History of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

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TNA Entertainment, LLC
Founded May 10, 2002
Style Professional wrestling
Headquarters Nashville, Tennessee
Founder(s) Jeff Jarrett
Jerry Jarrett
Owner(s) Dixie Carter
Aroluxe Marketing
Website official website

The history of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling dates back to the early 2002 when it was founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett in May 2002 as NWA:Total Nonstop Action (NWA-TNA). It underwent name a name change from NWA-TNA due to a working relationship with the National Wrestling Alliance to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2007 when TNA and the NWA ending their working relationship.

TNA is the second largest professional wrestling company in the United States.[1] It has promoted some of the most successful wrestlers and storylines, and featured some of the most iconic and significant matches and moments in the history of the professional wrestling. TNA currently airs several programs such as Impact Wrestling and TNA Xplosion in more than 20 countries, hosting pay-per-view events yearly including Bound for Glory the company's biggest event of the year.

History

Early years

Jeff Jarrett, one of the co-founders of TNA and TNA Hall of Famer

The concept of TNA originated shortly after World Championship Wrestling (WCW) ended in 2001. Bob Ryder, Jeff Jarrett, and Jerry Jarrett went on a fishing trip and contemplated their futures in the sport of wrestling.[2] Only one wrestling product remained on U.S. national television: the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Ryder felt[2] that this situation led many television stations to regard wrestling as bad for business; he suggested a company not reliant on television, but rather one going straight to pay-per-view.

The Jarretts found the financial backing they needed, and the company put on its first show on June 19, 2002. That night, however, in a dark match just before they went on the air, a 450 lb wrestler named Cheex hit the ropes with so much force that one of them broke. The estimated repair time was 30–60 minutes, which they did not have because the schedule called for them to go live in a few minutes, whether the ring was ready or not. Backstage, the producers shuffled the schedule so that some non-wrestling segments went first to give the ring crew some more time, but they did not have many of them. The ring crew fixed the rope with the help of Ron and Don Harris, and everyone went live hoping for the best.[2]

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 started on June 19, 2002, and took place mostly at the Tennessee State Fairground Sports Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, nicknamed the TNA Asylum. After 27 months and 111 PPVs, TNA began[3] holding a weekly television show and monthly three-hour pay-per-views. The last weekly PPV took place on September 8, 2004. TNA Xplosion launched on November 27, 2002 as TNA's first regular cable show and featured exclusive matches from the TNA Asylum as well as exclusive interviews with TNA Wrestlers. On November 18, 2004, the show became a recap show of the previous week's Impact! in light of alterations in the taping schedule. Xplosion resumed airing exclusive matches (billed as "Xplosion Xclusives") once more on October 7, 2005 in addition to recapping Impact!. The "Xplosion Xclusives" also aired on the now-ceased TNA Global Impact! internet show. Airing of Xplosion in the United States ceased at the end of 2006, although some of the exclusive matches can be seen on TNA Today.

Corporate

In 2002, the president of Monterey Peninsula Talent (a booking agency) contacted Dixie Carter and informed her that Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, a professional wrestling promotion, required a marketing and publicity outlet. Carter began working with TNA, but, two months later, was informed by Jeff Jarrett (a part-owner of TNA) that a key financial backer (HealthSouth Corporation, which was having financial problems due to its being investigated for accounting irregularities) had withdrawn support from TNA, and that the company was in dire straits as a result.[4] Carter, claiming to "[See] the potential in a marketplace that had one company WWE with a US$900 million market cap and no competitor", contacted her parents, the owners of Panda Energy International, a Dallas-based energy company. In October 2002, Panda Energy purchased 71% of TNA from the HealthSouth Corporation for $250,000. On October 31, 2002, TNA (which originally traded as "J Sports and Entertainment") was renamed "TNA Entertainment".[4][5][6][7] Carter was appointed president of TNA Entertainment in spring 2003.[8] In December 2007, Carter voluntarily appeared before United States Congress to be interviewed regarding professional wrestling in the wake of the Chris Benoit double murder and suicide.[8]

