Ezra Fawkes defeated Vogan
This match was an excellent showcase of Fawkes’s blisteringly quick offense, literally flipping circles around Vogan who just couldn’t keep up. Fawkes maintained a breakneck pace perpetually keeping Vogan on his heels and eventually down on his back for the count.
It began with a traditional lock-up Vogan the clearly superior technical wrestler would take the initial advantage, however, Fawkes would leverage his superior agility first rolling to reposition then employing a handspring into an arm drag to escape. This was immediately followed by an identical sequence accounting for the end of a quadruplet of arm drags by Fawkes to Vogan. Vogan would catch a running Fawkes manipulating his way into a German suplex attempt only for Fawkes to flip out of it. Fawkes would whip Vogan into the rope which would result in him attempting a running Hurricanrana only for Fawkes to once again use a flip as a counter.
Fawkes held a clear advantage for the vast majority of this match using his speed and agility to counter and frankly out maneuver Vogan who seemed to just be surviving this sporadic onslaught. This is not to say Vogan had no offense as he himself landed a dive to the outside as well as multiple of his signature chops, he also managed to play his usual mind games throughout the match, however, these proved ineffective again Fawkes. Following a failed elbow drop by Vogan, Fawkes would retaliate with an impressive front flip DDT this, however, would only manage to get a one count, nonetheless following this move it was clear Fawkes was operating on a whole separate level, one which Vogan could not match. Once the straps were down we know the end was near, Fawkes at this point was just toying with Vogan and was confident in his own ability to end it at any point.
The finishing moments of this match would see the very opportunistic Vogan catch Fawkes in his patented chicken wing but much like everything else Vogan did throughout this match it had very little effect as Fawkes rolled through for a pin attempt. Following the kick out by Vogan, Fawkes immediately capitalized with the Heartless Moment for the pinfall victory.
Match Rating:
This match was rated ***¼ (3.25 Stars) by the reviewers here at TIC, a very much one-sided affair constructed to pop the crowd and get them interested in the rest of the show, which it did. There seemed to be an excessive amount of big moves and spots by Fawkes which in the eyes of the reviewers here overshadowed the story beats of the match. Almost crossing into squash territory if not for the few offensive flourishes by Vogan, nonetheless the match was entertaining, well edited with a few imperfections in terms of proper positioning, Fawkes looked impressive for the entirety of the match and although it didn't do much for Vogan it didn’t really hurt him too much either as he is a guy that can quite easily bounce back from a loss like this one. Good job to both competitors and we wish to see a more balanced rematch one day as we know both these men are extremely talented and could produce magic under the right circumstances.
Hana Brightly defeated Saylor
This match between a promising rookie and a jaded veteran on her way out was a great example of telling a story purely through action. Brightly’s vicious streak slowly corrupting the bubbly Saylor, Brightly's self-hatred directed at Saylor as she sees everything that was wrong with her old self in Saylor and it eats away at her very core.
The contest began with a lock-up exchange in which Saylor took an initial advantage wrenching the arm of Brightly, the veteran, however, would quickly reverse the pressure with a high wrist lock, using her knee’s to land a few strikes on the prone rookie. Saylor would eventually escape the hold transitioning into a headlock before being pushed back into the ropes by Brightly. Brightly would attempt a hip toss on the rebounding Saylor only to have her reverse into a hip toss of her own before falling victim to a barrage of kicks. A frustrated Brightly rolled to the outside from there she would play a few mind games with Saylor, jumping to the apron then jumping back down before Saylor could get her hands on her, then stalking the ring like a predator ready to strike. The inexperienced Saylor would take this moment to taunt creating the opportunity for Brightly to enter the ring and surprise her with a roll-up attempt.
Brightly exercised her experience advantage over Saylor throughout the entirety of the match, Saylor may have had the physical advantage but Brightly was able to undermine it. Hanah wasn’t just simply attempting to beat Saylor, she was trying to show Saylor that what she is doing will eventually result in her downfall, Brightly is trying to save Saylor from making the same “mistakes” she did. Saylor displayed some character depth of her own throughout this showing that she could use Brightly’s tactics against her, employing her own vicious streaks at points to match Brightly without letting it overtake her. Both women used hard-hitting and varied offensive movesets and while Brightly may have had the edge of experience Saylor had youth and talent on her side.
