It’s the final part of Dundee & Angus Pro Wrestling’s April event for this week’s FCW Empire episode, we’re still in The Queen’s Hotel with another title bout on the way with the road to ArdlerMania IV official begun.
Lex Loomis defeated Shaun Faegan by pinfall.
Shaun Faegan immediately attacked Lex Loomis as he entered the ring. After a scuffle they were separated, when the bell rung Faegan got forearmed and wrist locked, allowing Loomis to switch around with very little fight back. A bit of tying up eventually had Faegan punch his way out to gain the upper hand. It became a mauling, with Shaun Faegan picking apart Loomis slowly. Lex kept coming back with forearms that eventually rattled Faegan enough for a nice compact powerslam and a fisherman’s suplex for a near fall.
A wonky spinebuster got Shaun Faegan a two count, with a follow up back suplex attempt being rolled through by Lex to score the three.
The match was disjointed for the most part, it did have some solid ideas but the flow to transfer between moves was not the best. It did feel like it was in slow motion at points. The crowd also went into a split towards the end with chants for both Lex Loomis and Shaun Faegan which was odd.
DAPW Championship – Tommy Cross defeated Ryan Roode by pinfall to retain.
Roode tried to tie up Tommy Cross early but found himself catching air with clotheslines before being dropkicked to the outside. The brawl continued around ringside that Tommy got the better off to roll Ryan between the ropes, firing in a lariat to keep Roode on the defensive and cutting off any attempts to turn the tables. Cross was relentless as the support for Ryan Roode got louder. A missed running knee gave Roode the chance to deliver a cutter for a very near fall with Tommy Cross barely getting his shoulder up in time.
Ryan hit a second wind as both men traded running knees and forearms in the ropes until a right hand to the temple in unison send both competitors into opposite corners to recover. From the reset it was Roode awakening for Tommy Cross with him being send for a Blue Thunder Bomb for another close count. Cross tried to distract referee Sean Moran with an eye issue to keep Moran blind from seeing Tommy swinging his leg back to low blow Roode. However, Ryan shook off the testicular trauma to hoist Cross up, then down, with a Death Valley Driver which still wasn’t enough to capture the DAPW Championship.
As both wrestlers struggled to their feet Tommy grabbed Ryan first for a Samoan Drop for two, Roode had some Samoan manoeuvres in his sack of tricks to land a Samoan Driver that netted the same result. Ryan started some corner punches until Tommy powerbombed Roode to the canvas, an elevated Cribbie Cruncher drove the challengers head into the mat to leave Ryan Roode staring at the back of his eyelids while Tommy Cross got the cover and retained the DAPW Championship.
A solid main event to the episode and to the show itself. The magnitude of Ryan’s charisma to somehow go from public enemy number one only a few months prior to having that feverish fan support once more is testament to his ability to connect with the audience. Despite a shenanigan or two, Tommy Cross had a relatively clean match, no Red Gate interference, just the one low blow that was largely ignored by the recipient, it helped to put further stock into his reign with a win over a former FCW Heavyweight Champion.
A tale of two halves in this edition. The first half was a bit uncooked and raw, while the main event was a meaty charcuterie board.
The show is available on YouTube: