Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Feb 9, 2014 9:21:46 GMT -6
TNA house show results
February 7, 2014
Battle Creek, Mich.
I attended the TNA house show on Friday night. I bought a ticket ($65+fees) that included a pre-show meet and greet. There were about 50 people at the pre-show that started at 5:30 p.m. EST.
I estimated no more than 400 people in attendance. Quote from an arena employee: “This is embarrassing." I do not know who or what he was referring to.
First match! ECIII vs. “Cowboy” James Storm. Storm came to the ring with a beer and did his thing, and in the process spilling a lil' bit in the ring. EC3 complained to the ref that he “cannot wrestle with alcohol in this ring!” Storm replied that having a beef with beer means you have a problem with AMERRRRCA. Cue the “USA! USA!” chants. Unfortunately, this chant stuck with the kids, and surprisingly too many adults, inexplicably fueling many non-patriotic babyface comebacks for the remainder of the night. Wrestle. Wrestle.
(1) James Storm beat Ethan Carter III. EC3 failed in attempt to bait the fans with Ohio State taunts. Last Call. Win. Beer.
(2) Velvet Sky beat Gail Kim. Here’s a positive aspect of being at a house show. No camera side. Velvet let the pigeons loose in all directions. This match was a lot of reciprocal ass-slapping and a little bit of wrestling. Velvet won with the sit-down Pedigree. After the match, Velvet kissed the head of a little boy in the front row, and he immediately had to sit down to gather himself.
Next was TNA tag champs Bro-Mans vs. The Wolves. I guess Robbie E. saves his energy for after the meet and greet. “Why should we defend against The Wolves? They don’t deserve it! We’re leaving!” (fair point) Crowd: “LEAVE!!!” Robbie E. “Oh, so you want us to leave?” Crowd: “YES!” Robbie E.: “Well, then we’re not leaving.” Classic heel work. To the action.
(3) The Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) beat TNA tag champs Bro-Mans (Robbie E. & Jessie) via DQ; Bro-Mans retained the Tag Titles. Best match of the night for me. The teams grappled for approximately 14 minutes. Comedy and style. The Wolves are quick, use innovative tag team moves, and displayed some fun simultaneous surfboard and leg lock submission teases. They worked the mic a bit, and really got the crowd going. I’m going to replace my memory of their NXT match with Friday night’s performance. Robbie and Jessie teased inter-BroMan tension, blaming each other for whatever, pushing and shoving before regrouping. The
DQ came when one of the BroMans yanked the ref out of the ring at a two count. That was fun.
The next match of Bobby Roode vs. Gunner benefited from the "USA!" business earlier. I know Roode is from Canada, and I know Gunner was military, but trust me, the crowd was just regurgitating the chant they were fed to start the show. Besides, if this chant was anti-Roode origin, shouldn’t the epic Sky-Kim showdown have prompted similar chants? Overall, I kid you not, Gunner was the most over face on the night.
(4) Bobby Roode beat Gunner. Roode is a true pro, repeatedly launching fist and clothesline-induced spit balls into the fifth row. Eventually, he stole the victory with a quick roll-up.
Next was Magnus vs. Joe for the strap! Magnus did great heel work...
(5) TNA World Hvt. champion Magnus beat Samoa Joe to retain the TNA World Title. At one point, after taking a punch from Joe, Magnus took the mic and demanded that Joe be given a public warning for using a closed fist; under the rules of Lord So and So. Pretty funny, and Borash sheepishly announced the “official” warning on the PA. Joe managed to work in all of his fun spots. You name it, Joe did it. In the end, EC3, who evidently had time to put on his jeans and leather boots, but no shirt, distracted Joe. Magnus clobbered Joe with the belt and 1, 2, 3.
[ Intermission while they set up the steel (chain link) cage. As part of the $50 “backstage pass” (I did not buy), there was an intermission meet and greet with Bully Ray. Borash claimed that it was extremely rare for Bully to participate.
The final match was in a steel cage... and suddenly two out of three falls. Mr. Anderson was intro'ed first. Just as he reached the cage door, Bully Ray ran in and pummeled him.
(6) Mr. Anderson beat Bully Ray in a 2/3 Falls match. Following the pre-match attack, Bully dragged Mr. A into the cage and covered the corpse for Fall #1. During the 10 second restart, Anderson sold lifelessness. Bully covered again, but only got a two count. Anderson then recovered and got Fall #2. During Fall #3, Bully gave the young Hebner ref a lot of crap. “I hate you, ref” over and over. We’re building to something. Later on Hebner took a bump, Bully cheaply dropped Anderson and declared, “I love you ref, I love you. Please make the count." Funny. Anderson then hit a Mic Check out of nowhere for the win.
Afterward, Ken picked a fan from the crowd, who failed miserably in trying to announce “MISTER ANDERSON!” as the victor. Then, Borash sold the crowd on pics in the cage with Anderson for $20 or so. I had a long drive ahead of me, so I bailed. The show ended at 9:40 p.m. EST.
Fun night, but a little depressing with 400 fans in a venue that seats thousands. Credit to the performers, as they turn it on when they are supposed to.
