Pro Wrestling Fusion

Fusion 2 Year Anniversary Report by Richard Trionfo

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Pro Wrestling Fusion celebrated their second anniversary with their Vamanos Bang Bang 2 show in Fort Pierce, Florida. Here are some of the stories from the show:

New NWA Florida Heavyweight Champion goes through Three Stages of Hell to win title

It is fitting that Tommy Taylor was part of a Three Stages of Hell Match when he won the NWA Florida Heavyweight Title from The Sheik because Taylor has gone through hell to get to this point. A few months ago, Taylor was attacked by The Sheik and burned with a fireball. Because of the injury, Taylor had thought about retiring, but Tommy was not going to let the Sheik end his career like that. Taylor had been a thorn in the side of the Sheik leading up to this show and he had to go through three different types of matches. The first fall was a First Blood Match which saw Taylor win after avoiding The Sheik’s spike and hitting a DDT onto a steel chair. The second fall was a Dog Collar Match which saw The Sheik use the chain to his advantage and he tied things at one fall apiece. The final fall was a Falls Count Anywhere Match, and after going all over the Police Athletic League building and going through a number of referees, Taylor was able to get the three count on The Sheik to become the new NWA Florida Heavyweight Champion.

Controversy in the NWA Florida Junior Heavyweight Title Match

Craig Classic has dominated the Junior Heavyweight Division and has been the champion since last October and has defeated all opponents while showing little mercy for his opponents. It would not an easy title defense for Craig because he would have to defend the title in a Ladder Match with three challengers. While Classic has been feuding with Johnny Vandal for the title, Dagon and Jack Manley joined them in this match. This was a hard fought match that saw the action take place in and out of the ring but in the end, Craig Classic was able to retain his title. Some might say that there was some controversy over the finish because the referee was knocked out after Classic knocked Dagon and Manley off the ladder in the ring and the ladder hit the referee. While the referee was out, Vandal got the title belt over the ring but Classic hit Vandal with a Blue Thunder Driver and took the belt from Vandal. The referee regained consciousness and he saw Classic with the belt, declaring Classic the champion. Will Vandal get another shot at the title that he can claim he won?

Dark City Fight Club defend NWA Florida Tag Titles, but face different team

The Dark City Fight Club and Heartbreak Express were scheduled to meet in a Double Dog Collar Match, but after objections by Sean and Phil Davis, the match was changed to a Lumberjack Match. Due to health issues, the Heartbreak Express were unable to wrestle. The Dark City Fight Club would not get the night off and they would be faced with a more daunting task because they would not know their opponents until the tag match between the Double Deuce Social Club and the Father and son team of Prince Iaukea and Nick Primo was over. Dark City would end up facing Primo and Iaukea in a match that saw Dark City retain the titles after wearing down Iaukea and Primo in a hard fought match.

Here are the quick results from the show:

Kazuchika Okada defeated Chris Gray
Prince Iaukea and Nick Primo defeated Double Deuce Social Club (Francisco Ciatso and Pete Cannon with Amy Vitale) in a Number One Contender Match
Craig Classic defeated Johnny Vandal, Dagon, and Jack Manley in a Ladder Match to retain the NWA Florida Junior Heavyweight Title
King Kong Fu defeated Sinn Bodhi
Dark City Fight Club (Jon Davis and Kory Chavis) defeated Nick Primo and Prince Iaukea to retain the NWA Florida Tag Titles
Tommy Taylor defeated the Sheik in a Three Stages of Hell Match to become the new NWA Florida Heavyweight Champion

Here is a more detailed recap of the show.

Match Number One: Kazuchika Okada defeated Chris Gray

Gray does not appreciate the fans chanting for Okada at the start of the match. Okada works on the arm while Gray starts to work on the leg. Gray goes to the floor to regroup and Okada with a pescado onto Gray. Okada goes up top but Gray drops Okada on the top rope and Gray tries to work on the head while Okada hangs on the ropes. Gray works on the ribs but Okada sends Gray into the turnbuckles and returns to the arm. Okada gets the victory after an STO and neckbreaker.

Match Number Two: Prince Iaukea and Nick Primo defeated the Double Deuce Social Club (Francisco Ciatso and Pete Cannon with Amy Vitale)

Before the match starts, Fusion Commissioner Casey Thompson mentioned that the Heartbreak Express were not able to make it to the show so he is making the winner of this match the number one contenders for the NWA Florida Tag Titles and will face the Dark City Fight Club later tonight.

After the announcement, Ciatso and Cannon celebrate thinking they have an easy route to the NWA Florida Tag Titles.

