TNA house show in Anaheim, Calif. at the Anaheim Convention Center
Report by Dot Net reader Ron Freilich

In my estimation there were probably 700-900 people in attendance. The arena wasn't even close to being sold out as no one sat in the upper sections but the floor and most of the middle sections were full.

Interesting note: very long lines at the merchandise booth before the show with the hottest seller to my surprise being the "Beer Money" t-shirt, seriously, more people bought this shirt then anything else that was on sale. Also very popular was the Curry Man t-shirt, go figure.

While there were plenty of kids in attendance, most of the audience was comprised of people in their mid-to-late-twenties and over, mostly men.

The show kicked off with Jeremy Borash welcoming us, hyping up the crowd by giving away backtage passes to the most frenzied members of the audience. The sound in the arena was terrible and at times was very hard to make out what he and the wrestlers were saying on the mic, or even recognizing the entrance themes, very bad sound in that place.

1. Sonjay Dutt defeated Consequences Creed and Hiroshi Tanahashi in an X Division three-way match. Dutt collected donations from the audience and then, of course, stuffed all the money down his crotch. Classy stuff right there. Very fun match. Lots of comedy in this one, but also lots of athleticism and cool spots with Sonjay and Tanahashi playing the super cocky heels to get lots of heat from the crowd.

2. LAX defeated Curry Man and Super Eric. Eric Young as introduced as Super Eric, but he was wearing his usual Eric Young ring attire. Again, lots of comedy in this match with Curry Man doing his dance during offense and such. I was surprised they booked two babyface teams against each other and that kinda confused the audience who you could tell wasn't sure who to cheer for at first, but they eventually went with LAX.

This match really made you realize that even though it was just a house show, all the wrestlers were putting 150 percent into their matches, unlike most WWE house shows or even TV tapings for that matter. All the signature LAX spots were there including Hernandez flying over the top rope out of the ring, which was really incredible i have to say. After the match Curry Man invited a bunch of kids from the audience to the ring to dance with him.

3. Awesome Kong (w/Raisha Saeed) defeated Roxxi in a street fight to retain the TNA Knockouts Title. Lots of action including some brawling in the crowd, Kong looks really scary in person, and her power moves truly look devastating. Lots of intereference by Saeed during the match. After the matc, Roxxi stayed in the ring for a couple of minutes selling the beatdown by Kong. Both women put on a great performance in this one.

The tag title match was introduced. Beer Money's music played, but only Jacqueline came down to the ring and said that once Beer Money saw what the crowd looked like they decided they won't compete tonight and that they left the building. Lots of boos for this one.

4. AJ Styles defeated Christian Cage in a singles match. Since JB announced this match as having a 20 minute time limit (which wasn't done for any of the previous match the best as I can recall), I figured that's how they were gonna get away from anybody doing a job, but that was not the case and a very pleasant surprise. Before the match Christian got on the mic and said that even though AJ is great and they will tear it up tonight, he will be leaving with his hand raised.

Great match again, the crowd was very much into this match about 60-40 for Christian with a lot of dueling "Let's go Christian" and "Let's go AJ" chants. Lots of high flying moves from AJ who pinned Christian after hitting the "Styles Clash." After the match AJ took the mic and told Christian that TNA needs him, the fans need him and that he wants to know where he stands. Christian said, "I guess you want to get my answer right here and now?" and just left the ring. That was about the only thing tonight that had anything to do with current TV storylines.

Up next was a 20 minute intermission.

After that they brought out a camera, filmed the audience for the TNA website and gave out some more backstage passes. JB said they have some Spike TV officials in the back and after seeing and hearing the crowd tonight they might leave Orlando and move Impact tapings to Anaheim (yeah right). He also mentioned that they are talking about bringing a TNA pay-per-view to the area in 2009.

After that he mentioned that Beer Money agreed to return to the building and compete but only if they didn't have to put the tag team titles on the line. They came out and cut a promo on how they do what they want, when they want and they don't have to defend the titles if they don't want to blah, blah, blah. Then came out Team 3D to a huge pop. I guess they are officialy babyfaces now. I watch Impact every week and didn't even realize they turned. Lots of E-C-Dub chants.

Bubba (Brother Ray) said that Halloween is over so why are they still dressed up like the guys from Brokeback Mountain (crowd chanting "Brokeback Mountain at this point). He also said that since they can just decide not to put the belts on the line then team 3D can decide what kind of match this will be (crowd started very loud "We Want Tables" chant at this point) and that this is going to be.....a tables match!

5. Team 3D beat Beer Money (w/Jacqueline) in a non-title, tables match. Lots and lots of comedy in this match with Bubba making fun of James Storm having a small you know what and got a Pee Wee chant going. In the end, Roode ate a 3D through a table with Team 3D scoring the win. After the match Bubba said how Anaheim holds a special place in their hearts as a few years ago just down the street (Honda Center then called Arrowhead Pond) they competed at the first ever TLC match. They asked who wanted a piece of the broken table and invited a kid to the ring in gave it to him.

6. Samoa Joe defeated Kurt Angle. Angle came out first and i swear if you weren't watching Impact you would think that Angle was the most over babyface in the world. He got a mega pop, lots of "Angle, Angle" and USA chants. Angle didn't even try to get any heat out of the crowd he played a straight up babyface. Poor Joe, crowd was all over him, lots of boos, "Joe sucks" chants, this crowd was solidly with Angle. Great match, both men gave it their all, Kurt took way, way more hard bumps than he should have, really made me cringe. In the end Joe pinned Angle with a Muscle Buster.

After the match Kurt extended his hand out but Joe refused to shake it, saying he won't shake it because he despises him, however he does respect him. After that Joe took the mic and said it's great to be back in California and that since not everybody got a backstage pass then why not just bring out backstage to the fans? At this point some TNA talents came out signed and took pics with fans. JB thanked us for coming and said they will be back soon. Angle also came back out and took pics with fans for $20 a pop. A lot of people got their pics with Kurt, way over a hundred people.

Notes: Altogether, this was a very fun night, well worth the price of admission.
I'm still amazed at the quality of work I saw last night, most of the matches if not all were simply PPV quality with nothing held back by anybody, and that is just incredible for a house show with not even a single camera rolling.

What it also showed was how much better the TNA product can be without all the silly overbooking that's happening on TV every week. The in ring product is so much better than what WWE offers most of time and that needs to be the focal point of this promotion. These guys can wrestle and they can tell a great story in that six sided ring, it's about time they let them do it.

It was also refreshing to see TNA action without hearing Mike Tenay and Don West's terrible commentary that always ruins everything. Also, worth noting that the crowd was totally into the show and all the wrestlers, was very loud all night and had a great time. If you have the chance to see TNA live, you should go as it's a great experience!

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