Game gone wild: Iowa’s connection to a wacky sport

By Todd Magel

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    DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) — What happens when you combine soccer with the spectacle of professional wrestling? Iowans found out back in 2000 when “Socker Slam” debuted in Des Moines.

The long-forgotten entertainment experiment is now the subject of a new documentary.

Twenty-three years ago, the now-retired director of the Iowa Lottery had a crazy idea.

“Anything that we could do to be a little over the top, we decided to throw it in, and we created Socker Slam,” said Terry Rich.

Rich mixed up the wild antics of professional wrestling with the growing sport of soccer.

“This show we were doing 53 to 51, high scoring, all the action, all the drama, so it’s a very fast-paced show,” Rich said.

Combined with weird characters and fake fights.

Rich and his team only made four shows, and Socker Slam never really caught on. But it’s back– kind of.

California-based filmmaker Corey Moss is debuting a new documentary on the Socker Slam phenomenon.

“It happened to launch in my hometown,” Corey Moss said. “I’m from Des Moines. Hopefully, this documentary can ignite a little bit of interest in it.”

Moss learned about the short-lived Socker Slam, came back to Des Moines and found many of the original cast and players. He decided to take a look back at the whacky TV series idea.

“You just watch it and say, ‘I can’t believe that happened,’ they literally wrote a whole storyline about farting. It goes on and on,” Moss said.

Moss gives credit to Rich.

“Just this fascinating, unique person who was not afraid to chase his dream,” Moss said.

Rich was hoping Socker Slam would turn into the next WWE franchise. But it never caught on.

“This is the hokiest thing I’ve ever seen, and I love it,” Moss said. “It was so bizarre, it was so odd. It was so different, it was a little cheesy, it was low budget.”

Socker Slam may have failed, but it lives again thanks to the new documentary. And who knows, maybe it was an idea ahead of its time.

“The one thing that I always realized when you have an idea, it can always be resurrected, but you need to act on your million-dollar idea,” Rich said.

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