The Knockouts Division was born in 2007. After years of the likes of Gail Kim, Traci Brooks, Roxxi, Trinity, Alexis Laree, Desire, Jackie Moore, Christy Hemme and more fighting for the right to a division, the Knockouts Championship was finally introduced at Bound For Glory. That night ten women including staples like Gail, Jackie, Traci, Christy and Roxxi as well as newcomers like Angelina Love, Velvet Sky, ODB and Awesome Kong competed in a Gauntlet for the right to make history. Gail Kim ultimately pinned Roxxi to become the first ever Knockouts Champion but a rivalry with Awesome Kong was looming. The monstrous and imposing Kong defeated Gail in her debut prior to Bound For Glory and proved to be the first Champion’s greatest opponent. Their matches were pure dynamite as the underdog Gail fought for her life against the dominant Kong. Their matches defined what the Knockouts Division would be all about.
Sting arrived in TNA to rapturous applause at Final Resolution. The building absolutely exploded as Sting teamed with Christian Cage to face Jeff Jarrett and Monty Brown. The iMPACT! Zone erupted into chants of “You’ve still got it!” as The Stinger looked like he was never gone. That match would be the springboard to help Christian defeat Jarrett to become NWA World Champion the following month at Against All Odds. The fans rushed the ring to hold their new hero on their shoulders as the iMPACT! Zone truly became the Peep’s Zone.
The X-Division reached another level in 2005. AJ Styles recaptured the X-Division Championship in an all-time classic Ultimate X match against Petey Williams and Chris Sabin at Final Resolution, as all three took the high-wire spectacle to new limits with death-defying high risk moves. From there one of the defining feuds of not just 2005 but all of TNA history began. AJ Styles defended the title against Christopher Daniels in a 30 Minute Iron Match at Against All Odds.
2004 was all about new eras of TNA. First, the iMPACT! television show launched on June 4 as TNA reached a whole new audience. TNA said farewell to The Asylum in September after calling Nashville home for two years, with iMPACT! emanating from the iMPACT! Zone in Orlando going forward. And in November, TNA presented its very first Sunday three hour pay-per-view event – Victory Road. With all those historic landmarks, Jeff Jarrett was more desperate for power and control than ever.
The NWA represented honor and respect and tradition in professional wrestling. That’s the legacy NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett looked to carry on into 2003 in TNA. But one force opposed him, one group that stood against those values in every way – Vince Russo’s Sports Entertainment Xtreme. Russo recruited stars like Triple X, Chris Sabin, Glenn Gilbertti, Sonny Siaki, Mike Sanders and more to take control of TNA by force. Interrupting broadcasts, ruining anticipated matches – they’d do anything to destroy the traditions of the NWA. While Jarrett was the focal point of the resistance, soon a leader would arrive to ally with Russo and become Jarrett’s biggest rival.
“Tonight, a very special evening, it’s an evening that revolves around history and history on so many fronts.” With those words Mike Tenay ushered in a new era of professional wrestling as NWA-TNA presented it’s first ever show on June 19, 2002 from The Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama. In a building named after the man who helped us reach the moon, TNA launched a different kind of odyssey. An odyssey that over the twenty years to follow would feature some of the biggest names, brightest stars and most memorable moments in professional wrestling. On that night legendary names like Scott Hall, Ken Shamrock, Jeff Jarrett, Dory Funk Jr. and Ricky Steamboat joined forced with young upstarts like AJ Styles, Chris Harris, James Storm and Ron Killings to lay the foundation for a whole new wrestling experience.
I had a great view of the action from my seat at WrestleMania XXX.
Last weekend I was in New Orleans for my first WrestleMania, WrestleMania XXX. It was a blast and I took a ton of photos and shot multiple videos. Below is a day-by-day breakdown of the fun and festivities that took place. Enjoy!
Friday, April 4
To save money, I decided to fly to Dallas and then to New Orleans. This worked in my favor because I ran into WCW legend Bill Goldberg at the airport. It turns out that we were on the same flight, so I politely asked him for a photo and he agreed.
Meeting Bill Goldberg at the Dallas Airport on my way to WrestleMania XXX.
My plane landed in New Orleans on Friday and I checked into the Marriott on Canal Street shortly thereafter. While walking through the French Quarter to grab dinner, I bumped into Hulk Hogan’s manager, Jimmy Hart. I said hello to him and asked if he’d be at WrestleMania Axxess, an annual festival where fans can meet WWE legends and modern-day superstars, and he said he would. It was a surreal experience to see a larger-than-life personality walking through the streets but he was as nice as could be.
After dinner I headed to the Ring of Honor show in Westwego, just outside New Orleans. The show, Supercard of Honor VIII, was my first Ring of Honor event and it was awesome. Ring of Honor is an independent promotion that has some national television exposure but it isn’t as well-known as WWE or the second most popular wrestling promotion, TNA. That said, I wouldn’t hesitate to attend another Ring of Honor event. They go above and beyond to entertain the fans.
I enjoyed the Ring of Honor show with Ben (left) and Alex (right).
Saturday, April 5
On Saturday morning I was up early because I had an 8 a.m. meet and greet with the immortal Hulk Hogan. This was easily the most exciting part of my trip since I grew up watching Hogan as a child and also enjoyed his reality show Hogan Knows Best. After waiting for approximately 45 minutes, I made it to the front of the line and got to meet Hulk Hogan. I went up, shook his hand and told him that he was my childhood hero and that I have great respect for what he’s accomplished. He thanked me, autographed by WWE 50 book and we posed for a photo.
