Liam Payne once brought the ‘Payne Train’ to WWE icon and Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle.
Liam, 31, died on Wednesday (October 16) after falling from a balcony at a Buenos Aires, Argentina, hotel. The former member of hit boyband One Direction, alongside Harry Styles, was a massive wrestling fan.
And, in 2013, he was handed the chance to live out one of his childhood dreams alongside the former WWE Champion. Angle, 55, was wrestling for WWE’s big rivals TNA at the time when he clashed with the pop sensation.
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One Direction had been hosting their 1D Day livestream, a seven-hour livestream event that had the boys go behind the scenes with their creative team, play games, stop into a Doctor Who 50th-anniversary party and even a spot of professional wrestling, presented by then BBBC Radio One DJ Scott Mills.
Liam, dressed as a masked Mexican luchador, took to the squared circle with Angle – showing off some high flying moves in the ring, and even scoring a pinfall over the champ, who jokingly said the result would “haunt” him for the rest of his life.
(Image: @ThisIsTNAUK/X)
(Image: @ThisIsTNAUK/X)
“Liam becoming TNA World Champion and Zayn and Louis shocked faces in the end. I remember this like it was yesterday,” one fan admitted as the video did the rounds on social media after his death.
“Why was he lowkey tough in the ring,” a second said, as a third replied: “That arm drag was wild!”
Liam’s bandmate Zayn Malik was at ringside for the bout with Louis Tomlinson. Zayn joked: “It’s the first time I’ve seen him flip like that!”
(Image: @ThisIsTNAUK/X)
(Image: @ThisIsTNAUK/X)
While Louis Tomlinson added: “It was typically Liam if I’m being honest — he looked strong and confident, and he really showed that throughout the fight.”
TNA today paid tribute to the former singer, posting on X: “We join the world in mourning Liam Payne – a wonderful man and artist.
Liam was a huge wrestling fan and we were honoured to be able to work with him on 1D Day when he wrestled, and beat, @RealKurtAngle.”
Unfortunately, perhaps everything wasn’t as it seemed. Underneath the Lucha Libre mask was then TNA star Johnny Yumo – who can now boast about the time he beat Angle – and some camera trickery swapped them before and after the match.
Turns out, not everything you see in pro wrestling is real.