John Seager's 30 for 30: Day 16

A Cunning look back of 30 days which have changed my life over the past 30 years

Day 16:  11^th October 2004 – WHOOOOOOOO! Part deux

Evening all,

Once i got back from New York City, i severely got the taste to go and see more WWE action again. Only this time i want to watch the action closer to home.

Little did i know that because of the success of British people going over to the states to watch the PPV and shows like Raw and Smackdown, WWE were going to bring the shows over here for 2 times every year.

Naturally like before, i look at Dave and said “We’re doing this”

Sadly for me though the events were being held in Manchester. Great for my brother David as he is a massive man United fan. Not so for me.

But again it was tricky to save up for the trip. Luckily for me i had a new job working as a sales assistant in a shop in Canterbury to help pay for the trip. It was also an opportunity to meet up with the guys we met from the New York trip.

We were up in Manchester for 2 shows, the first one being on the 11^th October 2004. What i didn’t know was that how popular the event would be with other WWE fans.

After a long trip up on the train and quickly settling into the hotel for the 2 days, it was time to mingle with our friends from the trip from New York before the time came to head to the arena.

Once we got to the MEN arena it was totally packed. I have totally underestimated how popular the arena would be. There were a lot of people for the first time WWE raw would come from this side of the pond. I felt that it was mesmerising to be part of something historic for the sport in this country.

Decided to show a bit of 'bling' at the event.

The evening was a lot special as well. We saw most of the guys – apart from Brock Lesnar and The Rock – from the time when i was at Wrestlemania back in March. I was much lower down in the seats which made it more enjoyable to watch.

By the end of the evening it felt that it was an excellent to follow up what happened in March. The night after was also very special although the atmosphere was not as good as the first night it was still enjoyable to watch.

Me, Dave and 2 friends who me wet up in Manchester

Overall it was definitely worth the trip coming to Manchester to see wrestling and if the opportunity would happen again i would definitely go to another show.

Since then i have been 2 more times to see WWE in action. However my next wrestling event that i will be watching live will happen again in London, this time with TNA.