February 7, 2014
Battle Creek, Mich.
I attended the TNA house show on Friday night. I bought a ticket ($65+fees) that included a pre-show meet and greet. There were about 50 people at the pre-show that started at 5:30 p.m. EST.
I estimated no more than 400 people in attendance. Quote from an arena employee: “This is embarrassing." I do not know who or what he was referring to.
First match! ECIII vs. “Cowboy” James Storm. Storm came to the ring with a beer and did his thing, and in the process spilling a lil' bit in the ring. EC3 complained to the ref that he “cannot wrestle with alcohol in this ring!” Storm replied that having a beef with beer means you have a problem with AMERRRRCA. Cue the “USA! USA!” chants. Unfortunately, this chant stuck with the kids, and surprisingly too many adults, inexplicably fueling many non-patriotic babyface comebacks for the remainder of the night. Wrestle. Wrestle.
(1) James Storm beat Ethan Carter III. EC3 failed in attempt to bait the fans with Ohio State taunts. Last Call. Win. Beer.
(2) Velvet Sky beat Gail Kim. Here’s a positive aspect of being at a house show. No camera side. Velvet let the pigeons loose in all directions. This match was a lot of reciprocal ass-slapping and a little bit of wrestling. Velvet won with the sit-down Pedigree. After the match, Velvet kissed the head of a little boy in the front row, and he immediately had to sit down to gather himself.
Next was TNA tag champs Bro-Mans vs. The Wolves. I guess Robbie E. saves his energy for after the meet and greet. “Why should we defend against The Wolves? They don’t deserve it! We’re leaving!” (fair point) Crowd: “LEAVE!!!” Robbie E. “Oh, so you want us to leave?” Crowd: “YES!” Robbie E.: “Well, then we’re not leaving.” Classic heel work. To the action.
(3) The Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) beat TNA tag champs Bro-Mans (Robbie E. & Jessie) via DQ; Bro-Mans retained the Tag Titles. Best match of the night for me. The teams grappled for approximately 14 minutes. Comedy and style. The Wolves are quick, use innovative tag team moves, and displayed some fun simultaneous surfboard and leg lock submission teases. They worked the mic a bit, and really got the crowd going. I’m going to replace my memory of their NXT match with Friday night’s performance. Robbie and Jessie teased inter-BroMan tension, blaming each other for whatever, pushing and shoving before regrouping. The
DQ came when one of the BroMans yanked the ref out of the ring at a two count. That was fun.
The next match of Bobby Roode vs. Gunner benefited from the "USA!" business earlier. I know Roode is from Canada, and I know Gunner was military, but trust me, the crowd was just regurgitating the chant they were fed to start the show. Besides, if this chant was anti-Roode origin, shouldn’t the epic Sky-Kim showdown have prompted similar chants? Overall, I kid you not, Gunner was the most over face on the night.
(4) Bobby Roode beat Gunner. Roode is a true pro, repeatedly launching fist and clothesline-induced spit balls into the fifth row. Eventually, he stole the victory with a quick roll-up.
Next was Magnus vs. Joe for the strap! Magnus did great heel work...
(5) TNA World Hvt. champion Magnus beat Samoa Joe to retain the TNA World Title. At one point, after taking a punch from Joe, Magnus took the mic and demanded that Joe be given a public warning for using a closed fist; under the rules of Lord So and So. Pretty funny, and Borash sheepishly announced the “official” warning on the PA. Joe managed to work in all of his fun spots. You name it, Joe did it. In the end, EC3, who evidently had time to put on his jeans and leather boots, but no shirt, distracted Joe. Magnus clobbered Joe with the belt and 1, 2, 3.
[ Intermission while they set up the steel (chain link) cage. As part of the $50 “backstage pass” (I did not buy), there was an intermission meet and greet with Bully Ray. Borash claimed that it was extremely rare for Bully to participate.
The final match was in a steel cage... and suddenly two out of three falls. Mr. Anderson was intro'ed first. Just as he reached the cage door, Bully Ray ran in and pummeled him.
(6) Mr. Anderson beat Bully Ray in a 2/3 Falls match. Following the pre-match attack, Bully dragged Mr. A into the cage and covered the corpse for Fall #1. During the 10 second restart, Anderson sold lifelessness. Bully covered again, but only got a two count. Anderson then recovered and got Fall #2. During Fall #3, Bully gave the young Hebner ref a lot of crap. “I hate you, ref” over and over. We’re building to something. Later on Hebner took a bump, Bully cheaply dropped Anderson and declared, “I love you ref, I love you. Please make the count." Funny. Anderson then hit a Mic Check out of nowhere for the win.
Afterward, Ken picked a fan from the crowd, who failed miserably in trying to announce “MISTER ANDERSON!” as the victor. Then, Borash sold the crowd on pics in the cage with Anderson for $20 or so. I had a long drive ahead of me, so I bailed. The show ended at 9:40 p.m. EST.
Fun night, but a little depressing with 400 fans in a venue that seats thousands. Credit to the performers, as they turn it on when they are supposed to.