FIST Combat held their last show of 2017 on December 8th, with what they were calling their biggest show of the Year. FistMania was held at the promotion’s regular venue, San Diego’s Kensington Club. The show was scheduled to have the culmination of a couple of feuds that have been brewing in the promotion all year, with Vegan Superman versus Dirty Ron McDonald and B-Boy versus Ruby Raze. Unfortunately there was no real payoff in either as a lot of the show seemed to be structured more to buildup Brewmania’s show the next night, over 100 miles away..
The crowd seemed to be among the biggest since the promotion moved to the Kensignton Club, with the standing room only going to the back wall. The show got underway at just about 10:00 pm with a promo by the promoter Mikey Gordon, followed by Randy Order (who in storyline is the promotion’s heel owner).
Azrael over Guy Cool [8’39]
Azrael has a pretty funny gimmick as a millennial who expects everything handed to him. He cut a pretty funny pre-match promo that even included him stopping to “check-in” on his phone, and complained about how he had 2 semesters of community college and he shouldn’t have to work and should be given “big breasted white women.” The match itself was pretty good, with Azrael keeping up his gimmick throughout. At one point he had Guy Cool in a figure four and decided to Snapchat it. This was overall pretty fun and both guys looked good. Azrael his a low blow on Guy Cool and was able to take advantage for the pin.
Sour Charm (Donnie Suarez & Biagio Crescenzo) over Karl Fredericks & Wolfgang Danger [12’53]
This match started with a bad promo by Donnie Suarez and Biagio, which lead to Karl Fredericks and Wolfgang Danger coming out. Donnie Suarez is one of the most underrated wrestlers in the area. He matched up really well with both Fredericks and Danger. Biagio had a really good performance in this as well. Both Fredericks and Danger looked great, and hopefully they both start getting more Southern California bookings. Sour Charm won with a double team submission on Danger. This was really good.
Jules Winfield (Michael Hopkins) and Vincent Vega (KC Douglas) over The Gimp [11’23]
The match started with just Jules Winfield and Vincent Vega. Having trained together at Battle U, they work really well together. This was a lot of fun too. Winfield hit a really nice tope con giro that got a huge reaction from the crowd. Late in the match there was a run in by The Gimp. Both Winfield and Vega were knocked into the ropes and setup like they were about to take a 619. Nope. Instead The Gimp tried to rape them both. Someone complained about this, not because of the simulated rape, but because neither guy was raped in the movie Pulp Fiction. Continuity is important to some. Vega and Winfield teamed take out The Gimp and both pinned him. Both wrestlers were announced as the winners.
Randy Order over Dirty Ron McDonald [11’22]
This was supposed to be Dirty Ron McDonald versus Vegan Superman but instead of Vegan Superman, Randy Order came out. A match started between them that saw lots of brawling in the crowd, and both wrestlers getting cut up with barb wire. They also had Legos in the ring and Order was suplexed into them. Right when Dirty Ron was about to get the win, Vegan Superman ran out and interfered, allowing Randy Order to take advantage.
True Grit (Jesse James & Hoss Hogg) over Reno Scum (Adam Thornstowe & Luster the Legend) to retain the FIST Combat Gang Bang titles [9’42]
These two teams should go up and down the state facing each other like Supreme Kaos and The Naybah Hoodz did back in the late 90s because they match up so perfectly. This was really good, hard hitting brawl. Both teams got to show a lot on offense and it was fairly even with a lot of back-and-forth. Luster got hit with a lariat and took the pin for Scum. This was good.
B-Boy vs. Ruby Raze goes to a no-contest, Vegan Superman pins both to with the FIST Championship [16’50]
This was a last man standing match. I always think the big problem with these types of matches is the amount of time with no action going on while the referee goes for the ten count. This was great in-between the fall attempts though. Raze dominated the match early until they were on the outside and B-Boy was able to hit a hard suplex on the floor, followed by knocking Raze into a booth. With them being in a long running feud in the promotion, they did a good job of making everything look believable for the most part. They both were aggressive and avoided any comedy spots. The only real problem like I mentioned was the ten counts, which stopped the action dead at times. Vegan Superman came out late with a chain, and took out both wrestlers. Randy Order ran out and ordered the ref to count the pin and Vegan Superman pinned B-Boy and Raze and was awarded the championship.
Dirty Ron McDonald then came out and chased Vegan Superman from the ring. He cut a promo about their chain match that would be taking place at Brewmania the next day. I didn’t quite get the point of using this show to setup a match that was going to take place in another promotion in another city.
Overall the match quality on the show was pretty good, with not a single bad match. The pacing of the show was pretty good as well, with it taking just about two hours, including the intermission.
FIST Combat has been a really good addition to San Diego’s wrestling scene in 2017, offering a unique show that isn’t like anything else in the area. Throughout the year sometimes some of the wrestling has been a mixed bag, but I have yet to go to a show by FIST Combat where I have not been entertained.
