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I took great notes of the first Impact taping. Then my damn phone died...oh well. However, I just read the post from your site and whoever sent that report did an AWESOME job! I was sitting on the floor in the 5th row facing the Impact-a-tron screen. Since their report was so dead on, I'll just throw in highlights.
My wife and I met Dixie before the event started. She was on the floor walking around and talking with the fans. She was very nice and asked my wife if she really liked wrestling or if I forced her to come. My wife lied and said she liked wrestling. Dixie looks striking in person! Very approachable and seemed very proud of her company.
The arena is listed to hold approx. 9500 people. I would say they had about 5000 fans there. To me that is a great turn out for a promotion that hardly travels to the west coast. Let me tell you...THE CROWD WAS HOT ALL NIGHT! It made the experience that much better.
All the matches ranged from decent to excellent. The ladder match was very good. Gail Kim is such a great worker. No disrespect to Taryn at all but Gail is the glue of that division. No Velvet Sky at all which was odd (and disappointing if you catch my drift). Mickie James and her new direction is working. She cut a very good and sarcastic promo while standing on a ladder.
Joseph Parks is an awesome character and I love the split personality angle. I almost feel they can explore it more. Maybe someone should be determined to prove that Parks and Abyss are one in the same. Sort of like the way Parks was when he was determined to find Abyss when he went missing.
I feel AJ's new look and character is falling flat. I fear it will hurt his aura in the long run. Much like when they had Samoa Joe go through that "face paint/hold a knife to peoples throat" phase. I hope I'm wrong but that's what it feels like.
Gunner looks huge in person. Man he has bulked up. He still needs some work as he botched one of the moves going into the finishing spot. Storm is over huge and has that "pop" AJ should have at this point.
Christopher Daniels and Austin Aries are simply fantastic and even better to see live. I mean what can I say? Kazarian is very fun to watch as well.
The X division match was good. I like that they took Maniac out of the picture so it could be a one on one affair. That power bomb on the floor was sick man! Geez. They should have the rocket strapped to Aries though. Sabin is a real pro but Aries has "it".
Overall I am very impressed with TNA's "on the road" effort. I really feel they have their own type of fans and unique connection with them. I felt a positive vibe from the entire crew, wrestlers and fans. A very good show. How they chop it up for tv remains to be seen.
Top pops:
1) James Storm
2) Austin Aries (no one wants to boo him)
3) Hogan
4) Jeff Hardy
Top heat:
1) Bully Ray
2) Daniels and Kazarian
3) Gunner botching the finish
4) Mickey James
My wife's top five:
1) Robert Roode
2) Kazarian
3) Magnus
4) James Storm because she loves country music and he drinks beer
5) Randy Orton. She insists on this.
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