Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, aka TNA Wrestling, is a US-based promotion that can be considered the #3 promotion in the US. It was started in 2002 by pro wrestling promoter Jerry Jarrett and his son, wrestler Jeff Jarrett, and was affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) despite not being an official NWA member. It was first known as NWA: Total Nonstop Action Wrestling until dropping the “NWA” from its name in 2004.
TNA was formed shortly after the closing of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 2001. with executive Bob Ryder encouraging the Jarretts to create a promotion that only ran PPV events. In July 2002, former WCW executive 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. They started out running weekly PPVs in Nashville, TN until Panda Energy purchased majority ownership in the promotion in October 2002, appointing Dixie Carter President in 2003. Their first TV show began in late 2002 with the weekly PPVs continuing until 2004.
TNA’s “Impact” weekly TV show premiered in May 2004 and was produced at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, FL and aired on Fox Sports Net (now FS1) and saw the promotion introduce a 6-sided hexagonal-shaped ring instead of the traditional square shape. The Fox deal ended in mid-2005 and they went online until getting a deal with Spike TV (now Paramount Network) in late 2005. The promotion supplemented this by launching a YouTube channel in 2008 that remains active to this day.
TNA changed its name to Impact Wrestling in May 2011, then briefly formed alliances with independent Ohio Valley Wrestling as a developmental territory and with an India-based promotion called Ring Ka King. The OVW arrangement lasted until December 2013, by which time the promotion had begun weekly touring for tapings and terminated their Orlando lease deal. During this time, wrestling icon Hulk Hogan was part of the promotion in both an in-ring and creative role, which lasted until the end of 2013. 2013-2016 was a treacherous time for the promotion as they lost their Spike TV deal, although picked up by Discovery Communications (now Warner Bros Discovery) for a slot on the Destination America channel, but they also lost or cut most of their top wrestlers including AJ Styles, Jeff Jarrett and many others, and Jarrett tried to form his own promotion called Global Force Wrestling. In the mid-2010s, Billy Corgan-now owner of the NWA and frontman of the iconic music group Smashing Pumpkins-was brought on board to replace Carter as President after the promotion moved its TV package to a new cable channel called Pop TV and saw even more top names depart. Legal disputes between TNA and Corgan in late 2015 all but bankrupted the promotion, but they were saved by help from Anthem Sports & Entertainment, the owner of the Fight Network channel in Canada and broadcast partner, who would soon purchase the promotion.
Anthem officially rebranded TNA as Impact Wrestling in 2017, which also was the official name of the promotion’s weekly TV show, and brought Jeff Jarrett back in along with making Global Force Wrestling part of the promotion. In 2018, Scott D’Amore & Don Callis were appointed Executive Vice Presidents to oversee the promotion’s daily operations, and the 6-sided ring was done away with. After bouncing around TV for a while longer, the show settled in on Anthem-owned AXS TV (formerly known as HD Net) in 2019. During the Covid-19 pendemic in 2020 the promotion formed a working partnership with new promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and then formed a partnership with New Japan Pro Wrestling at the start of 2021. Callis left Impact in May 2021, leaving D’Amore as Executive VP. When in-person events resumed late in 2021, Impact rebranded their YouTube channel and launched a new subscription platform that mirrored its Impact+ streaming service.
Impact expanded their international reach into 2023 through a broadcast deal with online service DAZN for outside North America and ran live events in Europe and Australia in 2023, then at the end of 2023 it was announced they would revive the TNA name starting in January 2024, renaming the weekly TV show to TNA Impact Wrestling. While Anthem still owns the promotion, it is now operated under a sub-brand the company created for the promotion called Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions. In February 2024, Anthem abruptly fired D’Amore as President and replaced him with Anthony Ciclone amidst rumors D’Amore tried to buy the promotion knowing he was on the way out. This has been met with overwhelmingly negative reactions from fans & wrestlers and has again raised major questions about the promotion’s future as Anthem is apparently going to do away with Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions and bring it back under the company’s main umbrella.
How to watch (US):
AXS TV-Every Thursday at 8 PM ET/PT
TNA+ (formerly Impact+)-An online streaming platform with almost every episode and PPV of TNA/Impact ever, new episodes after they air on AXS TV, and other special features, plus 8 live PPV-style events each year. Available for $9.99/month or $95.99/year or, starting in 2024, for $219.99/year as an annual plan that also includes the promotion’s 4 live PPVs (the PPVs are available separately for $39.99 each). The lower priced plan does not include the 4 live PPVs, but that plan includes on demand replays 30 days after the live events.
TrillerTV (formerly FITE until November 2023)-Offers PPV access to the live monthly events for $9.99 each and the 4 PPVs for $39.99 each. Purchases include live broadcasts and unlimited on demand replays indefinitely (currently forever). Some classic events are available on the service’s Triller+ subscription service.
YouTube-The promotion’s YouTube channel has a robust selection of classic full episodes and PPVs, clip versions of new episodes added several days after they air, and much more for free. It also offers 2 paid subscriptions-Insider ($1/month), which enables subscribers to watch the full weekly TV episodes ad-free beginning at 5:30 PM ET/PT (while the AXS broadcast is live, 30 minutes after it begins); and Ultimate Insider ($4.99/month), which gives you almost everything TNA+ does.
Xplosion-TNA’s secondary TV show at times was revived in late January 2024. New episodes premiere Fridays on TNA+ and will then be available the following Tuesday for free on YouTube.
TNA currently has 6 titles: World, X, Tag Team, Digital Media, Knockouts (Women), Knockouts Tag Team.
Current roster:
Coming Soon
Titles & History:
TNA World Championship
TNA X Championship
TNA Tag Team Championship
TNA Digital Media Championship
TNA Knockouts Championship
TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship
Official website:
https://tnawrestling.com/ (Note that impactwrestling.com, the former website URL, redirects to the new URL)
