Posted in: House Shows TNA House Show Results from Wembley, London, UK 1/24/09
By Skaos
Jan 25, 2009 - 7:22:43 PM
Meet and Greet
Started at 5pm, and a lot of people left unhappy. Only several TNA stars in attendance, but I did get to meet Mick Foley, Consequences Creed, ODB (who grabbed her boobs) Earl Hebner, Jeremy Borash and Team 3D. All of them were very nice and irritated by the security rushing us on, and Mick Foley even attempted to show us the film stars in his little black book. It was cool to see such humility from Foley. I also got to talk to Dixie Carter and get photos with all of the above (apart from Borash when the photo taker forgot to hold the flash button on my camera) so they are available on request.
The Show
An hour later I was sat in row 10 at ringside. The view was awesome, albeit blocked whenever anyone decided to stand up. Security and ushers were constantly moving people back down in their seats. However, I could stand for the entire event because no one was behind me. The arena was nearly sold out, only two segments were empty (blocked by the stage setup on the left side) and the crowd were very hot. The show went as follows:
Jeremy Borash was in the ring between every match addressing the fans and offering backstage passes to the loudest in the crowd. The passes went to the kids on every occasion to the chagrin of the fans. J.B chant to start before he introduced the first contest.
X Division Championship
Alex Shelley (c) v Eric Young v Doug Williams v Jay Lethal
Heel heat for Lethal strangely enough, with Williams getting the huge pop as the hometown hero. Shelley was over and almost all the crowd were pointing to their palms. Match was pretty short but in the end Shelley won a high flying match. Notable moves were multiple planchas to the outside, a double superplex and not to mention Shelley attempting Sliced Bread only to end up in a sit-down facebuster. Williams rolled Lethal into his German Suplex for the near fall. All four men engaged in a four way brawl, with Young hitting his Youngblood Neckbreaker on Williams. Williams then clotheslined Young as Shelley super kicked him out of the ring. Lethal picked up Young and hit the Lethal Combination before Shelley broke it up and gave EY the sliced bread for the win. Shelley soaked up the applause after the match. Pretty short and a little too quick for many fans.
J.B is in the ring again, this time awarding the promised passes to the winners. He announces he just got a text message saying “Tell those loser London fans that I just arrived and they should get ready because they do not deserve me” from the leader of the Main Event Mafia Kurt Angle. Huge boos! Then he introduces the next match.
Consequences Creed v Scott Steiner
Loud pops for both men as they enter the ring. Steiner flips off the crowd on the second turnbuckle as he locks up. YOU CAN’T WRESTLE chant is immediate for Steiner, followed by a LETS GO CREED chant. Pretty decent match for the majority as Steiner hits the T Bone and Creed lands on his feet hits a stunning standing dropkick and his split leg triple punch. Rest holds dominate the middle of the match and the arena shakes with Creed chants and stamping to spur the hero on. Steiner takes a stiff series of punches and clotheslines. Creed hits a top rope dropkick and scores a near fall. Creed does a little dance and goes up top. Steiner bounces up and throws Creed off the top rope for his efforts. Steiner slaps on the Steiner Recliner in moments to secure the submission and the win. Again Steiner flips off the crowd and shouts obscenities at them. Some children near me were asking their parents what they said...needless to say they didn’t get an answer. The crowd were really into Steiner, at one point starting a Triple H sucks chant.
J.B is in the ring and starts talking about the beautiful Knockouts that have made TNA so successful. Then he announces the next match. Borash announces he has had another text message saying “Tell the loving fans that I have just arrived here...in London England” from none other then Mick Foley.
The Beautiful People v ODB and Taylor Wilde
At the meet and greet I only just realized how small ODB is in real life, she is tiny! Anyway the BP come out first and are literally booed out of the building. They do their famous entrance and for the entire night I would not see more camera flashes. Velvet Sky is beautiful in person and looks tiny but oh so hot. ODB and Taylor Wilde come out and start to tangle with the ladies. ODB pulled down Velvet’s skirt, revealing her underwear much to the joy of the fans. One dude in front of me was chanting ALCOHOLIC at ODB. No one joined in, it was quite embarrassing. The Knockouts looked good here, with Taylor Wilde showing a viciousness that is often edited on TV. At one point she was battering Velvet senseless on the outside, even throwing her into the guard rail. She would then chase Love all the way around the ring and hit a stiff clothesline. She threw Love back into the ring for ODB to give her the powerslam. ODB picked up the win, but this match was all really about the ladies and their skimpy outfits. After the match Velvet and Love picked up a mic and started to say “that the U.K didn’t deserve the Beautiful People and they wouldn’t be returning.” The entire crowd started to wave and chant GOODBYE at them. Velvet then finished with “Oh and Soccer sucks!” Huge Boos!
