TNA No Surrender "As Live" notes

Just settling down to watch No Surrender. I'll comment as I go along, so you get an as-live, stream of consciousness style commentary from me........

Long opening video. Set the tone for the evening well. Clearly Angle is positioned as the star. It does put into question the booking of Hardy, mind you.

Gen Me replacing London Brawling is a big disappointment for this writer. Nothing against the Bucks, but I wanted to see Nick and Nigel (Dah, I mean Desmond and Magnus) get a chance to shine. I don't know that the problem was. Hopefully nothing too serious.

The match was ok. Some fun high-flying stuff, but for the most part it was stuff we've seen before, and recently too. A couple of times the commentators said that the crowd were so into it, but I thought they seemed particularly quiet for an opener. There was absolutely no heat on the match, so it felt a little empty.

I question the heel turn on Gen Me. It was almost like they wanted to do something different in the opener because of the pullout of London Brawling, and they felt they had to make up for it. Generation Me had a long segment on Impact or Reaction (I forget which) where they talked passionately about their beliefs and style. It was a good segment which gave some them such much needed background. Now they are suddenly heels. It also doesn't help high flying wrestlers to be heels (see AJ Styles) Strange decision.

Doug v Sabu was ok. I'm not crazy about chairs being used like that (if you didn't see it, Sabu basically did a load of his usual springboards from them, but theoretically that wouldn't be allowed) I guess that is the only way of getting Sabu through a passable match, though.

Velvet v Madison - fine, I guess, but nothing special. Just felt like a TV match, in reality. That story is now dead, because Velvet has won cleanly. It has to be time to reintroduce the likes of Daffney and Hamada to offer some variety. I like the BP gimmick, but it isn't new anymore, and they are endangering it's longevity by confusing the issues.

Rhyno v Abyss wasn't my thing, but for what it was it was ok. 10-10-10 is the new May 19th. Abyss had to win, but I wish they hadn't have had Stevie beat him on Impact. Abyss needs to destroy Richards on a TV show soon. Did the announcers say anything about no-one interfering in Rhyno v Abyss? Wouldn't EV2 have had a big run in?

The tag match between Sting/Nash and Jarrett/Joe was terrible. Slow, boring, achieved nothing. I guess the only consolation is that Joe won looking strong, and wasn't booked like an idiot. But it was still very dull. Tenay being made to say that Sting and Nash are protecting their spot is ludicrous. Does the audience know what that even means? And if they do, wouldn't they realise that protecting their spot is a real-life, not a kayfabe, issue.

Once again, with Dreamer v Styles, this is a match not aimed at me. That's not my kind of wrestling, I don't see Dreamer being a semi-main event wrestling in 2010, and I want AJ showing his athleticism, not wrestling in hardcore matches masquerading as submission technique.

To be fair, though, this was probably as good a match as it had a right to be. They tried to tell a story, they didn't overbook, and they had the right finish, which was AJ going over.

I've been pleased that we haven't seen too much in the way of screwy finishes. I was expecting EV2 and Fortune everywhere, but there haven't been those kind of run-ins, and it's only really been Doug using a title belt that has been a finish with shenanigans. Oh, and Jarrett using a bat, I suppose, but I'm blocking that match from my mind.

Onto Jeff v Kurt. I type this some eight minutes in. Good so far, although Jeff maybe half a step off. Good work from the commentators making it seem big time and even Tazz acknowledging Jeff missing a move slightly.

I am getting annoyed with Tazz saying "Fustration", though. IT HAS TWO R's in IT!

Right, I'm at the end of Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle. The very end, after a couple of restarts. You know what - fantastic. Absolutely superb. I had in my head that Kurt Angle had to win because of the retirement stipulation, so didn't really buy any of the Jeff Hardy pin attempts, but I really didn't consider a no-contest in this manner.

There will be plenty that didn't care for that, because it might be considered a BS finish, but to me it felt like sport. I like the aspect of realism, and although there were plenty of points that I didn't care for (more in a sec) I thought overall I could put them to back of my mind and really enjoy the match.

In fact a lot of the problems with the match were not actually problems with the match, if you see my point. They were problems with TNA over the past few months. A twenty-minute time limit is pretty ridiculous in a match of this magnitude, and the short matches which have plagued TNA for so long distorts the viewer's attitude towards the match. There should have been matches on Impact which went to a 10- or 15-minute limit, to put over that this kind of thing happens.

The blood is an interesting issue, too. Kurt's bleeding was necessary to this match's conclusion. Yes it looked a bit extreme, yes I'm not usually a fan of wrestlers blading a great deal, but once in a great while it is effective - Stone Cold Steve Austin at Mania 13 springs to mind. The trouble is TNA have had Flair bleed all over the place every week; an EV2 v Fortune battle where everyone bled; and plenty more examples of loads of blood. So when Angle started bleeding, it meant so much less than it should have done.

My final gripe is Bischoff adding five more minutes twice. It's not too big a gripe, and it's even less because he went to the floor manager to 'talk to the truck' (that was a REALLY nice touch, by the way), but if Eric and Dixie were so keen there should be a winner, why not just say either no time limits or unlimited overtime? I get that the logic behind it was that they didn't want the PPV to run long (I'm talking in the story, here) and so if they said it was unlimited it could go forever, but it just seemed a bit contrived there.

I'm being picky. It was a very good WRESTLING match, backed up by some high, high quality storytelling by the wrestlers. Add in the little extra touches, and I think that's very possibly TNA's match of the year. In the top five, without a doubt. Congratulations.

