For a city with plenty of wrestling fans who love nothing more than to witness a good body slam or finishing moves off the top rope, 2009 is going to be year to remember.

After already hosting a WWE live event back in January, St. Joe will play host to the on-the-rise alternative when TNA Wrestling’s “The Frontline Revenge Tour” comes to the Civic Arena at 7:30 p.m. tonight.

TNA (Total Nonstop Action) Wrestling started in 2002, and in its short history it has become a formidable force in the wrestling industry. Its popular “TNA iMPACT” wrestling broadcasts on Spike TV showcase a cast of seasoned veterans and talented up-and-comers in a variety of weight classes who often undergo brutal matches in TNA’s signature hexagon ring.

This weekend, St. Joseph will get to see TNA Wrestling for the first time in this non-televised house show, which Civic Arena manager Kathy Brock says has been a long time coming for this wrestling-loving city.

“They’ve been interested in the facility for some time, and the dates just worked out perfectly,” Brock says. “I think the town is just excited about the TNA because they miss it.”

For this particular event, people can check out some of TNA’s most popular personalities, with long-time wrestlers like the Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle and Big Poppa Pump, young fan favorites like Samoan Submission Machine Samoa Joe and the TNA X Division champion Suicide, the tag team Beer Money, Inc., and female bruisers Awesome Kong and ODB, among many others.

Oh yeah, if you just want to see two of TNA’s biggest, and we mean BIGGEST, dudes go at it, “The Monster” Abyss (6 foot 8 inches, 350 pounds) takes on his former tag partner “The Blueprint” Matt Morgan (7 feet, 305 pounds), which Abyss promises will be an intense match-up.

“That will be a clash of two big heavyweights that night,” he says. “I promise you, it will definitely get out of hand.”

And knowing that this will be TNA Wrestling’s first-ever stop in St. Joseph, Abyss and his fellow TNA wrestlers are even more motivated to leave a mark on St. Joe.

“Everybody gets a little more excited than normal. It definitely provides an additional boost of adrenaline,” Abyss says. “When you watch the show, it’s a two-hour adrenaline rush ... We demand that of ourselves.”

Tickets for the event are $23 to $53. For more information, call 271-4717 or go to www.ticketmaster.com.