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View Full Version : TNA House Show Results - Liverpool, England - 6/12



Flair Country
06-13-2008, 12:23 AM
TNA’s UK debut was probably the most fun wrestling event I’ve ever been to and so much more fun than WWE’s Liverpool debut 2 months ago. The crowd was hot all night and the set up had two video monitors either side of the stage, looked as though they were filming it all night.



To begin proceedings Jeremy Borash came out and promptly fell over attempting to get into the ring. He said it was due to his excitement, put over the UK and Liverpool and said the loudest, best fans would get to go backstage later on.



TNA X DIVISION TITLE MATCH

“The Guru ” Sonjay Dutt Vs “Black Machismo” Jay Lethal Vs “Little Petey Pump” Petey Williams



Good to see them come out all guns blazing to begin things, the crowd was heavily in to Jay Lethal with plenty of “Black Machismo” chants and at one point a “Sonjay Swallows” chant. The end came with Williams hitting a Candian Destroyer on to Jay Lethal. As each wrestler exited they played their theme music which I thought was a nice touch, again the crowd totally loved Jay Lethal.



MIXED TAG TEAM MATCH

Awesome Kong & “Cowboy” James Storm Vs Gail Kim & “The Anarchist” Doug Williams



Another really good match, Storm got on the mic before the match and started with the cheap heel heat. Plenty of mixed spots, Gail Kim was WAY over with the crowd and Doug Williams got a nice response too from those that knew him. James Storm got a “Brokeback Mountain” chant which was fun, if somewhat incredibly offensive! Forget how the finish came but Storm and Kong went over, Storm hitting Williams with something (may have been the beer bottle, apologies for my memory!) whilst the ref was distracted by Kim and Kong on the outside.



After the match JB got on the mic and announced that Doug Williams has signed a contract with TNA and WILL be appearing at the TNA X World Cup in a few weeks time.



Rhino then came out and said how it was great to be back in Liverpool, how he had no challenge for tonight and issued an open challenge to anyone in the back. This started…



“The War Machine” Rhino Vs “The Monster” Abyss



The crowd went crazy for Abyss and I’d say there was a 65/35 split in favour of Rhino (who got quite a few ECW chants). Good solid big man match with each man taking turns in dominating. Abyss hit the Black Hole Slam for the win.



Robert “Don’t Call Me Bobby” Roode Vs “The Prince Of Phenomenal” AJ Styles



It speaks volumes about the crowd that they were still crazy for the in ring action with chants still going wild. Not that they wanted to get backstage…Anyway it started off slow and mostly saw Roode in control with AJ hitting a few highspots here and there before finishing things off with the Styles Clash.



INTERMISSION



After the break JB was in the ring and introduced Kurt Angle. The whole roof of the Olympia came off at this point and Angle seemed genuinely overwhelmed by the response. He said about not being able to wrestle but how great TNA was (which got some “F*** McMahon” chants), putting over the product, the other wrestlers, Bravo (the TV station TNA airs on here) and so on. Everyone started a “Thank You Angle” chant which caused Kurt to stop for a minute and then say “You’re all acting like I’m retiring!” He had a huge smile at this point, thanked the fans for coming and left to another “Thank You Angle” chant.



TNA TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH

LAX Vs Motor City Machine Guns



The crowd was even more split in this match than Abyss/Rhino earlier, it was genuinely 50/50. Hernandez going airborne late in the match to take out MCMG outside the ring got a “HOLY SHIT!” chant going. Throughout the match a lot of abuse was aimed at Earl Hebner (who had been getting “You Screwed Bret” chants all night) including a well known football (or “soccer” if you really have to) chant aimed at him, “The referee’s a wanker!” Hernandez was definitely having the time of his life out there. The finish came with LAX hitting the 5150 onto Chris Sabin (I think).



MAIN EVENT: TNA WORLD TITLE MATCH

Booker T Vs Samoa Joe



Booker got on the mic and cut a heel promo on the crowd. Joe got probably the second biggest reaction all night (I’d say biggest but Angle’s pop lasted a lot longer). The match was a great brawl with them taking the fighting into the crowd at one point, it had everyone on their feet which is always a good sign! Booker teased a Spin-a-roonie but flipped off the crowd instead. The finish came with Booker trying to roll up Joe and getting locked in the Coquina Clutch.



Post match Joe got on the microphone which got a “Welcome Back” chant from the crowd (given Joe’s last ROH match was in that building). He put over the crowd, the city, TNA, etc. JB then got on the microphone and said with it being the first time TNA was in the UK they wanted to do something special, and seeing as they couldn’t take everyone backstage, they were going to bring backstage out! Queue an impromptu meet & greet autograph session around the ring and building with LAX, MCMG, Earl Hebner, Scott D’Amore, Abyss, Robert Roode, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, James Storm and Doug Williams.



Overall it was a great night even before the meet & greet which took a lot of us by surprise. TNA really know how to treat first time fans and match quality it was a lot better too. The only gripe would be (as with WWE) the pricing of the merchandise but once again it was the best wrestling event I’ve ever been too. Quick shout out to the dudes who chanted for my bWo t-shirt and said “We’re Taking OVER!”.



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