Impact Wrestling to broadcast live from Peoria

Area wrestling fans can be part of the live action when TNA Impact Wrestling broadcasts live from the Peoria Civic Center on Thursday, June 20.

The Civic Center announced the show with Impact Wresling heavyweight superstar Joseph Park during a news conference Tuesday.

The show will begin at 7 p.m. on Spike TV. Tickets will go on sale Friday at the Civic Center box office, online at www.ticketmaster.com or by phone at (800) 745-3000.

TNA Impact Wrestling star Joseph Park, center, is flanked by Jim Wetherington, general manager of the Peoria Civic Center, and Eric Turner, Peoria City Councilman, during a news conference Tuesday to announce TNA Impact Wrestling will broadcast its June 20 show on Spike TV live from the Civic Center."We are looking forward to having our first TNA Impact Wrestling event at the Peoria Civic Center, and we are eager to have our first live TV shoot wrestling event in years," said Civic Center General Manager Jim Wetherington. "We know that this is something our wrestling fans will really be excited about."

Also on hand Tuesday was Peoria City Councilman Eric Turner, who was presented with an honorary heavyweight champion belt from TNA Impact Wrestling. Turner is a big fan of wrestling, he said.

According to a TNA (Total Nonstop Action) news release, Impact Wrestling Live events include "The Immortal" Hulk Hogan and "The Icon" Sting leading Impact Wrestling superstars such as TNA World Heavyweight Champion Bully Ray, Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle, "The Cowboy" James Storm and Austin Aries, plus the renegade faction Aces & Eights and "the lovely and lethal TNA Knockouts."

Tickets start at $15, and fans also have the opportunity to purchase $125 tickets to the Knockout Zone, a section of floor seats hosted by TNA Knockouts Christy Hemme and Socal Val that includes a buffet-style food and beverage service and appearances from TNA Knockouts.

Peoria will be the eighth city to host Impact Wrestling since the show went on the road earlier this year. The first two hours of the event will air live on Spike TV starting at 8 p.m. on June 20, with the second part of the show taped to air June 27.

Impact Wrestling airs every Thursday on Spike TV at 7 p.m. central time (moving to 8 p.m. central beginning May 30) and is regularly one of the network's top-rated shows. It airs in more than 120 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.IMPACTWRESTLING.com.

About the Author

Paul Gordon is the editor of The Peorian after spending 29 years of indentured servitude at the Peoria Journal Star. He’s an award-winning writer, raconteur and song-and-dance man. He also went to a high school whose team name is the Alices (that’s Vincennes Lincoln High School in Indiana; you can look it up).