Sport
WWE brings out Manc UFC champion Tom Aspinall and his belt at Co-op Live
The stage just keeps getting bigger for the 'Honey Badger'.
Danny Jones -
17th October 2024 
WWE Live landed at Manchester’s Co-op Live arena for the first time on Wednesday night and they had a surprise guest waiting in the wings with them too: none other than local UFC star Tom Aspinall.
It was only back in July that the Manc mixed martial artist was last at Co-op Live for UFC 304, the first sporting event held at the state-of-the-art entertainment venue, where he put in one of the most ruthless displays of the year.
Aspinall not only retained his interim heavyweight title in the highly-anticipated rematch against Curtis Blaydes but he finished off with American inside less than a minute, stunning spectators inside the arena who had stayed up waiting until 4am to watch him.
With that in mind, the global wrestling franchise decided to give the Co-op crowd another chance to see the man himself for a little bit longer.
As you can see, as a fellow fighter and champion at the top of his game, it only felt fitting that Aspinall be welcomed to the ring by the WWE‘s Cody Rhodes and the reaction was as you would expect.
Getting a much different entrance than his usual cage walk, the 31-year-old from Atherton with Salfordian roots and trained at the likes of Leigh Self Defence Studio got the home fans going and even helped do a bit of promo work in the ring with Rhodes and Austrian wrestler Gunther.
Helping set up for the impending Crown Jewel event – the inaugural new standalone face-off between their in-house Raw and SmackDown brands set to take place in Saudia Arabia – Aspinall did his best to whip up the audience.
To be honest, no disrespect to the very high-profile wrestlers who landed in 0161 this week, but we think plenty of those in the stands were more buzzing to Aspinall than anyone.
Just listen to that reaction:
Wow, Tom Aspinall showing up at a WWE show is awesome!
— shiv (@shiv_009_dev) October 16, 2024
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While we didn’t get to see the ‘Honey Badger’ get involved in any scraps on the night and his cameo didn’t go on for too long, it’s undeniably cool to see a local athlete once again basking in a much-deserved bit of the spotlight.
Moreover, the WWE is one of the biggest entertainment industries on the planet, so being given that platform is not only huge for him but for Manchester and the UFC‘s UK audience as a whole.
While Tom has been enjoying a well-earned break following his most recent victory, he did recently confirm that he is “ready to go” as a backup fighter for the upcoming Jon Jones vs Stipe Miocic main event on the UFC 309 fight card.
If he were to be roped into the octagon for this one, it would finally see him come against legend Jones and give him a shot at earning the title of undisputed heavyweight champion. Now wouldn’t that be something special for the British fight scene?
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Featured Images — WWE (screenshot)