Anderson v Pope concluded the show, and I thought it was a fine match, maybe a good match, but not a great one, and it certainly suffered from some outside factors. Frankly, Angle v Hardy being on before it killed it in some ways. I think I might have used the old technique of a buffer match between main events. If they had have put the Beautiful People match in between the semi-finals to let the crowd have a distraction before getting back up for the finale. I don't blame them for having Angle v Hardy on first, because of the time restraint issue, but it affected Anderson and Dinero.

There was another problem being that Angle and Hardy kicked out of finishers galore, and it meant that when Pope and Anderson starting hitting their big moves, there was no pop because the crowd didn't buy the finishes. I don't think being both babyfaces helped, because the crowd were not solidly behind one wrestler or the other.

Overall, though, I'm pleased Anderson won, because he has, for me, the more potential in terms of stepping up and being the World Champion. I look forward to either Kurt v Ken again, or Anderson v Hardy which would see out a storyline. I don't know how they get to that without beating Kurt though, so I can definitely see a three way dance.

Good PPV this, overall. One bad match (Jarrett/Joe v Nash/Sting), one largely insignificant (Knockouts), a couple that served a purpose but not up my street (all the EV2 v Fortune bouts), a decent tag opener (c'mon, work that out), a reasonable closer and a stonking MOTY candidate for good measure. Better PPV than average for TNA. No comes the interesting part - can they build for BFG............?

TNA thoughts after lacklustre big Impact follow-up

Jeff Jarrett walked into Hulk Hogan’s office on TNA Impact this week. During their chat, which I will talk more about, Eric Bischoff interjected, and said that without Dixie Carter, TNA would have been a ‘blip’. Whether that sentiment is correct or not, I have to say that on the subject of blips, I have to hope that this week’s Impact was a ‘blip’.

Sorry, but I didn’t care for at all.

No, that’s not quite true. There were elements I liked.

I liked when Flair and Angle shook hands during the main event. I liked the Young Bucks v Motor City Machine Guns. I like Daniels better as heel (Huge “but” on this one, more later). I liked the intrigue about Mick Foley’s whereabouts. I liked the fact that AJ ignored the Kurt Angle handshake to lead to some actual bitterness before their world title match. I liked the Angelina face turn and how it was received. I liked Krystal Lashley on the mic again. I like Wolfe getting a win, finally. (Another huge “but” attached. I’ll elaborate, stick with me). I thought Jarrett was good in his segment with Hogan. I liked Flair on commentary.

But there was so, so much I didn’t like. These are in no particular order, they are just as they come to me, but they are things that chronically annoyed me about the booking and make-up of a follow-up edition of a show which got it’s highest ever rating last week, and is promoting a PPV this week.

“Can you hear the band, Fernando?”

The show was called “The Band”. This was a reference to Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Sean Waltman’s group now being referred to by that epithet, because they obviously can’t be the nWo any more.

I thought there were several things wrong with their portrayal. I didn’t care for the fact that Christy Hemme referred to “Syxx-Pac”. Is he “Syxx Pac” or is he Sean Waltman?

I didn’t like how Bubba the Love Sponge was dressed, since it was just like The Band. So is he a Band member? No, because he was asking them challenging questions. A petty thing, but it was unnecessary.

Mainly, though, I didn’t like a) why they are there, and b) their association with Eric Bischoff. I ought to elaborate more on Bischoff right now.

I thought Eric, in standalone segments, was great. He is a superb on-air character, and pretty much always has been so. The problem here is that we don’t know what to think of him. He has pretty much always been a heel, so anyone who is educated to know his existence is inclined to think of him as a heel. Hogan, meanwhile, is a de facto babyface, and has been since his match with The Rock, so his association with Bischoff blurs the picture.

Jeff Jarrett, possibly making up for January 4, cut a very good heel promo in my opinion. He also had a lawyer with him, which is a dead giveaway. Therefore, when Hogan and Bischoff responded to him, they were babyface. I have no problem with that.

Switch, for a second, to Beer Money. Beer Money are Over, folks. Very over. They shift more merchandise than anyone else in TNA. The fans LOVE them. They are babyfaces, and they made babyface sense when pleading their case to management for a match with Hall and Nash, who they believed attacked them last week. That’s all fine.

But Eric was seemingly opposed to them. Again, that’s fine, but it was slightly at odds with his portrayal during the Jarrett segment.

Next, you have Beer Money in a match which gets called off due to outside interference, and then The Band come down to take down Beer Money. After a beatdown, Eric Bischoff told Beer Money to be careful what they wish for, and went on to book Hall and Nash v Beer Money, but seemed to be pally with The Band.

So is Eric is a babyface or a heel? All this would actually an intriguing aspect of the storylines, but it isn’t mentioned at all. You don’t hear Tenay and Taz wondering about Eric’s status, you just hear buttlicking about how Bischoff will change the company – which makes him a babyface, surely. It’s too confusing.

On another note involving The Band and Beer Money, it was suggested by Storm and Roode that Hall, Nash and Waltman were responsible for laying out everyone backstage on Jan 4 (I thought it was Lashley, but that’s my speculation rather than TV exposition). This wasn’t confirmed, so may be twisted later on, but that was the strong inference.

So, then, it makes sense that Beer Money would demand a match. Good booking.

But why didn’t the Machine Guns demand a match? Or Rhino? They were laid out too. You’d think Rhino, being a fiery character, would at least. Why didn’t anyone come to help Beer Money when they were down 3 to 2 in the beatdown?

Finally on this, Beer Money v nash and Hall makes sense if Beer Money win. And I’m talking ultimately, not necessarily this Sunday. That said, they can’t lose clean to two old dudes, or it kills them totally.

