Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment, a Canadian media company owned by businessman Leonard Asper.
Founded by Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett in 2002, following the end of World Championship Wrestling in 2001, the promotion was initially known as NWA: Total Nonstop Action and was affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance governing body. The promotion dropped the "NWA" brand from its name in 2004, becoming Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. TNA continued to use the NWA World Heavyweight and Tag Team championships until this agreement ended in 2007; after which, the company would create its own World Heavyweight and World Tag Team championships. The promotion was purchased by Anthem at the beginning of 2017. In March of that year, it was rebranded to Impact Wrestling after its weekly flagship television show, but returned to the TNA branding in January 2024.
From its inception, TNA had been considered the second-largest promotion in the United States behind WWE, a position it would hold for most of the 2000s and early 2010s. During this time period the promotion was known for featuring former top talent from WCW, WWE, and ECW, such as Raven, Jeff Jarrett, and Sting, free agents that were released from the WWE during the time period such as Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy, and Mr. Kennedy, as well as more homegrown wrestlers who had not appeared in WWE yet and mainly performed for the promotion such as AJ Styles and Samoa Joe.. From 2015 to 2017, the promotion was viewed by some to have fallen behind longtime rival Ring of Honor; with the loss of their American television contract with Spike in 2014, as well as monetary and personnel issues, being noted as factors to their decline.
By 2019, the promotion was viewed to have recovered through its sustained international distribution, and the purchase by its parent company of AXS TV; which subsequently began carrying the promotion's programming. TNA is currently viewed as being the third-largest wrestling promotion in the United States; following the establishment of All Elite Wrestling in 2019, and its current television deals with Warner Bros. Discovery's TNT and TBS.
History
Formation and early history (2002–2004)
The concept of TNA originated shortly after World Championship Wrestling ended in 2001, with the World Wrestling Federation gaining a monopoly on the industry. While on a fishing trip, Bob Ryder, Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett contemplated their futures in the professional wrestling business under a parent company known as JSports & Entertainment, LLC. Ryder suggested a company not reliant on television, but rather one going straight to pay-per-view. In July 2002, Vince Russo joined Jeff and Jerry Jarrett's NWA-TNA promotion as a creative writer and would assist in the writing and production of the shows. Russo states that he coined the name "Total Nonstop Action", the initials of the company "TNA" being a play on "T&A". The original intention, as they were exclusive to pay-per-view, was to be viewed as an edgier product than WWE.Initially, TNA's weekly pay-per-view show operated as the company's main source of revenue, in place of monthly pay-per-view events used by other promotions. These shows took place mostly at the Tennessee State Fairground Sports Arena in Nashville, nicknamed the "TNA Asylum". In October 2002, Panda Energy International purchased a controlling interest of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling from Jerry Jarrett. the company was re-organized as TNA Entertainment, LLC, in the process. Dixie Carter was appointed president of TNA Entertainment in spring 2003. Xplosion launched on November 27, 2002, as TNA's first regular cable show and featured exclusive matches taped at the TNA Asylum as well as exclusive interviews with TNA wrestlers and the promotion's original weekly pay-per-view shows took place mostly at the Tennessee State Fairground Sports Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. The last weekly pay-per-view took place on September 8, 2004, with a total of 111 weekly pay-per-views.
Growth and surging popularity (2004–2009)
In May 2004, TNA introduced its second weekly television program, Impact!, produced at Soundstage 21, nicknamed the "Impact Zone", at Universal Studios Florida and broadcast on Fox Sports Net. With the show's première, TNA introduced a six-sided wrestling ring, the implementation of the "Fox Box" displaying competitors and timekeeping for the match and a generally more sports-like style than the sports entertainment style exemplified by WWE.In June 2004, TNA issued a press release stating it had signed a master toy license agreement with Toy Biz, with various action figures and playsets releasing between 2005 and 2007.
TNA would subsequently discontinue producing weekly pay-per-views in favor of a traditional monthly pay-per-view schedule, beginning with Victory Road in November 2004. TNA's television contract with Fox Sports expired in May 2005. Without television exposure, Impact! would continue to air through webcastsoriginally made available via BitTorrent and eventually via RealPlayerand replace Xplosion's timeslot on Urban America Television.
On September 11, 2005, TNA held its Unbreakable pay-per-view. Unbreakable is remembered for the three-way match main event for the TNA X Division Championship, between AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, and Samoa Joe, which received a rare 5Star match rating from wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer, the first one the company received.
