TNA "Maximum Impact" U.K. tour house show report
January 30, 2010
London, England
Report by Adam Coulson, Torch reader

This was the final show on TNA's U.K. & France tour. There were around 9,000-10,000 people in attendance with only the upper tier seats on the far side left reasonably empty. The fans in attendance were a lot different than a WWE event with the majority being vocal 18-40-year-old males, but there was still women and children in attendance.

Jeremy Borash was introduced and he came out to a good reception and did his job of pumping up the crowd saying the best place to end the tour was in London, etc. and offering backstage passes to the loudest fans.

(1) Beautiful People (Velvet Sky & Madison Rayne) beat Taylor Wilde & Sarita with Hamada as the special referee. The Beautiful People came out to a huge pop and did their entrance to a huge cheer. When all the Knockouts were in the ring, they spent two minutes rubbing themselves and shaking their assets to very loud cheers (BP won that contest as well). Standard knockouts tag match with the usual spots ending with hairspray being used and a schoolboy roll-up for the victory. Post-match: the BP beat down Taylor and Sarita, which got turned around and they ended up on the wrong end of a beating. Velvet Sky was gold in this match.

Earl Hebner was introduced to loud boos and the usual "You screwed Bret" chants.

(2) Desmond Wolfe beat The Pope. Pope got a good cheer when he came out, but that soon changed when Wolfe's music hit. He was super over, as he is from London, and Pope became the heel from then on. Lots of different holds and submission attempts in this match, with both men using their usual moves. Wolfe used arm drags, locks, and European uppercuts, etc. The finish came when Pope went to the top rope, but Wolfe took his legs out and hit him with the Tower of London for the win. Good match that you would expect from these two. Post-match: Pope went ringside to give his t-shirt to a kid, but Pope snatched it away at the last second and walked off to huge boos. Funny.

(3) Samoa Joe & TNA tag champion Hernandez beat Eric Young & Rhino. Young was booed, Rhino got a good reaction followed by ECW chants, Hernandez was cheered, and Samoa Joe was most over with chants of "Joe's guna kill you" going on throughout the contest. Usual spots including a Joe suicide dive followed by Hernandez doing his dive over the top rope. The finish was Eric Young getting the Musclebuster from Joe for the pin. Decent match that was probably mostly due to Samoa Joe.

(4) Beer Money (Robert Roode & James Storm) beat Team 3D (Brother Ray & Brother Devon) and British Invasion (Brutus Magnus & Global champion Rob Terry) in a three-way match. Beer Money and Team 3D were cheered and the Brits were booed. Chants of "You're on steroids" and "You can't wrestle" were going on throughout the match to Rob Terry. It was as good of a match that could have been expected from a three-team tag match. Team 3D did the "what's up?" diving headbutt to the groin, followed by Devon getting a table. Beer Money then did their double suplex followed by the "Beer...Money" chant. The finish was a DWI from Beer Money to Brutus Magnus for the win. Beer Money was easily the most over of the teams.

Post-match: Brits tried a beat down, but Rob Terry took a 3D through the table to a large cheer. Brother Ray cut a promo saying how Beer Money is the future of the business. A kid was taken from the crowd and given a piece of the table that was signed by all four men. As James Storm was walking towards the back, Brother Devon ran behind him and pulled his tights down showing his ass. Storm then chased Devon back to the ring, but he gave up and went to the back. Very funny.

[Intermission while they set up Ultimate X]

(5) X Division champion Doug Williams beat Suicide, Daniels, Amazing Red, and Chris Sabin in a five-man Ultimate X match to retain the X Division Title. Everyone in this match was cheered, and as much as Daniels was trying to get himself over as a bad guy, there were chants of "Fallen Angel." Lots of highspots with all of the wrestlers doing some of there signature moves. Amazing Red did a huracanrana from the top rope on Daniels, sending him flying onto the other wrestlers on the floor at ringside. Very impressive. Towards the end of the match, Daniels and Suicide ended up on the top of the structure like they did last year when Daniels nearly killed himself, with loud chants of "Please don't die" going around the arena. They traded punches on the top until Suicide did a scoop slam on Daniels on the top of the structure. The finish happened when Suicide climbed through the structure and was standing on the wires above the title when Doug Williams, who was climbing along the wire, kicked Suicide's legs out. Suicide fell and Doug took the title down for the win. Very entertaining match that you would expect to see from the X Division with a surprising number of risky spots for a house show.

TNA president Dixie Carter was introduced and she came to the ring. She did the whole "thanking the fans for their support" speech. Last year, she was heavily cheered, but this year she had a mixed reaction with around 40 percent of the people booing, which was strange. She then introduced A.J. Styles, who came out to a huge cheer. She said he would have to defend his title against... and pointed up the ramp. All the lights in the arena went out and Kurt Angle's music hit and he came out to the biggest pop of the night with thousands of people on their feet cheering. Dixie told Earl Hebner he would not be allowed to referee the match after the incident on Impact and she sent him to the back.

(6) TNA World Hvt. champion A.J. Styles beat Kurt Angle to retain the TNA World Title. Styles started the match strong using Flair-style chops with "Whooo" being chanted by the fans. He applied a figure four and did a flip dive to the outside. Kurt came back with some suplexes followed by four straight German suplexes, with the final one being a release German. Styles hit a Styles Clash for a two count, then Kurt applied a triangle choke, which A.J. turned into another Styles Clash for another two count. Kurt hit the Angle Slam for a two count, then he locked in the Anklelock, which A.J. escaped from. A.J. used an Angle Slam on Kurt for a two count and locked in the Anklelock, which Kurt escaped from.

The finish came when Styles hit a flying forearm on Angle and his legs hit Slick Johnson to knock him out. A.J. then hit Angle with the title belt and Hebner ran in to make the count, but Angle kicked out at two. Styles then went up top, but Angle ran up and hit a top rope Angle Slam. Hebner made a really slow count, slapping A.J. in the face between counts, which allowed him to kick out at two. Angle got in Hebner's face, then punched him and put him in the Anklelock. A.J. hit Angle with a low blow from behind, followed by a brainbuster on the title belt, which looked great. Slick then recovered to make the three count. A great match for a house show, which would not have looked out of place if it was a PPV main event.

After the match, A.J. was laughing in Angle's face, but Kurt hit him with a Styles Clash onto the belt. Kurt celebrated then called Dixie back to the ring. Kurt thanked her and the fans then gave Dixie a kiss on the cheek. He then called the TNA roster to the ring for some beers and all of the faces came out to have a beer to close the show.

Overall, a good show, solid undercard with two very good main events.

[Torch photos credit Wade Keller (c) PWTorch.com]

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