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| Updated: Saturday November 7th, 2009 06:09:30 PM PST |
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| TNA house show report 10-10 Davenport, IA |
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by Joel Kolsrud Davenport, Iowa TNA Friday, October 10, 2008 River Center/Great River Hall Davenport, Iowa I'm getting old. Or perhaps, the wrestling scene has just changed to a far greater degree than I'd have ever imagined. This January will mark 33 years of attending pro wrestling in the Davenport, IA and Moline, IL. The area known as the Quad Cities. I remember the days of waiting until the venue attendants made the fans leave. When droves of fans stood outside to watch the wrestlers leave. To the days when wrestling was wrestling. Today, well, there's a huge gap that connected yesterday to today. It's the reason so many fans once connected to the product of yesterday are unable to connect to the product of today. The reason? One word sums it all up. Passion. The passion is no longer there. Instead, it's large corporations peddling a slick product that once had a raw, edginess about it. Where the issues involved could be followed through and through. In the era where blood, sweat and tears really were a part of the product. When wrestling was wrestling. TNA's debut in the Quad Cities was a fun event. The crowd was enthusiastic throughout, showing a definite familiarity with the talent on the show. They were a lot more vocal than one would expect. Then again, this was a house show anyone barely knew about. There was absolutely no newspaper advertising whatsoever, save for an interview with ODB the day before the event. There were tons of radio ads, but otherwise, word of mouth brought the diehards out. About 600 of them. Still, it was like a show that just went through the motions. Nothing was tight or over-the-top. It was the basic simulated routine fans see week in and week out on television. And for free. The ringside area, a bit pricey at $50 a seat was full in three sections (about 1/3 of the ringside set-up), while the remainder was totally empty. In fact, there were only 20 people in my section and only 12 in the section next to it. As mentioned, though, the crowd was an enthusiastic bunch and it really made a difference in what was just an otherwise average house show. It was their passion that made the show enjoyable. But the product itself lacked the type of presentation one would come to expect from a 'big league' promotion. Again, maybe I'm just getting old. For those reading this review, please note that I do not watch nor do I follow TNA or WWE. In other words, I would have no idea what a specific finisher is called. (1) X-Division Champion, Sheik Abdul Bashir pinned Consequences Creed after a side suplex at 8:36. Pretty even match throughout. Good opener, though nothing special. Prior to the match Bashir tore up a John McCain sign. (2) ODB and Roxxi defeated The Beautiful People (Angelina Love and Velvet Sky) at 4:50 when Roxxi pinned Love with a schoolboy. ODB was very over and seemed to know what she was doing, but the other three looked lost. Timing and spots were all over place, but being a diehard type of crowd, nothing seemed to ruin the flow. Boring. (3) "Showtime" Eric Young pinned "Maple Leaf Muscle" Petey Williams at 6:48. Williams came out in the Scott Steiner get-up. The finisher used by Young was a move where he picked Williams up by both legs and spun him around into a Diamond Cutter type of move. Another good, even match. Again, nothing special. Williams laid Young out post-match with what I will guess is his finisher...a modified power bomb/Michinoku Driver type of move. (4) "The Phenomenal" A.J. Styles pinned Booker T after a spin kick at 11:34. Best match on the show. T got lots of cheers coming out, but did tons of mic work getting the crowd to turn on him. Lots of heat in this one. Great match, too. I've written this before and I'll write it again...Earl Hebner ruins every single near fall in every single match he referees with that windmill motion before a three count. That is, except for the finish. Then he does no windmill at all and simply counts three. The finish saw T do the Spin-A-Rooni, but miss the Scissor Kick. Styles cradled him for a near fall. T tried another Scissor Kick, but Styles hit the spin kick and got the pin. *** At this point it was intermission. Jeremy Borash pretended to call Mick Foley (best pop of the night, by the way) to tell him he was in Davenport. They made several mentions of returning here (no date announced, if it will even happen), but did go so far as to say Foley would be here when they did. Considering he's under a 6-month deal, I find it highly unlikely they'll be back before then. It got the crowd going, though, which was probably the idea. *** (5) "The Monster" Abyss and Matt Morgan defeated TNA World Tag Team Champions, Beer Money, Inc. ("Cowboy" James Storm and Robert Roode) w/Jacqueline at 11:40 in a non-title match when Morgan pinned Storm with his finisher. Prior to the match, BMI said it was going to be a non-title match, which pretty much gave away the result. Above average match with good crowd heat. I realize that Vince loves big guys and all, but after seeing Abyss, I can see why he's never been made an offer to New York. Basically, because he's horrible. Everyone else looked good. Above average match. 6. TNA World Champion, Samoa Joe forced Christian Cage to tap out to the Triangle Choke at 12:09. Good match, but didn't have the heat of T-Styles. What they did have, though, were a lot of tight impact spots. Being the first time seeing the 6-sided ring, I have this to offer...it's still too small. It's basically a WCW ring with six sides. Had it been WWE size with six sides...now THAT would be something. Anyway, they pulled everything out they could and put on a good match. Maybe it was just me, but the T-Styles match seemed more a the main event, championship quality type of match than this one. Nothing wrong with it, but lacked that spark a main event needed. FINAL NOTES This was the first non-WWE event in the area since a WCW house show in 2000...and the first major show in Davenport since the July 7, 1992 WWE event featuring Warrior-Shango (awful) and Hart-Michaels (28:00 of excellence). I do hope they come back. Then again, I hope they do more advertising, too.
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