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TNA house show report 7-26 Florence, SC

By Whilden Nettles and Jamie

Jeremy Borash comes out running likes a gazelle, and gets the crowd salivating by offering the loudest fans backstage passes. I know the deal from reading house show reports, but it takes him 5 minutes to get through his speil, probably so he can get the crowd howling loud. The first match was Kaz vs. Petey Williams. It was a very good match, lasted about 8 minutes. A great opener. I was worried that the show woulden't be any good, because generally, I'm not a fan of house shows. It feels like too much is held back. But this match felt like a strong Impact, or even a pretty good PPV match. Lots of false finishes as well as an avalanche Canadian Destroyer tease. Thank goodness Petey is watching old All Japan tapes and not Scott Steiner ones. The match ends with a seqence into the Canadian Destroyer, and Petey takes the win.

Next up is Robert Roode vs. Rhino. I dug it, but my friend hated it. There was a lot of heat on this one, and both guys were able to get the audience to play into their hand. It was a very basic match, with the baby face making comebacks, and the heel acting dastardly, but it was still good and got a suprisingly good crowd reaction. The beginning saw a good comedy spot with both men seeing which one could jump over the ropes into the ring better. The match ended with Rhino hitting a gore. Without the stalling thrown in, the match was about 6 minutes long.

James Storm vs. Eric Young was pretty good. James Storm is good at getting that cheap heat, and named dropped the Game Cocks in order to make fun of us South Carolinians. Finish came at the 9 minute mark when Jackie distracted the ref and Storm blew a beer mist (please let Muta do that once before he retires) into Young's eyes, superkick, and the pin. Then, during another Storm promo, Super Eric came out, did the double DVD spot, and left the crowd happy. Good heat for both men. Had the crowd most of the match.

Taylor Wild vs. Kong was the stiffest match of the night. Seriously. The guys were all having good, athletic contsts, but they were going pretty easy on each other. Not these two. This 7 minute match was good with some great high spots. Finish was very good and got the crowd going. Kong pushed the ref, who pushed back, of course while Taylor is down. Kong goes to powerbomb the ref. As the ref is in the air, Taylor comes from behind, school boys Kong, the ref rolls down safely, and counts to three. Crowd really dug this one. I was not expecting the women to put on one of the best matches of the night. After that match, I was wishing that another knockouts match had been booked.

The Rock N Rave infection garnered very little heat in their match vs. LAX. LAX was super over, but just could not garner much reaction at all for Rave and Hoyt. It was a good match, and Hernandez can move for a big guy. It was great to see him perform his tope. This was another 7 minute match. By the way, this whole guitar hero gimmick they seem to have is killing me. Please, TNA, bring in Prince Nana. I assure you, it will make far better TV than the Rock N Rave trainwreck.

Next out was Kurt Angle, who cut a promo. He acutally said "Within 2 years, we'll be kicking WWE's ass!" My friend remarked "didn't he say that 2 years ago?" Angle went on to put over the fans, and also Jeff Jarrett. Jeremy Borash told us we were going to intermission, and there would be a suprise at the end of the night. I'm guessing it's not going to be a public firing of Vince Russo.

Next out was Tomko vs. Abyss in a, and I'm not kidding, no DQ Florence Street Fight. And by street fight, I mean they let them use one chair. At one point, Abyss used his fist to stop a chair shot to his head, which was impressive, bent the chair, and looked really, really painful. It was a standard match, but as far as brawls go, not really all that great. Abyss was very over, and appeared to be very well fed at the insane asylum. Tomko seemed to have issues drawing heat, but he was able to get some from the audience.

Finally, Christian Cage vs. Joe was next. Joe came out and cut a promo talking about how he is going to face Booker T and get his belt back, and then issued an open challenge, which Christian Cage accepted. Cage cut a promo saying basically that he was going to beat joe, and the bell was rung. These two had a really, really solid, 15 minute match. They went out of the ring a few times, with an elbow suicida from Joe, and a flying splash to the outside from the top turnbuckle by Cage. They were not phoning this one in. It didn't feel a whole lot like a house show match other than the first 2 or 3 mintues, which was filled was stalling and feeling each other out chicanery. Cage was doing a good job of slowly getting the heat on Joe. He didn't quite cut a heel promo on Joe. He was just able to create heat for Joe and get the fans to boo himself. He did it in subtle ways. He didn't cheat or anything, he just knew what to do to subtley, slowly, and deliberatley get the fans against him and behind Joe before the fans even noticed. I was very impressed by this match. One of the highlights was when Joe dead lifted Cage into a muscle buster.

After the match, Joe cut a promo thaking the fans. He then told Jeremy Borash that it shoulden't just be a few people that get to go back stage, and since everyone made the show a success, everyone should get to go back stage. Yea, JB, you Bourgeoisie bastard! How dare you arbitrarily decide that the members of the audience closest to you cheered the loudest. Anyways, they brought out Angle to do pictures at $20.00 a pop, and Storm, Kaz, Rhino, Taylor, Hernandez, Eric Young, Earl Hebner, and Homicide came out. Yea, great job Joe, way to bust on JB for not letting everyone go back stage, and then not even coming out to give autographs. I think I missed the logic train there. Well, I guess that means Russo is booking the house shows too.

Anyways, all in all, this was a very good card, and far exceeded my expectations. The crapiness of impact didn't seem to cross over and poison the house show any. While the crowd was small (it's questionable if they could have sold out an armory), it was a fervent bunch. Lots of loud cheers and enthusiasm. I do think that there is a market for what TNA does, they just have to market themselves better.

Biggest Pop

Joe

LAX

Kaz/Angle

Biggest Heat

James Storm

Robert Roode

Petey Williams

(Kong wasn't getting cheered perhaps, but she certainly wasn't getting booed)

Best match: Joe vs. Christian

Worst Match: Tomko vs. Abyss

If you run this on the site, please credit it to myself, Whilden and my friend, Jamie. My buddy helped me to take notes, and I want credit to go where credit is due. Thanks Dave, and keep doing your thing. We all appreciate it.

-Whilden

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