10 YRS AGO – TNA in Binghampton, N.Y.: Samoa Joe, Kurt Angle, Morgan, Eric Young, OBD, Consequences Creed (a/k/a Xavier Woods), Dudleys, LAX

The following report was originally published on PWTorch.com 10 years ago this week…

TNA house show report
May 16, 2008
Binghamton, New York at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena
Report by Shawn of Binghamton, N.Y., PWTorch.com reader

Attendance: est. 500. Nowhere near what WWE draws in this same arena, 90% of audience was in the floor seating which  was only maybe 3/4 full.

To start the show, the arena lights dimmed and then Jeremy Borash came out to a big pop and standing ovation. The audience was definitely excited and ready for a night of wrestling. Jeremy did the standard thing where he said whoever cheered the loudest would be offered a backstage pass. Throughout the night, he did come back out and do a similar shtick and pointed out a few folks to go backstage.

(1) Alex Shelley defeated Consequences Creed and Johnny Devine in 6 minutes to win the X-Division Number One Contenders Three-Way Match. This was a fun match and good opener. Stalling by Devine early on got chants from the fans of “scared,” “lazy,” and “you suck” aimed at Devine. Shelley won with a super kick to Creed, then lifted Creed for a slingshot suplex off the ropes and into the pinfall.

(2) “Showtime” Eric Young (and then “Super Eric”) & Traci Brooks defeated Cowboy James Storm & Jacqueline in 12 minutes. Storm got some mic work prior to the start of the match and tried to get heel heat by talking about how much “this town sucks” and how he was looking forward to getting out of here. The audience responded appropriately with boos and chants of “you suck”. Way too much stalling early by Young and Storm, which lasted for a good 3 minutes. A few fans started turning on Young with chants of “you suck” aimed at him. There was male-on-female violence in the match which surprised me a bit, as it appeared that at first they were following the mixed tag rules where when a female tags in the male tags out. Well, at the 9 minute mark, found out that this was not the case, as Storm gave a full force DDT onto Brooks to put her out. For some reason, though, the heels decided not to go for the pin, and instead taunted Brooks and the fans as she lay prone. Of course, this gave Eric time to disappear under the ring and return as… drum rolls and suspense… out came Super Eric to a big crowd pop, of course (not me though). Also, there was a bit of a give away by watching Borash (who I was behind at ringside), as he had one of the new Apple MacBook Air thin laptops and was queuing up music via iTunes. It was easy to see him queue up Eric’s music and ready his mouse to trigger it as soon as Eric’s head popped out from under the ring.   Shortly thereafter, Brooks schoolgirled Jacqueline for the pinfall.

Between matches, Borash mentioned that the Spike TV cameras were in the arena. At one point in the night, the camera was brought into the ring and took some footage of fans around ring-side. I think he also took a few more “loud and chanting” fans backstage.

(3) Matt Morgan defeated Rellik in 5 minutes. This match reminded me of an old NWA/WCW mid-card type of match between big muscle heads where you’re impressed by the physique and ring presence due to their sheer size, but the wrestling leaves quite a bit to be desired. Kicks and punches, two or three clotheslines, a rest hold, and then finally Morgan lifted Rellik into a fireman’s carry, then rotated and threw Relikk’s legs out sideways, finally dropping Rellik face first into the mat for the pinfall.

(4) The Latin American Xchange (Homicide & Hernandez) defeated Team 3D (Brother Ray & Brother Devon) in 15 minutes to retain the World Tag Team titles. LAX came out with no Salinas. Some mic work by Ray prior to the start of the match… referring to the fans as “short, fat, and ugly” to get some heel heat.  An early tease of a test of strength between Homicide and Devon. A decent match with a few chants of “We Want Tables” and “E-C-Dub” directed at Team 3-D. Homicide jumped off the top rope into a Huracanrana onto Ray, with Hernandez following with a spinebuster onto Ray for the pinfall. After the match, a fan got thrown out by security for retaliating after Ray tossed water into the crowd. The fan flung his Coke back in the direction of Ray as Ray was making his way back down the ramp to leave the ring-side area.

INTERMISSION was after the fourth match.

The best part of the night came at the end of the Intermission with Kurt Angle making an appearance. Kurt came out to a nice babyface pop (even though he’s a heel on TV) including high fives to all the fans at ring-side and then he got into the ring and took the mic. He mentioned the recent neck injury he suffered in North Korea, but that he is still planning to entertain the fans for years to come and believes his best years are still ahead of him. He concluded by stating that TNA will be kicking WWE’s ass within 3 years. At least I think he said 3 years (could have been 2 years), as he was also chewing gum during his speech which made it hard to understand everything that was being said. Angle’s appearance was unexpected given his injury and removal from the main event match. Even though Angle was quite optimistic about his future, it was easy to sense the true emotion and dejection in Angle’s tone with not being able to compete and his future being in question yet again.

(5) Awesome Kong defeated ODB in 5 minutes to retain the Knockouts Championship. Kong appeared without Raisha Saeed . ODB came out to AC/DC’s Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, which was a great choice of ring entrance music. Some comedy spots between ODB and Borash with ODB bending over in front of Borash. I hadn’t noticed if this is what she’s been coming out to on TV.   Kong wins by pinfall after a power bomb on ODB. ODB took a few swigs from her whisky flask after the match and offered some to Borash who smelled from the open top, appearing repulsed by the strong smell, shaking his head no and handing the concoction back to ODB.

(6) Samoa Joe defeated Tomko in 9 minutes to retain the TNA Heavyweight Championship. The best match of the night as there was no stalling like several of the other matches. Some immediate brawling that soon spilled outside the ring. Joe did his dive between the middle and top ropes to the outside onto Tomko at about the 2 minute mark. Tomko eventually took the advantage for the next 3 or 4 minutes including a sleeper, chinlock, and boot to the face. Joe eventually got Tomko into a sleeper, which Tomko escaped leading to some exchanges back and forth. Joe wins with a muscle buster off the top rope turnbuckle to beat Tomko by pinfall.

Even though that was the final match of the night, the night wasn’t yet over as Borash announced that the wrestlers would be appearing at ring-side for autographs in an effort to bring the “back-stage” out here for all the fans to participate. Also, Kurt Angle appeared in the ring and was offering pictures with fans for $20.  This was a nice touch to end a night of average to good wrestling in front of enthusiastic fans. All matches ended conclusively with pinfalls and it seemed like all the fans genuinely went home happy (well, except for the fan that was tossed earlier). Borash promised that TNA would be back to Binghamton next year.

NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS 2008 FLASHBACK: 10 YRS AGO – TNA IMPACT WRESTLING REPORT: Steiner & Angle vs. Joe & Nash, plus Sting, Gail Kim, James Storm, Kip James, Curry Man, Matt Morgan