Moments Ago: RoH and FIP – Are Crossovers a Good Idea?

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RoH and FIP: Are Crossovers a Good Idea?

It is no secret that I think Ring of Honor is the best and most innovative wrestling company going today. Much of that innovation can be attributed to the quality of wrestlers they use, which if you look at the line-ups of most any of their shows you can plainly see it is the absolute best that independent wrestling has to offer. The in-ring marvel is, of course, only one part of the show. Gabe Sapolsky, RoH’s booker, is another major part of that equation. Mentored by Paul Heyman, Gabe has been voted booker of the year in several top polls, Wrestling Observer just to name one. He then became the booker in Florida based promotion Full Impact Pro. He has certainly done some exciting things with the promotion; very recently some RoH angles spilled over and showed up on the most recent FIP double shot. These include the RoH title being defended on the show, wrestlers competing for a spot on Ring of Honor’s “Do or Die” showcase card which took place this past Saturday, and finally the American Dragon vs. Homicide feud igniting in FIP as well as RoH. The question is: Is it a good idea to have angles spread across both federations?
The short answer, in my opinion is yes. Before explaining why however, it is important to note that Gabe has done an excellent job, and continues to do so, in keeping the two federations separate and unique. Living in the Northeast, I have not yet had a chance to see FIP and have only read about them, but through reading results, the FIP website, and an interview conducted with Gabe Sapolsky, they certainly are for the most part different. The biggest example is the use of CM Punk and Homicide. CM Punk, rather than emphasizing the “straight edge” aspect of his character emphasizes his eclectic nature, that’s fancy for weirdness, as the leader of the New Dawn. The New Dawn is a heel stable that features Azriel who competed, when FIP debuted, as Angeldust, a member of Special K in RoH, but he has since started using the Azriel gimmick in RoH as well. He does compete everywhere else as Azriel, RoH did a very different character at first then he played elsewhere. Homicide is the company’s top babyface and that is certainly not the case in Ring of Honor. In RoH, he is one of, if not the top heel as the leader of the Rottweilers. Gabe likened FIP to a side project for a musician where he gets to try some things and work with certain people that he wouldn’t normally get to work with.
FIP, because of Gabe’s influence, uses a lot of RoH talent on their shows. This is both good and bad. Bad because it costs money to bring these northeast and elsewhere workers down to Florida to work in front of small crowds, and small crowds of course equal small gates. Bad also because, many of these guys are not big names on the Florida scene and may not necessarily draw big business. The internet makes it easier for everyone to know about workers no matter the region, but the majority of the Florida wrestling fan-base is not made up of internet “smart marks,” and prefers a more old school style of wrestling to the more strong style, smart mark wrestling that prevails in RoH, and many of the top indies in the US. FIP has some aspects of “old-school” wrestling but uses a lot of outside talent that do not necessarily wrestle in the “old school” style. Again, I have not seen the product in the ring, so I don’t know if people like Punk, Aries, Homicide, American Dragon, Samoa Joe, or others modify their style to fit the market. It is, however, no secret that FIP is about selling DVDs and not tickets at the door. Given that FIP DVDs are sold through RoH’s website it naturally appeals directly to the RoH fanbase. This is the primary reason that it is ok to let RoH storylines even in the most bare form spill over into FIP.
At the most recent set of FIP shows, the aforementioned RoH crossovers took place. Like I said before, bringing aspects of RoH into FIP is a good idea, while they are not outright storyline crossovers, the RoH influence is undeniable. Homicide and Dragon have a very heated feud going on in RoH, and while the issues in the feud haven’t crossed over the potential matches have. It remains to be seen if one of their “best of five” matches will be contested in FIP. I doubt it, but a singles match between the two is almost guaranteed. This is just an instance of the ability to put on a great match. The RoH fan is going to want to buy the DVD that has an American Dragon vs. Homicidet match on an FIP show because they like their matches in RoH.
Likewise fans that attended the most recent RoH show got to see several FIP wrestlers including Vordell Walker, who was also Samoa Joe’s mystery opponent presented by Mick Foley on the main show, Eddie Vegas, who has worked on many RoH shows as Fast Eddie, but in this instance he was managed by Dave Prazak representing DP Associates which is a FIP stable, the Heartbreak Express and others. Putting these people on RoH shows is going to help achieve the FIP goal of selling DVDs, the fans won over by these FIP wrestlers will then pick up FIP DVDs to see more of their work.
Defending the Ring of Honor title on the FIP show is just a continuation of something Samoa Joe started during his reign as RoH champion. Joe was ALWAYS RoH champion, no matter where he went. He may not have defended his title everywhere, but he never hid that fact. Austin Aries is just trying to continue that tradition, but this works kind of in the opposite. A net fan who has only seen RoH on video or DVD that lives in Florida is now going to be more apt to attend an FIP show that has the RoH belt on the line. While that fan is most likely smart enough to know that the Ring of Honor title will not change hands, they get the message that this show must be legit if the top indie fed in the northeast is letting its belt be defended there.
Should Ring of Honor angles play out in FIP though? Like I said before, yes, but only sparingly. Full Impact Pro should not become Ring of Honor Jr. It has done a good job thus far of being for the most part separate but the walls appear to be slowly breaking down. I doubt they will ever completely do so, as Gabe Sapolsky is far too talented a booker, and the style of wrestling presented in RoH is not the style of wrestling that is the most over in Florida.
If you have any comments you can always e-mail me at bigandymac@yahoo.com.

I’ll see you next time.

-Big Andy Mac