With this week’s “Make Movement”, I’m shifting the focus from my normal RAW commentary, to my experience watching TNA live for the first time in North Carolina and former WWE diva, Dawn Marie’s latest efforts.
For my 27th birthday, I decided to check out a TNA live house show this past Sunday, one hour from me in North Carolina. I wasn’t sure what to expect, and depending on how you feel about pro wrestling, you’re bound to have a different perspective of what you look for in a wrestling production, house show or no.
What I liked about TNA was the lack of ‘filler’ matches. The flow of wrestling was solid, and it felt more traditional than a WWE show. If you were expecting fireworks, then you were going to be disappointed. They didn’t shoot shirts out of guns, but they tried to find the most enthusiastic fans to take backstage. All the talent worked hard, including Petey Williams, Kaz, the amazing women’s division that is Jackie, Awesome Kong and Taylor Wilde (who TV doesn’t do her justice); James Storm (on a personal note: class act), Robert Roode, Eric Young (hilarious), Abyss, Tomko, Christian Cage and Somoa Joe. Kurt Angle made a special appearance to thank the fans for their support and put over how TNA has grown globally over the years. After the show, Kurt and other TNA superstars came out to sign autographs and meet and greet with the fans. On a personal note, I had the absolute pleasure meeting Kurt Angle after being a fan for 12 years and it was a dream come true, and to everyone who made that possible, thank you.
What perhaps surprised me most was the amount of families at the show. I do believe that TNA should have taken the show to Wilmington, and they would have sold out the building as a result. I do believe TNA has the right idea with their level of talent from top to bottom, and I can only believe they will get better with time. The best match of the show was Christian Cage versus Samoa Joe, with their great chemistry and storytelling in the ring and both men were pretty over with the crowd. It’s refreshing to see sportsmanship shown after a match, house show or not. I look forward to seeing more TNA live events in the future.
Another great thing happening in wrestling right now is from former WWE diva, Dawn Marie. Dawn Marie is working hard on Wrestler’s Rescue, which is a future non-profit to create awareness and to help raise money to support the health care needs of retired professional wrestlers due to a career choice in wrestling. I’m fully supporting Dawn’s efforts, and I’m looking forward to speaking to her more about it in a future Make Movement issue! For more information, please visit http://www.wrestlersrescue.org/ and don’t miss their first gala event on September 14th in Piscataway, New Jersey.
Thanks for reading, for all your support and for all the feedback, feel free to contact me anytime at Bam@4sternstaging.com.