Later that year, TNA would secure a television deal with Spike TV; Impact! debuted on the network on October 1, 2005. The episode saw Team 3D make their TNA debut. TNA would gain attention for the many high-profile talent that would join the promotion during the show's run on Spike. From 2005 to 2009, these include Kevin Nash, Rhino, Christian Cage, Sting, Scott Steiner, Kurt Angle, Booker T, and Mick Foley.
In April 2006, TNA launched a YouTube channel, featuring clips from Impact and exclusive content. Beginning with Bound for Glory in October 2006, TNA began holding select pay-per-view events outside of Orlando, Florida. In January 2007, TNA announced a deal with New Motion, Inc. which led to the introduction of TNA Mobile service. TNA has also launched "TNA U TV"; podcasts aired through YouTube to help promote the company.
In August 2007, live-events coordinator Craig Jenkins stated that TNA intended to stage eight pay-per-views and 96 house shows outside Orlando, Florida, in 2008.
From 2007 to 2008, TNA first toured Europe, hosting two shows at Porto and Lisbon in Portugal, with TNA later conducting its first tour of England, with most shows selling out which later broke TNA's attendance records with the promotion later touring in Germany, Scotland and Ireland in 2009, France, Wales and the United Arab Emirates in 2010 and Belgium in 2012.
In February 2008, Jakks Pacific announced it had signed a multi-year master toy license agreement with TNA, to release products starting in 2010.
In March 2008, Tristar Productions acquired an exclusive license deal to produce and distribute TNA trading cards and memorabilia. On September 9, 2008, Midway Games released the TNA Impact! video game. On October 23, 2008, TNA began producing its programming in HD. In addition, a new HD set for Impact was introduced, including new lighting, and large high-resolution screens.
On June 21, 2009, TNA launched an online video-vault subscription-service where subscribers could watch past pay-per-views by choosing one of three payment options.
Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff leadership, and financial troubles (2010–2016)
In October 2009, TNA President Dixie Carter hired Hulk Hogan and former WCW President Eric Bischoff. Hulk Hogan first appeared on the January 4, 2010, episode of Impact!. Both obtained a position behind the scenes; with Bischoff part of creative and Hogan as a consultant. Under their tenure, TNA would see several revamps in 2010. Beginning with Genesis in January, TNA returned to using a four-sided ring. That month, Jakks Pacific announced a five-year agreement to produce TNA action figures. Impact! would also begin airing on Monday nights directly opposite of WWE Raw, marking the first time that two major professional wrestling promotions would go head to head since the launch of WCW Monday Nitro in 1995. The show would permanently move to Mondays on March 8, 2010, Spike would keep the Thursday night slot open for repeats of the Monday night shows. During this time, Ric Flair, Rob Van Dam, Mr. Anderson would make their debuts, while Jeff Hardy would make his return. Impact! would later return to Thursday nights on May 3.On July 2, 2010, TNA hosted a live house show at MCU Park, which also broke the TNA domestic attendance record at the time and being the most attended live TNA house show in the United States, with a capacity crowd of 5,550.
During the May 3, 2011, Impact! television tapings, the show would change its name to Impact Wrestling. On November 7, 2011, TNA revealed that Ohio Valley Wrestling would become TNA's official developmental territory. In December 2011, TNA debuted their new India-based subsidiary promotion Ring Ka King. On May 31, 2012, Impact Wrestling began airing live at a new start time of 8 p.m. EST on Thursday nights. The live schedule would continue throughout 2012. In 2012, Panda Energy divested itself of its stake in TNA. Dixie Carter, the daughter of Panda Energy founder Robert Carter, who had been serving as TNA's president, acquired that stake, making her TNA's majority shareholder. In March 2013, TNA began taping Impact from different venues around the United States and terminated its lease with Universal Studios. On March 14, TNA introduced a new universal HD stage which would be used for all weekly programming. On November 2, TNA ended its relationship with OVW.
TNA formed a relationship with Japanese promotion Wrestle-1 beginning in July 2013 with a meeting between TNA founder Jeff Jarrett and Wrestle-1 head Keiji Mutoh. It was arranged for Jarrett to wrestle for Wrestle-1 in October 2013. In November, A.J. Styles successfully defended the TNA World Heavyweight Championship at a Wrestle-1 show in Japan.
From the period of 2013 to 2014, many well-known names or veterans of the company left TNA. In October 2013, Hulk Hogan's contract with TNA expired, ending his time as creative consultant with the company. In December, AJ Styles left TNA after his contract expired. Styles later said that he could not accept TNA's new contract offer, which would see him take a 60% cut in pay and TNA founder Jeff Jarrett would resign from the company, but remained as minority shareholder until his temporary return on June 24, 2015, with the deal for his return including the transfer of his minority stake to Dixie Carter, making her sole shareholder. The following year Jarrett revealed plans to start a new professional wrestling promotion, Global Force Wrestling. Further departures in 2014 included TNA veterans Sting, Chris Sabin, Hernandez, Christopher Daniels and Kazarian all leaving the company in that year, and the contracts of TNA Hall of Famers Bully Ray and Devon reportedly expired in October 2014, with TNA moving them to the alumni section of their roster in January 2015.