Who’s being a chump as Champion? I am, I am!

I’m ok with Kurt Angle v AJ Styles for the World Title at Genesis. That’s fine. Some might argue that they gave the match away last week for free, but last week was a big match on a big night, to my mind the equivalent of a PPV. TNA have to maintain their recent standard of quality wrestling at PPVs, so this is a good addition. I don’t believe this is the key selling point of a PPV that promises action from Hogan and a mystery marquee debut.

I didn’t care for a lot of how AJ v Tomko was handled. I am happy with Tomko being the masked man, and I don’t even mind his reasoning. I had a problem with the booking for that night, mainly because it made AJ look like an idiot. Eric Bischoff asked him if he was aware he had a match in a few days for the World Title, and said it didn’t matter, basically. It makes him seem daft, although I’m sure it is supposed to be an attempt to make him seem like a valiant hero. It didn’t.

And then there are the segments with Tomko explaining his dislike for AJ. I’m cool with that, but when did they do the interviews? After Tomko attacked AJ? So they did the interview, cut it, edited it together, spliced in some action shots and put in a music bed? In about twenty minutes? Wow, that’s some amazing producers TNA have.

Oh, and didn’t Kurt and AJ hate each other a short while ago. That didn’t take long to evaporate, did it? I guess they are united in dislike for Jarrett and his relationship with Karen......

Heeellllllloooooooo, Jobber!

I want to point something out – I like Sean Morley. I have long thought he is a solid, sound wrestler with a reasonable gimmick. The thing is, he has never drawn money. It might be because he wasn’t given the chance, but I suspect he wasn’t given the chance because no-one believed he’d be able to do it.

He has come into TNA basically as Val Venis, but under his own name. Even his music and entrance video sound and look like Venis. Has that been a formula for success? Not for ten years, if ever. He is known to all and sundry as a jobber, frankly.

Now I’m not opposed to them changing that status in TNA, but change the character. Hell, make him Right to Censor Val, and have him condemn TNA’s debauchery, then get his ass kicked.

Trying to make him a babyface that can hang with Daniels just feels wrong. Daniels could be used as a strong X-Div champion to raise that division’s status once again, and while I like his return to being a heel, it doesn’t seem right that he has to be on a par with Venis/Morley.

Why would the fans cheer him over Daniels? Why would the loyal fans in the Impact Zone who chant “TNA! TNA!” and then hope the blow-in Morley bests Daniels? Why should we believe he can hang with Daniels?

And the last point is the worst. I think Val Venis standing toe to toe with Daniels says “even the guys who suck in WWE are as good as some of the top guys in TNA” and that is terrifically worrying.

Joe’s gonna.......get killed?

I believe that if you polled everybody in the Impact Zone on a random week and asked for their favourite wrestlers in the company, you’d find the top three being Kurt Angle, AJ Styles and Samoa Joe. That’s pure speculation, but I don’t think it’s wildly out there.

If Kurt and AJ are main eventing and fighting for the title, what is happening to Samoa Joe? I tell you what is happening – he is losing matches with no fanfare in five minutes. That’s very worrying.

The thing is with issues like this is that we don’t know what happens backstage. There may have been major political reasons for this, and it may be Joe’s fault. My experience with him suggests otherwise, but I don’t know the man as well as I know other wrestlers in the company. But the Joe I have been around backstage at TNA is a laid-back sort of guy, albeit one that wouldn’t take any you-know-what.

So, taking to one side the fact that it may be slightly deserved (we don’t know), it cannot be right that Joe is receiving such a de-push. Admittedly his title run didn’t take off like some may have thought, but he is a highly-skilled wrestler and among the best the company has.

I don’t have an issue with him losing to Desmond Wolfe, by the way. But in a fifteen minute match, at least as a TV main event and maybe on PPV. Not without hype, in a throwaway segment used simply for Wolfe to shout at D’Angelo Dinero.

I wouldn’t mind if the show was jam packed with great stuff, but we probably spent ten minutes with Team 3D and the Nasty Boys.

This is, and I apologise for the near-profanity, SAMOA.......F’N........JOE!!

Eighteen months ago this was the TNA champion v the ROH champion. That could have been a big deal. Neither man is anywhere near washed up, so although they don’t have gold, it ought to be something meaningful. If they are doing a Pope v Wolfe feud, why aren’t they simply having a Joe v Wolfe feud? Both Pope and Wolfe are (relatively) new to TNA, and I don’t see the benefit with them feuding with each other.

On this subject, I just don’t get the Pope character at all. For one, I think he’s a natural heel, not a babyface. Two, I hate the third person “faux-Rock” shtick. Three, it’s a ludicrous, borderline offensive name, and I am in no way a religious person.

Random Annoyances

Amazing Red v a mystery opponent at Genesis - ok, but that was the first time the X-Division champion (who should be the second most important champion in the company) was mentioned in the whole show. That’s poor, and there has been zero hype for a mystery opponent. I can only assume it’s Shannon Moore and the reasoning for the surprise that no-one will buy the PPV to see Shannon Moore, but might for a surprise. Or at least another surprise.

Why wasn’t Flair’s involvement on Impact hyped way before he actually appeared?

Please tell me it was just my ears playing tricks with me when I thought I heard piped cheers during Impact. Please.

I don’t like the idea that all and sundry are publicly saying “we’re going to be really good now” which actually implies that you sucked before. That’s a bit WCW-like. Scarily WCW-like.

If you are not going to mention Jeff Hardy by name, why put him in the promo videos?

Some other points – not necessarily negative. It’s not all bad!

These are mainly questions and pieces of speculation.

