Spoiling for a fight...

Sunday, April 18, 2010. St. Charles, Mo. I sat in my seat as the lights went down. The sound of the crowd was deafening. A few seconds later....BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The crowd was electric as the opening pyro welcomed us to TNA Wrestling's "Lockdown" pay-per-view at the Family Arena.

The music hits and out walks the first competitor.........

Let me take a sidebar...Something that a lot of people may not know about me (and it may possibly change their perception of me), is that I am a fan of professional wrestling. Let me be clear. I KNOW it is scripted (much like most great television shows). I know the performers don't really hate each other and they practice and work things out. I know when Jimmy John The man from the mountain is punching Roddy Rutabaga, he's not really punching him (at least not always). I don't want to use the term "FAKE," because there is nothing fake about the training and conditioning these athletes (Yes. I said athletes.) go through to be able to do what they do.

People look down on professional wrestling because the performers are ACTING like they don't like each other and are really hurting each other. Guess what people, (insert sarcasm) when Meredith Grey is holding someone's vessel shut to keep them from bleeding out, she's not really saving someone's life. She's acting. She's not even a real doctor (/sarcasm).

Bottom line. Professional wrestling is an entertainment medium. One that is deemed "low-brow" by many. But for what reason? Why is it okay to watch people pretend to be doctors on shows like "Grey's Anatomy" and "House?"

Back to my story...A friend an I went to watch TNA Wrestling's "Lockdown" pay-per-view at St. Charles this weekend. We paid about $45 each for our tickets and had really good seats.

I got to see many of the wrestlers that I grew up watching, including Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Rob Van Dam, Jeff Hardy, Jeff Jarrett, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sting, as well as several of the TNA "originals."

For three hours, we watched the men and women of TNA throw each other around the ring and we enjoyed every minute of it. I would gladly pay to watch TNA again. To me, they put on a better show than some of the live WWE events that I have seen.

If you are a wrestling fan, I highly recommend seeing a TNA event. Thank you TNA for coming to Missouri.