It was a great night.... A few small things I noticed:
Aries entered the ring, started show boating and almost tripped and fell, much to the amusement of the crowd. I thought Haskins looked way way better than he has on TV, managed to get a lot more offensive in. He was billed as from Manchester, England... He moves a lot! Aries let Haskins/Shelley lead the match at the start, including a bit where he sat in a ringside chair and put his feet up.
Although Crimson was booed a lot, there was probably a 60/40 split based on what goes on on Impact. It lead to some of the quieter parts of the night for a little while.
Gunner entered the ring mocking Doug doing the buttoning up his cuffs thing... He got a lot of laughs for it which he multiplied by playing the fool and doing it while collapsing at the end of the match. AJ won on a Pele
Earl did his kissing the knockout heel routine mid-match... With (I think) Mickie giving him a big kiss at the end. He ended up on the canvas with Mickie checking for a pulse. The knockouts just always seem to have fun in the ring.
Joe stayed in the ring after the match, grabbed a George Cross flag off someone in the front row and stood on the turnbuckle with it. He seemed to really enjoy the massive crowd.
Before the main event, Dixie came to the ring with two people from the crowd... She paid tribute to an old lady in the front row.. Apparently the old lady caught some burglars in her house and 'used the spirit of Hulkamania' to beat them up with her cane. She got a big reaction from the crowd. When Bully came down the ring he made his way straight for her, berating her. Of course as the match built towards it's finish, Hulkster dragged Bully over to her, she gave him a good telling off and Hulk took her cane to beat Bully up. It was very slapstick, but fun.
Before the main event kicked off, Bully played off the crowd berating Man Utd and Man City fans, then removed his shirt to reveal a Steven Gerrard Liverpool shirt... That really could have ended in violence in the crowd.. There's a massive massive rivalry and both teams are playing today (I can hear the police helicopter hovering over my house now). He probably got the biggest heat of the night for this and there were audible shouts in the crowd from Mancs and Scousers for the rest of the evening.
Hogan stayed in the ring for a good five minutes doing his classic shtick. Sting also spent a long time ringside high fiving fans... Storm went through about 6 beers, probably drinking about half a mouthful each and throwing the rest over the crowd.
Overall I thought it was a better put together show than last years, with a hotter crowd and better matches.
Whether they use Eye of the Tiger or not on TV, I don't know... But it won't be exclusively held by WWE like Real American, so it's likely they'll just need to pay license fees to the songs owner.
Edited by kay, 28 January 2012 - 02:00 PM.
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