2004–2010

In May 2004, TNA Wrestling announced that they would be including a television program on Fox Sports, dubbed TNA iMPACT!, at Soundstage 21, Universal Studios Florida.[9] The transition included the use of a six-sided wrestling ring,[10][11] the implementation of the "Fox Box" displaying competitors and timekeeping for the match,[12] and a generally more sports-like style than the sports entertainment style exemplified by the WWE.[12]

With the switch to cable television, TNA discontinued their weekly pay-per-view shows in favor of a monthly 3-hour pay-per-view format as previously utilized by WCW and ECW and as currently used by WWE. In November 2004, TNA held the first of these pay-per-views, Victory Road, beginning the pattern of pay-per-view shows that continued until 2013.

The television contract with Fox Sports expired in May 2005 and was not renegotiated, leaving TNA without television exposure.[13] This prompted TNA to air iMPACT! via webcasts – originally made available via BitTorrent and eventually via RealPlayer – and on Urban America Television replacing Xplosion. During this time TNA continued pursuing a profitable television deal for regular broadcasting.[14][15] TNA later secured a deal with Spike TV and aired its first episode on October 1, 2005.[16]

In November 2006, TNA began holding select pay-per-views outside of its central filming location, the TNA Impact! Zone in Orlando, Florida, with Bound for Glory 2006. In April 2006, TNA announced a partnership with YouTube whereby TNA supplied YouTube with exclusive video-content in exchange for hosting, leading to the production of internet shows. In January 2007, TNA's mobile-content deal with New Motion, Inc. led to the introduction of TNA Mobile and mobile fan-voting.[17] TNA has also launched "TNA U TV"; podcasts aired through YouTube to help promote the company.[18] Impact! expanded to a two-hour format on October 4, 2007.[19] 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.[20]

On October 23, 2008, TNA made the transition to HD and since then all programming has been broadcast in high-definition.[21] In addition, TNA introduced a new HD set that included new lighting and several large high-resolution screens.[22]

2010–2014

In 2010, TNA hired professional wrestling legend Hulk Hogan and former WCW President Eric Bischoff. Both obtained a position behind the screen (Bischoff was part of creative and Hogan a consultant) and made some changes. They also hired many high-profile ex-WWE wrestlers, including Ric Flair, Rob Van Dam, Mr. Anderson and Jeff Hardy, while returning to a four sided ring. On February 15, 2010, TNA made a new deal with Spike TV, which moved Impact! to Monday nights, directly opposite of Raw (Although the network kept the Thursday night slot open for repeats of the Monday night shows). The first episode took place March 8, 2010.[23]

On May 3, 2010, TNA announced that Impact! would be moved back to Thursday nights, re-branded as "TNA Thursdays".[24] At the same time the company also announced that Spike had picked up TNA Reaction (stylized as "TNA ReAction" or, alternatively, as "TNA ReACTION"), which became a regular one-hour docu-series on June 24, 2010. "ReAction" focused on the stories and characters of TNA Wrestling and preview the upcoming episode of "TNA iMPACT!"[25][26] TNA Wrestling president Dixie Carter announced on January 13, 2011 that on February 24, 2011, the promotion would be holding Impact! tapings at the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, North Carolina.[27] On May 3, 2011, TNA Impact! was re-branded Impact Wrestling.[28][29][30]

On November 7, 2011, TNA announced that it had reached a deal with Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) to become TNA's official developmental territory.[31] In December 2011, TNA debuted their new India-based subsidiary promotion Ring Ka King.[32] On May 31, 2012, Impact Wrestling began airing live at a new start time of 8pm EST on Thursday nights.[33] The live schedule would continue throughout 2012.[34] On July 11, DirecTV, the carrier of Spike, blocked all Viacom stations affecting TNA viewership from DirecTV subscribers.[35] On July 20, DirecTV announced that it had reached an agreement with Viacom and had added back all 17 removed channels, which included SpikeTV.[36] On January 31, 2013, TNA announced that they would begin taping Impact from different venues around the United States starting March 14, 2013, from the Sears Centre in Chicago. TNA officially terminated its lease with Universal Studios in late March 2013.[37] On March 14, 2013, TNA introduced a new universal HD stage which will be used for all weekly programming.[38] On November 2, 2013, TNA ended its relationship with OVW.[39]

