TNA Live Event
Manchester, England
Report by Dot Net reader Ben Ridgeway

We arrived at Manchester at 4 p.m. for the meet and greet. There was a long wait but it was well worth it. We met Sting, Kurt Angle, Madison Rayne, Tara, Mickie James, James Storm, Bobby Roode, A.J. Styles, Samoa Joe, Alex Shelley, Christy Hemme, Bully Ray, and even D-Lo Brown. It was well worth the £25 extra I paid for the ticket. We got out at six as the doors opened to everyone for the event and Xplosion was being recorded around the arena.

I bought some t-shirts and made my way down to my ringside seats. As we got down, I got tapped on the shoulder on my way to my seats and turned around to my surprise to see Dixie Carter. She asked how long we travelled and have I been to a TNA show before and I told her I travelled two hours from Wales to Manchester and I'd been to every UK tour to date. She was really nice and very thankful. People started entering the arena floor and crowded her for photos, etc. I had ringside seats two rows from rails which where ace. Jeremy Borash kicked off the show with the gorgeous Hemme and did the usual backstage pass routine.

1. Austin Aries beat Alex Shelly and Mark Haskins to retain the X Division Title. Very good end to end with Aries staying out of the match for the first five minutes. He  won by doing the Brainbuster to Haskins.

2. Crimson beat Douglas Williams. Doug has been undefeated in Manchester in singles competition so far, which they hyped as well as crimson being undefeated. Good back and forth match, which Douglas dominated until a mistake in the corner let to Crimson do his finisher for the win.

3. AJ Styles beat Gunner. Good match with some fighting in the crowd. A.J. picked up the win a new finisher I've not seen him use in the corner.

4. Mickie James and Tara beat Gail Kim and Madison Rayne in a non title
match. Toilet break, but I got back for the end where James punched Rayne, who fell into Earl Hebner's arms. He played to the crowd and kissed her. Tara picked up the win with Widow's Peak and celebrated by snogging James and falling to the mat. Funny.

Intermission

5. Bobby Roode beat Samoa Joe in a TNA World Heavyweight Championship Match. Good match. Roode refused to start. Joe went out and beat him up. Joe dominated until Roode pushed Earl into the corner and low blowed Joe to set up a fisherman's suplex for the win

6. James Storm, Sting and Hulk Hogan beat Kurt Angle, Bully Ray and Bobby Roode. It started off as a tag until Roode interrupted before the bell to say it was a three on two match. The "Eye of the Tiger" music hit and Hogan came out, which was amazing. At first, I thought he was in full gear but had red sweatpants on (he really can't walk and you could see all his back operation scars). My mate said that apparently last night he couldn't do the leg drop. A good match with heels dominating Storm in the corners and then Sting got in for some signatures moves.

Hogan went outside and got a walking stick off a lady that Dixie had invited to the event at the announcers desk (she beat off some burglers at her home in the UK at the age of 82) and he beat Bully Ray with it. Hogan delivered some punches which led to the Superkick from Storm and the Scorpion Death Drop from Sting for the win.

They had a major celebration and I met Hogan as he came to my group and shook our hands and said how loud we were during the match. JB took a photo of us all with Hogan. My best life highlight in wrestling to date! Sting also joined in. An absolute brilliant night that could not be topped and I go to WWE events twice a year here. I just wish they were as nice to their fans as much as TNA is to their fans.

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