This Saturday night in Imperial Beach, Finest City Wrestling presents their biggest event in its history featuring a stacked lineup with Rey Mysterio Jr. in the main event. In this preview, I look at the matches set to take place at the show and gives thoughts on them. Trust me when I say nobody else in SoCal has a card as stacked as this one. Click. Read.
Corey Jackson vs. KC Douglas vs. Joe Heiken vs. Michael Hopkins
This should be an interesting match. At FCW’s April 14th event, the Battle U Pro Wrestling School’s Douglas and Hopkins made their professional wrestling debuts. The match was said to have been a solid performers for workers on their level. At the same event, Heiken and Jackson were said to have put on a show stealing match. SCU’s very own Steve Bryant told me about some of the things Heiken did, and I was really intrigued by it. After catching a highlight video of the match, I came away being really interested in seeing more of what he could do. This match should be a good showcase for the more experienced Heiken and Jackson, while also being a good chance for the lesser experienced Douglas and Hopkins to have a good match. I’m interested in seeing how this match turns out.
SoCal Crazy vs. Famous B
I really enjoy Famous B’s work and wish he were booked more in the area. Even though a lot of people praise SoCal Crazy as being a great worker, I don’t think he lives up to the hype San Diego area fans give him. With that said, he’s not bad and is very capable of having pretty solid performances against really good workers. I expect him and Famous B to have a good showing here based on that. Plus they’ve worked with each other multiple times in the past, so hopefully there will be some good chemistry between the two.
True Grit (Jesse James & Hoss Hogg) vs. Andy Brown & Adrian Quest
Out of all the matches on this show, I believe this one could/should be a contender for Match of the Night. I’ve been talking up True Grit this last year because they’ve been putting on some really fun performances lately. Adrian Quest and Andy Brown are also both talented workers who can put on some exciting matches. There are so many interesting elements going into this match that makes this match really interesting. Adrian Quest comes into this with a lot of impressive high flying moves, Andy Brown goes in with a sold versatile style that can allow him to adapt to different styles, and True Grit blend really well together as a steam while having a style that should allow them to mesh really well with their opponents.
I have some high expectations for this match, but that’s only because I believe these guys can live up to them and tear shit up.
B-Boy vs. J.T. Dunn
If I had to describe J.T. Dunn to people who haven’t seen him before in the simplest way possible, I’d describe him the same way as many others do; he’s like a mini-Chris Hero (or Kassius Ohno for those who don’t know their indy wrestling). Stylistically there’s no better opponent for him in SoCal than B-Boy. Dunn is known for performing a variety of elbow strikes (although he is guilty of being a leg slapper) and power moves much like Hero, so I expect him and B-Boy to have a pretty stiff match with several cool spots thrown in. Knowing B-Boy’s body of work, I could easily see him and Dunn having a really good match. Again, stylistically these two match up very well together and I can see them working really well together. I’m really looking forward to see how this one turns out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzIsLZ0WpaY
Sabotage Wrestling Offer Match: The Killer Baes (Heather Monroe & Laura James) vs. the Twizted Sisterz (Thunder Rosa & Holidead)
Okay Sabotage and women’s wrestling fans, I’m gonna warn you now that this won’t be full of praise. If honest opinions make you upset, stop reading this part and skip to the next match preview. If you read this and do get upset about my comments, feel free to discuss things on the SCU message board topic about the FCW June 3rd show. I know, I know. I’m sorry for not blindly praising women’s wrestling even though it’s the cool thing to do nowadays. Hate mail and complaints may also be sent to dravenscu@gmail.com.
With that said, I feel like this is the weakest match of the card on paper. Heather Monroe is entertaining and Holidead is very talented. I think they could have some fun exchanges. Thunder Rosa seems inconsistent in terms of quality whenever I see her matches (I can hear the grumbling from angry Thunder Rosa fans now). She doesn’t suck. She can hit spots well, but her matches have a weird flow. I’m sure this match will be full of antics, shenanigans, brawling, white girl twerking, yelling, and MOVEZ that’ll win over the average women’s wrestling fan. While I’m not very excited about this match, I’m sure it’ll be ok and better than the majority of shit that will go on elsewhere on in SoCal that weekend.
