Big Phil's Ramblings- Wow, Pigs Really DO Fly!

Now, those dedicated readers of this column (thanks, Mum) probably know that I really wasn’t a fan of TNA.
Well, all has changed. I started watching iMPACT a few weeks ago, and I think their product has vastly improved, (or should that be iMPROVED?)
And then it happened. A ringside TNA ticket. Their first ever trip to the U.K! Liverpool, like a 30 minute drive from my house. So I went. And, well, it was awesome. So, time for show review.
Well, we start outside. This was great, and I now understand that TNA really do take good care of their fans. They were giving away lanyards, wristbands, foam fingers, and from what I’ve heard, t-shirts! Unfortunately, they ran out of foam fingers by the time I got there, and they hadn’t got the t-shirts out, ah well, I bought one instead.
First of all we start off with J.B making his way down to the ring, and then up the ring steps (almost) yeah, he ended up flat on his face. He makes a little speech about how the loudest fan would earn a backstage pass (yeah, I didn’t, even though I was damn loud) and then introduced the first match, a triple threat for the X Division championship, Petey Williams vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Jay Lethal. Now, Sonjay got major heel heat. This is probably because we’d only seen Slammiversary the night before the show, (TNA PPV’s are shown on Wednesdays here.) A hilarious “Sonjay Swallows” chant here, which he reacted brilliantly to. Then, Lethal falls up the steps the exact same way as J.B! Williams won with a cool Canadian Destoryer in what was a decent match, but with some really sloppy spots.
Right, next up we have the match that I was kinda involved in. J.B introduces the referee first, as “the most controversial referee in professional history” Earl Hebner. Awesome heel heat, he comes out, stands in the ring, out comes James Storm, and tells Hebner “these people may not like you, but you’re number one in my book.” All goes quiet after some booing. I stand up and shout “You Screwed Bret!” Hebner tells me “no shit, now shut up, kid” so I tell him where to go, he goes to make a move out the ring, I tell him to bring it, he doesn’t. I get cheered!
Go me. Anyway, out comes the opponents, Doug Williams and Gail Kim. Fairly solid match, with some major heel heat when Storm starts working over Gail. There was a spot just before the end, which saw Kong being suplexed by Williams. It actually broke the ring! They had to fix it in the interval! Finish saw Storm pin Williams after a Superkick. After the match, J.B announces that Williams has just signed his TNA contract, and will be part of Team International.
During a short ring fixing break, we saw some clips of the iMPACT game, it looks really cool, I must admit.
Next up we have Rhino, who claims he has no opponent, which I was confused about , as he was advertised to be wrestling Booker. Anyway, he issues his open challenge, and out comes….. ABYSS! Huge pop for Abyss which led to quite a good match actually. Abyss is huge in person! He picks up the win with a black hole slam.
Now, here comes one of my favourite matches, AJ Styles vs. Robert Roode. I now understand why he’s called Phenomenal. He is seriously amazing live, nothing can compare! And, I got a Hi 5! On his exit, I got I hi-5 which was awesome. He’s an amazing technician and high flyer, with some outstanding offence. He wins with the Styles Clash in one of my favourite matches of the night. After the match, Styles announces that he had a lot to do with the new TNA game, and because of him, the Olympia ( the venue we were at) is one of the first playable arenas! Note on this match, the Pele is unbelievable up close!
Then we had a break, while the ring was fixed again, and when we come back, J.B is in ring, with the TNA Today camera guy, he’s putting us all on iMPACT in the next couple of weeks! So keep an eye out, I’m the red faced guy pulling on my TNA shirt, somewhere to J.B’s right. Now on TNA Today on youtube.
After this, J.B announces his special guest, a “man of honour, a man of dignity, a man who made America proud in 1996” Kurt Angle! Angle comes out to a huge baby face pop! He comes out, does a lap of honour, hi-fiving the fans (me included.) He puts over the UK fans, as we are TNA’s biggest fan base, tells us he’s sorry he can’t wrestle due to injuries and also puts over AJ Styles (Yeah, I’m thinking WTF too….) The fans start chanting “Thank You Angle,” he gets emotional, and tells us we make him feel like he’s retiring, but he promises he’s not ready yet!
Penultimate match of the night was for tag team titles, LAX vs. Motor City Machine Guns. Both are extremely over with the crowd, I hate to keep mentioning my hi-5’s, but I got Sabin on the way in, and Hernandez on the way out, I also got to pat the belt! Woo-hoo! Awesome match with some amazing moves. The crowd was really behind the Guns though. Stand out spots for me were Hernandez’s awesome delayed vertical on Shelley, he had him up there for at least a minute, while Homicide did some things to Sabin to stop the crowd getting bored. Another stand out spot was Supermex’s running suicide dive on both members of MCMG. Freakin’ Sweet! Homicde gets the pin after a 5150 on Sabin. All in all a really cool match, with some excellent high spots. I now understand why I like these guys so much.
On the way out of the arena, Hebner gets booed, Rudy Charles comes out and gets cheered, Hebner raises his hand and gets booed, Charles raises his hand and gets cheered. This carries on until Hebner gives the crowd the finger and leaves.
And now, main event time, with Samoa Joe taking on Booker T, belt at stake. First out we have Booker T, who comes out to a great babyface pop and starts cutting a promo, saying he agrees with Angle, how it’s great to be over here, and how we should all go to the merchandise stand, and buy more stuff so TNA can give him a better locker room. Heavy boos now. Booker revels in it before striking the pinky pose. Loud Princess Booker chant breaks out. Silence. Joe chant starts up. Here comes the TNA champion! Huge pop, probably the biggest of the night. He does a lap of honour round the fans, damn his arms are huge! He then cuts a promo about loving being back in Liverpool, which gets him even more cheers. An absolutely amazing match here, that was taken into the actual crowd when Joe hit the Ole on Booker, sending him flying through the barrier amongst the crowd. Another highlight was Booker setting up the Spinaroonie to a huge pop, before changing his mind and giving the crowd the finger instead. An awesome match that saw Booker tapping out to the Clutch. Victory Road should be amazing!
After the match, Joe cuts another promo detailing how TNA wants to give us something extra, and J.B suggested showing clips of the game, which was booed. Joe said lets go one better. We can’t take everyone backstage, but we can take backstage out here! This got a huge pop. J.B takes over and states that everyone will get at least one autograph tonight. If you were in the first four rows, like me, then we were taken backstage, to like a VIP area, where Gail Kim, Rhino, Black Machismo and Kurt Angle were waiting for us. We went round, got photos, and autographs, and left happily. I’ve got to say, this is one area where TNA excel over WWE. When I met Randy Orton, it was very rushed, and he was slightly abrasive, barely looking up. We were told, if you want a photo, look up and smile while he’s signing. Here, at TNA, while the security people where trying to hurry it up, the wrestlers themselves where very kind and courteous, taking time to talk to the fans, standing up for photos with us, giving hugs in the case of Gail Kim.
So yeah, in conclusion, I think I’ve become a TNA convert. We’ll see, in future, but WWE is going to have to improve tremendously to win me back over, this weeks Raw was terrible. I have no interest in Vince dialling wrong numbers as part of a competition I can’t even enter because I’m English. Those stupid “Did You Know” bits as well annoy the crap out of me, it’s like they’re taking the new fans by the hand, and the facts themselves are stupid! WWE better step their game up….
Well, more from me soon, hopefully WWE will give me something good to write about next time.
If you want to contact me for any reason, drop me an email at bigdaddyphil92@hotmail.com
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