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Website. tnawrestling .com. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ( TNA Wrestling or simply TNA) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. [9] It is a subsidiary of Canada's Anthem Sports & Entertainment. [10] Founded by Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett in 2002, following the end of World Championship Wrestling (WCW ...
Title history. Names. Reigns. Combined reigns. See also. References. External links. List of TNA World Champions. Two-time and current champion Moose. The TNA World Championship [1] is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship owned by the promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).
- Overview
- Championships
- History
- House shows and touring
- Features
- Partnerships
- Personnel
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) is a privately held American professional wrestling promotion founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett in 2002. It is owned as a subsidiary of the New York and Toronto-based integrated media organization Anthem Sports & Entertainment.
Current championsSanctionedUnsanctionedOther accomplishmentsFormation
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 professional wrestling business. Only one wrestling product remained on United States national television: the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, later World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)). Ryder felt that this situation led many television stations to regard professional wrestling as bad for business, so he suggested a company not reliant on television, but rather one going straight to pay-per-view. The promotion was initially named NWA: Total Nonstop Action (NWA:TNA) and was associated with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The Jarretts found the financial backing they needed and the promotion 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. 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, Tennessee, nicknamed the "TNA Asylum". After 27 months and 111 pay-per-view events, TNA began holding a weekly television show and monthly three-hour pay-per-views. The last weekly pay-per-view took place on September 8, 2004. 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.
2004–2010
In May 2004, TNA introduced a television program, Impact! (stylized as iMPACT!), produced at Soundstage 21 at Universal Studios Florida and broadcast on Fox Sports. The transition included the use of 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. 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 used by WCW and Extreme Championship Wrestling (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. 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, would later secured a deal with Spike TV and aired its first episode on October 1, 2005. In October 2006, TNA began holding select pay-per-views outside of its central filming location, the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida, with Bound for Glory. In April 2006, TNA began a partnership with YouTube, under which 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. TNA has also launched "TNA U TV"; podcasts aired through YouTube to help promote the company. Impact! expanded to a two-hour format on October 4, 2007. 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. On October 23, 2008, TNA made the transition to HD and since then all programming has been broadcast in high-definition. In addition, TNA introduced a new HD set that included new lighting and several large high-resolution screens.
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 former WWE wrestlers, including Ric Flair, Rob Van Dam, Mr. Anderson and Jeff Hardy, while returning to a four sided ring. On February 15, 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 on March 8. On May 3, TNA moved Impact! back to Thursday nights, re-branded as "TNA Thursdays". At the same time, Spike also picked up TNA Reaction (stylized as TNA ReAction or, alternatively, as TNA ReACTION), which became a regular one-hour docu-series on June 24. ReAction focused on the stories and characters of TNA and previewed the upcoming episode of Impact!. On February 24, 2011, TNA began holding Impact! tapings at the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, North Carolina. On May 3, Impact! was re-branded Impact Wrestling. On November 7, 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. On July 11, DirecTV, the carrier of Spike, blocked all Viacom stations affecting TNA viewership from DirecTV subscribers. After DirectTV and Viacom reached agreement, the removed channels were added back on July 20. 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 W-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. Hulk Hogan's contract with TNA expired in October 2013 and he returned to WWE in early 2014. In December 2013, A.J. 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. Also in December 2013, TNA founder Jeff Jarrett "resigned" from the company. TNA accepted his resignation but clarified that Jarrett was still an "investor" in TNA. In spite of his investor status, the following year Jarrett revealed plans to start a new professional wrestling promotion, Global Force Wrestling. The departures did not stop in 2014, with 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 TV was not renewing Impact Wrestling beyond October. In response, TNA refuted the report, stating that negotiations were still ongoing. On August 14, TNA moved Impact Wrestling from its Thursday timeslot to Wednesday nights. On August 20, TNA signed an extension with Spike TV until the end of 2014. 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. After Bound for Glory, 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.
Apart from their weekly shows in Universal Studios, TNA started running house shows on March 17, 2006. 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. In 2008 TNA conducted its first tour of the UK, with most shows selling out. 2009 saw ...
Ring shape and locations
Different from other United States professional wrestling promotions, Impact Wrestling utilized a hexagonal ring as opposed to the traditional square ring. In 2018, it returned to using a four-sided ring.
