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Thanks to Andrew Weiner for sending in the following:
Impact Wrestling House show report, Toronto ON Ricoh Coliseum Friday June 17 2011
All ringside seating and lower levels were sold out.
Upper levels weren’t seated, and there were cameras going up there.
Show started at 7:30pm when Borash comes out, and tells us the loudest fans will receive backstage passes throughout the show, from now til intermission.
Mentions the crazy deal of the night (that I bought):
The new impact wrestling t shirt comes with 4 DVDs for $25 in a TNA Backpack (random dvds, mine were Lockdown 2008, A.A.Odds 2009, Victory Road 2009, Hard Justice 2009)
Starts the introductions…
Opening Match
AJ STYLES vs. THE POPE D’ANGELO DINERO
During the entrances, Dinero goes to give a girl his sunglasses, then pulls them right off her to a huge laugh from the crowd. Big AJ Styles chant as he comes down to the ring. They face off, Pope backs down and does rope stretches to more boos. Pope jawing with the front row. They finally lock up, some basic chain wrestling and run the ropes stuff, and Pope takes the advantage by working the arm. AJ gets a second wind, sends Pope outside, PLANCHA. Big TNA chant. Back in the ring, they exchange punches til AJ hits the flipping drop kick. Pope reverses an irish whip sequence and takes advantage for a moment, until AJ comes back again, this time with the Pele Kick. Styles Clash, and 1 2 3, its over.
Winner: AJ Styles
Second Match
WINTER and ANGELINA LOVE vs. MICKIE JAMES and TARA
Heels come out followed by the faces. Mickie has the title with her. I went and got a poutine during this one folks, sorry (as did the rest of my section). I came back to see Winter and Angelina getting hit by Tara and Mickie’s finishers simultaneously, and the faces getting the pin. Post-match, and I shit you not, Tara and Mickie make out in the middle of the ring. Ask anyone else who was there, i doubt anyone will forget seeing that. Then, right after, Mickie grabs Earl Hebner (Don west kept saying it was his 79th birthday all night) and kisses him too. You just cant get the TNA out of TNA.
Winner: Mickie James and Tara
Third Match
ABYSS vs. KAZARIAN for the X-DIVISION TITLE
Abyss does the Hulk Hogan ear thing to a chorus of Boos. Some lucky fan comes out as Kazarians honorary manager. They stare each other down in the middle of the ring, and its on. Kazarian runs around a bit, with Abyss missing corner splashes. Abyss gets in some brawling, but Kazarian reverses in the corner again, and hits a spring board clothesline, followed by a springboard leg drop, and when Abyss gets back up, Kazarian hits some spring board elbows. Nice sequence. Abyss takes control again when they get back on their feet with brawling, and goes for a chokeslam. Kazarian wiggles loose, but gets hit hard, and picked up into a rack position. he struggles free, they run the ropes, and abyss hits the chokeslam this time for 2. brawl sequence leads us to another chokeslam attempt, which is reversed, and kazarian runs the ropes right back into the black hole slam for 3.
Winner: Abyss
Fourth Match
WILLIAMS and MAGNUS vs JAMES STORM & ALEX SHELLEY with ROBERT ROODE for the TAG TEAM TITLES
Shelley comes out alone at first, then Roode and Storm follow from behind with the belts. Roode has a sling and street clothes. British Invasion come out next, and Magnus grabs the mic and starts insulting everyone. Its actually pretty funny. Roode interrupts and says he isn’t cleared yet in the USA. But hes in Canada tonight, and his doctor told him to kick British ass, so Shelley is taking the night of. He throws off the sling, and peels down to ring wear to a huge pop from his hometown crowd. Loud ROOOOOOOOODE chants from every section. Storm works the majority of the match in the Ricky Morton role against Magnus with Williams causing double team distractions. Standard tag match until Storm takes a sip and then blasts Magnus in the face with beer. Crowd starts dueling BEER and MONEY chants, and the champs hit their finisher for the crowd pleasing pin.
