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Decent crowd at the arena. I would guesstimate at least 500, but it could have been more. For 30 minutes before the show, Don West hyped the crowd with free stuff. Jeremy Borash introduced the show and hyped the crowd more with backstage passes.
(1) Eric Young & ODB beat TV champion Robbie E. & Rob Terry. Fun comedy match to start the show. They had a dance-off and got the ref involved before EY & ODB won.
JB introduced Earl Hebner, who came out like a heel. He got the "You screwed Bret" chants, then ripped off his t-shirt to reveal a referee t-shirt that says "Damn right I did." He put on the Hitman shades and mocked Hart before flipping some people off.
(2) X Division champion Austin Aries beat Zema Ion and Jesse Sorensen in a three-way match to retain the X Division Title. Good action throughout. Aries really carried the match, but the other guys had some good spots. Aries won with the brainbuster/Last Chancery on Ion.
(3) Knockouts champion Gail Kim beat Velvet Sky to retain the KO Title. I got a beer and pretzel during the match.
{Intermission. They hocked $10 Hebner ref shirts and he signed them at the merchandise table.]
(4) A.J. Styles beat Kazarian. Match of the Night. Great pace and believable nearfalls. A.J. was way over and the crowd really got into it. Both guys got in some good offense and A.J. won on a roll-up after a back-and-forth pinning sequence.
Ric Flair came out to a huge pop, of course. I love Ric, but he looked old making his way down to the ring. He got on the mic and talked about Flair Country before putting over both Garett Bischoff and Gunner (some fans were yelling "Shatter" during match). Flair thanked the crowd, claimed the dirtiest player in the game wouldn't interfere, and gave a "woo." He also put over Hebner for referring his 10,000 match this year and a 40-year career (JB mentioned it earlier). It was great seeing the Nature Boy, but it didn't look like he had much energy and his heart wasn't in it.
(5) Gunner beat Garett Bischoff. Gunner looks really good live. Both guys worked hard to put on a good match, but the crowd didn't get behind Bischoff and Gunner was the heel getting all the offense. There were lots of random "woos" throughout. Bischoff had the pin, but Flair blatantly put Gunner's foot on the ropes in front of Hebner. Earl hopped out and got in Flair's face while Gunner hit the low blow on Bischoff. He then won with both feet on the ropes. Flair immediately went to the back after the match, and didn't even look back as he was going through the curtain.
The main event was next. They combined the top singles matches into a tag match, I'm guessing because Jeff Hardy and James Storm both looked a little beat up. Storm limped throughout and Kurt Angle has the Olympics coming up. The roof came off for Hardy, which was expected since every kid in the place had on Hardy merch. Roode got some good heat before the match. There was a big fan with tribal tats wearing a bandana and tanktop with a replica belt guy looked to be about 21-years-old. He was actually bigger height-wise than Roode and pretty built. He got in Roode's face with the replica belt and said something that pissed him off. For the next ten minutes, Roode kept looking over, going back over, and daring the kid to cross the rail. Good heel heat until Hardy and Storm attacked them from behind to start the match.
(6) Jeff Hardy & James Storm beat TNA World Hvt. champion Robert Roode & Kurt Angle. Basic back and forth tag match. It was more for the kids and allowed the main guys to take it easy. It was still entertaining, though. The final sequence - Hardy teased a swanton, get knocked down, Angle rolled in with the Angle Slam, then took a superkick from Storm, Storm gets speared by Roode, and Hardy hit Roode with a Twist of Fate for the win.
Immediately after the match, a trainer brought Storm and Hardy big ice packs. Hardy tucked his in his belt on his back. JB announced that for 20 bucks "your whole crew can get their picture made with Jeff." Overall, fun show. One of the better house shows I've been to and the venue was set up nicely. Not a bad seat in the house.
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