The finish of this match would see Saylor adopt the mentality of Brightly momentarily, rather than going for the win she aimed to inflict more damage which would eventually come back to hurt her. Saylor following a diving elbow from the middle rope would interrupt her own pin to deliver a pair of leg drops but on the second leg drop, Brightly would roll out of the way. Brightly would then in a moment of regression resort back an old maneuver from her past, from a time when she was Saylor to pick up the victory. In a way that was her redemption and after the match the two women embraced in a showing of mutual respect and although she had lost Saylor had proven herself and Brightly gladly acknowledged it.
Match Rating:
This match was rated **** (4.00 Stars) by the reviewers here at TIC, although if taken purely on the action this match was not anything truly extraordinary, good just not anything truly special, the storytelling in the match is where it really shined. Brightly's arch throughout this match was truly fascinating and although Saylor lost its clear that she had an effect on Brightly, forcing her to regress back to the person she was before to win showing that the old Brightly still lived under this darker persona. The action was clean and the editing was crisp but it lacked any truly memorable spots which when done in small doses can truly add to a match but none the less it was a fantastic showing by both competitors.
KIOSHIMA defeated Connor Battles to win the Freedom Pro World Championship
Words turned to action as these two competitors meet the main event of this show, the confident champion taking on the conceited challenger. The hostile back and forths on Twitter set the stage for this match to be a stiff affair and both men were more than willing to inflict some real damage on the other.
The beginning of the match set the stage and precedent that it would follow throughout its duration, disregarding a traditional lock-up exchange in favor of an exchange of vicious strikes. Battles would toss KIO into the corner before unloading with a barrage of kicks followed up by a face wash. Battles would leverage his experience and skill advantage to dominate the opening moments of the match simply out striking KIO who seemed to have no way to respond. Battles would begin a systematic dissection of KIO's legs no only to disrupt his vertical base but also to disable his preferred mode of offense. Battles' downfall, however, would be his overconfidence, taking his attention away from a KIO to taunt allowing him enough time to recover and retaliate with a stiff bicycle knee strike. This was the opening KIO needed as from here he would begin to even the playing field with some strikes of his own.
Both competitors would exchange multiple series of strikes, however, Battles seemed to have plan and strategy to take out KIO's legs whereas KIO just relied on his wide array of strike-based offense to overwhelm Battles. The more experienced Battles was pressing an advantage while KIO just seemed to be contending, nonetheless, KIO mustered some impressive offense of his own throughout the middle portion of the match that kept him alive and kept Battles on his heels but no matter what he did Battles just seemed to be able to adapt, recover, and retaliate.
The finish of the match was telegraphed by the entrance of Christin Ballard who ran down to the ring distracting the referee before he could witness KIO tap out while caught by Battles in a kneebar. The obviously angered Battles would attempt to confront Ballard who would step away before he got the chance allowing KIO enough time to get back to his feet and hit Yakuma's Vengence on Battles for the win and the championship. Ballard had cost Battles his championship and thus their saga continued but more importantly, we had ourselves a new Freedom Pro World Champion in KIOSHIMA.
Match Rating:
The match was rated ***¾ (3.75 Stars) the reviewers here at TIC, the action throughout was compelling possessed no egregious errors, however, the story of the match was overly simplistic and beyond their back and forth on Twitter there was no real build up for it. Normally this would not be an issue if it just were an exhibition match but this was the world championship match on the main event the show, it could have offered a little bit more build. Still, this match was thoroughly entertaining and the action is well worth a watch. Although the striking sequences did seem to repeat themselves quite often we accepted that this is simply the nature of the style. As with every other match on the show both competitors played their roles and characters well and clearly showcased why they were deserving of the main event. Once again congratulations are due to KIOSHIMA for his title win and we are excited to see how he elevates the belt further, and we look forward to the rematch and how the Battles/Ballard saga continues.
Overall Show Rating:
As is the case with everything Freedom Pro has produced this show was visually stunning and every detail, graphics, logo, and image seemed well designed. The arena was beautifully constructed, the commentary was decent to good all be it distracting at points, the booking was sensible and the flow of the show was solid however the lack of breaks between matches is still a point of concern for us. Overall we rating the show and its production **** (4.0 Stars), not as good as Chapter 1 but still a strong showing by a promising promotion.
Written By: Philip Nelson
Twitter: @TodayInCAW, @PhilipNelsonTIC
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