TNA Wrestling heads to Thibodaux

Professional wrestling legend Jeff Jarrett recalls going to wrestling events as a child, sitting and wondering when the fun would begin.

“In the old-days, you’d go to a show and wonder exactly when the first match would take place,” Jarrett recalls.

In Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, (TNA) that’s not an issue.

That’s because in TNA, the initial action happens right when fans enter the arena, as they are met at the door by some of the greatest wrestlers in the world for autographs and a meet-and-greet session.

“In short, TNA is by-far the most fan interactive professional wrestling show that I’ve ever been a part of and that I’ve ever witnessed,” said Jarrett, who is a several-time world champion. “And I’ve been around this game forever. I’m a third-generation guy. … My father wrestled, my grandmother didn’t wrestle, but she did everything but wrestle, she promoted. … This is the most fan-friendly show I’ve ever seen anywhere.”

Fans in the Tri-parish area will have an opportunity to be a part of the full TNA experience Saturday, Aug. 14, when the promotion heads to the Warren J. Harang Jr. Municipal Auditorium.

Wrestlers advertised to appear at the show are Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles, Team 3D, Abyss, Kevin Nash, D’Angelo Dinero, Jay Lethal and many more.

Tickets for the event start at $20, and the first bell is at 7:30 p.m.

But as Jarrett said, the fun starts when the doors open at 6:30 p.m.

“That whole first hour, we’ll have wrestlers roaming the halls and in the merchandise areas to meet the fans,” he said. “It’s truly a great night of family entertainment.”

In addition to the pre-bell festivities, TNA also rewards fans for being rowdy throughout the night.

“Our production team goes all throughout the arena and looks for the loudest, rowdiest, craziest fans, and we take those people backstage at an intermissizon to meet the wrestlers,” Jarrett said. “And then at the end of the night, we give everyone an opportunity to come into the ring and get their pictures taken with some of the superstars in action on that night.”

Jarrett founded the company with his father, Jerry Jarrett, on June 19, 2002.

Prior to creating his own promotion, Jarrett worked for both WWF (World Wrestling Federation) and WCW (World Championship Wrestling), where he won countless major championship belts.

The wrestling star decided to branch out on his own at that time because the conglomerate in the industry, WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment, formerly WWF), had just purchased their main competitor, WCW, a year earlier.

“Without a No. 2, there can’t really be a true-to-life No. 1,” Jarrett said. “So I saw that there was a huge void in the marketplace and the timing was right, and everything was there to make this work, so we got rolling.”

TNA started as just a weekly pay-per-view television series, but has since become a worldwide wrestling brand featuring some of the greatest wrestling superstars of all-time like Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Kurt Angle and even Jarrett, himself.

“In a relatively short amount of time, we’ve come an awful long way,” Jarrett said.

From a pay-per-view series, TNA emerged onto cable television. The company did shows for Fox Sports Net before receiving their big breakthrough – a contract with SpikeTV, and their weekly wrestling show: TNA iMPACT, which is currently shown every Thursday night at 8 p.m on Spike.

“Everything here at TNA, both internally and externally, pulls toward those Thursday night shows,” Jarrett said. “That’s hands-down our flagship programming.”

In recent months, TNA moved iMPACT to Monday nights to signify direct competition with wrestling powerhouse WWE. But the show was quickly moved back to Thursday, because Jarrett said 1-on-1 competition with Vince McMahon’s multi-billion dollar machine is not something TNA is interested in just yet.

“We’re forging our own path,” Jarrett said. “Those guys have been around for 40 to 50 years, so they’ve obviously had a huge head start on us, so to speak. Their product is quite different than ours. … We like to focus on our in-ring product, and there, I will match our show against any wrestling promotion in the world.”

But regardless of where TNA goes in the future, Jarrett said the company will never lose the fan-friendly reputation that has become prevalent.

“That’s something that we really strive to use to separate ourselves from really all touring acts in any business,” Jarrett said. “When you come to our show, we want you to have the full TNA experience where you can come in and get an autograph from a Jeff Hardy, or take a picture with a Rob Van Dam, or whoever it may be. … Fan interaction is an understatement on how we pride ourselves. We really try to get up close and personal with our fans.”