Firstly, we have to look at who the big surprise is this Sunday, and how they will be involved. Will they simply turn up and wave, perhaps cut a promo, or will they appear in the main event to get involved.

If the decision is the latter, then I think that’s wrong. If everybody knows that a big star is debuting, but he hasn’t appeared before the main event, then we know he is going to interfere.

That hypothesis would also point to a heel, but all the leading names seem to be a babyface......except one.

The main three candidates are surely Goldberg, Ken Anderson and Rob Van Dam. I really hope it isn’t Goldberg. That doesn’t make fiscal sense, because the money they would need to tempt him out of retirement will be big, and they won’t make that money back in the amount of people switching their TV on, buying house tickets and ordering PPVs.

That isn’t to say that the other two won’t come cheap, but they would bring different fan bases. I think Goldberg fans are watching TNA already, or they have, in their eyes, grown out of wrestling and moved into MMA. RVD fans might be more hardcore who sniff at TNA but might be attracted now their hero is there, while Kennedy/Anderson marks might be more traditionally WWE who wonder over to TNA to see what’s going on.

I think the best would be RVD, but of those three the most likely is Anderson. I thin RVD v Styles is a big draw, and that RVD v Angle, RVD v Wolfe and RVD v Joe are very interesting. I’m sure he could have fun bouts with Lethal, Daniels and others given the chance. I’m not sure Anderson has quite the same cache or quality in the ring. Plus he brings a lot of baggage.

One more shout, though – I think it could be Sid. Hogan would think he’s a major star because he headlines Wrestlemania against him. I am perfectly aware that it was 18 years ago, but that might not matter to Hogan. He has apparently been talked up by Scott Hall of late, and fits the recent trend of bringing in older talent from another era.

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After seeing Jarrett and Hogan/Bischoff have a set tout, does that mean there will be a battle down the line for control of the company?

Foley was built strongly the Impact prior to this as someone who seriously hated Bischoff and didn’t care for Hogan. Now Jarrett is in the opposite corner. Eric told both men to get in line with everyone else. Jarrett could easily enlist Foley and have the two of them versus Hogan plus one for control of TNA. I’m saying would be great, but it’s possible. It happened in WCW all the time.

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Does Tomko figure into the Genesis main event? I can see him attacking AJ to hand the title to Kurt. I hope not, really, because I don’t think Kurt ought to turn again so quickly.

Another suggestion is that Flair might help AJ cheat and they both turn heel, but again I don’t care for that. Ditto Flair doing the same with Angle.

I definitely think Kurt will win, since the “no more title shots” claim is ludicrous. I would like to see Kurt win, whether by fair means or foul, and then for he and AJ to have a best of (x amount) series, with a variety of different matches. Not Russo specialty “on a pole” matches, but a submission match, a No DQ bout, maybe Falls Count Anywhere, a cage, a ladder match. That would be great fun to watch, and hasn’t been done for a major belt for a long time.

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Who was Bischoff on the phone to? “I’ll see you next week” – does he mean the PPV or Impact? Not being hyped so much, will it mean a lesser star debuting? You could start thinking back to his WCW days and note DDP or Bagwell or some such name turning up, but it ought to be remembered that he was in WWE for over nearly four years, so feasibly anybody that was on Raw during his tenure (2002-2006) could have been on the other end of the phone.

How about Nick Dinsmore? He was on the Hulkamania tour, and it would follow storylines where he was Eric’s nephew. Just throwing it out there.

TNA -Two Nights: Awesome

Right, first let’s get the gripes out of the way. Christian Cage was not on the tour, only two Knockouts came over, three of us had to share one room in the hotel and one of the Carlsberg’s I had in the arena was warm.

Apart from that, I had a blast. The trip from my home in the heart of Devon to Liverpool, some 400 miles and a five hour train journey away, was more than worth it.

Normally when telling you about away days, I waffle too long about the nuances of the journey. This time I won’t do that, and instead I’ll begin the story from the moment I stepped down the steps out of Liverpool’s Lime Street train station.

I’d like to thank the very kind WPC for her kind help, pleasant nature and free map when I asked her for directions to my hotel. I’d also like to admonish her for confusing the hell of me and for my embarrassment as I attempted to follow her instructions only to emerge from the subway about 100 yard from the point I entered it, but nearly ten minutes later.

Finding the hotel proved to be harder than finding the logic in a Warrior interview, but find it I did, and met up with my two compadres for the duration of my stay in Merseyland – Mr Simon Rothstein, head honco of the Sun Wrestling, and Phil Allely, our TNA Guru (Not Sonjay), token Irishman, and man whose name sounds like stamp collecting. The work of “So Bel Phil”, as we christened him in a manner we felt befit him after he professed his admiration for Jay Lethal’s valet, can be viewed here –

After a tasty dinner in Liverpool’s second favourite Nando, we headed to Liverpool Olympia. The venue is out of the city centre, and is distinctly unremarkable from the outside. However, once inside, it resembles the Hammerstein Ballroom, where the ECW One Night Stand Pay Per View took place (the first one – the amazing one). The feel is of a quaint old theatre, and it was a building very different to the O2 Arena, where I last saw a wrestling show.

This was to be my first time watching TNA live, and I’ll admit right now to not being a loyal TNA-ite, and only sporadically watching Impact until finding out about 8 weeks ago that I’d be able to attend these two shows.

Over two months of programming and Pay Per Views, I’ve been reasonably pleased with the product, especially the wrestling. WWE’s problem right now is not a lack of star power, or even talented wrestlers, it’s that the focus is on poor storytelling.

