TNA House Show in Manchester, England, U.K.

TNA House Show in Manchester, England, U.K. (plus bonus Rob Terry on BBC2 Wales' 'Sports Wales' feature recap, broadcast tonight).
Friday, 29th January, 2010

By Stephen Lyon.

This was the penultimate date on TNA's European tour, that began in France last weekend. It was their second visit to the Manchester Evening News Arena, having held a show here last year. The entire upper tier of the 20,000 seater arena was blocked off tonight, as was just over a third of the bottom tier on one side. My estimate would be that there were around 5000 fans in attendance, probably no more than 6000 tops. There weren't that many empty seats visible, so they did a good job making the smaller version of the arena seem packed. There was a large video screen above the entrance, playing the entrance videos of each wrestler, and one of those WWE-esque annoying electronic marquee boards over the ring, constantly scrolling either the name of the wrestler or match, or 'Bravo', the name of the tv company that carries TNA in the U.K. For all the recent rumours regarding the future of TNA on Bravo (and Dixie Carter's recent tweets have confirmed some sort of new U.K. tv deal is being worked on), there were tons of Bravo advertising everywhere surrounding this event, with the logo displayed constantly on the big screen, on the marquee and on the programme. There were several merchandise stalls in the concourse doing big business, selling TNA dvds and a variety of t-shirts, notably the grey Barack Obama-spoof 'Change' Hulk Hogan t-shirt, 2 different AJ Styles t-shirts, 2 different Beer Money t-shirts, a new Desmond Wolfe black and purple soccer shirt, plus Team 3D, Suicide, British Invasion, Samoa Joe, Motor City Machine Guns and Beautiful People t-shirts. The lamest pieces of merchandise were these cheap cardboard face masks of Hulk Hogan, AJ Styles and Suicide, selling for £5 a mask.

The crowd were super hot all night. There were some young kids in the crowd, but there were noticeably more adult fans present than those who typically attend WWE shows. There were no special appearances by Shaun Wright Phillips, Stephen Ireland or any other local sportsmen or women, as speculated in the U.K. media (Daily Star newspaper) earlier today.

Show opened with Jeremy Borash coming to the ring with entrance music. At the same time, Earl Hebner's entrance video played by mistake on the big screen. TNA! Borash then introduced Earl 'the most controversial referee in history' Hebner, to the expected boos and 'You screwed Bret' chants.

1) Amazing Red defeated Suicide and Chris Sabin in a three way match to open the show. Pretty much a crowd pleasing spotfest. Lots of cool high flying moves, including Red attempting a springboard huracanrana off the top rope on to Sabin, only for Suicide to take out both guys with a crossbody block from the opposite side of the ring. After many nearfalls, Red picked up the pinfall win with a Canadian Destroyer on Suicide in around 8 minutes.

2) TNA Global Champion, Rob Terry defeated Eric Young to retain the title. Before the match, Borash introduced Terry as 'one of the most promising British wrestlers for a long time'. I was laughing hard at that one. Terry came out and got a big pop at first, and despite being a babyface for this whole deal, started doing Chris Masters-esque bodybuilding poses. Young did some heel mic work to establish the roles in the match, but just a few minutes in, Terry started getting the 'You can't wrestle' catcalls. He reminded me of an uncharismatic Ultimate Warrior, circa 1987. This match was pretty bad. Crowd amused themselves by chanting 'You sold t-shirts' at Hebner, which at least was somewhat original and amusing. Terry won after 5 hours (sorry, actually minutes, but it seemed longer) with a powerslam.

3) 'The Pope' D'Angelo Dinero defeated Rhino. Both guys were heavily cheered coming out, but Rhino did mic work to try and turn himself heel. Even with this, it was still 70/30 in favour of Pope, with duelling 'Pope is Pimpin/Lets go Rhino' chants for several minutes. This was an entertaining match. Finish saw Rhino miss with a gore in the corner and Pope hit a neckbreaker to pin Rhino in about 8 or 9 minutes.

BAIT AND SWITCH TIME!

