Thanks to Matt Adkins for sending in the following:
I was fortunate enough to run into Kurt Angle, Eric Bischoff, and James Storm at Subway before the show Friday night. They were very down to earth and Kurt pointed out my Beer Money t-shirt to James Storm. Don West was selling programs outside the arena while taking pictures and signing autographs for free. We waited in line outside to take pictures with The Beautiful People which were ten times hotter in person. The Red Cross took donations for the West Virginia coal miners as The Beautiful People signed autographs and took pictures with fans for about an hour. At 6:30 the doors opened up and Don West was selling merchandise at the stand while Beer Money signed autographs. Before the show started Hogan’s voice came through the intercoms stating he had a message for TNA fans from TNA headquarters to watch Impact and enjoy the best pro wrestling company out there today. The funny thing was no one mentioned about Impact on Monday nights and their new time change. There wasn’t many people in attendance last night. I saw a lot of families but only a few people that had TNA t shirts on. Here is the card.
Motor City Machine Guns def. Homicide & Brian Kendrick
There wasn’t really much reaction for either team but Motor City were clearly the fan favorites. Alex Shelly performed the sliced bread and won the match.
Jeremy Borash was in the ring playing to the audience handing out backstage passes for the loudest fans. He introduces Earl Hebner but Earl doesn’t come out. His music stops and Bischoff’s music play while Bischoff sticks his head out of the curtain then walks to ringside. Bischoff gets some cheers until he tells JB that his big suprise for the night was not only that this was the first time he has come to a TNA live event house show but the last time TNA will give out backstage passes. He also says that the main event of the night Kurt Angle & Jeff Jarrett vs. Beer Money will be a handicapped match with Beer Money taking on Jeff Jarrett. He also assigned himself as special guest referee. Which received a lot of heat.
Kazarian def. Okada
This was kinda of a slow sloppy match to begin with. Okada must be the new Japanese wrestler TNA signed. Nothing really special happened in this match but the ending had Kazarian hit a nasty reverse pile driver finisher on Okada for the win.
The Beautiful People def. Tara & Angelina to retain the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship
There was a lot of whistles but no reaction to this match either. No matter what Velvet and Madison did to gain heat people didn’t care and cheered for both teams any way. Madison Rayne got the roll up on Tara after Lacey distracted the referee.
Jeremy Borash came out and promoted Lockdown next week, and announced one of the main events of the show would come on right now.
AJ Styles def. The Pope D’Angelo Dinero to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship
This was the longest match of the evening and was the match of the night in my opinion. AJ cut a heel promo saying all the fans were beneath him just like the Pope. There was still little reaction to AJ and to the Pope. The Pope received a lot of cheers though since Styles was targeting his injured leg the whole time. Styles won the match after distracting the referee while hitting Dinero with a low blow then the Pele kick and the Styles Clash for the win. Dinero later hit Styles with his codebreaker like finisher after the match.
Intermission: Angelina Love and Tara signed autographs at the merchandise stand.
Eric Young def. Desmond Wolfe
Desmond Wolfe cut an intense heel promo against the fat hillbillies of Pikeville telling them to come back from the concession stands, sit their hippopotamus behinds down, and watch the best athlete from the best country in the world perform. Wolfe easily received the biggest heat of the night. Eric Young came out to a small reaction too. Young got some cheers when he rolled up Wolfe for the win but that was it.
Jeff Jarrett vs. Beer Money w/ special guest referee Eric Bischoff
Bischoff came out still wearing his leather jacket except with a Beer Money t shirt on. Beer Money came out and cut a promo asking if Pikeville wants to get drunk and crazy and receive some backstage passes. Storm then says to the fans that they don’t deserve to even breathe the same air as them because they are the greatest tag team in the world. Robert Roode comes from the great state of New York and James Storm comes from the great state of Tennessee. Sorry about your damn luck. Beer Money were the most over people in the arena until that promo. Jarrett gets some offense on Beer Money and has the pin several times as Bischoff looks away arguing with a fan. Beer Money gets some offense in and Bischoff gives a fast count but Jarrett keeps kicking out. Suddenly Angle’s music hits as he comes to the ring Jarrett punches Bischoff and Angle suplexes Storm and Roode. Angle hits the Angle Slam on Storm and waits for an outside referee for the count. He only gets a 2 count though. Angle then puts Storm in the Ankle Lock and Storm taps out.
After the match, Angle and Jarrett trade blows against Bischoff. Jarrett then says that he his glad to wrestle in small towns like Pikeville where some of the greatest fans are. He praises the fans and Kurt Angle for their donations to the Red Cross. He said that he is speaking the truth when he says Kurt Angle is the greatest professional wrestler of all time and a great human being. Kurt matched every dollar donation every one put in for not only tonight’s show but for the whole weekend. Kurt then took pictures with fans in the ring while Jarrett signed autographs at the merchandise stand. Motor City Machine Guns, Kaz, Eric Young, and Jeremy Borash signed autographs and took pictures at ringside. All in all the show was fun and entertaining. The wrestlers were really down to earth and very open and friendly to the fans. Don West and Kurt Angle were probably the most down to earth people I had the chance to meet up and personal. The matches may not have been spectacular but they were better then most matches I have seen at house shows or on Impact. The attendance was low that night, but I hope TNA comes back next year because they gave the fans a great time and treated them with nothing but respect.
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.
