TNA live event (Racine, Wisconsin)
Report by Jacob Martin and ProWrestling.net:
The night started with everyone lining up to get into the building. The people that bought tickets in the first four rows got to get in an hour early for a meet and greet with various wrestlers. Don West used his tremendous selling ability and got $20 bill after $20 bill for his brown bag special. This purchase included the backpack/bag, the new TNA barbed wire logo tee, and four dvd’s. It was a great deal because I ended up getting five discs, since one was a Kurt Angle two disc set.
Most of the wrestlers were very friendly and took pictures with everyone who asked. There was a great moment when my friend got into an argument with Matt Morgan. My friend told him he should be an NFL player and Morgan told him to check his facts because he already played pro ball. And, I hate to admit this since he’s a little weird on television, but Orlando Jordan was the nicest wrestler in-person. He had a 2-3 conversation with almost every fan who started one with him. Rhino was also signing at the merch table before the show started. I took a picture with him and got his autograph, he was very fan friendly. Now, to the show.
Jeremy Borash came out a loud pop and said that he was going to give out fan passes, but suddenly Jeff Jarrett’s music hit. He was whining and said no one is allowed backstage. He then looked like he was about to go after JB but Samoa Joe’s music hit. This set up the first match of the evening.
1. Samoa Joe defeated Jeff Jarrett in a “Backstage Passes Match” in 1:00. Jarrett got barely any offense in before Joe hit the muscle buster for a huge pop and the win.
JB got back into the ring and threw some backstage passes out. The rule was whomever got a pass could bring one guest with them. Lucky enough, one of the passes bounces off a couple people right into my hands…backstage time at intermission!
2. Jay Lethal defeated Douglas Williams at 10:00 to retain the TNA X Division Championship. This was a really good match with back and forth Lethal and Williams chants. Good back and forth action here with Williams getting the Chaos Theory reversed into a Lethal Combination for the victory. Lethal posed in the ring with the belt as the crowd chanted his name.
After Lethal exited, JB came back and introduced Earl Hebner who had his “Damn right I did” shirt on as he did the Bret Hart hand motions in the ring. I started a “You Screwed Angle” chant and the crowd really got going. Then the Knockouts were introduced.
3. Madison Rayne defeated Angelina Love at 8:00 to retain the TNA Knockouts Title. There was a great pose off in the beginning that got the crowd pretty loud. But this match was a pleasant surprise as these two worked well together. Rayne ended up winning by hold Angelina’s tights. I then started a “You screwed Angelina” chant at Hebner who pointed at me and said “Damn right I did.” He was a good sport.
The next match was announced as the last before intermission. And as soon as everyone heard it was a tag match, they started doing the Beer Money chant.
4. Beer Money Inc. defeated Eric Young and Orlando Jordan at 12:00. Beer Money got a huge pop as Storm came down the ramp slugging down a beer and doing cheers to everyone in the front row with a beer. This ended up being a comedy match with Eric Young doing his usual antics. But honestly, Young is so over its crazy. Beer Money ended up hitting the DWI on Young for the win.
Intermission came and we got to go backstage. All the wrestlers were there except for Samoa Joe, I didn’t know where he went. But I got pictures with Angelina Love and Madison Rayne who were absolutely gorgeous in person. I also then got autographs and had nice conversations with Mr. Anderson, Jeff Jarrett, D-Lo Brown, Orlando Jordan, Eric Young, Beer Money, and Abyss. It was weird seeing Abyss out of character but still having his mask on. He was very nice though. It was also funny as D-Lo and Anderson were arguing over the Packers and the Bears. We then went back to our seats as JB just got into the ring to announce the next match.
5. Matt Morgan defeated Rhino at 14:00. This was a pretty good match that allowed Morgan to show off some pretty impressive athleticism. He pretty much dominated Rhino the whole match and hit the Carbon Footprint for the win. Most people were cheering for Morgan so he smiled as he got out of the ring.
JB then came back into the ring for the main event. It was advertised as Abyss vs. Mr Anderson in a Monster’s Ball Match. Abyss entered first and stayed in the ring for a while as he did Hulk Hogan poses in the ring. People were wondering where Anderson was. But to everyone’s surprise, JB said they have a change since Mr. Anderson found a much more experienced person for the job. Tommy Dreamer’s music hit for a huge pop and ECW chants.
6. Tommy Dreamer defeated Abyss in a Monster’s Ball Match at 20:00. This was a crazy match as Tommy Dreamer and Abyss used chairs, cookie sheets, garbage cans, the ring bell, and thumb tacks on each other. They ended up in the ring where Abyss was about to win when Mr. Anderson’s music hit and he came out to the biggest pop of the night. He took a chair and threw it at Abyss, then hit the Mic Check.
Abyss then got up and Dreamer hit him with a DDT into the thumb tacks for the win. Anderson then did his microphone bit with Dreamer and eventually Dreamer left letting Anderson talk for a while to his homestate fans. He then brought out all the wrestlers, minus Samoa Joe, to sign autographs again. We also got into the ring and took pics with Anderson who was very nice.
Notes: This was a great experience on all levels: The in-ring product was good, the wrestlers were very friendly, and there was a lot of good deals going on. I would recommend for anyone who enjoys wrestling to go to one of these live events due to how special they make everyone attending feel.
