THIRD LIVE REPORT FROM TNA IN TROY, OHIO
By Scott Stamper on 2008-01-26 16:11:04
I have my own report from TNA in Troy OH - I would estimate there was around 1000-1500 there and they were HOT HOT HOT all night long. Jeremy Borash sensed this and did his part to keep the heat up, which he does very well. I was there celebrating my 43rd birthday with friends and this card reminded me why I love wrestling. Here's my rundown.
MOTOR CITY MACHINEGUNS VS PETEY WILLIAMS & ELIX SKIPPER
Fantastic opening match! All four guys went out and busted their rear ends on this one. Highlight #1 of the night for me was watching the Machine Guns pull off 5-6 double team maneuvers rapid fire, one right after the other, in about 10-15 seconds on Petey Williams early in the match. It was nice to see tag team wrestling that mattered again, as we all know it doesn't matter in WWE. Petey and Skipper made a fine tag team although in the end the MachineGuns prevail.
SHARK BOY VS JAMES STORM
To me, Shark Boy doing the Steve Austin gimmick was a little cheesy, although I have to admit he does pretty well with it. James Storm comes out, beer in hand as usual. The match starts and for some reason Storm decides he doesn't want any of this, so away he goes. Sharky then wants to know if he and referee Rudy Charles should go at it. Of course the crowd wants it and Rudy happily obliges, so they lock up, starting Highlight #2 for me. After a clean break on the ropes we see Rudy perform the Jarrett strut to a pop. This brings James Storm back to try and sneak attach Sharky, then Storm and Rudy Charles lock up. Storm backs Rudy to a corner and tries for a punch, which Rudy ducks. We then see Rudy and Sharky double team Storm, sending him to the ropes for a double hiptoss, and from about here on we have a pretty normal wrestling match. Sharky would do the mudhole stomp on Storm late in the match and eventually win with the Shark Boy Stunner. Sharky then asks for the mike and delivers a promo, finishing with "And that's the fishing line, because Shark Boy said so". I was cracking up at watching Rudy Charles wrestle, but based on watching his lockups and his performance of the hiptoss, he might be pretty good.
AMAZING KONG VS JACKIE MOORE - Knockouts Title Match
This was originally scheduled for Ms. Brooks to be Kong's opponent, so when it was changed to Jackie Moore this made the match more interesting for me. Kong is an awesome presence in person and you can see the Japanese influence in her look and her wrestling. Jackie got in more than her share of offense and even had Kong in a couple of pinning predicaments. Kong, for her size, is indeed a great worker and very athletic. Some decent back and forth action until Kong takes over with her spinning backfist, and shortly after hits her version of the powerbomb for the win. After the match, her manager for the evening gives her a hug and tries to lift her, which results in Kong leaving him laying with a spinning backfist.
AJ STYLES & TOMKO VS LAX - Tag Team Title Match
LAX, as stated in earlier reports, did have a lot of fan support. Fans seemed to be mixed on AJ Styles, who BTW insulted some fan near the front row but I couldn't quite understand what he said. Tomko also seemed to be a hit with the fans, so much so that a "We Want Tomko" chant started early in the match when AJ was facing off against Homicide. I know this has been said before, but Tomko has improved A LOT since leaving WWE and going to Japan. He is also freaky strong as he pressed Homicide overhead on two occasions. Another nice back and forth match with neither team really dominating for any substantial length of time. Highlight #3 was watching Hernandez, who appears to be about 6-6 and I would say close to 285 pounds, do a flying dive over the top rope onto Tomko with about 1-2 feet to spare between him and the top rope. Quite a move which drew a great pop from the fans. Match ends with AJ pinning Homicide after reversing a rollup. Homicide would escape the Styles Clash and AJ would escape the Gringo Killer beforehand. At this point, Tomko grabs a mike and tells AJ they should go sign autographs for the fans, which they do, and this takes us to intermission
JOHNNY DEVINE VS JAY LETHAL - X Division title match
Johnny comes out first and tells everyone to show him proper respect or he's going back to Canada. Standard heel stuff. Jay Lethal comes out to a nice ovation. Nice back and forth match with nothing out of the ordinary. Crowd was definitely behind Jay Lethal, but in the end Johnny Devine stole the victory.
ROBERT ROODE VS BOOKER T
A lot of excitement built up over this one as Booker was originally supposed to face Kurt Angle and Roode was supposed to face Samoa Joe. Roode comes out first (no Ms. Banks tonight) and after demanding the crowd shut up and show him proper respect says he wants to apologize to Booker T face to face. So Booker T comes out, they face off, and Roode tries to apologize, only to get a fist in the face for his troubles, setting off your basic grudge match. A lot of out of the ring action here as they would brawl all around ringside. Back in the ring, with the referee knocked down, Roode had Booker in a compromised state and went for a chair, and here comes Ms. Brooks down the aisle to make the save, about falling out of her top in the process. She would get knocked down for her trouble. Booker side kicks Roode while he is still holding the chair and then lands the scissor kick for the win. Nice pop for Booker T who would walk ringside and shake hands with the fans, smiling the whole time. Ms. Brooks hugged some lucky guy in the front row. Too bad it wasn't me, but alas, I wasn't close enough.
SAMOA JOE VS KURT ANGLE - TNA Title Match
This had a big match feel to it, with both wrestlers in the ring and JB doing introductions. They made it seem really important for a house show, know what I mean? Anyway, this match was way too short for my taste and somewhat of a disappointment as AJ Styles interjected himself into the match, provoking Joe to chase him which leads to Angle knocking him out with the title belt and getting the cheap win. Afterward, Joe would take out his frustrations on Angle and hit the Muscle Buster to send us home happy.
After Kurt Angle came to, he picked up the mic and thanked everyone for coming on behalf of TNA and himself. There were then pictures with Angle and the belt for $20 and most, if not all, of the other wrestlers came out for free autographs. By this time, I had had a long day so didn't stay around for autographs. A lot of the fans there ended up going to the local Buffalo Wild Wings, one of the sponsors for the event. We ended up going there too hoping to perhaps run into a wrestler or two, but it was not to be.
MY COMMENTS - This show, as I stated earlier, reminded me why I love wrestling. I saw more action in the first match then I saw in an entire WWE card I attended in Dayton, OH, a few years ago. TNA is wrestling, WWE is entertainment. If I never see another WWE card live anymore, that's fine with me as long as I can see TNA live on a regular basis.
It was also nice to be able to bring in my camera and get pictures with no hassle whatsoever.
And that's my report. Feel free to post it on the website as you see fit.
Scott Stamper
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