TNA House Show Report 1.28.11: Manchester, UK

Credit: JJ in Manchester and Pwinsider.com

I went to the TNA show in Manchester tonight, first thing of note as with the Glasgow show was the constant mentioning of February 8th and the Challenge TV deal. Quick note also on merch, they were selling AJ Styles, British Invasion and Desmond Wolfe shirts – so they aren’t beyond making a buck off the guy but never mind actually using him for televised spots! A friend of mine went to the meet and great beforehand, apparently Matt Hardy left early for some reason which left a few people annoyed but I don’t know many further details. Anyway onto the show:

JB welcomes us, does his “backstage passes” bit before we hop into our first match:

X Division #1 Contenders Match: Shannon Moore def. Mark Haskins

Fairly decent match and a great way to start the show. Mark Haskins kind of looked like a cross between Chris Hero and early 2000s CM Punk. Shannon was over huge with the crowd, lots of DILLIGAF shirts around.

TNA Knockouts #1 Contenders Match: Mickie James def. Angelina Love

Refereed by Tara, the crowd loved both ladies but Mickie won the popularity contest. They did the whole “catfight and roll over the ref” bit which Tara seemed to enjoy! After the match Mickie kissed Tara which I think everyone else enjoyed too.

X Division Title Match: Kazarian def. Chris Sabin

Prior to the match Earl Hebner was introduced and came out to Man in the Box, for a second I had Tommy Dreamer in my head and actually got excited. Queue the “You screwed Bret” chants which to Hebner’s credit he took off his referee shirt to reveal one the said “Damn right I did!”, he put on a pair of pink sunglassess and started posing around the ring like Bret. Has anyone told fans here that Montreal is over yet? Very good match, Kazarian had quite a bit of heat with the crowd, even contest until the end.

Tag Titles Match: Beer Money def. The British Invasion

Beer Money were accompanied by Ric Flair…because clearly at this point he needs Beer Money! Just like the Glasgow show we had Flair calling people wankers, this time it was the British Invasion. For the second match with our own nationals in, the home team gets booed and threaten to walk out because “The crowd are traitors to the crown!” – for the record me and my mate were singing the national anthem during this match! Probably match of the night for work and crowd interaction, Beer Money were just so ridiculously over.

Interval

Patchwork Grace, a local Manchester band, were introduced to the crowd prior to the break, something about winning some contest in Kerrang magazine, I kind of stopped paying attention when they said “20 minute interval”.

Rob Terry & Matt Morgan def. Jeff Jarrett & Pope

Ok maybe it’s because I don’t watch TNA regularly, maybe it’s because Stu and Pid have had their brains numbed so badly at this point but Jeff Jarrett came out and said how he and Immortal were going to show any idiots who stepped through the curtain just what reality is. He also mentioned Manchester United being a huge international brand – which got huge boos, I mean I just don’t understand after however many years of coming to the UK that American wrestling companies, bands and entertainers can’t understand that there is usually more than one home town sports team so it’s better to just not say anything at all! (end rant) So Jarrett said that he and his partner Pope were going to take care of business.

Now I kind of get that Pope is turning heel, but out next was Rob Terry and then Matt Morgan. So we had the guy who was kicked out of Immortal, teaming with the guy who replaced him in Immortal, against a fellow member of Immortal, and someone who has nothing to do with Immortal…this is why I won’t be tuning in on February 8th. The bulk of the match was wearing down Big Rob until Morgan got a hot tag, nothing to write home about.

Dixie Carter came out and basically said UK fans are the best and…well the usual stuff any group will say to any town that they’re in.

Mr Anderson & RVD def. The Hardys

Rob Van Dam was clearly the most over man in the building tonight but I think I saw more Anderson “Real life is fake” shirts than any other kind. Surprisingly fun match, not the greatest of all time but decent nonetheless. Quite a few pockets of the crowd were all over the Hardys (myself included) chanting “Just say no!” (which got a smile from Matt). After the match we had Anderson calling JB a girl and announcing the winners, Mister…Rob Van Dam…Dam and of course Mister Anderson…no not the K name…Anderson.

All in all not the most fantastic experience of your life but like every other TNA show I’ve been to, a whole heck of a lot of fun and recommend if you can ignore storyline aspects. The other thing of note is just how many tag team matches were crammed in to try and get people on the card, not a complaint really but would have liked a few more singles matches.