It’s gonna be May, and we’re back in The Empire Zone that resides in Perth for some Fair City Wrestling action.
Rich Money defeated Lex Loomis by pinfall.
We kicked off with the VIP portion of the show, with fans slowly filling the Tulloch Institute. Loomis went for plenty of pins in the early going before Rich Money took over with a spinebuster. Money went move-pin-move to try and keep Lex down until an armdrag took Money down, Loomis came back for a spell until an inverted Atomic Drop was quickly followed up with an Uranage to finish the match in short order.
It was a dominant win for Rich Money to re-enforce this change in mindset and he looked solid. There is a nervous energy from Lex Loomis which comes out as a lack of finesse to flow moves together and as it was the hard cam for the VIP portion on the episode we were essentially getting a view from the back and Loomis was, at times, reserved in his movements so things looked stilted and introverted. In a positive note, the crowd are heavily invested in Lex Loomis as a person and there is a want to see him succeed, and time will nurture his confidence to take more of an expressive risk going forward.
The match was quick for a taster of what to expect the rest of the evening and the audience in The Empire Zone made plenty of noise so it sounded like we were in for a great atmosphere.
Post-match, Rich Money laid in an extra dig into Loomis and stormed to the back.
Tommy Raiden had a totally normal rant at himself and laid out the consequences of his, and Oliver Green’s, actions as The Justified find themselves in the crosshairs of Ryan Roode, which will be featured in next week’s episode.
The Boogieman defeated Sebastian Asher by pinfall.
The light were down and the main show started with The Boogieman strutting his way out to face an unimpressed Sebastian Asher. The Boogieman had some boogie shenanigans until Asher Sparta kicked his way out of the predicament. Boogieman slumped to the canvas after a beat down but was revived via doing the worm, only to be met by a Shotgun Dropkick from Sebastian Asher. Asher chucked Boogieman to the outside and clubbed away, resetting the referee’s ten count by rolling in and out of the ring.
Asher set up a spear on the outside but missed his target, with Boogieman side stepping and leaving Sebastian diving through the entrance curtain and barely making it back into the ring before referee Chris Quinn could reach the count of ten. An Airplane Spin and cartwheel senton had the Empire Zone go banana. Boogieman went for the chokeslam but Asher took him down with a double leg, rolled Boogieman to his feet to cut him with a spear. Before the three count could be made Sebastian broke his own pin to the sound of boos that transferred into a wave of cheers. Asher hit a second spear, then a third, and a fourth. While Chris Quinn checked on Boogieman, Retro Randy snuck out to crack the FCW Heavyweight Championship off Asher’s head for him to stumble back into a roll up for The Boogieman to get the win.
Randy rolled in for a brawl with Sebastian Asher after the match, with Asher making a quick exit as Retro Randy stood tall to close the episode.
For what it was, the crowd was electric, a testament to how much of a bastard Sebastian Asher has been in Fair City Wrestling that they were begging for him to get taken down a peg or two by The Boogieman. Asher got to show his ruthless side by continuing the battering, and his defeat furthering on the eventual match between himself and Retro Randy thanks to Randy being the reason for the loss, so that was good.
This felt like a more “in-house” episode of FCW Empire, with that being because we haven’t really seen a whole lot of build up for Sebastian Asher and The Boogieman, bar Asher throwing Boogieman out of the Fair City Rumble about six months prior, but the audience ate up every second of it as they have seen the tension first hand. Using that crowd energy for this to move it onto Randy versus Sebastian to heighten the anticipation for that match was an excellent move.
The show is available on YouTube: