Zitat:Tag Team Match
Samia Joe & Rhino besiegten D'Angelo Dinero und Brutus Magnus

Zitat:TNA Wrestling rolled into the state of Iowa on Saturday night (October 16) for the third event in a four day tour of Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois. The Five Flags Center itself holds around 4,800 and resembles something of a large gymnasium. Around a half hour before bell time, it appeared roughly 300-400 were in attendance (photos below). As the show progressed, the seats filled up, but it was by no means a packed house. I'd estimate anywhere from 900-1,000 in attendance (and that is generous).

Zitat:This was a very small show at the Five Flags Center with attendance being less than 800 people for sure. I was in the sixth row on the floor around the ring and we could have stood the whole time, as there was no one seated behind us.

We got to the show about 6:30 p.m. for the 7:30 start. Don West was there in all his glory shilling merch including Jeff Hardy wrist bands, programs, and “TNA Brown Bag Specials,” which Don billed as a $20 t-shirt with four free DVDs and the bag. He is amazing. He also pitched buying the Hardy wristbands and a t-shirt so you could paint your face and be Jeff Hardy for Halloween. Great stuff. Jay Lethal also signed autographs for fans before the show.

Jeremy Borash introduced himself over the loud speaker before he came out. He talked about getting the crowd to yell for backstage passes. Jeff Jarrett came out and said that he got a call from Hulk Hogan saying that no passes would be given out; he took the passes from JB. JB said he couldn’t stop Jeff from taking the passes but this guy could...

(1) Samoa Joe defeated Jeff Jarrett. Joe came out to a huge pop and Jeff sat on the top turnbuckle to beg of. Joe punched him in the stomach and hit the Muscle Buster on him for the pin. It was a ten-second match, which made me think it was going to lead to a tag match later in the night or Joe taking the place of the injured Mr. Anderson in the Monster’s Ball main event against Abyss.

After the match, Joe gave JB the backstage passes and JB handed them out to a few people in the crowd.

(2) X Division champion Jay Lethal defeated Douglas Williams to retain the X Division Title. Back and forth match to get the crowd going. Nothing very memorable, but both guys were working hard. Lethal won with his neckbreaker finisher.

Earl Hebner was given an introduction from JB. Earl came to the ring and took off his referee t-shirt to reveal an official Earl Hebner ref shirt that read “Damn Right I Did!” in reference to screwing Bret Hart and “Hebner” on the back.

(3) Madison Rayne defeated Angelina Love to retain the Knockouts Title. The match started off with what I will describe as a “crotch off” with each woman rubbing her crotch on the middle rope and pointing at their ass to cheers from the crowd. Madison started the action by jumping Angelina during one of her “rubs.” Madison played a great heel during the match yelling at Earl Hebner throughout the match. Not much crowd participation besides cat calls from random people throughout. Madison won with a roll-up and hand full of tights.

(4) Beer Money (James Storm & Robert Roode) defeated Eric Young & Orlando Jordan. This was a comedy match with EY playing up his concussion issues by pretending to be the referee, trying to team with Beer Money and fighting his own partner. There were a lot of cheers for EY with all the comedy spots. OJ had a small section of the crowd doing chants for him; I'm not quite sure why. The match ended when Beer Money hit the DWI on EY.

[Intermission. Angelina Love signed autographs and took pictures at merchandise table. Earl & Brian Hebner signed Earl’s personal referee t-shirt and took pictures. Don claimed they were selling the shirt for half-price at $10; like anyone would buy an Earl Hebner shirt for $20.]

I spotted Bob “Hardcore” Holly sitting in the crowd. He was apparently barely recognized by anyone in the crowd, as no one went over and talked to him. I stopped and said hello, finding out that he now lives in Dubuque. He was very nice and soft-spoken in my short meeting. I didn’t think until afterward to ask him about his beef with Mr. Anderson.

(5) Rhino defeated Matt Morgan. Basic back and forth match. Morgan blew the move of the night when it looked like he missed a boot to the head of a seated Rhino by about a foot. The finish came when Morgan missed the Carbon Footprint and Rhino hit his Gore for the pin.


(6) Tommy Dreamer defeated Abyss in a Monster’s Ball Match. I joked with my buddy before the show started that it would be a good show as long as we didn’t have to see EY, OJ, or Tommy Dreamer. Abyss comes out for the main event and what do you know, Tommy Dreamer comes out for the main event. The guy should be headlining independent shows, not a house show for a nationally televised company. I did keep my streak alive of heckling Dreamer, which caused Dreamer to stop and look my way angrily. I also gave him a “You’re fat, just retire” in the middle of the match. The match was your typical garbage match: cookie sheets, garbage cans, chair, ring bell, tacks, etc. The finish came when Abyss pulled Janice out from under the ring (apparently Bob was too busy to make the trip). This brought out Mr. Anderson, who threw a chair into Abyss’s face leading to Dreamer hitting the Death Valley Driver for the pin.

After the match, Mr. Anderson did some mic work. Other wrestlers came out around the ring to sign autographs and they offered people a chance to get their picture taken in the ring with Mr. Anderson for $20. Jeff Jarrett was also signing things at the merchandise table after the show.

My friend’s kid wanted to do the photo with Anderson, so we did. They speed people through the process in about 20 seconds, but when we got up there, the camera had a problem and we ended up standing around and shooting the breeze with Anderson for about five minutes. He said his head was feeling better. I asked him about Hardcore Holly being at the show and if Holly was looking for him. He replied with a line: “For his sake, I hope he’s not,” but kind of blew it off and didn’t elaborate as to if they still had a problem.

Overall: It was a fun show, but it wasn’t a good show. There was not one good match on the show as far as workrate was concerned. I think it’s kind of a slap in the face to the fans that the biggest star on the show, Samoa Joe, only had a ten-second match and then didn’t even come out at the end of the show to sign autographs or talk with fans. I have no problem with the group of talent they chose to have on the house show, though it was on the low end of the roster, but how can they think it’s a good idea to have Tommy Dreamer headline the show? Joe should have been in the main event against Abyss or they should have made it a tag match where the guys could actually tell a story. Having Pope, Machine Guns, A.J., Kaz, Red, or Kendrick could have made this show so much better by just having a few good matches. I don’t think TNA did themselves any favors by the show they put on for repeat business.