Oliver Newman sent this report in:
TNA Wrestling LIVE from NIA Birmingham, England (Wednesday 21st January 2009)
Hello my name is Oliver Newman and after an almost 10 month absence from reporting on Pro Wrestling I?m back reporting as of tonight LIVE at TNA Wrestling’s Birmingham, England show. I have to say I?m not a huge fan of TNA I don?t tune into Impact and only watch my favourite matches on PPV’s etc. I was weary about going to this show but having not seen TNA live before I took the plunge, below is my report, I hope you enjoy!
Venue: Birmingham National Indoor Arena
Time: 7:30pm
Date: Wednesday 21st January 2009
Attendance: 8,000
TNA X Division Title Fatal Four Way
Consequences Creed vs. ?Showtime? Eric Young vs. ?Black Machismo? Jay Lethal vs. Alex Shelley ?
In a match that was short and sweet, featuring the kind of action you expect from an X Division match. This was a fast paced match from the very start with the competitors giving their all in hopes of becoming the NEW TNA X Division Champion in front of a raucous Birmingham Crowd. The crowd was Pro-Shelley but that changed back and forth during the match to each of the competitors before turning full circle back to Shelley once more. The action continued at breakneck speed especially in the last few minutes with each wrestler hitting signature moves only for another competitor to break up the fall, with 3 out of the 4 competitors down Alex Shelley saw his chance and retained the TNA X Division Title with a Frog Splash on ?Showtime? Eric Young.
Match Time: 6 Minutes
Winner and STILL TNA X Division Champion: Alex Shelley
Earl Hebner gets booed and ?You screwed Bret? chants
Sheik Abdul Bahsir vs. ?The Monster? Abyss
In another short match, which Abyss controlled for large parts. Sheik stalled a lot to the point where Abyss followed him almost to the back and when he caught up with him the fans went wild. Sheik attempted to chop down the tree like legs of Abyss and was mildly successful, Abyss fought back and had Sheik beat or so he thought, Sheik was able to counter a choke slam unfortunately (for him) he unwittingly ran into a Blackhole slam and with that Abyss took the win.
Match Time: 5 Minutes 43 Seconds
Winner: ?The Monster? Abyss
TNA Knockouts Match
Taylor Wilde & ODB vs. Beautiful People (Angelina Love and Velvet Sky)
This match featured a lot of TNA and I don?t mean Total Non Stop action. Lots of comedic moments involving ODB and the Beautiful People, the Beautiful People double teamed ODB for large parts during the match before ODB tagged in Wilde. Wilde took out her frustrations on the Beautiful People before the match broke down between all four women, with ODB and Sky on the outside. Wilde was able to pin Love with a unique roll up for the three count.
Match Time: 6 Minutes 10 Seconds
Winners: Taylor Wilde & ODB
Aftermath:
Beautiful People show great frustration at losing after the match and state to the Birmingham crowd that they will never be back!
JB receives a couple of texts: one from Kurt Angle: Who arrogantly states that the Birmingham fans are morons, J.B. receives a second text from Mick Foley: who states that the Birmingham fans are great, this receives wild applause from the crowd.
Gladiator Challenge
Matt Morgan vs. Brutus Magnus
Morgan doesn?t endear himself to the crowd by arrogantly stating that ?the U.S. is better, and the Birmingham crowd all live useless lives?. This is Brutus Magnus’s TNA debut, right from the start he tries to get the crowd involved in the match. Morgan and Magnus have intense strength battles throughout the match, with it being pretty even. Morgan becomes frustrated and leaves the ring for a Steel Chair, this brings his Tag Team partner ?Monster? Abyss down to the ringside area. Abyss and Morgan argue over the Chair, after miscommunication over the Chair, Magnus rolls Morgan up for the win!
Match Time: 6 Minutes 30 Seconds
Winner: Brutus Magnus
Aftermath:
Abyss & Morgan argue and leave separately.