Next came a Ladder Match for the TNA World Title. Or so 5000 fans thought. For several months, TNA had billed a four man ladder match for the TNA title between AJ Styles, Chris Daniels, Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle as the feature match up on this particular show. London tomorrow night has an Ultimate X match, and tonight we were supposed to have a ladder match. It had been in all the print advertising, on TNA's website, and on a tv commercial carried during WWE programming in recent weeks.

A cable with a hook to hold the title belt lowered from the ceiling. A red ladder was placed in the ring. I'm no detective, but my suspicions were immediately aroused by the fact that this ladder only had rungs on one side, ruling out any dramatic duelling climbs. Chris Daniels, Hernandez (so no Kurt Angle in this match, as advertised), and Samoa Joe came out. A.J. Styles came out last to a big crowd pop. Styles got on the mic and cut a heel promo, stopping a ringside worker from hanging his TNA title belt on the cable in the ring. Styles said that he never agreed to defend his title in a ladder match, and that he'd been on the phone all day with Ric Flair and the lawyers, and that they all agreed he shouldn't defend the title in such a dangerous match. He then went to walk out. Dixie Carter, sat in the front row at ringside for most of the evening, then did mic work, calling Styles back to the ring, saying that she was his boss and she was telling him that he had to defend the title in a match this evening, and to get his butt back in the ring. The ladder then disappeared, and without any announcement, we suddenly had a basic fatal four way, except with tag team rules and only two men in the ring at any one time, so this was essentially Styles & Daniels vs Joe & Hernandez in a tag match.

4) TNA World Champion, AJ Styles defeated Samoa Joe, Chris Daniels and Hernandez to retain the title. Joe squared off with Styles at first, dominating him with the face wash in the corner. Hernandez tagged in and showed off his strength with a lengthy delayed vertical suplex on Daniels. Amongst the other highlights were Styles putting the figure four leglock on Daniels and strutting like Flair. Joe scored a big nearfall on Styles after a muscle buster, but the finish saw Styles win after a Styles Clash on Daniels. This was a good 15 minute match, but the bait and switch over the ladder match left a nasty taste. Lots of chants of 'We want ladders' during this match too.

After an intermission, Dixie Carter came to the ring with one of her Twitter followers, and the Twitter followers' young son, who looked to be about 4 years old and scared to death. He didn't want to get in the ring and instead Slick Johnson held him at ringside whilst Dixie cut her usual 'You're a wonderful crowd' promo.

5) Kurt Angle defeated Desmond Wolfe with the Angle Slam in about 8 minutes. Before the match, Wolfe came out to a big crowd pop. He then did mic work turning himself heel, running down Manchester and saying it was inferior to his hometown of London, and calling us all 'gap-toothed, whippet-breeding, inbred northern monkeys' which was pretty damn funny. He talked about how his favourite soccer team, Chelsea (big rivals of both local Manchester soccer teams), were going to win the English Premier League. This led to loud 'Chelsea Rent Boy' (slang name for a gay male prostitute) chants at Wolfe throughout this match, which was hilarious and disturbing at the same time, as there was this five year old kid in front of me yelling it. This match was a good match. Angle got a big crowd reaction. He seemed to be hurting, and kept holding and shaking his left arm and hand, trying to get feeling back into his fingers. Angle had the ankle lock on Wolfe, but Wolfe made the ropes. Wolfe dominated the majority of the match and went for his Tower of London finisher, only to screw it up as both guys slipped. He attempted it a second time, only this time, Angle jumped out of the move and gave him an Angle Slam for the pinfall win.

6) Taylor Wilde & Sarita defeated Velvet Sky & Madison Rayne, with Hamada as guest referee. Before the match started, both teams mocked each others' entrance routines, which was pretty funny. This was a short match. Finish saw Rayne score a nearfall, and object to Hamada's two count by slapping her. Hamada shoved her backwards and she fell into Wilde's roll up for the pinfall win.

