Post by cstoney16 on Jun 27, 2008 17:09:25 GMT -5
I thought that I would share my thoughts on my first TNA Live show. This show was probably the best professional wrestling show that I have ever seen in person. Great pace, nice high-flying action, and awesome talent.
Opening Match: Consequences Creed vs. Johnny Devine
Winner: Consequences Creed
Thoughts: It was a nice opening match with the Face winning to get the crowd involved. It was slow paced at the beginning with both guys playing to the crowd. Devine was getting a lot of heat from the crowd. Devine had a failed attempt at his finisher allowing Creed to hit his and get the win.
Knockouts Tag Match: Beautiful People vs. Roxxi & Traci
Winners: Roxxi & Traci
Thoughts: I first want to say that I absolutely love the Beautiful People and the storyline they are doing right now. I was a little disappointed that they lost, especially after dominating the entire match against Traci. Roxxi got the hot tag and hit the VooDoo drop on Angelina to get the win. Post match had the Beautiful People attack Roxxi and attempt to shave Traci's head, but ODB runs out and clears house. ODB drinks from her flask, shares with Roxxi, then goes to the front row and starts taking beers from the crowd and downing them! I tried to get some pictures, but I didn't get any good shots. Definitely something that you wouldn't see on tv from ODB, it was a sight to see for sure.
Kip James vs. Eric Young
Winner: Super Eric
Thoughts: This was a really slow match, a lot of play to the crowd and not much action. Kip James really drew pure hatred from the crowd (one of the best heels in the business I would say). Kip James clotheslines Young out of the ring, Young crawls under the ring, and after about a minute Super Eric's music plays. Kip acts like he doesn't know what's going on, Super Eric comes out from under the ring and immediately dominates Kip James to get the pinfall victory. Post match Kip James argues with referee Earl Hebner, James does the DX crotch chop and as he walks down the ring steps Hebner taunts Kip, eventually doing the crotch chop back to Kip who leaves in a fury.
Tag Team Match: Scott Steiner & Petey Williams vs. Kaz & Abyss
Winners: Kaz & Abyss
Thoughts: Abyss was way over with the crowd. Scott Steiner drew the most heat of the night by far, and really played the heel role well. Kaz and Petey carried the match, but it was Abyss who got the win after a hellacious Black Hole Slam. If Petey had weighed any less and was running and faster, he would have ended up in the front row of fans. Abyss barely held on, but it made for a tremendous finish.
There was a 20 mintue intermission at this point. During the break, the ring crew came out and tightened the ropes up. Also, between matches in the first half, Jeremy Borash introduced the ring girl to the crowd, who happened to be Brian Pillmans daughter (Very good looking by the way).
Shark Boy Segment
Thoughts: This was just filler for the show. It wasn't the greatest segment in the world, but it did provide for some comedy. Apparently Shark Boy was on the local radio station WEBN during the week and was berated by host Meat. It just so happens that Meat was in attendance and got called out by Shark Boy. It ends with a Stunner to Meat, then James Storm comes out on a stretcher with a neck brace on. He says that he hurt his knee the previous night and had a doctors note that he couldn't compete. Miss Jackie gave the note to Shark Boy, but eventually got Stunned. Storm then gets in the ring, but gets a Stunner as well. I thought that James Storm did a tremendous job selling his "injury", but it's a shame that we didn't get to see him wrestle.
Curry Man vs. Robert Roode
Winner: Curry Man
Thoughts: This was an awesome match, as Christopher Daniels is one of my favorites, although it is hard to believe that it is really Daniels under the mask. Curry Man played a lot to the crowd. There was some tremendous high flying going on by Curry Man. Roode gets the frustrated, grabs a steel chair from ringside and is about to hit Curry Man with it until the ref stops Roode from doing it. The ref gets sucker punched right in the jaw and is laid out. Roode gets the chair again is about to hit Curry Man, but the lights go out. The lights stay out for about a minute, and when they come back on, Al Snow is standing in the ring! Snow low blows Storm, Curry Man hits the Spice , and Snow counts the three. After the match, Curry Man gets a toddler from ringside and takes him into the ring to dance with him and Snow. It may have only been a one off appearance for Al, but it was certainly awesome to see him in the ring. Hopefully TNA could sign him to a deal.
Main Event: TNA Championship Match: Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles
Winner: Samoa Joe
Thoughts: This was by far the match of the night. TNA's top two stars (in my opinion) put on one helluva match. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come. Each hit there trademark moves, Styles hit Pele from out of nowhere and it looked like Joe was knocked out for a brief moment. Joe hit the Muscle Buster to pick up the win. Post Match saw Joe and AJ shake hands and hug. Borash come out to the ring and said that since everybody couldn't go backstage, they were going to bring backstage to us. A number of TNA stars were going to roam around ringside and sign autographs, while for $20 you could get in the ring and have a picture taken with both AJ Styles and Samoa Joe!
Now, I didn't have $20 so I couldn't get in the ring with Joe and AJ, but I did manage to make it ringside. I didn't get any autographs, but I did get some pictures. I got a picture with Angelina Love (who is gorgeous and perhaps one of the nicest people in the world), Jeremy Borash (who I swear looks like a fruit cake in the picture), and ODB (who is awesome, and perhaps has one of the best interactions with fans). As I said before, this was probably the best show that I've ever been to live, and the fan hospitality that TNA shows is unparalleled by any other company. I will definitely be going to see TNA again.
