Mick Foley Makes TNA Debut Tonight - Full Report Report by TNAWrestlingNews.com Staff on 09/05/2008 at 10:49 PM
At tonight's TNA Long Island house show, Mick Foley officially debuted, making a brief speech saying he believed in TNA and loved the product. He hammed it up with the crowd and said he hoped to make an "iMPACT!". Foley received a big reaction from his hometown fans and led them in chanting the names of his youngest sons, who were in attendance.
Foley came out to his old school "Born to be Wild" theme music from his early days on the indy scene.
Note from Ryan Clark: I noted on WZR Radio this past Tuesday night that I had expected Mick to appear at the weekend live events. It would give the fans in attendance a first glimpse of him before he actually debuted on iMPACT!. I think it's a great move and a real treat for the fans in NY. Lets be honest - this wasn't a surprise that he was coming to TNA and it still will be really cool when he debuts on iMPACT! in just a few weeks.
Here is the full house show report thanks to Mike:
TNA made their sophomore appearance tonight in Westbury, Long Island at the Capital One Bank Theater. The show opened with Jeremy Borash war
*Jay Lethal defeated Sonjay Dutt - They started off fast with a back and forth. Dutt hid under the ring to fake out Lethal but it failed as he was hit in the gut coming off the ropes. They did a lot of back and forth athletic moves. The crowd popped for everything easy as it was a family crowd. Lethal scored a two count with a faceplant. Dutt missed coming off the ropes and was nailed with the Lethal Combination. Lethal played to the crowd then went up for the flying elbow. He nailed it for the pin. Crowd pleasing opener.
*TNA X-Division champ Petey Williams defeated Consequences Creed. Earl Hebner was the referee and had to be held back by Jeremy Borash from leaving the ring when a fan gave him grief about Bret Hart. Williams controlled the match early after some brief Creed offense. This was a little slower paced than the opener with Williams playing to the crowd and posing a la Scott Steiner after hitting offensive maneuvers. He dropped Creed's jaw over his knees. Creed responded with an enziguiri. Creed used that to mount his babyface comeback using a lot of athletic moves. He pressed Williams over his head, then dropped down into a gutbuster for a two count. Williams went for a Sharpshooter and Hebner played off Montreal. Half the crowd yelled for Hebner to ring the bell, which was funny. Creed made it to the ropes. Williams finally nailed the Canadian Destroyer for the pin. Solid back and forth stuff here.
*Awesome Kong defeated Roxxi. Traci Brooks was the special referee. There were people that literally gasped when Kong came out because of her aura as a monster. She also received the biggest heel reaction of the night thus far. Roxxi was accompanied by Brian Powers, a local DJ. Not much of a reaction for Roxxi coming out. Kong played immovable object and when Roxxi bumped off her, splashed Roxxi. She brought Roxxi around the corners, chopping and choking her. She hit a running splash in the corner. Kong continued to control. Roxxi began fighting back with chops and forearms. She took down Kong with a running big boot. Roxxi ducked a spinning backhand. She tried for a suplex, was unable. Kong nailed the Impact Buster for the clean pin. Kong tried to nail Roxxi again, but Brooks tried to stop her. Kong nailed her with an Implant Buster as well. Several officials came to help the babyfaces out.
*TNA Tag Team champions Robert Roode & James Storm (with Jacqueline) vs. Eric Young & Johnny Devine. Johnny Devine came out and said he was booked into an unusual situation by TNA with a Tag Team title match. He said his first choice of a partner, The Iron Sheik wasn't available, so he chose Eric Young since Young hated Bobby Roode more than anyone during the days of Team Canada. The Sheik joke didn't get over live. Even thought he's "not" Super Eric, Young came out in his tights. The Beer Money, Inc. entrance comes off pretty polished with Roode especially looking like a veteran heel. Storm began ripping on the local sports team and was pretty entertaining. Young took the mic and said when his mom dropped him off today, he didn't know he was going to be in a tag title match but was happy to have one, hoping he could party like a champ with all the New York fans. The fans chanted "Brokeback Mountain." They did lots of basic tag stuff early with the makeshift challengers catching the champs with armbars and hiptosses. The champs came back with double team moves. Storm missed a charge in the corner on Devine and crotched himself. Young made the hot tag. They did an spot where Young hit an airplane spin into a DVDR on both but when he spun, he nailed Devine. When Young went for the pin, Devine threw him out of the ring and turned on him. He then walked into a Storm superkick and was pinned. Devin started trashing Young on the mic. Young morphed into Super Eric under the ring. The music played and he emerged to lay out Devine.
