So TNA decided to open their UK tour with a show in my home city. Getting there, the atmosphere already seemed pretty good. There was a good sized crowd there and already there were fliers going round advertising that they'd be back in Nottingham in 2013, so the advance sales must have been pretty promising. My last TNA show was at the Cov Skydome in 2008, but the set up was a fair bit nicer than back then, with the tron in particular being a nice addition.
Douglas Williams vs Gunner
Decent choice for the opener, with Williams getting a sizable pop. Gunner pulls back the floor covering outside the ring early doors, in a nice reference to the Impact match which ended with him DDTing Williams on the floor. Interestingly, Williams seems to work as an underdog babyface here, busting out a bit more highflying than we usually see from him, hitting a nice tope suicida. This slight shift in style allows Gunner to build some heat by dominating Williams, locking in a bearhug and making Williams fight back from underneath. Williams gets a nearfall from a diving uppercut, before a sequence of reversals ends with the Chaos Theory for a popular win.
Samoa Joe vs Crimson
I have a principle of trying not to cheer for heels at live wrestling events, but I really didn’t feel like cheering for Crimson over Joe here. Luckily, most of the arena agreed, and the wrestlers wisely reacted to this with Crimson busting out a choke on the ropes and throwing Joe into the ringpost to heel it up. Joe was really on here, hitting his offence with a nice bit of snap and looking visibly more motivated than on your average episode of Impact. He even dragged the Ole kick from out of the mothballs to a big reaction, but Crimson hit a spear on him from the chair on a second try. The match ended with a double DQ outside the ring, but this was better than I’d expected, and Crimson actually looked pretty good here.
Austin Aries vs Alex Shelley vs Mark Haskins
This was an X Division title match. Shelley and Aries got decent reactions, with the crowd slow to warm to Haskins, despite him being (falsely) billed as being from Nottingham. Aries went to the outside quickly, letting Shelley and Haskins work each other over. They worked a pretty smooth series of moves in there, albeit with Aries sneaking round the ring looking for an opportunity to seize an advantage, where Haskins started to win over the crowd with some nice highflying. He hit a nice tope suicida on Shelley, which Aries followed up with an even better one. Shelley did some goofy selling on the outside, whilst Haskins got the chance to impress against Aries in the ring. He even got a close nearfall, which fooled me into thinking they were about to put the title on him (in retrospect, a stupid thing to fall for). Shelley got back and the three worked an impossibly smooth section before Aries hit Haskins with the brainbuster for 3. Good match.
Gail Kim vs Madison Rayne vs Tara vs Mickie James
Second title match in a row and, whilst the least memorable match of the night, it was still an enjoyable one. Kim and Rayne paired off against Tara and James, until the faces threw them out of the ring (which led to a high five, which Mickie sold in a nice touch). We then got a Tara/James section as the heels refused to get back in the ring. Of course, they waited for the right moment to return and soon took control on the faces, focusing on James after sending Tara into the ringpost. The harmony couldn’t last though, and Kim got in Madison’s face after Rayne tried to pin James for the title. This allowed James and Tara to take over, but a distraction to the ref allowed Kim to nail Tara with the title for the pinfall. Weakest match of the night, but still a fun affair.
Bully Ray vs AJ Styles
We kicked this off with a heeling masterclass from Bully Ray. First he ran down the audience in classic fashion, before luring a fan over the barrier to fight him in the ring (of course, the second he climbed over the barrier, Ray screamed for security). He then tried to compete with AJ for the loudest pop from the crowd when climbing the buckle, which he predictably lost. He then took on Earl Hebner, who’d been getting booed throughout the night, and lost to him too, before finally challenging Christy Hemme, who also beat him. Ray then stalled, avoiding locking up with Styles for as long as possible. Honestly, the Ray heeling act is spectacular live. He ran through his whole repertoire, spitting in the air and catching it in his mouth, before his own version of the Flair strut. Of course, in amongst all this was a wrestling match, and it was a darn good affair for a houseshow. They worked a solid brawler vs flyer match, with Ray using his strength to wear down AJ with a bearhug, whilst AJ outpaced Ray, getting a nearfall from a flying forearm. They also had a nice spot where AJ ran Ray around outside the ring and got fans to put their feet on the railings to ram Ray’s head into. The end came when Ray went for the Bully Bomb, which AJ reversed into a rollup for the win. Bully hit AJ in the head with a chain postmatch which I thought was odd, but made sense with the events to come...
Bobby Roode vs James Storm
This was our main event and, whilst I thought it would be a good match, it felt anticlimactic when the posters had advertised Sting, Angle and others who hadn’t been seen (though I was maybe the only person there disappointed by no Anarquia...). Especially so as it was highly unlikely we’d see a title change and thus we’d have a heel winning the main event. Still the match was progressing nicely, until Roode ducked a superkick and lowblowed Storm for the DQ....
....this drew out Sting to a huge pop, who said the match would restart. This in turn brought out Angle to challenge Storm and Sting to a tagmatch. A pretty good choice for a main event, but then Bully Ray returned to make it a 3-on-2 match. I was waiting to see who the inevitable third man in the face team would be. I thought it might be Anderson, Hardy or Magnus. Hell, when Sting reminded us we were in Nottingham, home of Notts Forest and Robin Hood, I thought he might bring back “Nottingham’s own Mark Haskins”. But he didn’t. With the arrival of Eye Of The Tiger sounding over the tannoy, he brought out no other than Hulk Hogan!
James Storm, Sting & Hulk Hogan vs Kurt Angle, Bobby Roode & Bully Ray
Unsurprisingly, Hogan’s first match in the UK in 18 years brought a huge reaction. The match itself? The best possible match you could have got from this line-up. Hogan didn’t take any bumps, but the heels pinballed around for his every move to a great series of cheers. The faces hit pretty much a greatest hits set of moves, with Storm and Sting working face in peril for large parts in between. I think booking a 6 man tag was the perfect way to headline the show, as it didn’t require guys like Hogan, Sting (who looked terrific here) and Angle to exert themselves too much yet still put on a match the fans really reacted to. Bully Ray added some nice character touches from ringside, including a great sell of a nutshot, made even more impressive when you consider it was a sympathy sell for a lowblow on Roode. In the end, Hogan hit the big boot on Roode (in all honesty, to Roode’s midsection, but I don’t expect miracles) and Storm hit the big legdrop on his former partner for the win. A terrific, terrific way to end a great show.