What was thought to be an easy victory did not start off that way and Ciatso was worked over by Primo and Iaukea. Eventually Ciatso and Cannon take control by using the referee to keep Iaukea out of the match. Iaukea was able to get into the match but he was worked over by Ciatso and Cannon with Amy Vitale getting in a few shots as well. After a few near falls by Ciatso, Cannon holds Iaukea by the ropes but Primo pulls Cannon off the apron. Things break down and everyone literally walks over Ciatso. Iaukea tags back in and he has some words with Primo but Iaukea kicks Cannon while Primo hits a cross body on Ciatso for the three count.

Match Number Three: Craig Classic defeated Johnny Vandal, Dagon, and Jack Manley to retain the NWA Florida Junior Heavyweight Title in a Ladder Match

The match starts with the ladder outside the ring, but Manley does his best to bring the ladder into the ring. After working on Craig in the ring, Vandal and Dagon send him to the floor and they join Manley and Classic on the floor after suicide dives. The ladder finally got into the ring and Vandal hit a German suplex on Classic that sent the champion onto the ladder. The ladder got used by all four participants. The ladder is then set up for the wrestlers to try to get the NWA Florida Junior Heavyweight Title belt hanging above the ring but the first attempts result in failure. Manley slammed Dagon onto the ladder after it was closed up and then he tried for a quebrada but Dagon moved and Manley hit the ladder. Vandal misses a back senton when Classic moved and Vandal hit the ladder. Dagon went under the ring to get a second ladder. Dagon climbed the ladders and hit a leg drop onto Manley. When Classic and Vandal returned to the ring, Classic hit a diving head butt from the top of the ladders. Dagon and Manley fight on top of the ladders and Classic pushes the ladders apart, knocking them off but also knocking out the referee. Vandal hit an Ace Cutter off the ladder and then he returned up top and got the belt. However, since the referee was still out, Classic hit Vandal with a Blue Thunder Driver and when the referee recovered, he saw Classic holding the belt and declared him the winner.

It was time for intermission.

Match Number Four: King Kong Fu defeated Sinn Bodhi

Sinn starts off having some fun with the referee before the match but he appears to be afraid to lock up with the monkey across the ring from him. After locking up, Bodhi claimed that Fu pulled his hair. Bodhi decides it would be easier to lock up with the referee and he tells the referee to stop clowning around. They fight on the floor with Bodhi getting the advantage. They return to the ring and Fu is able to fight off Bodhi’s offense and he gets the three count.

Match Number Five: Dark City Fight Club (Jon Davis and Kory Chavis) defeated Nick Primo and Prince Iaukea to retain the NWA Florida Tag Titles

This match started off with each team trying to get the advantage but neither could maintain one. Iaukea and Primo were eventually able to get control of the match as they worked over Davis and Chavis. Davis and Chavis were able to work on Iaukea and focused on his back as they made numerous tags to stay fresh. Iaukea fought back and but Chavis and Davis were too much and were able to get rid of Primo before hitting Project Mayhem on Iaukea for the three count.

Match Number Six: Tommy Taylor defeated The Sheik with Fabulous Frank to become the new NWA Florida Heavyweight Champion in a Three Stages of Hell Match

Fall Number One: First Blood Match

Taylor showed a lot of aggression at the start of the match as he took Sheik down before Sheik went to the floor. The action briefly went into to the crowd. Sheik tried to use his spike to draw blood on Taylor, but Tommy avoided it. Frank gave Sheik a chair but that backfired because Taylor was able to DDT Sheik on the chair and then he punched Sheik in the head to draw blood and win the first fall

Tommy Taylor wins first fall

Fall Number Two: Dog Collar Match

Sheik waited for Taylor to have the dog collar attached and then he took advantage of the position of the chain to crotch Taylor. Sheik used the chain to bloody Taylor. Taylor tried to fight back but he could not recover from the attack at the start of the fall and after being wrapped up in the chain, Sheik got the pin fall.

Sheik wins the second fall [Tied one fall each]

Fall Number Three: Falls Count Anywhere

Sheik removed his dog collar but then he took advantage of the time it took Taylor to get the collar off so he hung Taylor over the top rope. Security came out to help get Taylor out of the collar and the referee tried to stop Sheik’s attack on Taylor. Sheik used a fireball to stop the referee. Frank gave Sheik the spike and he used it on security. Taylor finally got out of the collar and returned to the ring. Taylor avoided the spike and he was able to use it on Sheik. They took the action into the crowd as they brawled throughout the building. They got back into the ring and Sheik got a number of near falls and then he took out his frustration over not being able to finish off Taylor on another referee who replaced the first one. A third referee comes in and Sheik took care of him. Taylor thought he had Sheik finished off with a sunset flip but there was no referee. Taylor knocked Frank off the apron when he tried to interfere and then he hit a cross body but without a referee, it looked like he would be unable to get the win. Casey Thompson came to the ring to make the three count.

