BRM Reviews TNA Hardcore War 2006 (GREAT!)

[Big Red Machine]

TNA Hardcore War 2006 (6/9/2006)- Philadelphia, PA

JB opens the show by welcoming the crowd… and the crowd is freakin’ hot. He then says that because everyone came to see some “TNA,” he brings out Christy Hemme (I see what you did there, Borash). Christy then tells the crowd that she loves how loud they are and that loud crowds put her in a very giving mood. She promises the crowd that if they are loud throughout the show, she will give them a “special present.”

SIMON DIAMOND vs. SHARK BOY- 4.5/10
The crowd popped HUGE for Simon Diamond (probably the first time anyone has ever typed that). Simon cut a promo saying that ECW closed down even though it had a very loyal following, and thus the fans are dumb for chanting “ECW” because it could have continued (smaller scale, no doubt) but Paul E. closed it down anyway (showing that he didn’t care about the fans). I think there was going to be a larger point here, but we never got to hear it because the mic died (prompting the crowd to give Simon one of the most unfair “YOU F*CKED UP!” chants in history. The promo did get a great response from the crowd while it lasted.
The match itself was decently short but it was fun and the crowd was very into it, which made it feel like a lot more than a throwaway opener.

JAY LETHAL vs. SONJAY DUTT- 7.5/10
A great, athletic wrestling match once again propped up by an extremely hot crowd.

ANYTHING GOES MATCH: Abyss vs. Brother Runt- 7.25/10
This match was Spike Dudley at his absolute best. He takes a vicious beating from a much bigger opponent but he keeps getting up and he keeps on fighting. You can’t help but root for him. The crowd continued to be absolutely awesome here. Abyss Gorilla Presses Spike from the ring all the way to the crowd, who caught him and body-surfed him in the ECW tradition (which prompted another loud “ECW” chant). They also showed their dislike for WWE’s trademarking policies showering Runt with chants of “YOU’RE A DUDLEY!”

KNOCKOUTS MATCH WITH CHRISTY HEMME AS SPECIAL GUEST REFEREE: Traci Brooks vs. Gail Kim- 3/10
Apparently Christy’s version of checking Traci for foreign objects involves feeling her up, so that was fun. The match itself was pretty dull. They only had one or two T & A spots and that was early on, so it’s not like this was a softcore match or anything. It was just a bad pro wrestling match.

JEFF JARRETT PROMO- dragged on a bit, but the crowd was enjoying telling Jarrett to “shut the f*ck up” the whole time.

JEFF JARRETT vs. RHINO-6.75/10
Before the action got underway, the crowd started up with a massive “YOU SCREWED BRET!” chant… and Hebner actually responded. He grabbed a mic and told the fans “I’m gonna save my breath because if you all think I screwed Bret, you’re dumb as sh*t anyway.” WOW! Don’t hold back, Earl. Tell us how you really feel.
This was a good brawl, and the crowd created a great atmosphere, but I was expecting a lot more here.

PETEY WILLIAMS vs. JERRY LYNN- 7/10
Great back and forth wrestling and some great teases.

X-DIVISION TITLE MATCH: Samoa Joe(c) vs. AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels- 8.75/10
It’s AJ vs. Joe vs. Daniels. You know you’re in for a treat, and they certainly didn’t disappoint. After the match, AMW jump AJ and Daniels. Then they claim to be the best tag team ever and say that Philly sucks, etc. etc. At one point, Chris Harris claims that he and Storm slept with the sisters of every last fan in the building. All last night. That’s pretty impressive.
Anyway, AMW continue to talk about how great they are and the fans want the Dudleys. The lights go out… and when they come back on, the James Gang is in the ring. The fans were not happy about this at all, and let everyone hear it. In response to the fans booing, B.G. James asks “well who did you expect?” Brilliant! B.G., like every heel so far tonight, claims to be unimpressed with the ECW Arena.
Then Team 3-D appears on the Tron and Bully Ray makes fun of B.G.’s drug problems. Classy. Then, after Bubba makes fun of Kip and AMW, Devon tells the heels to turn around, and he and Bubba walk in the front door. I’m really not sure why the Dudleys decided to cut their promo via satellite on the Tron when they were just outside the building, but whatever floats their boat.
Bubba then grabs a mic and starts cutting ANOTHER promo. While trading barbs with The James Gang (and making the occasional implication that Harris and Storm are lovers), he makes Hat Guy an official Dudley (then slaps him, which Hat Guy sells hilariously) and threatens to assault Green Lantern Fan. He then decides that they are having a Philly Street Fight and everyone goes along with it…

PHILADELPHIA STREET FIGHT: Team 3-D vs. America’s Most Wanted vs. The James Gang- no rating.
They just brawled all over the place in what was essentially a handicapped match with the two heel teams working together against Team 3-D, but Bubba and Devon are standing tall at the end and the heels walk off after a chair riot. The action was very all over the place and cameras didn’t do a good job of catching it, so it really wasn’t enjoyable on the DVD, but you can tell that the live crowd was into it and it seemed to mean something to both them and the Dudleys. Normally I would be unhappy with this, but because it is TNA’s first show at the Arena, I’ll give it a pass.

After the “match,” Bubba starts to cut a babyface promo when one fan got particularly rowdy. The Dudleys invited him to come into the ring to fight them. Security tried to stop the guy as he neared the guardrail, but Devon told them not to. He then warned the guy “if you get into this ring, I will butt-f*ck you.” OUTSTANDING! Not to be outdone, Bubba chastises Devon for threatening to do something like that to a paying customer, whose hard-earned money goes to paying their salaries… “but if you want to f*ck his mother in the ass, that’s a whole different story.”
Bubba then goes back to his promo. He puts down the new ECW, which I thought was very unfair, considering that it hadn’t even started yet. He then calls out AJ and Daniels and puts them over as the future of wrestling and predicts that they will win the NWA World Tag Team Titles from AMW at Slammiversary.
Spike comes out, and Bubba gives him the mic. Spike pulls out the contract WWE had offered him to work at One Night Stand 2006, and ripped it up. Daniels then puts TNA over.

Overall, this was an awesome show. GREAT wrestling, a lot of fun promos, and possibly the hottest crowd I have ever seen. A great debut for TNA in Philly, and a very nice tribute to ECW. The only flaw in this show is the announcing, which is not even close to good. The announcing team for this show was Jeff Harris and some other guy whose name I didn’t catch, and based on their voices, I can only assume that they are the regular commentary team for the Redneck Championship Wrestling.

[badnewzxl]

I've seen the final two matches on here but not the others. The Triple Threat was GREAT; the Triple Threat Tag was SOOOO ECW (good ECW), esp the mic work from Team 3-D and James Gang. The heat on JG was awesome and I almost died when Ray smacked Hat Guy in the back of the head; it's something that you'd think had to be a total work but it seemed absolutely real (the expressing on Hat Guys face was GOLD! lol).

The crowd popped HUGE for Simon Diamond (probably the first time anyone has ever typed that)

=)) =)) =)) =)) Yeah, prolly! =))

The only time I ever heard him get a reaction anywhere near that was during his promo at Anarchy Rulez 99 when he tol Jazz women's only place in wrestling was as T & A, then proceeded to tell her to get her flat-chested, ghetto booty out of the ring, lol. It was the way he said it....