FIST Combat “June DOOM” June 8, 2018 – review

Recently I was having a discussion with a local wrestler about FIST Combat sort of being the Southern California version of DDT Pro in Japan. While FIST may not have the same overall level of quality that DDT Pro has, I get the comparison. Each show has a lot of craziness with some good matches sprinkled in. They also both regularly book Joey Ryan. Their June DOOM show on June 8 was no different (minus Joey Ryan).

The show was held at Bay City Brewing, and was their second event at the venue. This time the event was held on the outside patio versus indoors. It was a nice summer night in San Diego, so the temperature never got below the high 60s. I thought the show lost something as far as the crowd heat went by being outside, but was far less cramped.

Matt Vandagriff over Hinata Koharu. [6’20]

This was a pre-show match that started about 15 minutes before the scheduled bell time. Hinata Koharu is an independent joshi wrestler from Japan, and this was her United States debut. She was probably just under five feet tall so Vandagriff towered over her. She used her quickness to get an early advantage over Vandagriff, but he eventually took control and won easy. This was short, but entertaining for what it was.

Ryan Kidd over Max McManus and Dicky Mayer. [8’26]

The match started with Ryan Kidd, who was wearing his lucha mask with his name written in katakana on his gear, starting a U.S.A. chant aimed at Max McManus, who is British. McManus told the crowd they are being prejudiced. Mayer has had singles matches with both other wrestlers recently, including a really good iron man match with Kidd, and he seemed the most comfortable with whoever his opponent was. This was overall technically fine, but never really hooked me.

Andy Brown vs. Teddy Hart goes to a no-contest when Douglas James interferes. [9’31]

This was on second as Teddy Hart has a flight to catch. This was a lot of fun. Teddy Hart has his usual flashy offense. He rubbed off on Andy Brown some, as Brown even hit a Canadian Destroyer. Douglas James came out mid-match and eventually attacked Brown and caused the match to be a no-contest.  James then challenged Brown for the title later on the show, with Brown accepting. You can tell James is a heel now because his hair is blonde… I heard the blonde Douglas James also puts pineapple on his pizza.

Biggie Biggz over Kikutaro in a Kaiju MMA. [7’55]

This was pretty bad. One thing about FIST though, when they have bad matches they are of the train wreck bad variety rather than the boring bad.

Dirty Ron McDonald over Randy Order via KO in a Knockouts and Submissions match to win the Get FIST’d title. [11’06]

This has been the biggest and longest running feud in the promotion. The match was pretty much a fist fight with both going for a knockout rather than a submission. There was a lot of the match that took place outside the ring, making it hard to see what was going on, but what I could see looked like a fun brawl.

Ruby Raze over Benny Capricorn (B-Boy). [9’55]

This was the first match after intermission and I had likely a slightly different experience with it than anyone else. Being in a bar a couple sat in front of me and began full on making out. Like the dude got to second base at the show. They were in someone else’s seats (local wrestler C-Love), and when only one of the two people that were sitting there returned at first, the couple just moved to both occupy the same seat and continue their makeout session. Nothing makes people want to get it on like a independent wrestling show. Only at FIST. The match itself featured a lot of comedy with Raze getting the larger amount of offense. For those who haven’t seen it yet, the Benny Capricorn gimmick is B-Boy’s weird cousin. Raze won with the Soul Eater. I’m not sure what happened to the couple.

AK Rambe (KC Douglas & Michael Hopkins) over Donnie Suarez & DJ Maitoli to retain the FIST Combat Tag Team titles. [9’09]

Biagio Crescenzo didn’t make it so they found a guy who somewhat looks like Biagio if he got a haircut and gained some mass to team with Donnie Suarez. Anytime Suarez was in the ring it was pretty good, as he is really under rated. When DJ Maitoli was in it got pretty awkward at times. From what I understand he’s only had a couple of matches.

Douglas James over Andy Brown to win the FIST Combat Heavyweight Championship. [12’02]

The Andy Brown versus Douglas James feud has only been going on a couple of months, but it has been really good, especially their match at last month’s FIST show that went to a 30 minute draw. This match was no exception, though the first two matches were better. This got the best crowd reaction of the night as well, with dueling “Andy Brown” and “Go DJ, Go DJ, Go” chants. They played this pretty even, with both getting about an equal amount of offense. After James won they now have one win a piece against each other, with one draw, so we should get at least one more match.

I thought the show was really fun. As I said at the start, FIST has done a good job of mixing good wrestling and craziness. Not every FIST show has had killer matches, but I’ve never been to a FIST event where I wasn’t entertained.

I have to give a lot of credit to FIST’s promoter Mikey Gordon. He has not been afraid to experiment and put together something that is a unique wrestling experience in Southern California.

FIST’s next show is on June 21 at Jolt’n Joes in La Mesa with Sabu and Super Genie on the card.