Heavy storytelling and angles rather than wrestling is not a bad thing. I know most people criticise WWE for this, but they should remember that back in 1998-2000, both WWE was red hot, and they were very heavy on the backstage stuff and development of story rather than in-ring product. And the show was better for it. It was entertaining, got you involved emotionally, and satisfied you.

Now, a lot of attention is heaped on garbage like Hornswaggle being Vince’s son, and lame stuff like that. We’ve seen it all before, and now is the time (I’m sounding like Verne Gagne here) to go back to what brung us, what is says on the marquee – ‘rasslin’.

The two WWE shows I saw in the O2 arena in April were ok, but nothing more. I heard reports from House Shows which were very negative. Of course, it depends on the perspective. If the majority of the audience are young kids simply excited to see their heroes, then they will likely be more satisfied by a WWE house show than watching, say, an ROH DVD with Kevin Steen and El Generico.

Those that know their stuff, though, were turned off by House Shows with the guys ‘phoning it in’ and putting on very ordinary, “cookie-cutter” bouts. The buzz from TNA was this tour would be different. And it was.

TNA is uniquely positioned in that it’s roster is a combination of technical and high-flying workers who would grace ROH and other like-minded promotions, but also has an added, WWE-like glamour to it, with big-name stars like Sting, Nash, Angle and Booker T that have been there and done it in the big leagues.

But they can go. You don’t see many folks in TNA who can’t work, and it was noticeable that the limited roster that they bought to England, featured – in no particular order - AJ Styles, Abyss, Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt, Robert Roode, Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, Petey Williams, Homicide, Hernandez, James Storm, Gail Kim, Awesome Kong, Booker T and Rhino. Oh, and a bloke called Joe. Samoan I think we was.

This line up was augmented by Kurt Angle, but in a non-wrestling capacity, and Doug Williams, UK talent and soon-to-be TNA talent, for the World X Cup at the very least.

Conspicuous by their absence were Team 3D, Kip James, BG James, Matt Morgan, Tomko and so forth. Bigger guys who have their worth, but to work a series of great matches on house shows, not necessarily the best fit.

TNA’s roster could still be greatly improved and honed, but they should be credited on a roster that has a great deal of wrestling depth, and this is something they HAVE to exploit. They also have another major ace in the hole, but we’ll come to that in due course.

So, arriving at the arena, to see what our cabbie described as the biggest queue he’d seen outside the venue, we were ushered in through a side door by Steven Godfrey.

Publicist, I believe is his official title, but this trip featured him filling all kinds of roles, including getting ice for the guys and even assisting with stitches being applied, after James Storm took a nasty gash to his left eye on night two, which was done hard way, with even the Tennessee Cowboy himself not knowing how it was done. Sorry about your damn luck, James.

Steve was an absolutely top man, and I can’t tell you how well we were looked after by him, in a manner not consistent with how Wrestling journalists can be typically considered.

We got to see Alex Shane, who was the promoter for the tour, also a successful British grappler in his own right but more importantly a feature columnist for the truly marvellous Fighting Spirit Magazine. (Cheap Pop). Alex had a chat with a chap called Martin (sorry, mate, I forget your surname) who had use of a nice little box overlooking the 6-sided ring. Martin is promoting a show in Wolverhampton in September which I’m hoping to get to, and sounds fantastic. Roderick Strong and Austin Aries are just two names off the top of my head that are appearing. Check out ....for info.

This is getting like a bloody infomercial! And I’m not getting paid for the plugs! Maybe I’ll get a freebie...........:-)

The box was a fantastic spot to watch the show from. Not just the matches, but the audience. Think ECW and you’re on the lines of what this crowd was like. Not so cult-like, not so bloodthirsty (there was very little violence or hardcore wrestling on either show) but just as enthusiastic, and very knowledgeable.

Interestingly, the first chant of the night featured profanity. Our came out host for the evening, Jeremy Borash, who prompted fell up the ring steps and bumped on the side of the ring – I have it on VERY good authority that it was NOT intentional.

“You fouled up, You fouled up” was not the chant. I’m sure you can guess what was.

Borash is outstanding. He’ll never sell a ticket. No-one is going to see TNA coming to their town and say “I must buy a ticket, Jeremy Borash is on the show” but the guy is sensational. Doing all the announcing, all the continuity, plugging video games and so forth is not an easy task, but he does it all expertly, smoothly and with great humour. He was also doing all the cueing up of theme songs and he whipped the crowd into a frenzy, as if they needed assisting.

During the evening, JB kept reminding fans of the promise of backstage access to the loudest fans in the arena - a genuine claim, and quite a few of the approximate 1800 crowd got to have a look behind the curtain.

This kept the fans intent on making noise, and even being cynical and saying it’s a stunt to get people making a racket for the sake of it, it’s still a clever stunt which makes the atmosphere unique.

JB – Just Brilliant.

The first match we were treated to was an X-Division Title match, and it was a three-way dance. I thought it was maybe a mistake to make a few title matches over both days, because it told you who was going over in them, That said, it didn’t detract from the match quality.

Sonjay Dutt, Jay Lethal and Petey Williams opened the evening, with Sonjay getting some admirable heat considering he has only just turned. Maybe, though, the heat was not for turning his back on Black Machismo, but for simply turning his back. Seriously, the amount of “Bacne” this guy had was insane. He tried to hide it with a doo-rag the second night, but it fell off.

Petey, of course, went over, but this was off the charts. Non-stop flying and creative moves, and not a bit like a WWE triple threat with one man playing dead for an inordinate amount of time and the other two squaring off. Great opener.

