1/18 TNA Results: Dothan, Alabama
Wrestleview.com’s Josh Boutwell sent this report in.
TNA Road to Lockdown Tour
Dothan, Alabama (Dothan Civic Center)
January 18, 2014
Report by: Josh Boutwell of WrestleView.com
TNA came to Dothan, Alabama for the very first time ever last night and only the second time they’ve come to the wiregrass in southern Alabama. They came to Ozark, AL several years ago but haven’t been back down here since. This time around the crowd was a bit bigger, I’d suggest in the 500+ range, despite some pretty lousy local promotion. Don West’s protégé Jimmy Jay was out early getting the crowd hyped up in the Civic Center’s lobby and shilling merchandise, and then he took the meet and greet fans (fans that bought ringside seats) inside the arena early to get autographs from several TNA stars (Gunner, Eric Young, Madison Rayne, Gail Kim, Ethan Carter III, and Chris Sabin) before the show started.
-Chris Sabin def. Austin Aries to retain the TNA X-Division Title
Both Sabin and Aries hit most of their trademark offense including Aries’ Savage Flying Axe Handle to the outside. Aries hit the IED and set up for the Brainbuster but Sabin countered into a rollup to get the pin with his feet on the ropes. After the match Aries hit a Stone Cold Stunner on Sabin in a funny moment.
Before the second match Earl Hebner took off his referee’s shirt revealing a modified referee shirt that said “Damn right I did!” and then he put on Bret Hart shades and mocked Hart’s strut.
-Madison Rayne def. Gail Kim to retain the TNA Knockouts Title
Gail got a good babyface pop but then quickly turned the crowd against her with a promo. She ran down the fans and then gave Rayne the chance to forfeit the title and get out of the ring since they were former best friends. Rayne teased like she would do it but then attacked Kim. The match was actually better, in my opinion, than the match this past Thursday but ended the same way with Rayne hitting the Rayne Drop for the pin.
-Ethan Carter III def. Eric Young
EC3 ran down the crowd to get the heat even mockingly thinking he was still in Mobile, AL and then cornered Brian Hebner and threatened to beat him up like he did his father a few weeks ago. EY then came out and challenged EC3. EY did a lot comedy stuff like chasing the referee around and even counting him out when the referee went to the outside and locking up with fans. EY was mega over. He hit a Slingshot Plancha to the outside and looked to get the win with a Flying Elbow Drop, but EC3 shoved the referee into the ropes to crotch EY. EC3 then hit the One Percenter for the pin.
-Samoa Joe def. Bully Ray in a 2/3 Falls Match
Good lord was Joe over. He got a MASSIVE pop but as he was coming to the ring Bully Ray blasted him from behind with a steel chain. Ray then rolled Joe in the ring and screamed at Earl Hebner to make the count. Joe was pinned within second of the first fall starting and then after a 10 second intermission the second fall began and Bully immediately pinned Joe again. This time Joe kicked out again and Bully attempted to pin him several different times with Joe kicking out each time. Bully got pissed and cornered Hebner to scream at him. Joe recovered and quickly rolled Bully up to even the odds at one fall a piece. Things then settled down into a more standard match with Bully working over Joe’s knee, and cutting off any comeback Joe made. Joe hit a lot of high impact moves and even locked Bully in the Coquina Clutch with Bully tapping, but the referee was down after he got sandwiched between Joe and Bully. Bully came back with another shot with the chain as Joe tried to revive the referee, but this time Joe kicked out at two. Joe countered the Bully Bomb into the Coquina Clutch again and Bully tapped again to give Joe the win. Bully is absolute heat magnet and after he realized that his spit in the air and catch it with his mouth bit really grossed out kids at ringside he did it over and over just to mess with them.
-Magnus def. Gunner to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Title
Magnus ran down the crowd and made fun of America before the match which led to a massive “USA” chant and a few “we want AJ” chants. Magnus ended up missing the Flying Elbow Drop and Gunner hit a Diving Headbutt, but EC3 ran out and put Magnus’ foot on the bottom rope. EC3’s interference and a belt shot eventually led to Magnus retaining the belt, but in the end Gunner beat the hell out of EC3 after the match. 
-James Storm def. Bobby Roode in a Steel Cage Match
The Cage Match was kind of odd in the sense that TNA never even hyped up the fact that there would be a Cage Match at all during the show. In fact the guy next to me had no clue there would be one when he asked me what the Main Event would be and seemed shocked when I said it would be a Cage Match. Christy Hemme only mentioned there would be a “special main event” and didn’t say it would be a Cage Match until they started setting the cage up. Anyway Storm and Roode had yet another good match between the two and used the cage to do damage constantly. They did a bunch of nearfalls as well including both almost escaping the cage along with pinfall attempts. Storm ended up countering the Roode Bomb into the second Last Call of the match for the win. The fans loved Storm and hated Roode so it led to a really fun end to the show. 
All in all it was a really great time with some good wrestling, especially Sabin/Aries, Joe/Bully, and the Cage Match, and it looked like everyone had fun. The crowd was extremely loud and into everything TNA did, and despite how many would love to tear down anything and everything TNA does they truly do go out of their way to make every live event feel special whether it’s offering backstage passes (and giving some away) to doing autograph sessions throughout the show. I truly hope TNA makes it back this way sooner rather than later, the Dothan area could be a very good place for them. WWE nearly sells out the Civic Center every time and people around here just love wrestling. With better promotion they could have a truly big house and maybe drop on some of the ticket prices as well, $65 is a little steep even for ringside tickets for a house show.
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