Winner: Beer Money
INTERMISSION
Fifth Match
ERIC YOUNG vs JEFF JARRETT
Jarrett comes out and asks us not to riot. Then he comes to ringside and starts stealing hats off of peoples heads for trashing his Nashville, Tenn hockey team (lol). Young comes out in some funny Egyptian gold and black boxing style gear. I think Orlando is his stylist now or something. They open with some good chain wrestling and a funny reoccurring sequence where Young is constantly walking across Jarrett’s back and posing (like the old chris jericho pin). Jarrett ends up in the corner and Young hits the 10 punches. Crowd is having a lot of fun. They end up back in the corner and Young goes for more, but Jarrett takes control with an inverted atomic drop. Some brawling, and Young gets Jeff up for the airplane spin, but the referee bumps against the legs. Jeff gets a chair and wedges it in the corner. Orlando Jordan comes down in womens clothes and distracts Jarrett. He straddles the top rope above the chair, and Young grabs Jeff by the head, pointing to Orlandos crotch. They then due the obvious ambiguously gay duo spot with jeffs head going into the crotch-chair-to. Yonge tries to stay in control, but Jarrett hits a mule kick low blow. One stroke later and its ref coming alive for the 1 2 3.
Winner: Jeff Jarrett
Sixth Match
SCOTT STEINER vs MATT MORGAN
This is announced as a round 1 pairing of the Bound for Glory series. Scott comes out and tells all the hot bitches to come back to his hotel. Then he says oh wait, now that im out here, i can see its only ugly bitches. He asks them to call their more attractive friends for him. He singles out some couple in the front row and tells the guy to put his bitch on a leash, because big poppa pump taps ass til it taps out. This is all verbatim what he said lol. Morgan comes out and this guy is huge in person. Unbelievably large. Right from the get go Morgan is overpowering Steiner, and Scott keeps rolling outside and wasting time. Shoulder block, rolls out. Clothesline, rolls out. Big Boot, rolls out. Morgan finally follows and Scott starts brawling, but gets slammed into the apron for his efforts. Morgan is in control and they go inside. Steiner goes to the eyes and hits a nice t-bone suplex. Frankenstein chant from the crowd (no ‘er). Works the headlock and a rope sequence leads to Steiner hitting his belly to back suplex. Morgan finally takes control again, but is stopped dead when Steiner hits a flatliner type move for 2. They go back to brawling, until Scott hits Morgan with the second ball shot of the night. Steiner hits the flatliner type finisher for the second time, and its 1 2 3.
Main Event
MR. ANDERSON vs KURT ANGLE non-title
Anderson comes out. No mic comes down. lol. He steals Borash’s, and tells us the best part about his trips to Canada is leaving the country. Angle comes out to a huge ovation. People are going apeshit in my section, stomping, slapping chair backs. I can’t call this match, it was too much. Very fast paced, Anderson worked the arm after a sick ringpost spot in the ring by Angle (he almost fell completely to the floor). ultimately 3 germans leads to the ankle lock, which Anderson reverses into a very sweet looking roll up for 2. once they get back up, angle ducks some shots and hits the olympic slam for the 1 2 3.
show notes:
Jeremy Borash was very exciting as a host, and made a big deal about coming to the city after 9 years of waiting. All of the matches on the show were alot of fun, especially Young vs Jarrett. After everything was said and done, Hebner, Mickie James, and Jarrett all gave away autographs, which was great (shirt AND ticket signed, plus picture, score!) Not a single person turned away. Class. And at the same time for $20 you and however many people you brought with you got to climb through the ropes (which was AWESOME!!!!!!), shake Kurt Angle’s hand (the guy didnt miss a single person), and take a digital photo with him in the middle of the ring. they had this cool little machine that spit it out almost immediately. ive never seen anything like that before. life long angle fan. saw him win gold in 96. i lived in woodstock, outside of atlanta. i will never forget my experience at impact. thank you Jeff, and everyone you work with.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
