TNA Live Event Results From Tucson (9/21): Bully Ray Defends, Roode Vs. Aries

Thanks to one of our readers for sending in these results from Saturday's night's TNA live event in Tucson, AZ:

So I went to the TNA Wrestling live event/house show in Tucson, AZ and it turned out to be a lot of fun. It was their first time in Tucson and my first time seeing them live. I got in for the pre-show meet and greet(you had to purchases the special ticket) which only had 6 wrestlers doing the signing. A lot more people where at the signing then I expected, about 100 to 125 people. Table #1 was Kaz and Daniels (who stayed in character and joked about Joseph Park's weight and Eric Young's beard), table #2 was Eric Young and Joseph Park and EY was really funny and would talk with the fans and answer questions. And table #3 had Hernandez and Manik, Hernandez was really cool posing for pictures and talking with fans. And Manik would talk if you said something to him, even though Kaz and Daniels joked that he wouldn't talk.

So about 15 minutes before the show began JB comes out to hype us up and says that he will be giving away free backstage passes to the "loudest" fans after every match for a special backstage meet and greet during the intermission.

Joseph Park vs. Hernandez

Park gets a nice reaction but Hernandez gets a bigger pop. Match starts slow with Park wanting a handshake, but he pulls away and starts laughing as the fans boo, which surprises him. Hernandez does the same but Park walks into the hand shake and ends up almost tripping. Match didn't go long and was mostly shoulder blocks and clothlines. Hernandez wins with a top rope splash, they end up shaking hands at the end.

Next JB tells us that we are getting some title matches tonight and the first one is for the Knockout's Championship.

TNA Knockouts Championship: ODB (c) vs. Lad'i Tapa

ODB was way over with the crowd getting a bigger pop then Hernandez. Decent KO Title bout that went about 7 minutes. ODB went for the TKO 3 times early, getting cut off all 3 times. She would, however, win the match with the TKO.

The third match was another title match, and JB told us that we were getting "not 2, not 3, but 4 title matches tonight" and this one was for the X-Division Championship.

TNA X Division Championship: Manik (c) vs. "Showtime" Eric Young

EY comes down first to his usual antics locking up with referee Brian Stiffler. Makin makes him way to the ring and EY gets on the apron grabs the tag rope and calls for a tag. Just the beginning of a very entertaining match. So EY tags himself in with a blind tag on Manik, which makes him jump as if that scared him and starts to lock up with Stiffler again. Stiffler jumps put of the ring, so Eric starts to count him out, the fans tall Stiffler to get back in the ring before he gets counted out, so he does, barely making the 10 count by EY. Eric then calls for the bell, which doesn't ring and wants Manik and Stiffler to lock up. Sitffler acts like he is ready to lock up before changing his mind and calling for the bell. Fun match that had some nice spots including a double turnbuckle headstand by both Champion and challenger. Some "EY" chants and "this is awesome" chants break out through the match. Manik gets the win with his chicken wing front gutbuster. Very fun match to keep the crowd going.

Next up was a match for the TNA Tag Team Championship. JB called it "Tucson Tornado Tag Team Rules" meaning Texas Tornado style.

TNA Tag Team Championship: Bad Influence vs."Cowboy" James Storm and Gunner, who is now being billed as "The Modern Day Viking"