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.[40] It was arranged for Jarrett to wrestle for Wrestle-1 in October 2013.[41] In November, A.J. Styles successfully defended his TNA World Heavyweight Championship at a Wrestle-1 show in Japan.[42]

From the period of 2013 to 2014, many well-known names or veterans of the company left TNA. Hulk Hogan's contract with TNA expired in October 2013,[43] and he returned to WWE in early 2014.[44] In December 2013, A.J. Styles left TNA after his contract expired.[45] Styles later said that he could not accept TNA's new contract offer which would see him take a 60% cut in pay.[46] Also in December 2013, TNA founder Jeff Jarrett "resigned" from the company.[47] TNA accepted his resignation but clarified that Jarrett was still an "investor" in TNA. In spite of his investor status, in 2014, Jarrett announced plans to start a new professional wrestling promotion, Global Force Wrestling.[48] The departures did not stop in 2014, with TNA veterans Sting,[49] Chris Sabin,[50] Hernandez,[51] Christopher Daniels and Kazarian all leaving the company in that year,[52] 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.[53]

In late July, the TMZ website reported that Spike TV was not renewing Impact Wrestling beyond October.[54] In response, TNA refuted the report, stating that negotiations were still ongoing.[55] On August 14, TNA announced that Impact Wrestling was moving from its Thursday timeslot to Wednesday nights.[56] On August 20, TNA announced that it had signed an extension with Spike TV until the end of 2014.[57]

The 2014 Bound for Glory pay-per-view was held in collaboration with Wrestle-1 in Tokyo, Japan on October 12; the TNA World Heavyweight and the TNA World Tag Team titles were not defended at the event, which featured TNA wrestlers James Storm and The Great Sanada against Wrestle-1's The Great Muta and Tajiri in the main event.[58] After Bound for Glory 2014, TNA effectively went into hiatus due to Impact Wrestling ending their contract with Spike TV and its subsequent move to Destination America. The show ceased airing new televised events after the November 19 episode of Impact Wrestling, with the final episodes of 2014 being dedicated to Best of TNA clip shows, before resuming events on January 7, 2015 with a live show from The Manhattan Center's Grand Ballroom in New York City.[59][60][61]

2015–present

On November 19, 2014, TNA announced that its relationship was ending with Spike, and that it would instead partner with Discovery Communications to distribute its programming beginning in January 2015. In the United States, TNA programs, including Impact Wrestling, will move to Destination America. Discovery will also hold rights in selected international markets.[62] 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.[63] Destination America is, however, one of the fastest growing cable networks[64]

Impact Wrestling's première was on Wednesday, January 7 at 9:00 pm[65] TNA announced that Impact Wrestling: Unlocked, a brand new weekly series, hosted by Mike Tenay, would premiere on Saturday, January 17[66] and TNA Wrestling's Greatest Matches, a new series featuring the best matches in the company's history, premiered on Saturday, January 10 on Destination America. The series aired every Saturday at 12 noon immediately following Impact Wrestling: Unlocked.[67] From December 2014 to March 2015, several employees re-signed with TNA, including Kurt Angle,[68] Jeff Hardy, Gail Kim, Mr. Anderson, Abyss and Matt Hardy.[69][69][70] Awesome Kong also re-joined the company following a several year absence.[70] During this period veteran Samoa Joe and commentator Taz left the company by mutual consent[71][72]