FCW XRT Division Championship Match: Eli Everfly (c) vs. Lio Rush vs. The Oracle vs. Douglas James vs. Donnie Suarez vs. D’Marco Wilson vs. Jacob Diez vs. Biagio Crescenzo
Let’s not beat around the bush and talk about Lio Rush first. Yes, it is dumb to have a guy of his caliber thrown into a clusterfuck match with seven other workers. Now I know what the two arguments are in favor of him being in the match is, with one being that him in that match puts a spotlight on the others. It doesn’t though. Had this been a four way, the critics would probably be into that. But an EIGHT MAN match is just ridiculous and clutters everything up, making it hard for guys to get noticed but whatever.
The most questionable thing in regards to the booking of this match is why are guys who have lost matches recently getting a title shot? Diez, Crescenzo, Suarez, Wilson, and Oracle have all lost in recent FCW XRT/Lightweight Championship matches, and Douglas James lost a FCW Heavyweight Championship title match. Why are they challenging for a title? I feel like championship matches in wrestling should be booked as valuable with credible contenders.
Now with that said, this will probably be the wildest match of the weekend. There’s no doubt it’ll be full of crazy ass spots and wild bumps with everyone going balls out. Eli Everfly is someone who always goes all out in these sorta matches. I’m exited to see what he’ll do here. I’m also looking forward to seeing the Oracle live for the first time. I’ve watched a few of his matches online and really like his work. Whether this match ends up being a really well put together classic, or is just a giant cluster fuck of a mess, it will be a spectacle knowing that half of the guys in this match will probably be doing some crazy spots to get noticed. Personally this match will be a disappointment if there aren’t two crazy spots, twelve dives. and a Canadian Destroyer off of a balcony for a near fall in the first five minutes of the match. Fuck psychology and storytelling in this match, I want to see some goddamn mayhem.
FCW Heavyweight Championship Match: Tyler Bateman (c) vs. Brody King
One of my favorite SoCal wrestlers to watch in the past year or so has been Brody King. The guy can work a heavyweight style that isn’t slow or boring, which is something that a lot of guys his size lack. He’s got an intimidating presence, solid in ring skills, and can perform very well in the ring which makes him a huge asset to any promotion in SoCal that’s willing to book him right. Bateman is a guy who also bring an intimidating presence in the ring and can deliver in big matches. These two had a pretty solid match at the Santino Bros’ Luck Of The Draw event back on March 17th, so I expect this to be good with this show being FCW’s biggest event to date. I hope these guys go all out for this one.
Rey Mysterio Jr. & Rey Horus vs. Jeff Cobb & Bestia 666 vs. Penta El Zero M & Rey Fenix
Without a doubt this is the biggest main event on the biggest pro wrestling show this weekend in SoCal. This match was originally supposed to be Team Rey-Rey against Cobb and Bestia. At the time, that was sounding pretty cool. When Los Lucha Brothers got thrown into the mix, it went into some next-level shit. There are so many interesting dynamics going into this match. Seeing Rey Mysterio Jr. in this match feels like an added treat. There’s really not much else to say. On paper, I can definitely see this being a strong contender for SoCal Match of the Year. This match is going to be awesome and I can’t wait to see it.
Closing Thoughts
FCW’s show on Saturday will no doubt be their biggest to date. The card looks really good overall with the main event, B-Boy/Dunn, and True Grit vs. Quest & Brown being the matches that could probably end up being the best matches of the night. Also at this event, CWFH Asian Reporter Tricia Takanawa, Maverick Pro evil preacher, and local Muay Thai/MMA ring announcer Joshua Shibata will be making his ring announcing debut for FCW. That’s a pretty major move by FCW to bring in such a high profile ring announcer. FCW will also be throwing a fan fest, meet and greet, and after party this Saturday. The promotion is really going all out to make this a major event. Aside from PWG, there are no other bigger indy shows in SoCal this month than FCW’s “619” on June 3rd. If you’re on the fence as to whether or not you should go, go. You got three potential MOTYCs and a crazy cluster fuck match that’ll more than likely be the type of thing that would cause Jim Cornette to quit the business.
Again, go to this show if you want to or can. If you can’t, that’s cool. If you don’t want to go, that’s cool too.
FCW’s “619” takes place at the Boys and Girls Club of Imperial Beach in Imperial Beach, CA on June 3rd, 2017 at 5PM. General Admission tickets are still available for $40 and can be purchased online at FCW.BigCartel.com.
I think I should tell people to send my hate mail there too 😀