Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA Wrestling or simply TNA) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment.
TNA was founded in May 2002 by professional wrestlers Jeff and Jerry Jarrett, and was initially affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and subtitled as NWA: Total Nonstop Action (NWA-TNA). TNA was acquired by Panda Energy that October, aired weekly pay-per-view (PPV) events in the U.S. until September 2004, and largely separated from the NWA soon after. TNA debuted its flagship weekly broadcast television show TNA Impact! in May 2004, gaining attention for its emphasis on fast-paced and acrobatic wrestling, female performers, and a sports-like presentation, including the use of a six-sided ring: TNA soon became the second-largest American wrestling promotion behind WWE.
TNA suffered financial mismanagement and infamous creative missteps between 2010 and 2016, prompting the exodus of several wrestlers and Panda Energy divesting its stake to Dixie Carter in 2012, with Carter eventually selling to Anthem in 2017. TNA was rebranded to Impact Wrestling in 2017 before returning to its original name in 2024.Welcome Back TNA - Impact Wrestling.com Anthem has since broadly stabilized TNA, with the promotion now considered as the third-largest wrestling promotion in the U.S., behind WWE and All Elite Wrestling (AEW).
TNA's roster primarily appears on TNA Impact!, as well as on its streaming and PPV programming. TNA wrestlers have also appeared at events produced by other promotions, including WWE. As with other professional wrestling promotions, TNA promotes predetermined contests that are athletic and entertainment-based featuring storyline-driven, scripted, and partially choreographed matches. However, matches require considerable athletic skill and often include moves that can put performers at risk of serious injury or death if not performed correctly.
History Formation and early history (2002–2004)
The concept of TNA originated shortly after World Championship Wrestling (WCW) ended in 2001, with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, later WWE) 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 (72%) 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! (stylized as iMPACT!), produced at Soundstage 21, nicknamed the "Impact Zone", at Universal Studios Florida and broadcast on Fox Sports Net (FSN). 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 (who made appearances at previous "Asylum" shows), 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 (OVW) 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, also known by his ring name The Great Muta. 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.