Out come Bad Influence to a mixed reaction. Kaz takes to the mic and trashes Tucson, the people and the sports teams. Daniels takes his turn and calls all the fans there fat and ugly and they may not be worthy of much but they are worthy of being able to worship them now. And that brings out Storm and Gunner to a good pop. Match starts with a brawl, as most of the match goes the same way. Storm spends most of the match on the outside, while Gunner stays in side. Daniels and Storm fight on the floor and a funny spot I noticed was Kaz in the ring pokes Gunner in the eye, while at the same time on the floor Storm does the same to Daniels. Storm gets thrown into the steel steps leaving Gunner alone in the ring with Bad Influence. They do a few double team moves on Gunner but can't keep him down. Storm tries to get back in the ring a couple time, but gets cut off every time. Gunner makes a comeback before getting taken down again but this time Storm has gotten in the ring and starts to clean house. Bad Influence takes control again but Storm fights back giving Gunner time to get back in. The match comes to a close when Storm hits Kaz with Closing Time before getting the crowd hyped and calls for the last Call and lays Kaz out with superkick. Gunner then gets Daniels up on his shoulder and he and Storm connect with their tag team finisher for the win. Solid 12-15 minute match, just as good as any TV or PPV tag match TNA has done this year. Storm then takes to the mic to pass out the last couple backstage passes. While he's in the ring and Gunner is high fiving fans at ringside, something is going down by the ramp with Kaz and a fan. All I saw was something flying towards Kaz as he yells at someone and then jumps down to the floor before arena security and TNA security got involved. Anyway Storm starts to say how rowdy the crowd has been and that they need to bring Spike TV cameras here next time they come, then says "oh hell, maybe we should bring a PPV her next time" the crowd goes crazy and starts chanting "TNA" and "yes". Storm then says "naw, naw, naw, we don't say 'yes, yes, yes' here in TNA we say "Beer, beer, beer"! So a huge "beer" chant gets going.

20 minute Intermission

JB gets back on the mic and says that our two main events will start in 5 minutes.

Austin Aries vs. Bobby Roode

Roode gets the strongest heat of the night so far. Out comes Aries to a huge pop. "TNA" and "this is wrestling" chants break out during the staredown. Classic Roode-Aries match. Some chain wrestling to start things off. Aries gets the better of Roode who drops to the floor. A Double goes after Roode and chases him around the ring. They get back inside and trade holds and shots. Roode goes for the 3 Amigos, but stops on the last one and does a front suplex rather then a 3rd vertical. But mocks Eddie's shoulder shimmy anyway and gets some boos and a small "Eddie" chant starts. Aries keeps teasing the outside dive but keeps getting cut off by Roode. Finally decides to just go up top and hits Roode with a double sledge hammer on the floor. A Double rolls Roode back and climbs up top and also mocks Eddie's shoulder shimmy but gets cheers, before hitting a beautiful frog splash. Roode takes control again and looks for the Fishermen's Suplex but Aries counters, everybody calls for the Brainbuster, but Aries ends up winning with a roll up. Great match that lasted about 20 minutes.

Main Event for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Bully Ray (c) vs. Samoa Joe

JB gives formal intros before Bully gets on the mic and does his "do you know who I am?" bit. he then calls the people of Phoenix stupid, and of course that gets heat because we were in Tucson. He then threatens to leave and go back home to NYC if we didn't quiet down and get in our seats. He wants us to down what he says by the count of 3 or he'll leave. He gets to 2 and a half before Joe gets in his face and says 3 then lays him out with a punch, leading to a big "Joe" chant going for a while during the start of the match. Bully rolls to the outside and Joe follows. Joe gets him in the ring and lays in some jabs AND kicks. Bully would take back control and made the ref fall for the old "hey ref look over there" deal leading to him using his wrist tape to choke Joe. Joe fights back again but Bully would try to use his wallet chain in front of the ref and when the ref went to put the chain back down Bully hits Joe with a low blow. The fans try to alert the ref by chanting "low blow" and making the arm motion, but he doesn't DQ Bully. Joe goes nuts with strikes and kicks and his normal comeback flurry and calls for the Muscle Buster. Bully counter and shoves Joe into the ref in the corner. Joe would then catch Bully in the Rear Choke and makes him tap, causing the crowd to chant "you tapped out". Joe lets go of the hold to wake up the ref and by this time Bully has grabbed his wallet chain again and lays Joe out with it. The ref comes to and counts the pin. Bully retained in a solid 12-14 minute match. Bully would try to lay Joe out with the title but Joe gets the better of him sending to the back without his title. So Joe picks up the title and holds it up to a big pop.

Overall a great first experience for me at a TNA live event. I would say it was better then a TV taping because you didn't have pointless segments that lasted 20 minutes and the matches could go as long as the guys wanted to wrestle because they didn't have time slots to worry about. Floor seating was full around three sides of the ring and only a few empty seat on either side of the entrance isle. Lower level seating was spotty though. So as far as exact numbers I couldn't say for sure, but I would say at least 500, but I think it would be a stretch to say more than 1,200 like some other reports I've read. And I would recommend any TNA fan to go to a show in their area when the chance comes along.