TNA house show report
September 25, 2010
Philadelphia, Pa. at the former ECW Arena
Report by Jack Hale, PWTorch reader

It was a hot day in Philly and the Arena lived up to its reputation by being a sweatbox, but that is part of the fun.

Pulling up to the Arena, Tommy Dreamer and Rhino were walking down the sidewalk with fans chanting "EV2." I believe that it was being filmed. Inside, Jeff Hardy was signing at the merchandise table, while Don West sold products to the masses.

(1) X Division champion Amazing Red beat Jay Lethal to retain the X Title. The crowd loved both guys, especially Lethal. They had a real TV camera filming in case of another title change. Very good match that ended when Lethal missed the Big Elbow, allowing Red to hit Code Red for a close two count followed by a Red Star Press for the win. They shook hands after the match.

(2) Tommy Dreamer beat TNA TV champion A.J. Styles in a non-title match. Jeremy Borash started hyping backstage passes, which brought out the same person as always to say that Styles doesn't want any passes given out. JB gave them out anyways, which brought out Styles. A.J. ripped the building and the fans until Dreamer came out. Tommy talked up the building, fans, ECW, and TNA, then got Styles to agree to a match for the right to backstage passes. They put on a very good match that ended when Styles tried for a Figure Four leglock, but he was shoved off into a chair that was set up in a corner. This allowed Dreamer to hit the Dreamer DDT for the win.

I have to go a little off topic. Throughout the many years that I've followed wrestling, I've had many favorite wrestlers, but since '96, I've had one absolute favorite, Tommy Dreamer. On a whim I brought along an "I paid to see Tommy Dreamer" sign. After Tommy's win, I held up the sign and Tommy motioned for me to come to the ring. After making my way through the crowd, I was at ringside shaking his hand. Tommy told me to show off my sign to the crowd and he then he gave me his Tommy F'N Dreamer t-shirt off his back and walked me down the aisle. I've had many awesome moments attending events, but nothing can hold a candle to this.

(3) TNA Knockouts champion Angelina Love beat Tara to retain the Knockouts Title. To be honest, the beginning of this was a blur. When things settled down, I saw a good women's match, Tara had a long period of dominance until she tried for the Widow's Peak. Love escaped it and hit Tara with the Botox Injection for the win.

(4) Team 3D (Brother Ray & Brother Devon) beat Ink, Inc. (Shannon Moore & Jesse Neal) in a South Philadelphia Street Fight. Ink, Inc. came out first to a good reaction and Neal got on the mic and insulted the crowd, being the heels for this match. Brother Ray got on the stick and talked up the building, fans, ECW, and that he dropped the first f-bomb. He even called themselves the Dudley Boyz. Ink, Inc. then attacked them and both teams brawled at ringside and in the ring with cooking sheets and a trash can/lid. After Ray got busted open, the match strangely turned into a traditional tag match, with Ray being the face in peril. Devon tagged in, Moore took the Wassup Headbutt, and Neal took 3D through a table to give 3D the win. After the match, Devon got the mic and talked up the building and fans and made another Dudley Boys reference. He led the crowd in a "TNA" chant before leaving.

[Intermission - Love was signing at the merc tableh. Since I bought a backstage pass before the show, a friend and I went backstage. We were able to get autographs from Devon, Pope, Red, Earl Hebner (thankfully no Bret references), Lethal, Moore, Neal, Foley, Borash, Dreamer, D'Lo Brown, and - I can't make this up - Vince Russo. I got Vince Russo's autograph in the ECW Arena. I never could have imagined that.]

(5) Rhino beat Shore (Robby G. w/Cookie). Coming back from intermission, JB was interrupted by Shore, who got on the mic and upset the crowd by insulting Philly and just doing their act. Rhino came out and was set to take out Robby with a Gore until Cookie grabbed his leg. Rhino then tried to Gore her, but Robby tripped him up and crotched him on the the post. He then unveiled his taunt, the fist pump. Robby beat on Rhino for a while until he took a belly-to-belly suplex followed by a Gore to give Rhino the win. These two had a good match, and, for this night, Shore worked out well as a gimmick. I don't know how well it will do long-term or even in Orlando, but it is starting out all right.

(6) Jeff Hardy beat "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero. Both men were insanely over. After a while, Hardy started to get somewhat of a Cena reaction, but not to Cena-sized proportions. These two had an excellent face vs. face match and you could tell that both were enjoying themselves. Sometime soon, this match has to happen on Impact. Pope got most of his offense in, including a rare appearance of the Outer Limits corner elbow. In the end, Pope got his knees up on a Swanton Bomb attempt. Pope got some offense in and went for the DDE, but Hardy avoided it and hit the Twist of Fate and Swanton Bomb combination for the win. After the match, they shook hands.

Before the main event of Mr. Anderson vs. Abyss with Mick Foley as special referee, Foley got on the mic and talked up the Arena. Abyss and Anderson then came out and Anderson tried his usual entrance, but failed until JB gave him a mic. Anderson did his A--hole routine and had some funny back and forth with Foley. Foley had a funny line, "I never wanted to be an a--hole, but you make me want to be one." Anderson did his usual intro and Abyss tried to blindside him on the second "Anderson." Foley cut him off and pummeled him in a corner until Anderson pulled him off. He told Foley he wanted to "kick Abyss's ass."

(7) Main event: Mr. Anderson beat Abyss in a No DQ match with Mick Foley as the Guest Referee. An okay start to the match that suffered a little from the previous match being a let down and the crowd wanting RVD. Eventually, both men got counted out, but Foley restarted the match under No DQ rules to "protect his four kids from growing up without a father after an angry crowd killed him." They had some brawling with a chair until Abyss brought out the tacks. Foley tried to stop him, but he took a low blow kick. Abyss tried to powerbomb Anderson on the tacks, but this brought out Rob Van Dam with his right forearm wrapped and somewhat of a limp. He threw a chair in Abyss's face and hit Rolling Thunder with a chair. Foley then gave Abyss the Socko Claw, which allowed Anderson to hit the Mic Check for the win.

After the match, Anderson and Foley took curtain calls and JB did the usual line about the main event babyface wanting backstage to come to ringside. RVD did in-ring pictures with the special bonus of having Tommy Dreamer join him for the pics. Foley and Tara also signed at the merch table while Pope, Moore, Neal, Love, Red, Lethal, Hebner, and Rhino signed at ringside.

This was my third TNA show at the Arena, and while it had an ECW vibe, it was a celebrated TNA show, not an ECW show disguised as a TNA show. I won't estimate the attendance, but it appeared that every seat was filled and the arena was crowded. This was a great show. As always, the TNA live event experience is better than anything I've experienced in wrestling. And, on top of that, I had a once-in-a-lifetime interaction with my all-time favorite wrestler in the arena he built his name at.

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

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