TNA live event
San Francisco, Calif.
Report by Dot Net reader Sean

In the interest of full disclosure, I am not much of a TNA fan and have never been able to watch a full episode of Impact. I love wrestling, though, and had heard good things about TNA house shows, so I got one of the "meet and greet" tickets which got me in early and a seat third row on the floor, on the railing of the entrance way. Wrestlers that came out for the meet and greet were Kazarian, Christopher Daniels, Abyss (wearing a Pink Floyd shirt), Winter, Samoa Joe, and Crimson.

Once they left, Brian Kendrick and Mickie James came out. Christopher Daniels was really nice and stopped and talked for a minute. Brian Kendrick was also really nice and funny. Someone asked if he missed being called Spanky and he said "Nah, I still get called it all the time." So I asked if he missed THE Brian Kendrick and he responded, "Nah man, that guy was an asshole! He drank too much. He was funny but he was an asshole!" Joe seemed like a good guy, too.

For $80, you'd get the "Hardy Party Package" could go backstage before the show and meet Jeff Hardy. Luckily, I don't think the "Hardy Party Package" included a trip to jail. Zing.

The show began with JB coming down and announcing that at last night's TV tapings, Bobby Roode won the title from James Storm. Bobby Roode came out and cut a quick promo about Beer Money being dead and he killed it. This brought James Storm out and he challenged Roode to a match for the title.

1. Brian Kendrick and Kazarian defeated Christopher Daniels and Kid Kash. Kendrick got the pin on Kash after the Sliced Bread. Not sure if he is doing this on TV now, but Kendrick had his regular attire on (with boots), not his Wizard of Odd attire. Daniels is one of my favorite wrestlers, so I was hoping he'd have a longer singles match, but oh well.

Earl Hebner made his way to the ring to "Man in the Box" by Alice in Chains. I was hoping for a super surprise Tommy Dreamer appearance, but of course it didn't happen.

2. Crimson defeated Samoa Joe. Joe was over huge with the crowd, which makes sense since there is a huge Samoan population in San Francisco.

3. Mickie James beat Winter. Mickie, in her Wonder Woman costume, won. I heard a few "Roast beef" chants.

4. Rob Van Dam defeated Abyss. RVD got the win after the Five Star Frog Splash. RVD got probably the biggest reaction of the night, with most of the crowd singing along to his entrance theme.

Intermission, the Hebners signed Earl's "Damn right I did!" shirt at the merch table.

Bully Ray came out and cut the promo you'd expect him to cut in San Francisco, calling us the capital of homos and saying he didn't see a real man in the house. It was the promo I knew he'd cut if he was there and even though it was pretty stereotypical San Francisco insults, it was entertaining (and got good heat). Jeff Hardy came out to a not nearly as big of a pop as I expected. There were quite a few boos for him and people yelling at him about drugs, rehab, etc., etc.

5. Jeff Hardy beat Bully Ray.

6. Bobby Roode defeated James Storm to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Roode won after hitting Storm with the title belt after a ref bump. After the match, James Storm got on the mic and thanked everyone for coming.

JB thanked us all again and said that the "Hardy Party" would continue and for $20, we could get our pictures taken with Jeff in the ring. If I had paid $80 to meet him beforehand, I would have been mad, but since I didn't, I went for it. I talked with Jeff for a minute and asked him how Matt was doing and he said that he was doing better. Right when I got out of the ring, they handed me my picture. I saw Earl Hebner on my way out so I got a quick picture with him. I jokingly told him that people needed to get over Montreal and he said "Nah, I love it!"

Overall, it was a fun night. It doesn't make me want to watch a full episode of Impact, but I'd definitely recommend that if TNA comes to your town, you go. Both Kurt Angle and Jeff Jarrett were advertised for the show but weren't there. They didn't make any announcements about them not being there, but I'd assume Kurt wasn't there since he's injured. I was a bit disappointed because Kurt my favorite in-ring wrestler, but since I knew he was injured, I didn't really expect him to be there.

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