Why I'm A Fan of TNA
By Garrett Kidney
I had intended to write this last year to tie in with TNA's 10th anniversary but never got around to it so what better time to do it than for TNAsylum's three year anniversary. I want to write about why I'm a fan of TNA and why I'll stick with them through good times and bad.
I grew up a wrestling fan, which in Ireland wasn't always that easy considering wrestling companies tend not to come here and when they did it was four hours from where I lived. I remember borrowing tapes in school from friends because I didn't have the TV channels to watch PPV's, and even once or twice sneaking into my neighbours house while she was on holidays to watch Smackdown. I loved it, I remember watching Shane McMahon falling off the titantron, watching WrestleMania 17, and being in awe of The Rock and Hulk Hogan's big face off leading into WrestleMania 18 (still one of my favourite moments ever in wrestling).
But as the years went on and I moved into my teens I began to fall out of wrestling. I'd still watch it here and there and usually catch the big shows but it really wasn't a big deal for me at the time. That was until November 2006 when a lot of things happened at once to drag me back in. I went to my first wrestling event (a Smackdown show in Dublin with a Booker, JBL and Mr. Kennedy vs. Undertaker, Kane and Batista main event), plus I stumbled across TNA's 2006 prime time special.
Seeing guys from the past that I liked like Christian and Rhino (who had a great barbed wire cage match on that show) along people that were new to me like Styles, Daniels, Abyss, LAX and so on made me pay attention. I'd watched bits and pieces of TNA before (and somehow only managed to see the worst of the Nashville stuff) but this drew me in (it helped that Angle was on the show aswell). Add to that my brother brought me back a Best of the X-Division Vol. 2 DVD from a trip to Boston and I was hooked. Guys like Sabin, Shelley, Petey, Lethal, Senshi and Dutt exposed me to a fast paced, youthful, energetic style of wrestling that I hadn't seen much of before. I began watching iMPACT! soon after and haven't missed a show in seven years.
Because of this I fell back in love with wrestling. In the years since I went to three WrestleMania's (25, 27 and 28), a Bound For Glory (2010), and a bunch of TNA house shows (and a few iMPACT!'s). I watched a lot of the best wrestling that I missed during the years where my wrestling love waned, went back and watched an awful lot of awesome older wrestling (including the wonders of TNA before 2006 (like the Unbreakable three way, the Turning Point Six Sides of Steel, the Final Resolution 2005 Ultimate X and so, so much more)). Not to mention all the stuff since then from TNA, WWE, Japan and American indys that I would have otherwise sadly missed.
And I attribute all that to TNA. They brought me back in and I've loved watching iMPACT! every Friday since. I owe my love of wrestling to them and because of that they'll always have all the patience I can muster. Anything I ever say about TNA comes from wanting to see them improve, not from any kind of hatred. I asked to write for this site because at the time (late 2011/early 2012) I felt people weren't giving TNA credit for the strides they were making. I'm willing to wade through the disappointment, frustration and even occasional anger because I know it'll come good in the end. And even then the good always has, and hopefully always will, outweigh the bad.
