Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
By the year 2001, the landscape of professional wrestling had changed dramatically. Both ECW and WCW had been gobbled up by the WWE and TNA was another year away from existence. The brother of Bret Hart…Bruce Hart got together with a number of investors and started a little promotion that would emphasize a young high flying, aerial product. The promotion would be based out of Calgary, Alberta, Canada and be taped at one of Calgary’s most famous landmarks….The Palace Nightclub of Calgary. It would be renamed “The Rat’s Nest.”
To add a legitimacy to this upstart promotion…Eric Bischoff and actor/entrepreneur Jason Hervey were brought on board. They would assist in the development and distribution of what would be known as MatRats. What exactly was a Mat Rat? Well, if you call little children rug rats….what would you call teenage wrestlers? Mat Rats of course! What made this company so unique and set it apart from the WWE…there were no wrestlers over the age of 21.
In fact, the age bracket for the wrestlers would be between the ages of 14 years old to 21 years old. As crazy as it sounds to have a bunch of teenagers wrestling…the logic was it was much safer to have them compete in an organized environment rather than someone’s backyard.
The talent roster was pretty impressive as well. Some of the names included, Harry Smith, Nattie Neidhart, TJ Wilson (Tyson Kidd) Jack Evans, Rene Dupree and Teddy Hart. The announce team consisted of the great Joey Styles and Don Callis from ECW.
The ring itself was also pretty unique. Fans like to talk about TNA’s six sided ring as something that stands out. The Mat Rats ring was square, but the top turnbuckle had platforms attached to them. Making it easier for the wrestlers to balance themselves for high flying maneuvers. In lieu of a traditional ring announcer like Howard Finkel or Michael Buffer…they used an attractive, young blonde girl who was surrounded by other pretty young girls who would squeal with excitement every time a wrestler was introduced.
The talent was young, but talented and the concept was innovative. So what went wrong? Trying to get a TV deal with the selling point being underage kids performing dangerous moves didn’t exactly appeal to any sponsors or networks. While the costs to produce the show were relatively low….rumored at about $175,000…nobody wanted to touch it. Child labor laws were certain to come into play and groups like the Parents Television Council would guaranteed be protesting this show and its advertisers if aired.
Before long, the ambitious Mat Rats concept was a little too ambitious and the carpet was pulled from beneath their feet. Eric Bischoff wound up going to the WWE and company folded before it ever really got going. Would it have worked? Maybe…maybe not…