Next up we got to see mixed Tag action with Gail Kim and the UK’s Doug Williams taking on Amazing Kong and James Storm. It was a shame that two were the only knockouts brought over, since TNA has really created a niche for all their talented women, but Gail and Kong both looked terrific. In the ring, I’m obviously meaning. Although let me tell you just how hot Gail is close up.

Doug, complete with really British shouts of “come on”, and Storm did their bit. Solid match, with quite a lot of interaction between the men and women in this.

At times, though, the match was secondary, as a very over heel was in the ring. Not Storm, not Kong.

I’m talking Earl Hebner.

He hadn’t even descended three steps on his entrance when the crowd burst into a “You screwed Bret” chant. Some people have very long memories, and Earl was happy to indulge them. All his matches were called down the middle, but he spent plenty of time bantering with the crowd, threatening to fight them, and playing up to the heat. Funny stuff.

Abyss and Rhino squared off in a neat brawl next up, and probably the most noteworthy thing from this one was the high-flying antics of Rhino. Yeah, seriously, Rhino. A plancha and a top rope splash were in his repertoire for this one, which spilled to the outside on more than one occasion. Abyss won with the Black Hole Slam.

Before we got to intermission, we had possibly the wrestler cheered the most all night. The Phenomenal........Ultimate Warri......just kidding. AJ it was, and he emerged to take on Robert Roode.

Roode is a terrific heel. He reminds me so much of Curt Hennig, and not because he does the Perfectplex/Fisherman’s suplex. It’s because he carries himself superbly, and genuinely creates nice heat. I suspect he’ll be happy when he can cut his hair though. Maybe a Roxxi-like shearing could be on the cards for Bobby.

The match was tremendous. AJ is such a joy to watch, and the people were just crazy about him. He ended it with a Styles Clash, after teasing it a couple of times, and this was another brilliant contest.

Intermission time, and what was noticeable was that we’d seen four matches – An X-Division three-way, a mixed tag showcasing the girls, a big man brawl and a great technical showpiece. Four very different matches, with two being decent and two being absolute belters.

Next up was more tag team action, and a fantastic bout to see live. The tag champions LAX defending against Sabin and Shelley, the Motor City Machine Guns. The pace of this match was frightening, and Hernadndez is one of those guys who you cannot fully appreciate until you see him live. The guy is huge, but so mobile and so charismatic. LAX are hugely over, and you can see why. They have the triple advantage of a great smaller guy in Homicide, a mobile big guy in Hernandez and a great...I don’t like to call it gimmick, but a great hook in their Latino Nation ethos, and infectious personality. Although not present in Liverpool, Shelly Martinez as Salinas is a great addition – and I now know why she’s called Salinas.

I’m not telling you though. Sworn to secrecy I’m afraid. Sorry.

The Guns are simply so fast, and the minute I saw them up close I just thought “Give these two London and Kendrick and watch ‘em go.” That would be a real dream match.

LAX got the win, and we all got to see Hernandez launching himself over the rope onto both Guns. Shelley got a mild concussion from this, I’m told.

The great thing about LAX, seen even more the following night, is they really seemed to enjoy themselves out there. I think that, although you need to retain Kayfabe for the most part, a couple of guys smiling occasionally and having fun will be appreciated by audiences.

One match to go, but before then, a special guest appeared. JB’s introduction was far from subtle, and as soon as the year 1996 was mentioned, it wasn’t a stretch to work out who was coming.

Kurt Angle probably got the pop of the night, and seemed genuinely moved by his reaction. He kept it short and sweet, slated WWE, praised TNA majorly and got everyone even more pumped up than before.

From here, it was just a main event to go, with a chap called Samoa Joe taking centre stage. His opponent was Booker T, who got a great reaction, but showed what a top hand he is by soaking it up, grabbing the stick, backing up what Kurt said.....then turning it into an ego-driven tirade about how he isn’t respected. The people knew the score, and I’ve never seen so many people booing, but with a smile on their face.

Booker topped even that during the match, in a terrific piece of showmanship, which Simon called brilliantly. A small Spinerooni chat got noticed and exacerbated, getting Book’s attention. He posed, readied himself for it........only to raise to his feet and give the crowd the “up yours” salute. Hilarious stuff.

Joe won, obviously, and that would have pleased some extremely knowledgeable folk who chanted “Welcome Back” at him, in a reference to his last ROH match being in Liverpool, I’m told.

A terrific show, with a staggeringly hot crowd and an evening which was just such a lot of fun.

For the people, it hadn’t ended. Borash had teased earlier in the night that no-one should go anywhere after the Main Event, and this was duly noted. No-one had left, as JB made the announcement that if not everybody could get backstage, then they’d bring backstage out to the people. We didn’t stick around until the bitter end – we had the option of going for drinks two lovely PR girls from Midway. What would you do? – but we were told that it was nearly two and half hours before the session ended. TNA’s goal was that everyone would get at least one t-shirt signed, programme autographed or photograph taken. They likely achieved this.

TNA have a philosophy that they try to be as people-friendly as possible. This is not a gimmick, folks. They genuinely want to know what people like and what they don’t. They want to satisfy their fans in any way they can, and the post-show signing was not a publicity stunt, but a positive well-meaning gesture which surely would have made many people’s evening.


Friday began in a bit of a haze (What can I say? Phil’s an Irishman – he led me astray, and I absolute did not want to have that eleventh beer. The previous ten were nice, though.) but we had most of the day free so took the opportunity to check out Liverpool. It is a most agreeable city, although as we perused it, it was a bit embarrassing that the first thing we thought about seeing was the Albert Dock where they filmed This Morning with Richard and Judy (“that must be where Fred’s map was!”)

