Get your “Joe Is Gonna Kill You!” chants ready, because TNA Wrestling is coming to Texas next week. The No. 2 U.S. wrestling promotion will be doing house shows at the Bell County Center in Belton (January 9), Travis County Expo Center in Austin (January 10), and the House Of Blues in Dallas (January 11).
Many pro wrestling fans bait TNA for their bad habit of hiring former WWE and WCW burnouts (Kurt Angle), has-beens (Scott Hall), and no-selling hosses (Kevin Nash). But they cost pay-per-view money, so the touring roster is lean and brutal. However, it’s not free of main-event talent, as Houston’s own Booker T goes toe-to-toe with “the Instant Classic” Christian Cage.
But TNA is most beloved amongst fans for the X-Division, its answer to the now-defunct WWE/WCW cruiserweight and lightweight belts. Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley, aka the Motor City Machine Guns are billed, as is the outrageously flamboyant “Black Machismo” Jay Lethal and the ever-airborne Elix Skipper. And, of course, Samoa Joe, the 290-pound Samoan Submission machine (reliably informed by someone who helped promote a Joe bout a couple of years ago that he’s lovely in person, but he’s one of the stiffest workers out there). If you want to see the teeth-jarring glory of the muscle-buster in person, tickets are still available.
This article appears in 2007.