. J.B is back in the ring, saying that TNA could not be possible without Bravo (the TV company over here that handles TNA broadcasting) and that they have come a long way in the last seven years. Then he announces the next match. I notice a CENA SUCKS sign to the other side of the arena. This made me laugh...you will see why later.
Brutus Magnus v Sheik Abdul Bashir
Brutus is the yet to be revealed British Gladiator Oblivion. He has the role of a Terminator style gladiator gimmick complete with Warrior belt buckles. Obviously, Bashir came out first and got booed off the planet. Brutus got a huge pop. The match was a decent showing from Brutus, when TNA get him on TV (Gladiators is still filming) they will have someone decent to add to the mid card. Pretty technical match with Bashir having most of the control. Wiping his hair, rubbing his hands and praying during a ten punch mid rope punch-out were highlights that got the crowd chanting for Magnus. YOU CAN’T WRESTLE chants for Bashir, followed by YOUR ON STEROIDS. Brutus hit a decent clothesline and a high powered suplex before hitting his spinning Samoan drop finisher. However, Bashir kicked out. Magnus went up top and Bashir powerbombed him. Hooking his feet on the ropes Bashir secured the win. The building erupted with boos. There was a conversation between Rudy Charles and Earl Hebner before they confirmed his feet were on the ropes. The match was restarted and Magnus instantly rolled up Bashir for the win. Magnus looked very good in this showing; it won’t do his future any trouble. Expect him in a contest with Matt Morgan any time soon.
Jeremy Borash is mid ring and announces that one of the best divisions in TNA is the Tag Team Division. So he introduces us to the next match which will be a London Street Fight.
London Street Fight
Beer Money Inc v Team 3D
For a London Street Fight there was a distinct lack of tramps, beer bottles (surprising considering) and cigarette butts. All men started brawling mid ring and hitting each other with stiff hay makers. Then all four decided to leave the ring and enter the crowd. From my stand point for about two minutes the men disappeared which started a WE CAN’T SEE YOU CHANT. Suddenly (from the people who could see) a JOHN CENA SUCKS chant started It was mildly amusing. Eventually the men entered the ring and started chucking weapons in. There were brooms, Singapore canes, dustbins, lids, cleaning signs (the ones that stand on wet floors) and two by fours. WE WANT TABLES was the order of the day. The entire arena seemed to shake with this order. Team 3D held off, hitting each other with the weapons, until Storm was bent over in the ring and Roode fell behind him. Yes, it got laughs. Roode then started to smack Ray around the head with the cleaning sign. He hit him four times, cleanly before he dropped. The tables turned once again and D-Von laid a dustbin on Storms crotch before slamming a ladder down on it. Stiff spot! Then both Ray and D-Von hit Beer Money with simultaneous triple punches and crotch chops. D-Von body popped a little before the inevitable happened. Then Ray pushed D-Von and they did the GET THE TABLES gig. That ladies and gentlemen got the pop of the night. They bought a table in and put Roode in the 3D for the win.
After the match Ray got on the mic and started to thank us all for our support and claimed that we were the largest audience TNA had seen. They thanked us for the Dudley chant and the ECW chant but they reminded us we were in TNA not WWE (Boos) so lets see if we can get the biggest TNA chant. Immediately they had 8,000 plus people chanting TNA for about three minutes. Ray picked up a piece of the table and asked who wanted it. The crowd cheered and they bought a kid into the ring named Harry. D-Von asked the child what his name was and why he liked TNA. Then the kid said LONDON ROCKS to a huge cheer, and then a sudden 3-D HIM chant. This crowd were hot but evil. They left the ring after Borash announced an intermission.
On return from the break, Borash announced that they were filming for a new TNA TV commercial and that he was about to speak to the camera and get the fans to chant TNA and THANK YOU BRAVO. We did, Borash looked a little subdued. Then he announced that someone special was here. Mick Foley walked out to a THANK YOU FOLEY chant. Foley did the obligatory “thanks for having me, right here in London, England”. Foley got on the mic and spoke of a TNA fan he had met earlier who had a song tattooed on her arm. He decided to borrow ODB’s tattoo kit and do one himself. He started to read it aloud, but we he was reading an NWA song word for word. When Borash corrected him he denied knowing and invited Dixie Carter out for inspiration. THANK YOU DIXIE chants started as well, as Dixie honestly looked as if she would cry. She thanked us all before Foley was seen thanking the cameras. He then said “Have a...Good day”.