A wander around took in seeing the famous Liver Building, a walk along the Mersey (no time for the famous ferry, unfortunately) and a look at Beatles country – the famous Cavern Club where the Fab Four made their name.

The people really do live up to their reputation as friendly, although as we were trying to ask directions to a hotel (not much luck with hotel finding, all told) the chap in the Hot Dog van didn’t need to accost passers-by to find out where the Malmasion was. Barely any had heard of it, and looked at us accusingly when we ensured they got the name right. (“But that sounds.......French.”) Their efforts of Mermaid, Marioness and Marriott were close though.

We were going to the Malmaison because we had a date with a very special and lovely lady. If Vince McMahon is the gruff, grizzled and intimidating Chairman of WWE, then his TNA equivalent is the polar opposite. Friendly, chatty and approachable, Dixie Carter joined us for a convivial chat over a couple of drinks. The only negative thing I could say about her is that she hugged Simon, and then Phil increasingly throughout the day. I felt left out. Maybe I’m not huggable type L. I expect a hug when I visit Orlando, Dixie. J

Seriously, Dixie listened to our praise and criticism of the previous night’s show, which she was unable to attend. It was mainly praise, and I found myself in the strange position of actually desperately finding something to complain about, because our words of adulation for her company were starting to sound sycophantic and crawling. We meant it, though.

We were joined by her husband Serge, also a great guy, and the brains behind the TNA merchandise range. I know I’m sounding like a broken record, but spending time with these guys, who have so much genuine feeling for their company and their wrestlers was truly special. I’m a long time wrestling fan, who really loves the art, and am continually saddened by premature tragedies to young men and, on a more aesthetic level, an overly negative attitude by ‘fans’ towards what they see.

Although I sound hypocritical because I have plenty of gripes here and there, I do wish that people would sometimes just watch and try to enjoy rather than getting into too many deep thoughts about problems they can’t solve. That said, people invest money in buying wrestling Pay Per Views, merchandise and so forth, and they have every right to moan.

Hand on heart, I can tell you that TNA wants to redress the balance and please fans. I’m not saying their booking is perfect, that every guy in the company is talented, and that their concepts are all spot on, but their heart seems to be in the right place, and although a couple of house shows looking good does not a company make, they are surely heading in the right direction.

Sneaking a ride with Dixie and Serge in their taxi, we got into the arena even earlier, and when we entered we were met by a really big guy. “Hi, I’m Chris” he said. I introduced myself, as did Phil, and it was only when Simon said he’d seen him not long ago that I realised who it was. Chris was Abyss, and though I’m probably the slow one for not realising who this huge individual was, it does show the disparity between person and character. Mind you, that character is basically insane, so I should hope there is a bit of a difference.

Stepping down towards the ring area, we saw pretty much the whole roster looking up the ramp.

Liverpool was the first time, I’m told, that TNA have used screens at House shows, adjacent to the entrance, and as we entered the arena on the Friday afternoon, the wrestlers were watching the previous night’s show on tape.

You know when you hear about the guys watching their matches to improve them? That’s true, you know, not just a claim to make them sound good.

Most of the guys were extremely friendly and polite. Especially Gail, whose greeting and smile was the warmest, and made me fall in love with her even more. Ah, Gail.........

We were allowed back into the box from where we’d perched to watch the previous night’s show, and saw a familiar face. Jeff Jarrett was with the wrestlers, and I think that’s a gesture towards the UK about how important TNA consider this tour. I know Jeff will want to see his guys all the time, see if the matches and how they can improve, but he could have watched a DVD of the shows from the US, and could have told everyone who to work with over the phone.

The fact that both Jeff and Dixie were there, and I understand will be attending each show (I’m writing this Saturday afternoon – the guys are due to be in Coventry tonight and Brentwood on Sunday) is positive for two reasons. One being that it shows that the UK is an important market to them, and they are not just paying lip service to us. The second is that both saw the red hot crowd and fantastic show of Saturday night – both of which eclipsed the previous evening.

As the wrestlers headed to the back while the doors opened - a process which was referred to as “doing the building for Kayfabe” – we followed soon after, as Simon had a chat with Doug Williams and Booker T, while I caught up with Earl Hebner.

It may sound a strange choice for interview, but if you are familiar with my other life as a football (soccer) journalist, then you may know that I write a column called Referee365 for the website Football365.com (more pimping!). It seemed the natural choice to talk to Earl, as a referee in a different world, and also since I had the privilege of chatting to Bret Hart a couple of months ago so asking Earl about a certain event where he earned his ubiquitous “you screwed” chant.

I’m not going to tell you what he said – you’ll have to keep checking the Sun’s site to see when the interview goes up. Suffice to say, though it was interesting, and although his reaction to talking about Bret was surprising, he was predictably scathing about his former employees.

We reconvened in the box for the show, where our perch at the front of the box was rudely taken up by someone. To be fair, though, it’s her company, so we let Dixie sit where she wanted.

The matches, will I’ll run through in a second, were equal to if not better than the previous evening, but I found myself spending less time watching them because I couldn’t help but study the audience’s theatrics , and the subsequent reaction of Ms Carter. I think she cried at one point, so was the emotion of the night.

The crowd was hotter than Thursday, but we had predicted that somewhat in that Friday was the first show on sale. The Thursday show was added when Friday sold out in four hours (!) so we knew that if Thursday was great, the people going the following night were those that were the most eager to snap up tickets. We were not let down.

We opened again with X division action, with Sonjay this time teaming up with Petey Williams to take on The Motor City Machine Guns. Another amazingly fast-paced bout ensued, with a few botched efforts serving to bring this one down notch or two. But still some phenomenal action.

