TNA house show report
January 11, 2008
Dallas, Texas at the House of Blues
Review by Joshua Cunningham, PWTorch.com correspondent

The show was a sellout. I'd have to estimate around 1,500 people, though I can't say for certain.

Before the show Dixie Carter walked around and talked to just about everyone. A very nice classy lady who is definitely interested in the fans and cares about her product.

After some hyping up by Jeremy Borash the show begin.

The crowd was very very hot all night long. We were sitting about ten feet from the ring on the backside away from the main portion of the crowd.
   
(1) Motor City Machine Guns face Elix Skipper & Kaz in a great match. The Machine Guns are definitely on top of their game and constantly bring something new to each match and this one was no different. Kaz and Skipper don't pair together normally so they didn't have quite the tag team chemistry. Never the less they still brought their A-game. Machine guns win this one. This was probably the second best match of the night.

(2) Next we saw Jackie Moore face Awesome Kong. Eighty percent of this match went Kong's way. She's quite imposing and definitely brings a new level to the women's power game. Jackie did what she could but this type of match doesn't showcase her skills that well- not when she's fighting for her life. Kong wins. Decent heat for her from fans but I get the feeling people are almost too fascinated by her to boo.

Borash did some cool hyping up for Earl Hebner, who was definitely a showman in his own right (more on this later).

(3) Next we saw Jay "Black Machismo" Lethal face Johnny Devine. To be honest, I wasn't as hyped for this match initially as we had been told Lethal was going to face Kaz. I hadn't seen enough of Devine to know how I totally feel about him. It turned out to be a really good match. Devine spat his gum in Sign-Guy's face during his entrance which was about 10 people down from me. Devine showed me a lot during this match. He had great heat from the fans and interacted particularly with the section we were sitting in. Both guys looked good all match and the end saw a classic flying elbow from the top turnbuckle for the Lethal win. Lethal was given the X-division title after the match but Devine stole it and ran to the back with Lethal chasing after him.

(4) Next came what was by far the match of the night - Christian Cage versus Samoa Joe. Both guys got great pops. But Christian got a decent amount of heat to keep him honest as a somewhat heel. Though it seems like he may be turning (supposedly face/heel is passe in TNA). This match was awesome. Everything Joe does seems like it hurts like hell. Both guys really played well to the crowd. We had tons of chants for both guys. The ending saw Christian get the clean win after he reversed the Coquina Clutch in a way I've never seen done before. The ref (Senior Referee Rudy Charles) took an accidental bump and was laid out briefly while Joe attempted a pin. Because Rudy didn't do a count for that pin Joe got mad and chased after Rudy after the match. I think after this Joe went back into the ring and Christian gave him a look of respect and offered his hand to Joe but Joe gave him the finger and walked off. Christian then got on the mic and put over Dallas and the fans. It was a really nice moment.
We had an intermission which saw Christian sign autographs.

(5) After intermission we got the comedy match. Eric Young vs. James Storm. The guy next to me offered Storm a beer to which he said something like " No thanks I don't drink beer". Then he smiled and laughed. Both guys kind of jostled a bit and Storm tried to cheat. Eric Young ran off and came back wearing a Dallas Cowboys helmet signed by the TNA roster (they gave it away after the match to a sick kid I think). After a bit he took it off and the continued. In what was the funniest and oddest moment of the night: Storm verbally got into Hebner's face about something. Like he normally does Hebner stood up and pushed back. Young broke them up like he was a ref...and then signaled for them to go at it. Hebener warmed up a bit and then started dancing around Storm. Hebner and Storm locked up and Hebner put him in a headlock. Then he drove Storm into the corner where Young broke it up. An attempted punch by Storm was ducked by Hebner. Eventually Hebner and Young threw Storm into the ropes where thye double Hip-Tossed him. Hebner had some nice skills and lots of energy. Eventually Young won. Good comic relief match.

I think it was here that Borash brought Dixie Carter into the ring and she thanked the fans and they talked about Panda Energy which owns TNA and is based in Dallas. Borash then mentioned doing a PPV in Dallas and got a rile out of the crown by suggesting they bring TNA Impact to be based in Dallas.

(6) The next match saw LAX vs. Lance Hoyt & Jimmy Rave. Local boy Hoyt got on the mic and acted like he was putting over Dallas, but pulled a swerve and ended up trashing the city and the Dallas Cowboys. He drew a ton of heat from the crowd. He went on a little too long though. The match itself was pretty good. Rave really didn't get involved too much. Hoyt's got an unusual blend of strength and agility. LAX is the best overall tag-team in TNA right now and they showed it last night. They crowd was crazy behind them and they just looked amazing in person. Homicide didn't some Eddie Guerrero schtick which drew "Eddie" chants from the crowd. Hernandez is incredible with his over the top rope suicide dive in person. LAX wins a good match. After the match saw LAX put sunglasses on Hebner and teach him the gang-like LAX hand gesture. They got on the mic and were great.

(7) That gets us to our main event, Booker T vs. Robert Roode. Booker was crazy over and Roode was nearly buried by the crowd. He got old school heat. Roode is so great right now. He's got the look and the style. Definitely taking a page from Curt Hennig's playbook. This match could have been awesome, but it turned out to be just good. No fault to the wrestlers. They were just starting to get things heated up when the match ended. I could tell they ended early due to time constraints. The end saw Ms. Brooks do a run in to take a chair away from Roode before a chairshot on Booker. Booker then got the win.

NOTES: Over all a great show. The crowd was great and so were the performers. Afterwards Lethal, Samoa Joe, LAX, Hebner, Borash, Dixie Carter, Eric Young, Lance Hoyt, Booker T, and Ms. Brooks all signed autographs, posed for pictures and talked to people.

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