Borash asked if we liked The Phenomenal AJ Styles? CHEERS. He asked if we liked the Samoan Submission Machine Samoa Joe. Cheers. HE then asked the camera to film that sign there (Pointing to the CENA SUCKS sign), and said, make sure you get that! Then he announced the next match.
Matt Morgan & Abyss v AJ Styles & Samoa Joe
Morgan came out to mainly boos and Abyss got a decent pop. Before Joe even came out the crowd started to chant JOE IS GONNA KILL YOU. As Joe made his way down the ramp everyone was cheering. Then they announced AJ Styles and the roof blew off. This was a tie in with the tables chant from earlier but even AJ seem overwhelmed by it all. The crowd were really into AJ. The match started with Morgan pushing AJ around before he made the tag to Joe. Joe started kicking Morgan; every kick resonated around the stadium before he tagged AJ in who hit his springboard forearm. Morgan kicked out and started to take AJ down with stiff forearms. He tagged in Abyss who let AJ tag in Joe. Joe hit Abyss in the corner with his backwards kick before Abyss reversed an Irish whip. As Abyss flew in, Joe caught him in mid air and slammed him down. That was awesome. Joe tagged in AJ again and AJ got overpowered. Abyss worked on AJ for a while with various suplexes, the sit-down backbreaker and even the Hellavator. AJ started to come back but was thrown in the air to land flat on his face. Morgan climbed in and started applying rest holds and the crowd started stamping. AJ climbed up and was clotheslined down again. Morgan set him up for a back drop but AJ rolled over and hit the Pele! The crowd erupted and AJ finally made the hot tag. Joe was unleashed as he hit Abyss with a flying clotheslines followed by a sit down senton. He picked up Abyss and slapped him a few times, ducked a Morgan clothesline which hit Abyss. Joe then climbed the ropes and hit Morgan with a top rope dropkick. He then caught Abyss in mid air again for a powerslam. Morgan broke up the pin. Abyss stormed the ring and missed AJ, knocking Morgan down. Joe hit the muscle buster on Morgan and tagged in AJ who finished him off with a nice 380 degree splash. The match was over.
Joe soaked up the crowd and even entered the arena for a bit before heading up the ramp. Mid ring Morgan was pushing Abyss around calling him all sorts of grandma offending names before telling the crowd he was a **** and the like. Abyss smacked Morgan to a huge cheer and left the ring after putting the beat down on Morgan. Nice ending.
Borash announced that the main event was next. The crowd were amped as the show neared the 3 hour mark.
Jeff Jarrett v Kurt Angle
Angle came out first to a chorus of cheers. Jarrett came out to mostly boos. Who needs Canada eh? Anyway this match was pretty much a carbon copy of their match at Genesis, minus the street fight and grudge match rules. Excellent contest with Angle and Jarrett putting on a clinic with suplexes, submission holds and the like. Mid way through, Jarrett hit a pedigree mid ring to a huge pop but Angle went one better with a very Triple H esque spinebuster. He then attempted the Angle Lock for the first time. Jarrett rolled through and nearly pinned Kurt. Kurt hit the Angle Slam and gained a near fall. Angle then attempted his moonsault off the top rope but despite perfect execution, he missed. Jarrett slapped on the figure four leg lock to a chorus of WOOs before Kurt escaped and slapped on the Angle Lock once more. Jarrett was going no where and when Angle pulled him away from the ropes the crowd cheered. Jarrett rolled through once more but this time Angle clobbered the referee. The referee dropped as Jarrett hit the stroke. Going for the cover, Steiner made his way to the ring with a chair. As Jarrett was waking the ref, Steiner came from behind. Jarrett ducked the chair shot (but caught his head on the leg) and dropkicked Steiner. Jarrett was legit busted here as he tried to find his bearings. His blonde hair turned dark red very quickly. Angle slammed Jarrett with the chair and Steiner slapped on the Steiner Recliner. Suddenly Mick Foley run down to ring side and entered the ring. He knocked down Steiner and Angle before pulling out the sock and putting in it in Angles mouth. Angle low blowed Foley and turned straight into a guitar shot from Jarrett. The referee awoke in time for the pin and the win. Jarrett was bleeding heavily here.
As the show ended, all the faces came out to soak up the crowds standing ovation and warned us that when they come to the U.K with their first overseas PPV later this year that TNA will really cross the line. And that my fellow wrestling fans was it. I went home, slept and had a nice cold beer. The show overall was pretty awesome. In fact I missed Don West and Mike Tenay for this, but that was a minor glitch in a decent, but very entertaining show.
