Random Pics from the TNA Impact Wrestling Taping in New York City

After a long week of work, I got to end it with a TNA Impact Wrestling taping in New York City. It was actually sold out and it was electric. TNA Wrestling has some misses the last couple of years but this card reminded me why I am a fan of them in the first place. I have to say between the three NYC tapings it seems like they are firing on all cylinders.

One thing I am most excited for it is the X-Divison, one of the things that set TNA Wrestling apart in the past, was interesting again.

There were a lot of people who showed up representing TNA and wrestling past like

Rhyno

Matt Hardy

Jeff Hardy

and Team 3D.

The Hardy Boys vs Team 3D ended the night and wow when they hit their groove, it was a lot of fun.

Here are bunch of random pics from the event.

I had a great time with my friends and we are definitely going to try to attend at least one of the tapings in August.

A Couple of Pics from FWE No Limits

FWE (Family Wrestling Entertainment) is a local wrestling promotion in NYC and it getting quite popular. In fact, FWE had a full house for tonight’s No Limits which kind of sucked because I was a bit late and I had to steal a couple of chairs from the food area to sit and watch. Anyways every time I go to a FWE event, it had an awesome lineup packed with former WWE wrestlers and current TNA stars. It is always good for great night of action for only $20. Here is a couple of pics I took.

FWE No Limits was Maria’s return to the ring & she became the women’s champion defeating Winter (with some interference).

Who doesn’t want to see a 450+ pound man go through a table! But it was Malta the hometown favorite who lost the tables match.

Jay Lethal looking to counter the figure four lock.

The main event Charlie Haas vs Tommy Dreamer was throwback to the ECW days!

Pics and Scans from the MMA World Expo & STS Challenge

I went to the MMA World Expo last Sunday and it was pretty much the only MMA event (aside from the random UFC book signing or press conference) in the New York City. It is such a shame that New York is one of very few place left in the world where MMA is still illegal. It has grown from the “bloodsport” roots and in fact there are studies that show MMA is one of the safer sports out there compare to say boxing or football.

The Future of MMA in New York Panel. One of the more interesting things brought up is the main argument to legalize MMA in NY is the tax dollars it would bring and that argument just doesn’t come across well to outsiders. When it is worded as legalizing a “bloodsport” for a few bucks, yea I won’t support that either.

Randy Couture and Matt Serra were the biggest names at the expo. Randy Couture auto was $55 and the Matt Serra’s line was super long (the longest line in the event by far and I wanted a good spot to watch the STS Challenge). I have a Couture auto already and I am not the biggest fan of Serra (although I heard he was great with the fans) so no big loss.

I did manage to get one auto and it is the one I wanted the most, Eric Esch aka Butterbean! In fact I was considered buying or trading for a signed glove a couple of weeks ago but the guy valued it at $65 which was a tad high (I value it at $30 tops) and I later saw that he was signing at the expo. Don’t let his looks fool you. He packs some serious power and surprising quick with his hooks.

One of the new addition to the MMA World Expo was the STS Challenge which is a like a deconstructed MMA fight. MMA is illegal in New York but its parts (boxing, muay thai, BJJ, wrestling etc) are all legal (which never made sense to me) so the STS Challenge is one round of muay thai, one round of takedown wrestling and one round of no gi submission wrestling. The fights were very entertaining and absolutely the closest you can get to MMA in NY. I say the experiment worked out very well.

If I had to offer one bit of criticism about the event is that the STS finals ended as the show floor closed. So all the stands were packing up as the fights were wrapping up which I think is a missed opportunity. STS Challenge is the main draw so most in attendance were watching the finals for say 3-5 and as they disperse I am sure most wanted to walk the floor just one more time and just maybe pick up something. But all in all it was a great event. Well organized and I am sure the MMA World Expo would explode in attendance once MMA is finally legalized. I look forward to it every year.

Pics from the FWE Fallout Show

I went to an indie wrestling show last night, Family Wrestling Entertainment (FWE) Fallout. It was headed by a bunch of TNA Wrestling stars like Eric Young, Robbie E, Rob Terry, Christy Hemme, Tara and Madison Rayne and former TNA star Bobby Lashley, so why not? I have like the worst timing in the world getting wrestling action shots by here is a bunch of pics I took from the show. My brother also took a couple of pics and I would update the post if I can get him to email them to me.

They did run several autograph signings of almost all the wrestlers on the card. I didn’t really bother, saved a couple of bucks and didn’t have to wait on lines since I already had autographs of most of the wrestlers that I am a fan off. All in all, I had a lot of fun and it was definitely worth the $25 ticket.