In late July, the TMZ website reported that Spike was not renewing Impact Wrestling beyond October. TNA would refute the report, stating that negotiations were still ongoing. On August 14, Impact Wrestling moved to Wednesday nights. On August 20, TNA signed an extension with Spike until the end of 2014.
In November 2014, TNA announced a new agreement with Discovery Communications to distribute its programming in the United States on Destination America and to selected international markets. Spike's outreach at the time was estimated to be more than 97 million homes while Destination America was estimated to reach 59 million households. Impact Wrestling ceased airing new televised events on Spike after the November 19 episode. The final episodes of 2014 were Best of TNA clip shows. On January 7, 2015, Impact Wrestling moved to Destination America, with a live debut from The Manhattan Center's Grand Ballroom in New York City.
In addition to Impact Wrestling, which was now airing on Friday nights, two new shows produced were Impact Wrestling: Unlocked, hosted by Mike Tenay, and TNA Wrestling's Greatest Matches, a series presenting the best matches in the company's history. From December 2014 to March 2015, several employees re-signed with TNA, including Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy, Gail Kim, Mr. Anderson, Abyss and Matt Hardy. Awesome Kong also re-joined the company following several years of absence. During this period, veteran Samoa Joe and commentator Tazz left the company by mutual consent.
On April 27, 2015, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan joined TNA as senior producer of creative and talent development. According to a report on August 7, TNA filed a new business name of Impact Ventures, LLC.
Destination America gained over 41.94 million viewers over the course of 2015's first quarter, making this the channel's best first quarter ever, followed by their best May ever in prime time. In both cases, Discovery Communications touted Impact Wrestling as one of the reasons for the increase in viewers. Despite this success, Discovery Communications dropped Unlocked and Greatest Matches from their programming in May 2015.
On November 19, TNA signed a deal with Pop TV to air Impact Wrestling, where it premiered on Tuesday, January 5, 2016, in a live special held at the Sands Hotel and Casino in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. With this move to Pop, Impact Wrestling introduced a new HD set, graphics and theme music. This show saw the semi-finals and finals of the TNA World Title Series, which was won by Ethan Carter III. Husband and wife team Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis would debut soon after. Subsequent shows would include episodes taped during a tour of England, which would be the last TNA appearances for Kurt Angle. TNA returned to taping Impact Wrestling at the Impact Zone at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, beginning with a live Impact Wrestling on March 15. On March 19, longtime TNA wrestlers Eric Young and Bobby Roode left the promotion after 12 years. On April 22, Velvet Sky, another longtime TNA wrestler, left the company.
It was reported near the beginning of 2016 that Aroluxe Marketing, a Brentwood, Tennessee–based marketing agency, had taken a stake in TNA at the start of 2016 in return for providing partial funding, as well as taking over TNA's production operations. It was reported in June 2016 that Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan acquired a minority stake in TNA from Dixie Carter, but he had instead provided a loan to Carter. Then on August 12, Billy Corgan became the promotion's new president, while Carter transitioned from president to the company's new chairwoman and chief strategy officer.
It was reported on September 16 by the New York Post that Canada's Fight Network, through its parent company, Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corporation, had taken a stake in TNA. On October 13, Corgan sued TNA due to unpaid debt which Corgan claimed TNA had defaulted on. The State of Tennessee also put a lien on TNA for unpaid taxes. Anthem Sports & Entertainment, parent company of Impact Wrestlings Canadian broadcaster, Fight Network, offered to help TNA and repay Corgan for the loans, while also offering additional financial assistance to TNA to help keep them from filing for bankruptcy. On October 31, Corgan lost his injunction that kept TNA from selling the company, but TNA was required to pay Corgan back by November 1. It was possible that one of the other minority owners could pay Corgan, effectively making them the majority owner of TNA.
On November 3, the company revealed that Anthem Sports & Entertainment provided a credit facility to fund operations for TNA and that Corgan was removed as the promotion's president. However, Corgan himself stated that neither TNA nor Anthem Sports & Entertainment had yet repaid the $2.7million debt that was owed to him by TNA and, as such, he was considering suing, as well as converting the debt into a 36 percent stake. As the result of a settlement between Corgan and TNA, Anthem Sports & Entertainment acquired the loans Corgan made to Carter in the process.