7) In the main event, Team 3D defeated Beer Money Inc and the British Invasion in a three way tables match. All three teams were cheered coming out, with Williams announced as the new X-Division champion and wearing the belt. The Brits soon turned heel though, when Beer Money teased giving 'backstage passes' away to the crowd, and the Invasion snatched them and ripped them up. Beer Money were over huge, probably more than anyone bar Angle on the entire show, with loud chants of 'Beer Money' constantly throughout the match. Team 3D and Beer Money pretty much worked together for most of this, so it was more of a 4-on-2 handicap match than a real 3-way. Team 3D did a lot of comedy too, and gave the Doomsday device to Brutus Magnus and the 'Whats-up' diving headbutt to Doug Williams for nearfalls. Finish saw 3D give Magnus a '3D' through a table in the ring to win the match.

Afterwards, Team 3D and Beer Money drank beer and had a celebration in the ring. 3D put over Beer Money as 'the future of tag team wrestling', which if you heard the Figure Four Daily show with Lance Storm the other day, would make you smile, as calling someone 'the future' could be seen as a back-handed compliment, given that Beer Money are already multiple time champions and probably more over (on this night) than 3D were. They brought a little kid out of the crowd and into the ring, got the crowd to chant the kids name, put him on their shoulders and gave him a piece of the broken table, which they all signed. They then brought Dixie Carter into the ring, and she also drank beer with them, with all of them doing mic work putting over how attractive Carter was. Don't tell me it wasn't just Flair who... never mind.

Overall, a good, entertaining show in front of a hot crowd. The bait and switch over the ladder match was very disappointing though. It was one of the selling points of the show; the sort of thing where, if someone was wavering over whether to go to the show or not, might swing it for them to attend. There may very well be some good reasons not to have a ladder match on a house show on a European tour; the risk of injury in a more dangerous match, at the end of tiring tour probably greatly increases. However, to just blow it off in some pre-match mic work was just not good enough, especially when it had been a focal point of the show's advertising for literally months.

Bonus: Recap of Rob Terry feature on tonight's BBC2 Wales 'Sports Wales' show.

Footage aired from the TNA house show in Cardiff this past Wednesday. Just three years ago, Big Rob Terry was a bodybuilder and bouncer in his native Swansea, Wales, 'dreaming of the big time'. The interviewer, Lisa Rogers, put over how big he was. Terry spoke about his 2 hours a day in the gym, then time in wrestling school (he didn't specify the time he spent per day there) and what he eats (a lot of chicken, brown rice, sweet potatoes, fish, oatmeal, bananas, protein shakes). Terry maintained kayfabe, saying he was going to try his best against his opponent that night, Eric Young. Terry was shown walking to the ring with the flag of Wales, to a big crowd pop. Fans' sign in the crowd read 'Rob 4 President'. Young trash-talked Terry. Highlights of the match aired. Terry giving Young a powerslam and pinning him to win the Global title was shown. Post match interview with Terry aired, with Terry calling the match 'an amazing moment and a taste of things to come'. Backstage comments from Brother Ray (listed as 'Bubba Ray' on the on-screen graphic - nobody tell WWE legal) and Hernandez (billed as Shawn Hernandez) aired, with Ray putting over how this was the biggest night of Terry's wrestling career so far. Dixie Carter was interviewed, with interviewer Rogers asking her, "Some might say this isn't actually real and looks a bit staged" (I wonder if she's been reading Russo's blogs of late?) "What would you say to those people?" Carter gave an answer straight out of the late 1980s/early 1990s, about how people should come and watch a show, and 'if you were here, you wouldn't say that'. Rogers closed the piece by saying 'Those who believe, no explanation is needed. Those who don't, no explanation will suffice'. She then put on a lucha mask and growled.

Bit of a puff piece, four minutes in length. Not sure if this link will work internationally, but at least for those in the U.K., you can see the show online at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qh14f/Sport_Wales_29_01_2010/

The Terry piece starts at the 19:38 mark.

Hope all of this was of some interest.

Feedback welcome at: slyon10yearsago@hotmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Thanks,

Stephen Lyon,

St Helens, England, U.K.