WWE Daily

This is Scooter’s wife, Randi. I’m writing this only because, before we went to the TNA venue, I was very skeptical. I’d seen a few of the shows on Spike, and, I have to say, they didn’t appeal to me. I’m a writer by trade, and I know a bit about how to make a good story. I’ve been watching wrestling since Scooter and I got together (eight loooooooonngg years ago) and know how the whole deal works.

So, as I was trying to say, unlike my husband, I wasn’t that hyped up. Oh granted, I was excited to see a few of the wrestlers - namely Booker T (and I was hoping to see Kevin Nash), but I wasn’t nearly as excited to go as I was when we went to the WWE show last summer.

We got to the arena and the ring seemed extremely small. But then I remembered how small the WWE ring seemed in Burlington, VT, and I realized that the TV apparently not only adds 15 lbs, it also makes things look bigger.

The first thing to make me excited was the fact that we had front row seats, which was fairly sweet. We sat down with our seven year old and waited for the show to begin. The people in our small community started trickling in and the excitement began to build.

Finally the music changed and out came someone from TNA to introduce J.B., the announcer. This surprised me, as there wasn’t a “real” announcer at the WWE show. J.B. came out and did everything he could to warm the crowd up and get everyone pumped for the show. The first match began, a tag team match, but I wasn’t able to watch it due to a slight issue with my son. I didn’t get to sit down until the second match, which was Curry Man VS Sonjay Dutt. My first question? “Who the hell is Curry man, and what kind of a gimick is THAT?”

Curry Man, however, won me over with his quickness, his interesting moves, and his personality. That’s one thing that surprised me about all of the wrestlers we saw - they ALL played it up as much as possible for the crowd. We live in a tiny area, yet they didn’t treat Derby as though it were a small area - they treated it like entertaining us was the most important thing on their agenda for that evening, which, in my opinion, is how wrestling fans should be treated. We drive and fly to events. We give our hard-earned money, and the old-school wrestlers used to respect that. Many from the WWE brand, in this day and age, do not. There were a number of wrestlers in Burlington last summer who never even made an attempt to sign autographs, and who went in, did their job, and got out as quickly as possible.

This isn’t what happened in Derby.

In Derby the wrestlers came around and interacted with the audience. It was a huge highlight for us when Booker T came around after his match and slapped hands. When he got to our son, he slapped his hand quickly and made as though he were going to walk past, then he stopped. He turned back, ruffled his hair and slapped his hand again. But then, I should’ve known he was special when he was in the ring for his match and one of Scooter’s co-workers called out for a spinarooni. This man is a die-hard TNA fan, and when he yelled “Spinarooni”, Booker T acknowledged that he’d heard him and made the sign. He wasn’t able to do the move until later in the match, but he at least took the time to show Scooter’s co-worker that he’d heard him.

What touched me that evening was that Kurt Angle came out. Angle was unable to wrestle due to an injury, but he flew up, came out, touched some hands, and made a speech.

“Wow,” he said after hearing the crowd chant his name, “I’m not used to this. I’m used to coming out and hearing ‘you suck’!” This was just Derby’s way of saying to Kurt “thank you for coming to our small little neighborhood.”

They chose a few people to go backstage, which was sweetness in itself (although we didn’t get chosen - dammit), and they gave everyone an opportunity to mingle with TNA’s finest as the wrestlers came out, signed autographs, and posed for pictures. I think Scooter almost had an orgasm when ODB came and posed with him, and when Jackie smiled at him and took the time to pose.

My opinion has changed immensely.

I no longer look at TNA as a poor-man’s WWE, but rather as a group of wrestling individuals who actually care about the sport. I am still baffled, however, wondering why the house show was SO much better than the televised show, Impact!. I have a few ideas as to how they could make Impact! a much better show - so much better, in fact, that they could absolutely give WWE a run for their money even moreso than they’re doing now, but I’ll save that for another post.

I will say, however, that I went to the show here in Derby and was surprised, touched, and amazed but what I saw. I feel as though I got a glimpse of what old-school wrestling was like. What it was like to drive to a venue when the wrestlers were only making $20 a match. TNA has taken the best of all sides of the business, from character gimmicks to technology, and has mixed them all together to create a show that will keep the entire family entertained and enchanted for far longer than the two hours that the show takes.

Thank you TNA for a great night.

For pictures that Scooter and I took during the show, click the thumbnails.