Hulk Hogan wrestles unannounced in Nottingham, England in latest TNA insanity

In a move of jaw dropping insanity, as reported by the Pro Wrestling Torch, Hulk Hogan wrestled unannounced on TNA's first house show of their UK tour in Nottingham, England, earlier tonight. Further details are also available in two subscriber only posts on f4wonline.com.

It all started innocuously enough with TNA World Heavyweight champion Bobby Roode and James Storm starting their main event as scheduled. Roode was disqualified after just five minutes for a low blow. At least TNA weren't stupid enough to end the show on that sour note.

Then the wheels were set in motion in convoluted fashion for the real closing match. Authority figure Sting marched out to demand a rematch, but was interrupted by Kurt Angle, who suggested doing a tag match instead between the four of them. Cue Bully Ray, who had lost to AJ Styles earlier in the night to make it officially a three on two handicap bout (when on earth did he start having match making powers?). So the stage was all set for the ageing Hulk Hogan to miraculously hog the spotlight and save the day, coming out to his mid eighties theme of Eye Of The Tiger to maximise the cheap pop and make it an even trios affair. Roode sold his ass off before Hogan did an embarrassingly bad big boot and Storm dropped the leg, so the decrepit Hogan didn't have to. At least Hogan was gracious enough to allow Storm to pick up the pinfall I suppose.

The fact that this whole scenario was unadvertised is mindbogglingly crazy. Hogan's first match in the UK in over seventeen years could have sold tons of extra tickets for the struggling TNA promotion that needs all the help it can get at the moment, if this was a long thought out plan. But no, Hogan only decided to latch onto the tour at the last minute when he caught wind of how well tickets were selling, mainly thanks to Sting's decision to take a final opportunity to wrestle in front of the always enthusiastic British audience in what may very well be his last ever year as a regular pro wrestling performer.

This is sadly far too reminiscent of the declining days of WCW, where Hogan on a whim dropped the WCW World Heavyweight title to rising phenomenon Bill Goldberg on the July 6th Monday Nitro at the Georgia Dome, costing the promotion millions of dollars in pay-per-view revenue by airing their first ever match on free television. You see, there was a huge demand for tickets before the main event, originally supposed to be a dark match, was ever announced due to how hot Goldberg had become in his local market. Atlanta was also the home base of Turner Broadcasting, guaranteeing that tons of corporate executives would be on hand to see his magic in person and the record breaking house that he wasn't really responsible for drawing, but those ignorant fools wouldn't know any better. So Hogan is up to his same old tricks again to fool Dixie Carter and Spike TV into continuing to push him as the centrepiece of their Impact programming and keeping his mammoth pay cheques coming.

Even if Hogan's match had been promoted properly, it would still have been ill advised. As Hogan admitted to ITV's London Tonight, he really should be retired right now, due to the eight back surgeries he's had in the last few years. Sure he took no bumps in Nottingham and probably won't on the rest of his UK wrestling jaunt, but the long transatlantic flights on their own must be hell for his mangled back, yet alone trying to do what little there is left that he can still do inside a wrestling ring for three consecutive nights. Are the cheers really worth the pain he will needlessly endure?