Discovery Communications announced in early April 2015, that Destination America had recorded their best first quarter ever, thanks in part to TNA's Impact Wrestling, with Destination America capturing over 41.94 million unique viewers over the course of the quarter.[64][73] On April 27, 2015, it was announced that Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan had joined TNA as senior producer of creative and talent development.[74] In May 2015, Discovery Communications dropped Unlocked and Greatest Matches from their programming on Destination America.[75][76]

In June 2015, Discovery Communications announced that Destination America recorded their best May ever in primetime, touting Impact Wrestling as one of the reasons for the increase in viewers.[77] On November 19, 2015, it was announced on the same day that TNA signed a deal with Pop to air Impact Wrestling beginning on January 5, 2016.[78]

Features

Bound for Glory

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Main article: TNA Bound For Glory

Bound for Glory is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced every October by the American Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion. The event was created in 2005 to be their premier event of the year, similar to the company's main rival World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and its WrestleMania event. As of July 2024, eleven events have occurred under the chronology.

Slammiversary

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Main article: TNA Slammiversary

Slammiversary is the name given to professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) events held by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in the month of June. It is considered one of TNA's flagship PPV events along with Bound for Glory (the biggest show of the year) The name of the show is a reference to the anniversary of the first TNA event, held June 19, 2002. The Slammiversary name was first used in June 2003. Slammiversary was the longtime host of the King of the Mountain match.

Hall of Fame

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Main article: TNA Hall of Fame

The TNA Hall of Fame was announced on May 31, 2012. As part of the yearly process, selected inductees will be chosen based on their overall contributions to TNA's history.[79][80] On June 10 at Slammiversary 10, Sting was revealed as the first inductee into the Hall of Fame. His formal induction took place at Bound for Glory in October 2012.[81]

Popular culture

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Main article: List of celebrities involved with TNA Wrestling

Since its inception TNA has had various celebrity involvement for their pay-per view events and Impact Wrestling (TNA Impact!) broadcast. One of the first celebrities to appear in TNA History was Toby Keith who appeared on the first ever TNA Weekly pay-per view event on June 19, 2002. In 2003, The TNA promotion was featured in the film Head of State where the main character Mays Gilliam (Chris Rock) makes an appearance for TNA Wrestling during his campaign tour for presidency.[82]

In January 2010, TNA wrestlers Angelina Love, A.J. Styles, Taylor Wilde, and Velvet Sky were featured on MTV's Made.[83] In November 2010, Family Feud, featured TNA Week with the team of TNA Knockouts (Angelina Love, Christy Hemme, Lacey Von Erich, Tara and Velvet Sky) against the team of Wrestlers (Jay Lethal, Matt Morgan, Mick Foley, Mr. Anderson and Rob Van Dam).[84] On June 30, 2011, Matt Morgan was announced as being a part of the new season of CMT Made 101.[85]

In September 2011, TNA signed Big Brother reality star Jessie Godderz and was sent down to their developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) for further training.[86][87][88] During his time with TNA he made appearances on Season's 13, 14 and 17.

In October 2011, The TNA World Heavyweight Championship was featured in Season 2 Episode 3 of the Comedy Central series Workaholics when one of the main characters Blake Henderson (Blake Anderson) dresses as Randy Savage holding the Championship belt while watching a wrestling show.

In 2014, Robbie E and former TNA Knockout Brooke Adams participated in the 25th season of The Amazing Race. They survived until the middle part of the final leg of the race, where they were the eighth team to be eliminated and placed fourth.[89]

On April 4, 2012, Animal Planet announced that Eric Young would start hosting his own television program, Off the Hook: Extreme Catches, on the channel starting July 29, 2012.[90][91] Following a successful first season, Animal Planet announced season two would start June 16, 2013, with a double header. Young was a guest on the June 12, 2013, episode of NBC's The Today Show promoting the new season of Off the Hook: Extreme Catches.[92] On April 26, 2014, Young announced the name of his new show scheduled to premier on Animal Planet on May 30. The show will be called "No Limits."[93] The showed ended in August 2014.

See also

References

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External links

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