Thanks to Curtis Lucas for sending in the following:
TNA Wrestling was in Huntington, WV on 2/18 and I was in attendence.
The show started off with Jeremy Borash telling the fans that he would be giving away Backstage Passes all night long. Soon after INK Inc. came out and informed him that nobody would be getting backstage tonight. Ink Inc. then continued to taunt the fans until finally returning backstage. Last i checked Ink Inc. were still good guys. The bad guy antics along with them being advertised to team with Jeff Jarrett to face Kurt Angle and Beer Money in the main event has me assuming that they made a heel turn at a yet to be aired recent TNA Impact taping or are about to do so soon.
Chris Sabin defeated Sharkboy with what appeared to be a tornado DDT clickly transitioned into a roll-up pin. After the match both men shook hands and Sharkboy received an ovation despite losing the match. Was cool to see Sharkboy in action after not seeing him on TNA Impact for quite some time.
Madison Rayne defend her Knockouts Championship against Velvet Sky in the second match. Madison started off by taunting and mocking Velvet’s signature climb through the ring ropes. both ladies spent the next couple minutes trying to see who could do Velvet’s climb through the ring ropes better. As a warm-blooded american male, this was quite an enjoyable sight. The match featured a bit where Madison got pushed into Ref. Earl Hebner who caught her in his arms and then after several seconds proceeded to lean down and kiss her. He then did a kinda Flair strut around the ring before going back to officiating the match. The match ended when Madison pinned Velvet with Madison’s feet on the rope, thus getting the win and retaining her Knockouts Championship.
Next Mick Foley came out to do a promo and deliver cheap pops like only Foley can. He got in the ring and proclaimed "Finally..after 3 months (he had been in Huntington 3 months back for a book signing)…THE SOCK HAS COME BACK TO HUNTINGTON!" He then went on to say that West Virginia is like a second home to him because of the history he had with WV, where he had alot of his earliest matches in his career. He spoke about how he had a match at the gym of Poca High School, home of the dreaded Poca Dots. lol Soon after Brutus Magnus came to the ring to rain on Foley’s parade and trash talk him. Magnus then went on to say that after having a thorough look around the arena, he didn’t see a single woman that he’d like to "Poca". Foley then introduced Magnus to the man that "he was going to enjoy seeing kick Magnus’ butt", Crimson. The match between Magnus and Crimson ended after Foley hit Magnus with the Mandible Claw outside of the ring while the ref wasn’t paying attention, who then threw Magnus back inside the ring where Crimson hit him with his finisher for the win.
Matt Morgan vs. The Pope was up next. The Pope received alot of heat from the crowd after he acted like he was about to place his Pope Glasses atop the head of a young fan and then pulled them away at the last second. The match ended kinda unexpectedly after Matt Morgan hit Pope with a spinning clothesline. I expected him to end it with the Carbon Footprint.
After the match Jeremy Borash invited a lady along with her boyfriend into the ring who i believe had her Pope Shades taken from her by the Pope himself. JB wanted to make up for it by giving her the glasses that the Pope wore to the ring along with another gift. JB then distracted the lady by having her turn toward him to get something out of the goodie bag that he was holding. While she was doing that her boyfriend bent down on one knee and when she turned around he proposed to her. She said yes, by the way. Thought that was cool of TNA to do that for them. That may have been the first REAL marriage proposal i’ve ever seen take place in a wrestling ring.
Next up was Kazarian defending the X-Division Championship against Matt Hardy. I had been looking forward to seeing the advertised Mr.Anderson vs. Matt Hardy match but a Kazarian vs. Hardy X Title match made up for it. Overall I would say that was my favorite match of the night. Surprisingly there were quite a few Matt chants during the match. The match ended when Kazarian hit Matt with his reverse Tombstone Piledriver move for the win. After the match Matt got on the mic and basically started telling the fans that he didn’t care if they cheered for him. He basically cut the same promos that Jeff has, saying that he’s been destroying his body for the fans all these years for nothing. He then finished by saying that as far as he’s concerned, we could all go straight to hell.
In the Main Event of the evening, we had Jeff Jarrett & Ink Inc. vs. Kurt Angle and Beer Money. I personally was quite happy to get to see Beer Money and Kurt Angle, as I have never got to see them wrestle live before and they are among my favorite wrestlers in TNA. Angle came out wearing a personalized football jersey of the local Huntington college football team, "The Marshall (the same Marshall from the Matthew McConaughey movie, "We Are Marshall..") Thundering Herd. Just as Angle was throwing the jersey to a fan in the crowd, Jeff Jarrett caught the jersey and put it on himself as to mock Kurt Angle. Jeff wore the jersey up until the end of the match actually. The finish of the match came when Beer Money grabbed Jarrett and yanked the jersey right off of him, allowing Angle to come in from behind and deliver a german suplex to Jeff. With Jeff on the ground Angle locked in the Ankle Lock and made Jarrett tap out for the win.
All in all, I’d have to say it was a pretty good show. All the matches were good, though not phenomenal. My favorite was definitely Kazarian vs. Matt Hardy though. I wish there had been a couple more matches and maybe a few more big names like Samoa Joe, RVD, Styles or Mr. Anderson. I can definitely say that it was a great fan experience as they’re were plenty of opportunities to meet and receive autographs from TNA wrestlers like: Beer Money, Madison Rayne, Mick Foley, Sharkboy, Chris Sabin, Kazarian, Velvet Sky, Crimson, Brutus Magnus, Matt Morgan and getting your picture taken with Kurt Angle (eventhough it cost $20). TNA will definitely be getting my money again when they come back to town.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
