After not hosting a show since the end of December last year, Five Borough Wrestling (FBW) will look to kick off 2016 in style as the promotion switches venues. No longer emanating from the American Legion on Ave. N, FBW will host its first show at St. Finbars Church located at 138 Bay 20th Street in Brooklyn, NY this Friday evening
Friday's card features FBW's usual mix of mainstays, sizzling debuts, and potential classic bouts that are sure to keep the Bay Ridge faithful entertained throughout. Former WWE superstar and current Ring of Honor (ROH) mainstay Cliff Compton will make his FBW debut. After
Kenny Omega's sterling debut at
Season's Last Wish, Compton will give it his best try to impress the FBW crowd in his first outing.
"The Juice" JT Dunn will be making his FBW return -- filling in for Global Force Wrestling NEX*GEN Champion Sonjay Dutt. Also, best friends will turn rivals for one night only as the FBW Heavyweight Championship will be on the line with a hometown favorite looking to add to his already impressive resume.
While a Crusade for Change still looms, it's sure to be an action-packed evening to see who's Standing Tall at the end of the event as a 30-man, over the top rope battle royal will crown the next No.1 contender for the FBW Heavyweight Championship.
Let's take a look at the scheduled matches.
Massage- NV (VSK & Dorian Graves) vs. Milk Chocolate (Brandon Watts & Randy Summers): Making their FBW debut, the team of Massage-NV will look to bring the fight to one of FBW's most popular tag teams. Speaking of the match, VSK promised Summers and Watts a disappointed result in a
pre-taped video, saying that "at the end of the night, our debut at FBW, we are going to have a happy ending." Coming off an impressive -- but losing --showing against Crusade for Change members TJ Marconi and Stockade, Milk Chocolate will look to get back on track with a victory over the FBW newcomers.
House of Glory Elite Championship: JT Dunn vs. Anthony Gangone (c): After a controversial victory over GFW NEX*GEN Champion Sonjay Dutt, Anthony Gangone was set to defend his HOG Elite Championship against Dutt in a rematch. However, Dutt couldn't be at FBW this Friday, so "The Juice" JT Dunn will look to unseat Gangone from his throne as champion. While Dunn was not present at the last FBW show, he's still been extremely busy on the independent circuit, continually testing his skills against the best in the industry. Gangone has shown himself to crafty and resilient in retaining the HOG Elite title, but Dunn has proven time and time again that he will not back down from a fight -- whether it be in the ring or his personal life. With those factors present, it makes this match a potential show stealer and possibly the end of Gangone's reign. However, with Gangone's Crusade for Change buddies always lurking, Dunn may end up in a handicapped situation.
Five Borough Wrestling Tag Team Championships: Flawless & Lawless (Blake Morris and Rex Lawless) Open Challenge: Flawless & Lawless have been dominating the tag team scene in the New York area recently and their victory over Team Tremendous (Bill Carr and Dan Barry) at Season's Last Wish furthered that statement. After the win, the duo issued an open challenge to any tag team on the independent scene for an FBW Tag Team Title match at Standing Tall. Several teams have made their case and any tag team is eligible. Could The Young Bucks make their FBW return and accept the challenge? Maybe Team Tremendous will want a rematch? Perhaps tag team champions from another promotion could answer the challenge? Nobody is sure who the tag team will be but Friday's show will answer that question.
"The Greek God" Papadon vs. Rude Boy Riley: Also making his return to FBW, Rude Boy Riley will look to defeat the braggadocious former FBW Heavyweight Champion Papadon. In arguably the match of the night at Season's Last Wish, Papadon defeated former TNA superstar and current GFW competitor Jigsaw in a technical masterpiece. However, with the most recent image of Riley in an FBW ring being a complete beatdown by Crusade for Change, the current Warriors of Wrestling Champion will certainly give the savvy veteran Papadon a run for his money. While the match may give the crowd a lot to cheer about, fans in the audience better come to the show with a layer of thick skin as Papadon will undoubtedly want some time on the microphone, which doesn't bode well for anybody's feelings.
Standing Tall Rumble: FBW's version of a
Royal Rumble meeting
Money in the Bank will include 30 entrants, all battling it out for an opportunity at the FBW Heavyweight Championship. However, the winner not only gets a championship match, he or she can utilize that opportunity at anytime, anywhere for one full year. Who knows, the winner could choose to cash-in their chance at the end of the night. There are currently 25 confirmed entrants in the match.
You can read up on each of these competitors by clicking on their names. FBW looked at each competitor in a series of spotlight posts on Facebook.
FBW is promising five surprise entrants in the Standing Tall Rumble match. With 25 confirmed entrants and 5 surprises, there's no telling who will leave Bay Ridge as the winner.
Five Borough Wrestling Heavyweight Championship: Kevin Matthews vs. Brian Myers (c): Fighting as a united front against Combat Zone Wrestling's (CZW) DJ Hyde and David Starr in recent months, Matthews and Myers will put all of that aside as they fight it out for FBW's richest prize. A native of Bay Ridge, Matthews will look to leave St. Finbars Church with the FBW gold as he battles his close friend and at times bitter rival. At Season's Last Wish, Myers surprised Starr with a spear and retained his title in all of five seconds. But, Matthews, coming off an impressive win over Drew Gulak at the last show, should be familiar with Myers' tactics. Thus, this bout between a Brooklyn native and the Queens native will be not just a fight for FBW gold, but borough supremacy.
[Photos Courtesy of Five Borough Wrestling]
