challenging Roderick Strong for the FIP Championship. They announced that the new rules in FIP state that titles can change on a count out or disqualification. Interesting. They tried that in TNA but half their title matches still end in DQ and the title doesn't change hands. This is Roderick's "biggest" test to date, as Albright is larger than your average independent wrestler. It was a hard fought match with the champion taking a lot of punishment but Strong dug down deep and pulled out an impressive victory over Brent Albright to retain his FIP Heavyweight title ( 8.5 / 10 ).

It was triple threat tag team action featuring Black Market (Shawn Murphy & Joey Machete), The YRR (Kenny King & Chasyn Rance) and DP Associates (Shingo & Shane Hagadorn). Black Market was at a severe disadvantage because The YRR and Dave Prazak made a pre-match agreement to gang up on Murphy and Machete. Black Market defied the odds, and a lot of outside interference, and won the match ( 7 / 10 ). Black Market challenged the YRR to a "Loser Leaves FIP for 60 Days" match next month.

Let the grudge matches begin. First up we got to see a TLC match between babyface "Cool" Seth Delay and YRR member Salvatore Rinauro. There were Tables, Ladders and Chairs set up inside and outside of the ring. They tried some old fashioned wrestling at first but then resorted to using the available weaponry. After a series of bone-crunching stunts, the bloodied Salvatore Rinauro scored the victory with an unlikely assist from Claudio Castagnoli - who was revealed as the newest member of the YRR ( 9 / 10 ).

Erick Stevens, who I already consider the breakout star of 2007, rushed the ring at the end of the TLC match and could not wait another second to begin his Dog Collar match with his former Miracle Violence Connection tag team partner, Steve Madison. Madison was, of course playing the cowardly heel, refusing to let the referee secure the chain around his neck. When they finally got locked up, the grudge match nine months in the making was finally a reality. These two aren't your typical main eventers so it was a major test to see if both could deliver when it really counted - and they passed with flying colors. They fought for 20-minutes trying to resolve their hate issues until the profusely bloody Erick Stevens survived a vicious beating and made a come-back to pin Steve Madison in the middle of the blood soaked ring to finally put an end to the bitter Madison/Stevens feud once and for all ( 9.5 / 10 ).

Final Thoughts: Last two matches were very good - all in all another solid event for Full Impact Pro.

If you would like to purchase this or any other Full Impact Pro DVD, please check out ROHwrestling.com - and also be sure to show your support by checking out www.fullimpactpro.com/ - Thank you!



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