On a side note, Borash announced that TNA could be coming back early next year for a pay-per-view, which would absolutely amazing.
Opening Match: Consequences Creed vs. Johnny Devine
Winner: Consequences Creed
Thoughts: It was a nice opening match with the Face winning to get the crowd involved. It was slow paced at the beginning with both guys playing to the crowd. Devine was getting a lot of heat from the crowd. Devine had a failed attempt at his finisher allowing Creed to hit his and get the win.
Knockouts Tag Match: Beautiful People vs. Roxxi & Traci
Winners: Roxxi & Traci
Thoughts: I first want to say that I absolutely love the Beautiful People and the storyline they are doing right now. I was a little disappointed that they lost, especially after dominating the entire match against Traci. Roxxi got the hot tag and hit the VooDoo drop on Angelina to get the win. Post match had the Beautiful People attack Roxxi and attempt to shave Traci's head, but ODB runs out and clears house. ODB drinks from her flask, shares with Roxxi, then goes to the front row and starts taking beers from the crowd and downing them! I tried to get some pictures, but I didn't get any good shots. Definitely something that you wouldn't see on tv from ODB, it was a sight to see for sure.
Kip James vs. Eric Young
Winner: Super Eric
Thoughts: This was a really slow match, a lot of play to the crowd and not much action. Kip James really drew pure hatred from the crowd (one of the best heels in the business I would say). Kip James clotheslines Young out of the ring, Young crawls under the ring, and after about a minute Super Eric's music plays. Kip acts like he doesn't know what's going on, Super Eric comes out from under the ring and immediately dominates Kip James to get the pinfall victory. Post match Kip James argues with referee Earl Hebner, James does the DX crotch chop and as he walks down the ring steps Hebner taunts Kip, eventually doing the crotch chop back to Kip who leaves in a fury.
Tag Team Match: Scott Steiner & Petey Williams vs. Kaz & Abyss
Winners: Kaz & Abyss
Thoughts: Abyss was way over with the crowd. Scott Steiner drew the most heat of the night by far, and really played the heel role well. Kaz and Petey carried the match, but it was Abyss who got the win after a hellacious Black Hole Slam. If Petey had weighed any less and was running and faster, he would have ended up in the front row of fans. Abyss barely held on, but it made for a tremendous finish.
There was a 20 mintue intermission at this point. During the break, the ring crew came out and tightened the ropes up. Also, between matches in the first half, Jeremy Borash introduced the ring girl to the crowd, who happened to be Brian Pillmans daughter (Very good looking by the way).
Shark Boy Segment
Thoughts: This was just filler for the show. It wasn't the greatest segment in the world, but it did provide for some comedy. Apparently Shark Boy was on the local radio station WEBN during the week and was berated by host Meat. It just so happens that Meat was in attendance and got called out by Shark Boy. It ends with a Stunner to Meat, then James Storm comes out on a stretcher with a neck brace on. He says that he hurt his knee the previous night and had a doctors note that he couldn't compete. Miss Jackie gave the note to Shark Boy, but eventually got Stunned. Storm then gets in the ring, but gets a Stunner as well. I thought that James Storm did a tremendous job selling his "injury", but it's a shame that we didn't get to see him wrestle.
Curry Man vs. Robert Roode
Winner: Curry Man
Thoughts: This was an awesome match, as Christopher Daniels is one of my favorites, although it is hard to believe that it is really Daniels under the mask. Curry Man played a lot to the crowd. There was some tremendous high flying going on by Curry Man. Roode gets the frustrated, grabs a steel chair from ringside and is about to hit Curry Man with it until the ref stops Roode from doing it. The ref gets sucker punched right in the jaw and is laid out. Roode gets the chair again is about to hit Curry Man, but the lights go out. The lights stay out for about a minute, and when they come back on, Al Snow is standing in the ring! Snow low blows Storm, Curry Man hits the Spice , and Snow counts the three. After the match, Curry Man gets a toddler from ringside and takes him into the ring to dance with him and Snow. It may have only been a one off appearance for Al, but it was certainly awesome to see him in the ring. Hopefully TNA could sign him to a deal.
Main Event: TNA Championship Match: Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles
Winner: Samoa Joe
Thoughts: This was by far the match of the night. TNA's top two stars (in my opinion) put on one helluva match. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come. Each hit there trademark moves, Styles hit Pele from out of nowhere and it looked like Joe was knocked out for a brief moment. Joe hit the Muscle Buster to pick up the win. Post Match saw Joe and AJ shake hands and hug. Borash come out to the ring and said that since everybody couldn't go backstage, they were going to bring backstage to us. A number of TNA stars were going to roam around ringside and sign autographs, while for $20 you could get in the ring and have a picture taken with both AJ Styles and Samoa Joe!
Now, I didn't have $20 so I couldn't get in the ring with Joe and AJ, but I did manage to make it ringside. I didn't get any autographs, but I did get some pictures. I got a picture with Angelina Love (who is gorgeous and perhaps one of the nicest people in the world), Jeremy Borash (who I swear looks like a fruit cake in the picture), and ODB (who is awesome, and perhaps has one of the best interactions with fans). As I said before, this was probably the best show that I've ever been to live, and the fan hospitality that TNA shows is unparalleled by any other company. I will definitely be going to see TNA again.
On a side note, Borash announced that TNA could be coming back early next year for a pay-per-view, which would absolutely amazing.
