TNA house show report
September 16, 2010
York, Pa.
Report by Greg Kurtz, PWTorch reader

Last night, I attended the TNA house show at the York Fair in York, Pa. The rain was certainly a factor, but they kept the ring under a tarp until show time. There were several hundred people in attendance, and the crowd was loud all night. I saw Don West earlier in the evening but did not see wrestlers walking around the fair.

Jeremy Borash announced that they would be giving away backstage passes all night long. A ringside crew guy said that A.J. Styles said that he wanted no fans backstage. JB told the guy to give us passes anyway, which brought out Styles. Styles complained about the fans and the weather. Jeff Jarrett came out to a good pop and put over the origins of wrestling at circus fairs, etc. Jarrett said if A.J. pins him, then no fans will be allowed backstage, but if Jarrett wins, then fans go backstage.

(1) Jeff Jarrett beat A.J. Styles with The Stroke. Good back and forth action. All of the wrestlers took it easy in the ring due to the ring being wet from rain, which was understandable. In other words, no crazy high-flying moves or running action, which was fine. Jarrett then thanked all the fans to much applause.

(2) The Pope beat Rhino. Good reaction for both. Some guy in the crowd kept blowing a whistle, and for a minute I thought Bill Alfonso was there. Rhino got heat by saying the fans sucked since they cheered more for Pope than him. Pope seemed to be enjoying himself at the end as he pretended he was on ice skates with the wet ring.

(3) Madison Rayne beat Velvet Sky. Both Knockouts did the seductive ring entrance several times to see which one got the bigger crowd response. Madison won by pinning Velvet with her feet on the ropes.

(4) TNA tag team champions Motor City Machineguns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) beat Ink, Inc. (Shannon Moore & Jesse Neal) to retain the TNA Tag Titles. The crowd was for both teams, but I thought the majority was for Ink, Inc. After the match, both teams hugged it out, raised each others's arms, and were all smiles. Good to see, and not out-of-context like with Team 3D, the Gangstas, and Balls & Axl at Hardcore Justice.

(5) Samoa Joe beat Kazarian. Kaz was introduced as a member of Fortune, which is a good idea any time someone is in a faction. It helps get across the notion that the group is a big deal. That is just my opinion. Joe won with a Muscle Buster. There were lots of chants for Joe on this one. After the match, Joe took the mic and thanked the hardcore fans for coming out in the rain.

(6) Jeff Hardy beat Abyss in a Monster's Ball match. Abyss did the "ten ten ten" sign with his hands in the ring, which hopefully people understood was in reference to "them." Hardy had the loudest and biggest reaction, from both sexes. No sign of Janice, but there was a garbage can, cookie sheets, a steel chair, and thumbtacks. The chair was wedged in between the turnbuckles in the corner at one point, and I think Hardy was going to leap up and make Abyss crash into the chair after being whipped in the corner, but something seemed off and it ended with Hardy hitting the chair. It just seemed maybe Hardy forgot what was supposed to happen so they improvised. Hardy won after dumping Abyss through the tacks and hitting the Swanton Bomb. Good match.

JB then announced that Jarrett and Velvet were signing autographs at the merch stand, and for $20 you could get your picture taken ringside with Jeff Hardy. A long line on this one, but I managed to get the picture and leave with it, and even as I left the area there was still a long line to meet Hardy. Jarrett and Sky had a long line at the merch stand as well. I grabbed the Jeff Hardy DVD for $20. I even managed to bump in to Shannon Moore while in line for the Hardy picture and grabbed his photo as well with my camera.

This was my second TNA house show event, and for the price of all things, I recommend attending when they come to town. I cannot speak of WWE events, but to me TNA house shows have a warm, interactive feel. The wrestlers seem happy to be there and truly make the fans feel special. The booking and pace of TNA storylines may be questionable, but house shows are TNA's game. I felt as though no matter how long the lines were, the wrestlers would stay until every fan got what they wanted. They even had a $50 package of backstage passes and free autographs and pictures with the entire crew.

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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