*Booker T vs. Christian Cage - Cage played to the crowd asking how many peeps he had in the house. They did lots of playing to the crowd. After some back and forth, Cage missed a top rope splash. Booker used a scissor into a sunset flip for a two count. He missed an Axe Kick and hit with a reverse DDT for a two count. Booker named the Bookend but Cage got his shoulder up. Cage finally hit the Unprettier for the pin. The match didn't receive a bigger reaction than anything on the undercard, which surprised me as both have been coming into the area for year in WWE and WCW. Pedestrian stuff here.
TNA went to intermission, which was a little behind schedule according to a building source, so the show was running a little longer than scheduled at this point.
When Borash returned, he said that after speaking to Jim Cornette on the phone, the next match was changed to a Long Island Tables match. The crowd popped for it.
*Team 3D defeated Abyss & Rhino. Brother Ray grew up in the area and 3D are billed from NYC so they got a big pop coming out. Abyss (who needs to lose the white outfit bad and go back to his old look, in my opinion) and Rhino attacked 3D when they posed on the ropes. Devon and Rhino brawled on the floor and out into the crowd to the back of the theater. The crowd chanted for tables. Lots of crowd shots using drinks and popcorn flying into the air. It settled into a traditional match with tags. Devon got worked over for a long time before Rhino missed a charge in the corner. Ray got the hot tag. He splashed both Rhino and Abyss in the corner at once. Devon did the Wazzup Headbutt off the top on Rhino. They nailed Abyss with 3D through the table for the win. Brother Ray gave a speech and said that as of right now, their contracts had expired and they had a big decision to make. He plugged tomorrow's show and said at the Manhattan Center, the future of "Team 3D...or The Dudley Boyz" would be decided. They brought several kids in the ring. One of them was wearing a WWE shirt, which Bubba ribbed him about, then said, "I like Hunter, Batista's a moron and John Cena's cool." 3D gave the kids pieces of table. Bubba thanked everyone again and said they didn't know what was going to happen but thanked them for the support. Devon did the Testify line and they left to a big pop. In terms of connecting with the audience. 3D was the most over act.
Jeremy Borash said that they were happy to be in Long Island because Long Island's most popular wrestling fan was backstage. He introduced Mick Foley, who made several laps around ringside. He said tonight was one of the first times all his children were at the matches together and had the crowd chant their names. He said he wouldn't be part of TNA if he didn't love the company and hoped to make an Impact. Short.
*TNA World champ Samoa Joe defeated Kurt Angle. They did lots of mat wrestling holds early. Angle threw Joe out of the ring. Joe sold his leg after landing and Angle started working on it. He tossed Joe in the ring and hit a back suplex. Angle began whipping out suplexes, which the crowd liked. It was a more of an old school match with holds and suplexes. Joe came back with a series of rights and an enziguiri. Joe hit a big running boot to the face and back splash. He caught Angle with a snap powerslam for a two count. Joe cut off an Angle charge in the corner and hit a leg lariat off the ropes. Angle came back and locked on the anklelock. They did lots of reversals until Joe locked on the Joe for the choke. OK main event.
Joe took the mic after the main event and welcomed New York "to TNA." He said they made a mistake tonight trying to pick a few good fans when they have a crowd full of great ones. He brought out the locker room to sign autographs and take pictures for free to close the show.
Live Notes: They did the usual "backstage pass" spiel and glad handling of the crowd to get the fans into the show. It worked well since it was a big family crowd....The crowd looked to be around the 1,200 mark, down from a sellout last time....Although LAX wasn't booked, there were shirts for the team everywhere, it appears so not using them on this loop was a mistake...They introduced Earl Hebner as the "Most Infamous Referee in Professional Wrestling History."....Before the show started, they had messages from TNA talent playing over the sound system welcoming fans in NY to the event and telling them how long until belltime. A nice idea....Lots of TNA videogame plugs....TNA sold out of $20 programs....Although he didn't work the show, they sold Sting shirts....Kurt Angle appeared this afternoon at a local Best Buy, drawing under 100 fans according to one person....Kevin Nash was in NYC for interviews this weekend but didn't appear here.
