last W
ednesday night 9pm-1am I sat eagerly watching and reviewing the
TNA Slammiversary PPV. Knowing full well that i;d have to file my
review very promptly as i had to try and get some rest as my
TNA experiences were about to go beyond,
dvd,
ppv and impact watching. I was about to head off to Liverpool and the Olympia Theatre for two days of
TNA's first ever
Uk tour. Hooking up with my fellow wrestling writers
from the Sun newspaper i made the long trip to Liverpool from Belfast and had the time of life as
TNA blew the UK market wide open for themselves.
I'd been one of the first people to take an interest in
TNA's product and i regularly write about them here as well as covering all
ppv events for the Sun. The venue in
Liverpool was ideal, small scale (approx 1800 fans), intimate and most of all welcoming as the six-sided ring seemed at home in what was surely an old music hall/theatre.
TNA had their midway promoters giving away foam hand and promo material for the upcoming video game.
The PR guys and girls were shifting
huge amounts of the coolest t shirts imaginable,
programmes etc all sold well too.
Jeremy
Borash was superb, the action was the
Best i've seen in decades of wrestling watching and
every single match was superb. The crowd were rabid and reminded me of
classic ECW ones, the chants were deafening, the atmosphere electric and not one
person Left unhappy. the boys and girls of
tna were everything i imagined and much more. The surprise being the after show meet/greet and signing where
Ali the roster waited for hours to make sure all fans went home happy. Never have i seen such dedication to the fans.
Dixie carter and co should be proud of themselves for doing what no other company ever has, they brought wrestling to the fans and not simply used this trip as a money making effort. The next batch of shows will be in
January, venues will be bigger, but the
fanbase will be too and the
company will be even better as they feed off their new found UK fans and build on the solid reputation this short tour cemented.
Special mention must go to Dixie who met, posed, smiled and enjoyed every moment she had with
fans, us the press and anyone else she encountered, not many bosses would do that and she does it with
such enthusiasm too.
It was a pleasure to meet the roster, PR people, backstage guys and of course the gorgeous Dixie. I wish them
well and feel proud to have been a part of their
initial tour of the UK.
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