9/23 TNA in New York: X Division Title change, Tommy Dreamer vs. Abyss with Mick Foley as special referee, Jeff Hardy vs. Mr. Anderson, Team 3D vs. Ink Inc. in a tables match, Rob Van Dam hurting after an embarrassing moment

TNA live event
Manhattan, N.Y. at Hammerstein Ballroom
Report by Dot Net reader Little Naitch

The Hammerstein Ballroom looked pretty full. I only saw a few empty seats.

1. Amazing Red defeated Jay Lethal for the X Division Championship. We arrived late and only caught the last 5 or so minutes of this one but what we did see was your typical X division fare highlighted by Red's corkscrew plancha which garnered a huge pop from his home crowd. Speaking of which, the roar after he pinned Lethal after a Code Red was deafening. I love the fact that TNA booked a title change on a house show and I was shocked as I missed the announcement of it being a title match.

2. Angelina Love defeated Tara to retain the TNA Knockouts Championship. Earl Hebner was announced and did the Bret Hart pose to chants of "You screwed Bret!" Tara took off her T-Shirt and teased throwing it into the crowd but threw it down to the mat instead to get some nice heat. Angelina won with the Yakuza kick.

3. Pope D'Angelo Dinero defeated Rhyno. Rhyno came out to a big E C Dub chant. Pope gave his sunglasses to a tiny kid at ringside which got a big "awwww" from my girlfriend. Classy move. Good back and forth action which actually saw Pope kick out of a sick looking Gore and Rhyno kicking out of a Pope "Codebreaker." Pope ended up nailing the DDE in the corner after a missed Gore. Then my favorite part of the evening so far as Pope high fived the dad from before, snatched his sunglasses back from the kid, put them on, walked up the ramp, flipped us off and left! That was amazing!

4. Team 3D defeated Ink Inc in a tables match. Team 3D were of course hugely over and came out to more E C Dub chants. Ray grabbed a mic and announced a tables match for "The most hardcore city in the world!" The brawl spilled out to the floor and Ray hit some vicious chops. 3D hit wassup and the 3D on Jesse through the table for the win. Ray got the mic again and talked about ECW and TNA and the fans being the same. D-Von brought a kid in the ring so he could get a slab of table. D-Von was seen on the balcony later taking a few photos with fans, I missed out as he politely told me he was with his family.

Just before Intermission, Dixie brought out some Army recruits or something and started going on about the Army. Urghhhh! Target audience Dixie, this is Liberal New York City. A small USA chant started followed by a "You fucked up" chant at the army. Needless to say that was easily the chant of the night.

During Intermission, Tara signed stuff and Vince Russo was out taking photos whilst Don West ran around like some crazy wheeler dealer trying to shift his merch.

4. Jeff Hardy defeated Mr. Anderson. As always, there seemed to be a lull after Intermission as Hardy got nowhere near the pop I thought he would get. There was also a small "we want Matt" chant! I have no idea why. The match was slow paced and culminated with Anderson missing a Kenton Bomb and Hardy getting the pin after a Twist of Fate. No Swanton.

5. Tommy Dreamer defeated Abyss in a Monsters Ball match (Mick Foley was special referee). I'm sorry but having these two in a main event is just not good enough. Especially when you have Kurt Angle, AJ Styles and Samoa Joe amongst others on your roster. I think TNA showed a modicum of ignorance by booking two shows in different cities on the same day and as a result, I felt a bit anti-climactic due to seeming two fat guys hit each other with flimsy foil trays. It was enough to make Tommy blade though. Runner up for chant of the night was a "You're not Mankind" chant aimed at Abyss that Foley seemed to enjoy.

After Abyss nailed Foley, RVD's music hit for a huge pop. Unfortunately for poor Rob he tried to leap down 7 or 8 stairs and caught the bottom one falling flat on his tailbone. Shockmaster would be proud. Anyway, he destroyed Abyss and kicked him into the tacks giving Dreamer the win. It should be noted that RVD was favoring his back throughout his run in which seemed to be more about his fall than selling his earlier injuries. He seemed to really be struggling throughout and after the match.

Dreamer put over Dixie and TNA and managed to not cry for once. Borash brought Hardy and RVD in the ring to sell photos for $20. That seemed a little sad and desperate to me for two "rock stars."

Notes: All in all, I had a great time but we could have done with more heels, more talent and I just wished we could have had a main event deserving of such an historic venue. That being said, TNA sure knows to make the most of what they had and busted their ass to make sure we were having a good time.

Biggest Pops:
RVD
Team 3D
Amazing Red

Biggest Heat:
Pope
Abyss