IMPACT

Impact (12th March 2004)
 
As usual, this pre PPV show was full of video re-caps and promo’s designed to sell the New York Invasion.  And as usual again, most of the spots hit the mark…And before the show even started properly we got a huge announcement.  We saw Chris Jericho pacing around the parking lot and he was obviously waiting for someone to arrive.  He didn’t have to wait long as a car pulled up and out stepped Annalise Roberts.  Jericho went straight to her and asked if she’d delivered the message.  She said she had, and Jericho could hardly contain his excitement as he asked what the answer was.  “He said yes, he’ll be there” said Annalise and she walked off.  Jericho was ecstatic and he was talking to himself; “Chris Jericho’s Highlight Reel, Madison Square Gardens, New York City, Special Guest; Dean Roberts!!!” Yes that’s right, Dean Roberts will be on the Highlight Reel, live, during New York City Invasion 2004 on pay-per-view this coming Sunday!!!…This was designated as a special Team Angle Vs Team Kanyon broadcast; as the show hit the air we were shown our intrepid Commissioners Dash Riprock & Steve Corino and then said that although Angle and Kanyon had the night off, their team-mates for the NYC Invasion PPV would pair off in four separate, (and non-title if necessary) matches, all of which would be randomly drawn… “The Blueprint” Matt Morgan defeated Eddy Guerrero by pinfall in what was actually a very decent match indeed…We were transported to what looked like a graveyard at this point, and it soon became obvious that we were with Zoltar an his merry men once again.  We saw Yzeabek and Mathuras shovelling coal onto a raging furnace, whilst Acid stood around looking menacing.  Zoltar then read the “last rites” of AJ Styles and then Acid threw a large promo photo of Styles onto the fire.  Zoltar then cackled as the screen faded to black…Brian Kendrick got a huge upset victory over Sean O’Haire, although he did need the aid of a steel chair to get his win…Lisa Marie Veron was backstage at the drinks machine when Annalise Roberts joined the queue behind her.  The two women tossed a few verbal barbs each others way and then both said they were looking forward to meeting in the ring on Sunday night…Simon Starshot, in his first match back on TV since his walk out back in September 2003 got an upset pinfall victory over Rhino; much like Kendrick earlier in the evening though, he needed an extra edge to pull off the win, this time it was a belt shot from his “true” Cruiserweight title belt…Xavier & Matt Hardy were in the locker room and they were watching a video.  It soon became apparent that they were watching clips of Matt Hardy’s pinfall win over Mercy from last year.  Hardy was quite funny as he pointed out Mercy’s weaknesses and how Xavier could beat him…In the main event of the evening, Shawn Michaels defeated Randy Orton by pinfall in a very entertaining affair, which left the Team Angle Vs Team Kanyon war all square at 2-2.  As the show went off the air, and as you would expect, all 10 men involved in Sunday night’s main event got in the ring and had a bit of a brawl.