Brooklyn, New York recently played host to an Impact Wrestling BaseBrawl! I attended with a friend, and we had a great time, just like we did last year. I would like you to know that if you are reading this post as a TNA/Impact Wrestling fan, and you haven’t seen a live TNA show, you should definitely go to one. Live Impact Shows are great, from beginning to end. There are tons of TNA fans, just like you, wanting to see their favorite wrestlers wrestle and have a good time.
We got the cheap seats, so I can really only tell you how that kind of experience would work. Basically, when you first get inside, Don West is always trying to sell you stuff. There’s always some kind of “special” item on sale, and he‘s always hyping up the “special.“ He could possibly be telling lies about exactly how “special“ some of this stuff is, but I came in with the mindset to get some swag anyway, so all he had to do was point out where to get all this stuff. There are nice lines to get autographs and pictures with a given set of wrestlers. At the BaseBrawl I attended, We bought the Brown Bag Special consisting of four TNA DVD’s and a white Impact Wrestling T-Shirt for $20. We also managed to score pictures with Mickie James. And I must say, Mickie James looks really pretty in person. She was all smiles, like she was so happy to see me… I mean, all of her adoring fans. She’s also really fit. And she can definitely perform in the ring, working a solid match with Angelina Love. WWE really dropped the ball with her release.
We would eventually find out seats that were ridiculously far away, but just like last year, we moved closer to the ring. Here’s a protip: if you don’t buy VIP seats, you should be able to buy the cheapest seats available and move up to get a better view. Buying those mid-tier seats does guarantee mid-tier seating, but cheap seats can get you mid-tier seating as well. While the turnout in NYC is really good, it’s not like Impact is selling out shows yet.
Eventually the show begins, JB will come out, get the fans hyped for a show, and say something about how the loudest (i.e luckiest) fans will win backstage passes to meet the wrestlers during intermission. Then the matches will start. And the matches are nothing short of entertaining. There’s nothing like seeing your favorite Impact stars get punched, kicked, and slammed live. One thing that you shouldn’t expect, however, is storyline progression. Other than regional bias for hometown heroes, face and heel alignment will be consistent to the current storyline, and depending on who’s in the ring, they might actually play off a storyline, like with Bully Ray vs. Devon. But other than that, matches are pretty much standalone.
However, the Bound for Glory Series has definitely added a new level of depth to select house show matches, since the wins actually do matter and can potentially affect how a given episode of Impact will play out. At the very worst, you can be sure that the wins will be mentioned on that next edition of Impact. Thus, Wrestling Matters. See how that works? Honestly, I think that this system is a great idea, and it, or something similar to it where select wins at house shows matter, needs to be used more, not just for Bound for Glory. Hopefully they’ll come up with something similar afterwards. At the very least, if you have an live Impact show coming to your area between now and September (August is probably when the competition is really going to heat up), it’s definitely in your best interest as a fan to check it out and watch a Bound for Glory series match.
Eventually, the main event plays out, and then you get the opportunity to get into the ring and take pictures with at least one wrestler. At the BaseBrawl in NYC, we got to take pictures with two amazing wrestlers, Kurt Angle and AJ Styles. The line to get into the ring was pretty long, but it was definitely worth the wait, as not only stepping into an Impact Wrestling ring is cool, but we definitely got pictures with both of those amazing wrestlers. And they, too, are very friendly.
I feel like it’s also very important to note that I got my Impact Wrestling shirt signed by the founder of TNA himself, Jeff Jarrett. He, too, also seems to be a really cool guy, and apparently, he likes Mexico.
All in all, going to an Impact Wrestling event is a good time. I can’t compare it to any other kind of wrestling event except another TNA event, and essentially, it was all the same. I had read that the VIP concept was a little disorganized this year, and that may have been a little frustrating for those who bought VIP packages, but overall, it’s a very fun event that a real TNA should attend at least once in their life.