TNA Tag Titles
Team 3D (Brother Ray/Devon) vs. Beer Money INC (Robert Roode/?Cowboy? James Storm) ?
Pre-match:
James Storm takes the microphone: ?After we successfully defended our TNA Tag Titles last night against you (Team 3D) this match is now Non title, sorry about your damn luck? Team 3D respond: ?Well since you can change details of the match this is now a Falls Count Anywhere, Birmingham Street Fight?
So it changes to:
Non Title
Falls Count Anywhere
Birmingham Street Fight
Team 3D (Brother Ray/Devon) vs. Beer Money INC (Robert Roode/?Cowboy? James Storm)
Match:
It was nice to see a Hardcore match on a House Show, not since the old WWF/WWE Hardcore Title matches have you seen a match like this. Pretty even match really, good use of the weapons by both teams, lots of ?We want tables? chants directed at Team 3D. Some cringe worthy moments especially when Brother Ray used a Crutch on a Trash Can to hit James Storm’s nuts. After an exciting last few minutes Team 3D win via 3D through the table on James Storm. Not really too much use of the Falls Count Anywhere stipulation, but it seemed like the fans didn?t care as long as Team 3D won!
Match Time: 7 Minutes 10 Seconds
Winners: Team 3D (Brother Ray/Devon)
Aftermath:
3D call a fan into ring (Matt) and give him a piece of broken table as fans chant ?Matt? ?Matt?
Intermission (20 minutes) Jeremy Borash promises the fans while be on T.V. when the intermission ends!
TNA President Dixie Carter thanks the fans and introduces Mick Foley. Foley mistakenly talks about Birmingham, Alabama! Obama is booed by the crowd and Foley calls out Angle. ?It takes a good man to beat me, but it doesn?t take very long!? he then goes on to thank the fans, and talks of a TNA PPV in the UK, which elicits ?TNA? chants.
?Samoan Submission Machine? Samoa Joe vs. ?The Anarchist and England’s own? Doug Williams
My friends (Tom, Lil D, Jamie and Amy) and I had speculated that this match would take place and we were all rather happy it did! Joe and Williams put on a technical wrestling clinic for the just under 8 and a half minutes allocated. Amazing back and forth reversals, both guys were seen as being fan favourites by the Birmingham fans. Exciting end stretch with Joe and Doug reversing each others moves, before Doug attempts Chaos Theory Joe reverses into Kiquita Clutch and Doug taps out! On second look it looked like Doug was trying to the get the fans into the match by slapping the canvas, the Ref (Earl Hebner) mis-read this and called for the bell. That was a shame as it concluded the match in controversial way, Williams vs. Joe #2 anyone!?
Winner by Submission: Samoa Joe
Match Time: 8 Minutes 24 Seconds
TNA return in 2009!
Main Event
?Phenomenal? AJ Styles & Jeff Jarrett vs. Kurt Angle & ?Big Poppa Pump? Scott Steiner
Finally a match was given a little bit of time to show what the competitors could do. Steiner and Angle controlled the early part of the match isolating Styles from his Tag Team partner. The fans pushed the match into gear with duelling ?Lets go AJ/Lets go Angle? chants, Styles makes a nice comeback and tags in Jarrett but instead of the match ending it goes on for another 5 + minutes. The match breaks down and with Jarrett and Angle out of the picture, Styles connects with a Pele kick and quickly follows up with a sweet springboard 450 Splash on Steiner for the pinfall.
Winners: ?Phenomenal? AJ Styles & Jeff Jarrett
Match Time: 15 Minutes 40 Seconds
Aftermath:
Jarrett thanks the fans, they respond with ?TNA/Thank you Jeff? chants.
Credit to Bobby Barratt for helping re-jog my memory to write this report.
Feel free to share your thoughts,
If you?d like to see more of my work/add me as a friend/contact me I?m on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/brummieol.
Thanks for reading,
Oliver Newman