Source: Pro Wrestling Torch
Report by Jamie Hesketh, Torch reader
The night started with ring announcer Jeremy Borash offering backstage passes to those fans who could make the most noise. The crew gave a few to those at ringside and they got to hop the barrier and go backstage.
(1) Suicide beat Chris Sabin. The first match of the night started quietly, but the crowd slowly got into this match, with the fans chanting for both competitors. Suicide got the win over one half of the Motor City Machineguns.
(2) Beautiful People (Velvet Sky & Madison Rayne) beat Taylor Wilde & Sarita. Earl Hebner came down to the ring to a mix of boos and cheers. The women made their lengthy entrances but the crowd seemed to enjoy it. Lots of nearfalls, nothing spectacular though. One of the funniest moments of the night was Hebner kissing one of the Beautiful People. He held her in his arms and kissed her, then the crowd came alive and he topped it all off by doing the Flair walk afterwards.
(3) The Pope beat Desmond Wolfe. I thought Desmond would pick up the win here and the crowd was really into this one. Lots of Wolfe chants and wolf howls. Pope had a good portion of the crowd cheering him on though. Wolfe teased the Tower of London, but it was countered during the match.
(4) Beer Money (James Storm & Robert Roode) & Team 3D (Brother Ray & Brother Devon) beat British Invasion (Doug Williams & Brutus Magnus) & TNA Global champion Big Rob Terry & Eric Young. Terry won the belt from Young the previous night, yet they were a team tonight. Anyways, there was surprisingly not much crowd support for British Invasion. Half the crowd was sporting Beer Money t-shirts and they got a big pop, as did Team 3D, probably the second biggest pop of the night. The crowd really came alive here and everyone was on the edge of their seats. Team 3D and Beer Money celebrated after the match by talking to the crowd and getting them to chant “TNA.” It was one of the loudest chants of the night – the guys in the ring were visibly impressed. I must note that Rob Terry is an absolute monster in real life.
[15-minute break. TNA president Dixie Carter came down to the ring after the break and thanked all the fans.]
(5) X Division champion Amazing Red beat Hamada. Interesting to see an inter-gender match. Red was at first hesitant to hit Hamada, but she told him to bring it on. He eventually knocked her to the ground and the match got going. Hamada was impressive in there, but Red picked up the win. Most of the crowd was on Red’s side, as funny as it was.
(6) TNA tag champion Hernandez & Kurt Angle beat Rhino & Daniels. Hernandez started with the mic by saying that the match was scheduled to be a tag title match, however Matt Morgan was unwell and not at the arena, but he had found a replacement partner. The lights went down and Angle’s music started up. The crowd popped big time, biggest pop of the night. Hernandez started in the ring against Daniels and the crowd was still going mad for Angle, chanting his name. Angle was visibly emotional and overwhelmed by the crowd reaction. He was on the ring apron smiling and looking overwhelmed. The crowd chanted, “We want Angle,” as Hernandez and Daniels fought in the ring. Hernandez gave in and tagged in Angle to a huge pop. He eventually got the anklelock and finished with the Olympic Slam for the win. The crowd was still chanting after the match and he slowly made his way backstage. The best match of the night.
(7) TNA World Hvt. champion A.J. Styles beat Samoa Joe to retain the TNA World Title. They were going to struggle to top the previous match, and Styles got a surprisingly mediocre pop. He came down to the ring appearing to be in face-mode, but soon started shouting at the crowd when he had Joe in holds. The crowd sided with Joe and A.J. did the Flair “Whoos.” A.J. used to ref to protect himself from Joe and he went down. Styles then used the belt to hit Joe a la Genesis and he dragged the ref over for the three count.
Really entertaining show overall. The crowd was really alive for the most part and there were hardly any promos. It went on for two hours 20 minutes, but it flew by. After the main event, JB came out and said they’d be back. Fantastic night overall. There was a lot of merchandise on sale, and they did well by the amount of Beer Money t-shirts I saw in the crowd. I myself was partial to the Desmond Wolfe black and purple polo shirt, but at £25, it was a bit much. For those interested, it’s more of a cross between a soccer shirt and a polo shirt. Really nice though.
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