The Guns won, but of course the people wanted to see the Canadian Destroyer. How to solve that? Well, the solution was part Rick Martel v Jake Roberts and part Mr Fuji, as Petey reached around as if blind, after Sonjay had mistakenly thrown powder in his eyes. The Guns forced Sonjay into Petey’s grasp ,and he gave his own partner his patented move. Really fun stuff, this, and played in exactly the right manner.

Kong v Gail in a one-on-one encounter was next, and saw possibly the most brutal moment of the night, although unintentional.

The match was really enthralling the fans – Kong is so impressive live – as the champ spilled to the outside, and Gail climbed to the top rope. She dove onto Kong in a spot where the Awesome one would catch her. She did, but Gail had caught the guardrail on the way down. Dixie shuddered in genuine worry for Gail the person, not the commodity. From where we were, it looked like she’d taken a nasty bang to the head, but she ploughed on through the match. When we saw guys from the backstage, we kept enquiring to her wellbeing. We were told she was fine. Man, these girls are tough.

Third on was LAX taking on Storm and Roode, and if Gail looked hurt but escaped ok, the opposite occurred here, where James Storm would later require stitched on a head wound which apparently even he doesn’t know how he got it. Logic would seem to say it was from a Twisting Homicide Dive to the outside (I’ve thought about that name. I think I called it ‘the twisty thing” last night) and I would categorically say it was hardway and not a blade.

I was very disappointed (perhaps my only criticism of the crowd on either night) by the “you can’t wrestle” chants aimed at Bobby Roode. Oh yes, he darn well can, and for someone I really think is on the brink of something big to receive that was odd indeed.

LAX won, and we got to see Hernandez fly again. He misses that top rope by millimetres, you know. I hope he doesn’t eve catch his toes on the top rope one day, as his fall could be perilous if he does. Match was also notable for seeing Homicide pay great homage to Eddie Guerrero, with a Three Amigos and frog splash.

Lastly before the interval was AJ once again, as a three-way was announced. This is proof of how quickly they were booking these things, considering all the buzz we heard was about AJ taking on Abyss.

Anyway, AJ emerged to take on Jay Lethal and Doug Williams, in what was quite possibly a tryout for Doug. He is signed up for the X Cup, but is being considered for a longer term deal. We’ll see.

One blotch on this match was a spot AJ threw a dropkick but Doug had ducked as if looking to miss a clothesline. I think wires were crossed and that the AJ thought the drop kick was after one Irish Whip, Doug after two.

It’s a small criticism which I wanted to get out of the way, because the match was tremendous. Just so innovative, and Doug played his part too. Much less “come on” in the repertoire, and much more in the style of TNA rather than Traditional British stuff.

AJ won with a mesmerising corkscrew from the top, executed perfectly, and after the match all guys shook hands, with AJ putting Doug over as “the newest member of the family”.

After the break Dixie made an in-ring appearance to thank the people, and I should note that plenty of time was spent by her mingling amongst the crowd before, during and after the show.

Next, it was Booker T v Rhino in another match where I barely watched the match, but instead studied the crowd. Both men were over huge here as babyfaces, even though Booker was playing the heel role with his usual panache.

I timed the first five minutes after the bell as having one move in it, and that was a shoulderblock. It was a cacophony of noise, with duelling “Let’s go Booker” “Let’s go Rhino” chants the feature, but a smattering of “E-C-Dub” efforts in there too.

The competitors lapped it up. The lack of moves wasn’t because they were dumbfounded by the noise, it was because they continued to create it. I’ve never seen Rhino so animated, and the people loved him here. The heat continued during the match, with no man being the favourite until Booker did his antics with the Spinerooni again.

After failing to give the crowd what they wanted, Booker became the heel, and Rhino stepped up his game. After knocking Booker down, the War Machine, the Man Beast from Detroit, Michigan, went down to one knee. He looked into his hands, and delivered what I can only describe as.........SPINERRHINO! So awesome.

Booker would go on to win the match after kicking out of a gore and hitting and Axe kick, but the it wasn’t about the winner, this one. It wasn’t even about the match. This was far more Sports Entertainment than wrestling, but that’s not a bad thing. Pure, unadulterated fun, and everyone had a blast watching it.

Lastly we saw Joe and Abyss, but not before Kurt had appeared like the night before, only to get an even wilder reception this time, causing him to cry. I know Kurt cries all the time, but it’s usually after winning titles and Olympic gold medals and stuff. Not stood in a ring in another country at a house show. Angle got the love, and even a USA chant, before cutting a great promo putting the company over, and not himself.

He gave a nod to Dixie, and elicited a couple of winces from her for bashing the competition a bit strongly. He also drew a mixed reaction when he talked about some of his past opponents – Eddie and others were received well, but it was a surprise to hear Kurt mention Chris Benoit.

Joe and Abyss had a brawl which was both pretty and not pretty at the same time (That’s a complement by the way) which Joe obviously won. Joe was so over, and just has such a great presence, as well as being a sterling competitor.

Post show came the fans meet and greet again, although a revisions so that wrestlers toured the ringside area and visited other parts of the theatre to make it easier for everyone to get what they wanted.

What a show. What a couple of days.

I want to say thank you to Steve and Dixie (and everybody) for their hospitality, and to say that it is a victory for WRESTLING if this company is a success. They really, really deserve it.

I’ll close with the words the fans spoke directly at the end of the Joe v Abyss contest (amongst others)

“That was awesome! *clap clap clap clap* That was awesome! *clap clap clap clap...” (Fade out)