F.I.S.T. Combat, which has been running in Northern California and is on public access TV in Santa Cruz, made their Southern California debut on March 3rd in San Diego. Having not seen their product before, I was unsure what we were going to get going in, but with a lineup featuring matches like Eli Everfly versus B-Boy and Ryan Kidd against Matt Sydal it had a lot of potential going in.
Having only seen the venue from the outside, I was wondering beforehand how high the ceiling would be, and that turned out to be an issue with the show. Some wrestlers were nearly hitting their heads on the ceiling when they were on the top rope, which really limited offense in the show.
They show drew a pretty decent sized crowd for their debut effort with lots of people standing.
Dirty Ron McDonald defeated Scotty Wringer to win the Get Fisted TV title [12’20]
There was an empty table positioned conveniently next to the ring to start the show. Scotty Wringer came out with Samara, who does a really good job as a heel valet. Dirty Ron McDonald was as you’d expect, dressed like Ronald McDonald. He cut a pre-match promo about how he was going to do all the drugs and fuck someone’s girlfriend tonight. The match itself was actually a lot of fun. Dirty Ron was pretty intense throughout and had a ton of energy. They did some brawling in the crowd. When they got back into the ring Scotty Wringer got thrown from the top rope through the table on the outside. He was then tossed back into the ring and Dirty Ron hit a low blow and then got the pin to win the Get Fisted TV title. This was a fun opener.
Jacob Diez defeated D’marco Wilson, Biagio Crescenzo, and Azrael in an elimination match [17’28]
The announcer would make mistakes throughout the night, and he called D’marco Wilson “D’mario”. That’s not really that bad of a mistake, as I can see a c looking like an i. Except Jacob Diez came out. He later would call B-Boy the “Newport Punisher” among other things. Azrael, Biagio, and Jacob all teamed up to attack D’marco throughout the early part of the match but weren’t able to get the pin. The crowd was really brutal towards the three heels. Azarael was eliminated first, by Wilson at 8 minutes. Then Wilson eliminated Biagio at 13 minutes and 45 seconds. Diez got the win with a sit down piledriver on Wilson. This was OK but really limited by the low ceiling.
The Classic Connection (Levi Shapiro & Buddy Royal) defeated Kaka Meng & The Christian Crusader [7’26]
The Christian Crusader had the craziest merch table I’ve ever seen. Lots of religious bumper stickers including anti-abortion stuff. That’s really getting into character. His gear looked like it was purchased at the Spirit Halloween store though. I think Classic Connection is fairly solid, and Buddy Royal especially had a couple nice moments in this, but this wasn’t a good match. Neither Kaka Meng or Christian Crusader had a good performance here, though Kaka Meng was over with the crowd. Classic Connection won with Demolition’s Decapitation.
Black Boy over Black Danger [8’30]
I was looking forward to this, as both wrestlers are really good and underutilized in Southern California. They really weren’t on the same page to start though. The first half of the match was really sloppy as both guys were seemed to think they were going to be doing different moves. It made for some bad sequences like one guy laying on the ground trying to grab the other for a roll up while the other guy was trying for a standing moonsault but he kept getting grabbed. It picked up towards the end and Black Boy got the win with a Mexican Destroyer. This should have been a lot better.
Samara over Ashley Grace [9’40]
The crowd was super rowdy with this being a 21 and up show and with a full bar. There were lots of chants and fan interaction you might not hear at another show. Someone started a “camel toe” chant at Samara. It was pointed out that it might be racist and the proper term is “moose knuckle.” This was a pretty fun match. As I mentioned before Samara makes a pretty good heel. Both had a chance to get some decent offense in. Samara won with a double underhook facebuster.
B-Boy over Eli Everfly [11’49]
This was pretty good. Eli Everfly is a little shorter than a lot of the other wrestlers on the card and wasn’t as limited by the low ceilings. There was a pretty cool sequence where Eli went to do a moonsault off the barricade and B-Boy catches him mid-air and then throws him into the wall. The crowd was pretty crazy with dueling “B-Boy” and “Eli” chants that eventually came down to just one person yelling for each long after everyone else stopped. B-Boy hit a chickenwing piledriver for the win. I thought this was the best match on the show.
Matt Sydal over Ryan Kidd [17’34]
No match was more limited by the low ceiling than this. As soon as I entered the venue I said “well, no shooting star press tonight.” Both wrestlers use a ton of aerial offense so they’d have to work a different type of match. Ryan Kidd was wearing his mask in this and worked as the heel. Sydal looked good too. The match was still pretty good considering the limitations. Sydal won with a standing moonsault.
After the match Ryan Kidd challenged Sydal to a tag-team match, and Sydal mentioned how he’s been a tag-team champion everywhere he’s been and he’s not afraid.
They have announced that Human Tornado will be on their next show on April 7th. I think he’ll fit right in with the atmosphere here. I can’t help but think how perfect Joey Ryan would be in this promotion too.
Overall it was a decent show. It was completely different than anything else in San Diego, which is good with so many other promotions running regularly. The atmosphere was fun and they show a lot of promise and can be a good addition to the crowded SoCal and San Diego wrestling scene. The biggest issue was the venue itself. The low ceilings really hampered a lot of the matches, and unless they are bringing in Zack Sabre Jr. and Kyle O’Reilly it really limits how good of matches they can have. The other issue is there are columns from the ceiling to the floor throughout the venue limiting the view of the ring. I know they were offered FCW’s venue for the show, but it is definitely a show that would work best in a 21 and up setting with a full bar. I don’t think this venue is the right choice.
