TNA UK Fan Party Report 7.3.2011
Posted by David Damage on Thursday, November 17, 2011
Under: News
This is a first-hand report from someone who attended the TNA UK Party on Saturday...
I attended the TNA Fan UK Party on Saturday night in London. The party
was held in a secret location which ended up being the very swanky
‘Babble' night club in Mayfair, the poshest part of London. I received
my tickets after showing up to the Leicester Clock Tower last Wednesday
when Jeremy Borash tweeted that he would be there at 4pm. Not only did
Borash show up, but the crowd that assembled all received free
autographed merchandise and tickets to a Saturday fan party from Borash,
who ended up staying almost 45 minutes talking to the fans about TNA.
Saturday it was off to London for the party. Not knowing what to expect,
the party began promptly at 3pm and it was one surprise after another.
Borash was introduced to the crowd and thanked us for all coming out,
saying it was the response of the fans on Facebook and Twitter who got
TNA on Challenge TV and this was a small thank you for the great success
of the Challenge TV launch. Borash then said we were going to be
shooting 2 editions of the Spin Cycle featuring a few surprise guests,
including a TNA star who came over just for the party. He began the Spin
Cycle and introduced his panel who consisted of BBC presenter, radio
host and UK Sun man Joel Ross, top British singer/songwriter Get Cape,
Wear Cape Fly, Queen's footman David Deville ... and finally Borash
introduced the surprise guest, Douglas Williams! The Spin Cycle episode
was hysterical as Borash talked about the upcoming Royal Wedding and who
on the panel they would choose from TNA to be their wife if TNA had a
royal wedding. Borash then talked about the 2012 Olympic Games coming to
London, and who was the greatest wrestler to come out of the UK. After
the Spin Cycle, Borash introduced the upcoming edition of TNA iMPACT!
that will be airing on Challenge this Tuesday, and the program played on
the LCD screens in the nightclub. About half way through the program,
Borash interrupted to introduce another surprise guest, and pulled up
Karen Jarrett live via Skype on the big screen projector. The crowd
immediately booed Karen, but cheered wildly when Kody ran into the shot.
Soon Jeff's daughters and Kurt's daughter Kyra also come on screen to
massive applause. Karen talked about what a beautiful bride she was and
that the fans would get to witness a beautiful ceremony later on. The
crowd gave Karen a big round of applause as everyone was appreciative
she joined the party. Then it was back to the iMPACT! broadcast and the
actual wedding itself. Immediately following the wedding, Borash
announced we were going to be joined by another special guest. Borash
then pulled up the screen to an empty chair, and TNA founder Jeff
Jarrett walked into the screen and was again booed loudly by the crowd.
Jarrett called the crowd a bunch of freeloaders and responded to the
heckles from the crowd. When they called for a "PPV" in the UK, Jeff
asked whether they "freeloading Brits know that stands for PAY per
view". Jarrett said he was in Seattle holding down the fort while Borash
was in the UK. Although he was hated by the crowd, they were chanting
"Double J" by the end of his Skype call. He was very entertaining.
Borash then introduced the main event segment on iMPACT! and promised
one more surprise guest after the main event, and one more Spin Cycle.
After iMPACT! finished up, Borash introduced Dixie Carter, who came on
and thanked the fans for their support. The crowd responded with a long
"Thank You Dixie" chant and Borash went right into the Spin Cycle. This
was going to be a "This is your life, Douglas Williams", which ended up
being a series of hysterical stories told by several of Doug's closest
colleagues. Doug was genuinely touched and many were in tears as the
stories really told Doug's story of sacrifice to get to where he is
today. Those speaking about Doug included names very familiar to the
British wrestling fans in attendance, such as Alex Shane, "Twisted
Genius" Dean Ayass and the referee Steve Lynskey – known as Britain's
answer to Earl Hebner. Borash then wrapped up the party by unloaded
heaps of autographed merchandise, and it appeared as though every fan
left with something. Borash then asked which fan travelled the furthest
to be at the party, and ended up giving an autographed Sting mask to a
fan who travelled all the way from Glasgow. All in all, it was an
incredible day and something WWE would never dream of doing. Borash and
TNA UK publicist Simon Rothstein talked to every fan and personally
thanked them for attending. The fact this was all organized on Twitter
was pretty amazing. Kudos to TNA for such a fan friendly event!
In : News