Tommy Taylor wins third fall and match [two falls to one]

Vamanos Bang Bang 2 Thoughts

I liked the Okada/Gray match. It was a good opener for the show. It was a basic match without too many moves that would take away from the rest of the show. Okada has been very impressive in the matches that he has wrestled for Pro Wrestling Fusion. Chris Gray has also had a number of good matches this year has shown that he can work tag team as well as singles matches. With what was going to happen in the two singles title matches, there was no need for a lot of flash in the match.

I thought it was a good thing to have the tag match between Double Deuce and the team of Primo and Iaukea become a number one contender match after the announcement that the Heartbreak Express were unable to be at the show to face Dark City Fight Club.

Since I had missed a few shows in Fort Pierce, it was a bit strange to see Prince Iaukea as a face because the last time I was there, he was one of the biggest heels. However, they did an angle where Iaukea came out to help Nick Primo and tell everyone that Nick was his son.

The number one contender match was okay. Primo has improved over time and working with his father should help him in the long run. Double Deuce is an old school tag team and with Amy Vitale at ringside, they have all of the components that made heel tag teams work well in the 80s.

I thought the ladder match for the Junior Heavyweight Title was very good and all four men were impressive in the match. While the match focused on the issues between Johnny Vandal and Craig Classic which has been a strong feud in the company for the last few months, Dagon and Jack Manley were not secondary players and showed that they belonged in the match. All four men took crazy bumps in the match and drew the crowd into the match. I thought the finish of the match did a good job of continuing the feud between Classic and Vandal because Vandal can claim that he won the match since he got the belt from where it was hanging, but Classic was able to take advantage of the referee situation to take the belt from Vandal.

I thought the Sinn Bodhi/King Kong Fu match was a good way to start the second half of the show, but it felt like the match went a bit too long. With the way that Sinn works matches, he is a good opponent for Fu.

The Dark City Fight Club/Primo and Iaukea match was okay and was different than most Dark City matches that I have seen. It was strange to see Dark City trying to work a ‘standard’ wrestling match instead of their usual ‘beat people down until they finally finish off their opponents’ match. Jon and Kory are both good wrestlers but their style as a tag team is more brawling and I don’t know if the crowd expected it from them.

I thought the Three Stages of Hell match was a good match and was a very good way to finish off this feud (if the feud is over). These two men have gone through so much over the last few months that it needed to end with this time of battle. Since Sheik uses the spike, you would have expected to see him win the first fall so it was a good change of pace to see Taylor win the first fall. While the referee was putting the collar on Taylor, you had a feeling that Sheik was going to use the chain to his advantage since Taylor’s back was turned to him. It made sense that this fall was relatively short to set up for the falls count anywhere part of the match. I liked the way the third fall started with Sheik using the chain to hang Taylor and try to weaken his opponent and get a quick victory in the third fall. Taylor and Sheik gave everything in the third fall and I liked that Taylor was able to fight the odds to win the match.

In most wrestling matches, I consider the referee doing a good job when you don’t notice them in the match. This also applies for ringside security when they are used by companies. However, the three referees and the ringside security deserve a lot of credit on this show. When the referees took their bumps during the match, they executed them well and did not look like they were shot with a cannon and then fell down minutes later. I thought Chuck Aurin took the fireball from the Sheik perfectly during the main event. The reaction to the fireball by the people at ringside was also well done since they needed to deal with the damage that he suffered. I also thought that the bumps that Rich Ambruzino took during the ladder match and the main event were well done. I also thought the ringside security did a great job during the main event, especially when one of them was being attacked by the Sheik.

There were also a few things that happened in the ladder match that happen in most ladder matches. These did not take away from what the wrestlers did in the match and are simply pet peeves of mine that take place in other companies. There were two occasions when wrestlers were on the ladder right under the belt but they decided to hit moves off the ladder instead of grabbing the belt to win the match. Another thing was with the finish of the match with Vandal having the belt but Classic being the one who the referee saw with the belt, declaring him the winner. When you have other situations where an authority figure restarts a match or reverses a decision for other matches, when they don’t do it in a situation causes continuity issues. It is like having replay reverse a decision or restart a match, but not using it for every match or in a situation where replay showed something that went contrary to the in ring ruling.

I was also a bit worried about the three ref bumps that took place in the main event. I remember reading about the ref bumps that took place in another company and how it took away from their main event. I was not surprised that Sheik used a fireball during the match, but I thought that if they were going to use it on the referee, that it would have been done accidentally when Taylor moved out of the way. The second ref bump made sense because Sheik was frustrated with his inability to pin Taylor and Sheik was looking at the referee in a way that he was going to do something if he was not going to get a three count. The third ref bump seemed like it was Sheik taking out his frustration on the next person to come to the ring. It may have been too much, but it worked in this match.