When compared to the TNA house show I went to in Iowa a year ago, the show last night in Brookings, SD, blew it out of the water. The match caliber and quality alone more than surpassed the previous show and that doesn’t even take into account the star power at the show in Brookings last night. As is the case with usual TNA house shows, the evening was hosted by Jeremy Borash and they gave out backstage passes to the loudest TNA fans. The crowd itself was probably around 800 people or so, but they were hot and loud all night long, which really surprised me. The fans seemed to be eating it all up, which wasn’t hard as the majority of the matches were won by the fan favorites.
Afterwards fans could get into the ring with Jeff Jarrett and AJ Styles and have their picture taken with them for $20. Unlike the Polaroid pictures I got last time I went to a house show, this time they were printing out 4×6′s with a digital printer after the photo had been taken. Other wrestlers also stood around the ringside area and signed autographs for fans. All in all it was a good show with some decent and fun matches on the card. I would recommend all fans to try to catch a TNA house show if one comes to your area as you can really see the company’s full potential when the creative influence is removed from the equation.
As always, I took plenty of photos of the event and have posted a good number of them on The Hexagon Circle, which can be found at this link: http://www.thehexagoncircle.com/tnaphotos-brookings/
Here are a few random observations that I noticed while watching the 2-hour event:
- Suicide didn’t repel from the ceiling as he usually does on television, but he did come through the crowd. As for his match, the crowd almost immediately broke out a “Fallen Angel” chant as soon as the bell rang.
- The Knockouts match between ODB and Sojo Bolt was the low point of the night. This could also be due to the fact that the two people in front of me in the front row decided to stand the entire match. Why people need to stand in the front row is beyond me.
- Team 3D’s match was a lot of fun to watch and they seemed to be having a lot of fun in the ring. The crowd wanted tables and they delivered by driving one member of No Limit through one after the match was over. Brother Devon also took a little fan named Brody into the ring and Team 3D signed a chunk of the table for him, which was cool to see.
- The fans really seemed to be into the LAX during their match against Beer Money. The match started slow with Beer Money not wanting to get into the match, but it picked up shortly after. And just when I thought they stopped during the acid beer to the face, Beer Money won the match by those means.
- The crowd was hot for the main event even though it was slow in my mind. A majority of the match seemed to be rest holds such as head locks and a figure four, but it had a good series of reversals near the end. Sheik Abdul Bashir came out towards the end to assist Kurt Angle, but AJ Styles came out to help Jarrett and he was able to smash a guitar over Angle’s head while the referee was out.
Quick Results
- Suicide defeated Chris Sabin by pin fall to retain the X Division Title.
- ODB defeated Sojourner Bolt by pin fall.
- Team 3D defeated No Limit by pin fall to retain the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.
- AJ Styles defeated Sheik Abdul Bashir by pin fall.
- Beer Money, Inc. defeated the LAX by pin fall to retain the TNA Tag Team Championship.
- Jeff Jarrett defeated Kurt Angle by pin fall.
