Alan Mastrianni sent this report along:
House Show Results- Elmira, NY LAX vs. Rock ‘n Rave One of the better matches of the evening, with about 99% of the cheers going for LAX. Hernandez holding Hoyt up for a vertical suplex for about 30 seconds as Homicide held off Rave was one of the main highlights. The match was fairly one-sided, with Hernandez ripping out much of his arsenal throwing bodies around the ring. Rave gave Homicide a shining wizard and Hoyt connected, also on ‘cide, on his signature body slam(I cannot recall what it’s named, the one where he throws them off from his shoulders face down), until Rave eventually caught a cutter off of Hernandez’s shoulders for the pin. Jay Lethal vs. Sonjay Dutt Good match, but not as long as I thought it should have been. Sonjay was un-guru-like, playing trickster and landing a sucker punch after a friendly hug when Lethal had control. The match saw Sonjay land his finisher (again… I forget the name. The one where it looks like he’s going for a stunner but then does a back flip over the guy and brings them down) but only for a two count. A lot of arm drags both ways, and Jay eventually won with his Lethal Combination and top rope elbow. He then orchestrated a collective “oooh yeah” with the crowd after the match, as Sonjay walked away bitter. Eric Young vs. James Storm Storm entered the ring with Jackie and said how great it was to be back in New York… until he realized that all that New York encompasses is stupid Yanks and smelly immigrants (a notion that I, as a native New Yorker, agree with on some level). EY comes out naturally to the crowd behind him, and begins pointing to himself for cheers, then to Storm for boos, and moves back and forth. He then points to Hebner who gets about as much heat as Storm. Early on the ref and Storm get into it, and Showtime yanks the striped shirt for himself so the old man and the Cowboy can square off, which is eventually highlighted by a double arm drag on Storm until the match eventually returns to schedule. Pretty good match throughout, Storm hit Eye of the Storm but only for a 2 count. He then took away the padding outside the ring to try to land a suplex, which was predictably reversed into a suplex of EY’s own. Back in the ring, Jaqueline begins to interfere when Young had the upper hand, so EY grabs her on his shoulders, looking for his double person samoan move, but unfortunately when he turned around he is hit with a superkick that happened to be the loudest strike of the night, and the match finisher. Team 3d vs. MCMG Ray opens reminding the crowd that the guns were from Detroit and that he and Devon were native New Yorkers, which ended up enough to favor the fans in their favor. A slow starting match, Sabin actually feigned an injury in the early goings to break 3d’s attention. The guns landed their simultaneous on Devon but couldn’t get the pin in. The matches was booked to make the difference in size and power apparent and ended with a 3d on Sabin followed by a top rope powerbomb through a table on poor Alex Shelley. Though the match was booked as a streetfight, the only hardcore elements were 1 trash can shot apiece for Ray and Devon and the ending. 3d brought a kid to the ring for a nostalgic piece of the table and carried around in an attempt for a feel good moment. Kind of cheesy. **20 minute intermission, with Lethal signing autographs at the merchandise counter** AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe In my opinion the best match of the night. About 15 minutes long, a fairly typical but well executed Styles/Joe bout. The match was in favor of the big guy about two to one, myself being a part of the one. Early on AJ springs from the ring into a cross body block onto Joe on the outside. Throughout the match Joe landed all, or at least most of, his signature kicks as well as a face wash, santon, and snap slam. AJ hit both the Pelle and his signature dropkick at different points. My favorite maneuver of the night was his top rope backflip into reverse DDT that resulted in a two count. He went for the Clash at a couple points but to no avail, and the match ended as Joe reversed a pin attempt into his choke, forcing Styles to tap. Gail Kim vs. Kong vs. Jacqueline A lot of Kong running into the other contestants and them falling down, as predicted. Best move of the match was Gail giving Jaqueline a headscissors move while Kong was on the outside. Match ended with an awesome bomb to Jackie. After the match, Kong was preparing for an awesome bomb on Gail, but Rudy Charles broke it up, only to get the bomb himself. Hebner then enters the ring, lecturing Kong, who attempts to give him the same move, but he escapes through her legs and out of the ring. Kurt Angle vs. Christian Cage Christian calls out to his peeps, asking who wants to see him kick Angle’s ass, and gets cheers from probably a little less than half of the crowd. He then proceeds to say it sounds convincing that his New York peeps have his back, a little odd, but whatever. The match as a whole was probably as good or maybe even better than either of their PPV matches. At one point Angle had the ankle lock reversed into a texas cloverleaf, only to be reversed back into another ankle lock. Angle hit the Angle slam but Christian kicked out at two. Christian hit the unprettier but Angle kicked out at 2. Angle also hit a few germans on Cage as we’ve become accustomed to in his matches. Each wrestler tried to hit their opponent’s signature moves but to no avail, and the match eventually ended with Kurt’s fourth ankle lock of the match, the first in which he dropped down around Cage’s leg for the submission victory. **Angle then takes photos in the ring w/ autographs for $20** Overall, the show ran more or less like a PPV but with primarily in ring action and fewer highspots. Best Fan Reactions: – Jay Lethal – Team 3d – Eric Young – Joe – Kurt Angle – Styles – Christian Most Heat: – James Storm – Rock n Rave – Sonjay Dutt Note: I found it interesting that they said the Lethal, Kong, and Angle matches were for the titles. Knowing the belts wouldn’t change hands in matches that 99.9% of TNA fans would never see, it made it kind of anticlimactic. I assumed the champs would win anyway, but even so. – Alan Mastrianni
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