Meeting my childhood hero, Hulk Hogan, was the highlight of my WrestleMania weekend.
After meeting Hulk Hogan, I got in line to meet other WWE personalities, including Christian, Howard Finkel and Pat Patterson.
Meeting WWE superstar Christian.
Meeting legendary ring announcer Howard Finkel (left) and the first Intercontinental Champion, Pat Patterson (right).
I also visited an exhibit at Axxess called the Undertaker’s Graveyard. For the uninitiated, the Undertaker is a WWE superstar that, up until this year, was undefeated at WrestleMania for the past 21 years. So, they created a graveyard with tombstones for each of the opponents he beat. This graveyard also includes caskets and other props the Undertaker has used in his matches. Speaking of which, I had a photo taken of myself in one of these caskets, only to find out shortly afterward that this wasn’t permitted. Thankfully, I got this morbid shot before being reprimanded.
Me in a casket in the Undertaker’s Graveyard at WrestleMania Axxess.
They also had a burial plot symbolizing the Undertaker’s opponent at WrestleMania XXX, Brock Lesnar. As you can see, I eagerly took part in this photo opp.
Me, at the burial site of the Undertaker’s WrestleMania XXX opponent, or so I thought.
Before grabbing some food, I stopped by the Legends’ House booth and met Jimmy Hart. He let me pose with his famous megaphone, which was surprisingly heavy.
Spending time with the “Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart.
At 6 p.m. I had a meet and greet with the greatest wrestler of all time, “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair. Meeting him was a wonderful honor and after doing so, I was off to the Hall of Fame.
Meeting Ric Flair at WrestleMania Axxess.
I had a great seat at the 2014 WWE Hall of Fame, just a few rows off the floor where the wrestlers and their families were sitting. And the class of wrestlers being inducted was excellent. In addition to seeing my all-time favorite wrestler, the Ultimate Warrior, I saw Jake “The Snake” Roberts and Razor Ramon (i.e., Scott Hall) recognized by WWE for their prolific and influential careers. But perhaps the best part was the surprise appearance by the Undertaker to pay tribute to his deceased manager, Paul Bearer, who was also part of this year’s class of inductees.
Sunday, April 6
After not getting much sleep, I woke up early, yet again, to visit WrestleMania Axxess on Sunday morning. This time around I met Howard Finkel (for the second time – and he remembered me!) and Roddy Pipper, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat and “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff and, lastly, William Regal and several NXT wrestlers.
Hanging out with Howard Finkel and Roddy Piper.
Meeting WWE Hall of Famers Paul Orndorff (left) and Ricky Steamboat (right).
Meeting NXT superstars and one of the greatest technical wrestlers of all time, William Regal (right).
Before leaving WrestleMania Axxess, I took part in an open casting call for an upcoming WWE Studios movie. All I had to do was read lines off a teleprompter. I have no idea what the film is and I highly doubt that I’ll get called back, but I figured I’d give it a shot. I also went through the museum of WrestleMania memorabilia. Check out the video below to see what was inside.
Then, I headed across the street to WrestleCon, a non-WWE event where legendary wrestlers met and took photos with fans. My main reason for going to this event was to meet the WCW and TNA legend, Sting. It’s rumored that Sting will be appearing in WWE very soon so he can end his career with the company and be inducted into the Hall of Fame, so I wanted to meet him before this historic event takes place. He was as pleasant as could be and I’m glad I took the time to meet him.
Meeting WCW and TNA wrestling legend, Sting.
After meeting Sting I got an early dinner and headed to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome for WrestleMania XXX. My seat for the show was great, and I shot a video of the opening fireworks.
By the time WrestleMania XXX came to a close, I was still in shock over the fact that the Undertaker’s streak of being undefeated at WrestleMania came to an end. The entire arena was in shock and many people were legitimately upset. For non-wrestling fans, I know this is hard to understand. But most fans wanted the Undertaker to retire with the streak intact. While this won’t happen, I’m glad to say I witnessed a historic event, and that I saw Daniel Bryan win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship after overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds.
Monday, April 7
On the last day of my long WrestleMania weekend, I was able to sleep late and take my time. That night I headed to the Smoothie King Center (talk about a stupid name for an arena) for WWE Raw, the company’s flagship television show. The show was awesome and I was only two rows off the floor, giving me a perfect view of the entrance ramp and the ring.
In hindsight, what made this edition of Raw so special is it was the last public appearance of the Ultimate Warrior. Tragically, the following evening he passed away at the age of 54, after collapsing in front of his car with his wife beside him. It’s hard for me to fathom how such a young and seemingly healthy person could die out of the blue, especially since he just made peace with WWE’s CEO, Vince McMahon, and was finally recognized for his tremendous in-ring accomplishments. In a way, it’s poetic that he passed away after receiving the adulation he so rightly deserved and I’m glad I was there to witness it. However, I’m sad for his family, including his two young daughters, because they lost someone important to them. To make things even eerier, the Ultimate Warrior’s promo (i.e., speech while in character) on Raw was about a man’s memory and accomplishments living on long after his death. Thankfully, I filmed the whole thing. It was a bizarre case of foreshadowing.
Posing with an oversized version of the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania Axxess.
My WrestleMania XXX weekend was excellent. I met fans from around the world, spent time with legendary wrestlers and saw amazing feats of athleticism and entertainment. While I may have witnessed the end of the Undertaker’s streak and the Ultimate Warrior’s last public appearances, I also saw the stars of tomorrow and enjoyed visiting a new city. This trip exceeded my expectations and I will gladly go to WrestleMania again in the future.
