Hey guys it is Josh reviewing FIP Ascension. Since I didn’t watch last month’s FIP event, this is my first time watching FIP since the reboot. I heard very mixed things about last month’s event but it seemed to have been a bizarrely booked show. After the booking of last night’s Style Battle event, I don’t know if I can deal with another show like that. 

This show kicked off with two large guys that I don’t know attacking two smaller guys that I don’t know. The commentators didn’t seem to know who the smaller ones either, so at least I’m not alone. It lasted less than a minute. So that happened. It seems the larger men are known as Drennan and Parrow. They got on the mic and put the locker room on notice. This was a fine and chaotic segment but I really am not sure why it happened. Okay.

Austin Theory came out ready to wrestle. I was actually excited to see Austin Theory come out as he had a decently impressive performance last night and has looked pretty good whenever I have seen him. Sami Callihan and Darby Allin appeared in the rafters and asked Theory if he knows Uncle John. AR Fox attacked him in the ring but Sammy Guevara made the save. This set up a tag match for later on in the night, which hopefully actually happens because that could actually be pretty good. 

FIP Freestyle

Eddie Machete vs Jackson Kelly vs Connor Braxton vs Alex Taylor vs Xander Killen

Eddie Machete is back for the second night in a row with his creepy mustache. I was happy to see Braxton as he was decently impressive in the FRAY last night but none of the others were impressive at all so I didn’t care very much going into this. This was pretty similar to the match last night except I’d say it was better. There was a funny spot where Braxton almost accidentally hit the referee with a spinebuster. It had some of the same problems as the one last night and nobody truly stuck out but it was pretty fun. **3/4

I’m not entirely sure what was going on after this but then Dan Barry came out to save us. Dan buried the creepy afro man who was in the ring which got a good reaction.  Segments like this are an example of how great Dan Barry is. Last night he had a very enjoyable and intense match with Sami Callihan, tonight he does a comedy segment leading into a match with some random guy. 

Dan Barry vs Billy Barboza 

This was a fine match, Dan is always fun to watch even when his opponent isn’t very good. I really hope this weekend leads to Dan getting more bookings in WWN as he was very over both nights and showed how well-rounded of a performer he is. Dan getting the win was a nice moment even he did get hit with a low blow right after. **

Caleb Konley vs Jason Cade

I was decently excited for this match as I’ve heard nothing but good things about Cade and Konley did pretty well last night at Style Battle. This ended up actually being a great match with Konley putting on one of my favorite performances of his that I can remember. Cade also did very well, doing a ton of cool stuff including an awesome northern light suplex into a double footstomp. The crowd was very into it and it was just a very enjoyable match. Both guys did a great job at making the match seem important as Konley became very frustrated as the match progressed and Cade was so desperate that at one point he was literally throwing chairs at Konley. Better than anything from last night aside from the opener and easily the best part of this show so far. Watch this match. ***1/4

Dynamite Didi vs Aria Blake

I have not seen either of these women so I wasn’t sure what to expect going in. There was some cool stuff but there wasn’t much to it. I missed the finish due to streaming problems but I saw more than enough. *1/2

When my stream came back there was more Uncle John things happening, except now Tracer X is involved. If you read my review of Style Battle S1E2, you most likely know how I feel about that.

A man named Dontay Brown came out and called out Anthony Henry and Amber Young. Yay Anthony Henry! Hopefully whatever he does tonight is better than the storytelling tragedy that he was part of 24 hours earlier. This segment went for a very long time and then Eddie Machete and Connor Braxton came out to attack Anthony Henry until Dan Barry made the save. Dan Barry turned heel and attacked Anthony Henry! Not sure how I feel about that but if it means I get to see more of him I don’t mind.

Dan Barry vs Anthony Henry

I guess the story of this is that if Dan wins he gets $10,000 which explains why he decided to answer the open challenge. This wasn’t really special but it was really cool to see these two wrestle. Anthony Henry’s assault of Dan’s legs added to the match and it was an interesting change to see Dan wrestling as a heel. **3/4

Florida Heritage Championship

Martin Stone (c) vs Jon Davis 

I wasn’t sure what to think going into this as I generally like Martin Stone quite a bit but I haven’t seen Jon Davis in years. My first time seeing Stone was actually live at EVOLVE 38 against Biff Busick and I’ve been a fan of his ever since. Sadly he doesn’t wrestle in many promotions I watch but it’s always a treat when I get to see him. This ended up being a pretty good match with Stone showing a lot of personality and having fun banter with the crowd. Normally I don’t like rollup finishes in championship matches but it kept both guys looking good and was fine under these circumstances. **1/2

FIP World Championship

Fred Yehi (c) vs Brian Cage

This was a very enjoyable match when my stream was not having issues. Yehi is such a great wrestler and it is so cool to see him so over with the Orpheum crowd. I’m not a big Cage guy but he did well here. I definitely would’ve liked to see it go at least a few minutes longer though. **3/4

Sami Callihan, AR Fox, and Darby Allin vs Austin Theory, Sammy Guevara, and Tracer X

Not sure how I feel about this going on after the world title match but I guess it makes sense to an extent as this Uncle John’s Friends thing has easily been the biggest angle in FIP since the reboot. This was a fantastic match with literally everyone putting on great performances. This match was completely insane from start to finish with tons of amazing spots and great double/triple team moves. Uncle John’s Friends looked great and the other three, especially Theory, had career-making performances. Theory, Guevara, and even Tracer X all looked fantastic in defeat and showed that the future of indy wrestling is extremely strong. This match was the perfect environment for every participant to showcase just how good they are and it did a lot for the story. ***3/4

Overall Review: This show was very easy to get through, with two great matches and none that were actively bad. The worst actual match was the women’s match and there was still some cool stuff in that. The Konley/Cade match was great and the main event was one of the best matches of the year in my opinion. I never thought I’d say this but Sami Callihan was easily one of the best performers of the weekend. The Dan Barry heel turn was also a nice little swerve. What a great show, would’ve been even better without the streaming problems (get it together FloSlam). There was some unnecessary stuff but I definitely recommend this show, especially the two matches I mentioned.

Overall Rating: 7.75/10