X Division
Since its origin, TNA has featured a high-flying, high risk style of wrestling called its X Division. Rather than emphasizing the fact that most wrestlers who perform this style are under 220 lb (100 kg) by calling it a cruiserweight division, Impact Wrestling decided to emphasize the high risk nature of the moves that these wrestlers perform. There is no upper weight limit on the X Division or its title, though in practice, most of the wrestlers in this division have been cruiserweights, with Samoa Joe, billed at 280 pounds, and Kurt Angle, billed at 230 pounds, being notable exceptions. To further emphasize this point, the slogan "It's not about weight limits, it's about no limits" is used to describe the division. Although it was de-emphasized throughout 2007, the X Division is generally regarded as one of the key attractions of Impact Wrestling and was replicated in several independent promotions.
Ranking system
On April 26, 2010, Eric Bischoff appeared on Impact! to unveil the TNA Championship ranking system. According to Bischoff, the system combines several factors to determine the #1 contender for the TNA Heavyweight Championship. These factors include the overall performance and achievements throughout a wrestler's career, the TNA win/loss record of the wrestler, and online voting by the fans, which takes place on the promotion's website. It was also announced that a "TNA Championship Committee" had been set up to make the final decision based on these factors. The committee currently consists of TNA President Dixie Carter, Hulk Hogan, and Bischoff himself. The ten wrestlers chosen to appear on the first ballot were Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy, Mr. Anderson, D'Angelo Dinero, Sting, Jeff Jarrett, Abyss, Rob Terry, Desmond Wolfe, and A.J. Styles. The first round of voting ended on May 3 and was won by Desmond Wolfe, who received his title shot that night on Impact! against Rob Van Dam. The second round started that same night. New names included in the new poll are Matt Morgan, Brother Ray, Brother Devon, Rhino and Hernandez. The first Top 10 ranking was revealed on May 20, with Sting claiming the number one spot. On the second Top 10 ranking Abyss, Jeff Hardy, and Mr. Anderson were tied for the top three spots. A month later Abyss claimed the top spot., TNA was in talks with Indy Hardcore wrestler Jesse james sr, But TNA was unable to meet with the demands of Jesse James sr, neither partie had comment on this matter.
International
Throughout its history, TNA has worked with several international wrestling promotions, with championships from those promotions sometimes having been defended at TNA events. Among the organizations TNA has worked with are Mexico's Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), Japan's Inoki Genome Federation (IGF), New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), Pro Wrestling NOAH, Wrestle-1 (W-1) and America's Evolve and All Elite Wrestling (AEW). TNA's first relationship with NJPW lasted from 2008 to 2011, and included TNA sending wrestlers to participate in NJPW's annual Wrestle Kingdom event, as well as NJPW sending future IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada on a training excursion to TNA; however, the relationship soured in 2011, when IWGP Tag Team Champions Team 3D were held off of a New Japan tour in favor of appearing on Impact Wrestling and Okada was given a Green Hornet-inspired gimmick while being cast as Samoa Joe's sidekick. On March 2, 2014, TNA collaborated with Wrestle-1 in producing the Kaisen: Outbreak supershow in Tokyo, Japan where three TNA championships were defended. In May 2015, it was reported that the relationship between TNA and Wrestle-1 had ended. TNA currently has a working agreement with the Mexican promotion Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA). On March 24, 2017 it was announced that Impact Wrestling has formed a partnership with television station ITV in the United Kingdom to bring World of Sport Wrestling back on the air in the UK, after a thirty-year hiatus. In early 2018, Impact ended it's working relationship with The Crash promotion of Mexico when Konnan, the intermediary between the two promotions, left The Crash.
National
TNA has also worked with American independent promotions in various collaborative efforts, such as Global Force Wrestling (also founded by Jeff Jarrett) and OMEGA Championship Wrestling (owned by Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy and Gregory Helms).
Creative team
Vince Russo had served as head booker of TNA until May 2010, with the collaboration of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff. Former bookers, whether temporary or semi-permanent, include Jeff Jarrett, Jerry Jarrett, Jeremy Borash, Mike Tenay, Abyss, Dutch Mantell and Ed Ferrara. At times, the position of booker has been coterminous with the on-screen position of Director of Authority.
Authority figures
When TNA first launched, it billed the on-air authority figure as a representative appointed by the National Wrestling Alliance. It did this for storyline purposes only, however, and the actual "representatives" already worked in some capacity for TNA. From February 19, 2003, TNA had no active authority figure until July 23, 2003 when Erik Watts made his return to TNA as the Director of Authority. Watts started feuding with Don Callis (TNA Management Consultant), ending with Watts forced to quit. On February 18, 2004, TNA named Vince Russo the new Director of Authority, a position he held until November 7, 2004 when Dusty Rhodes defeated and replaced him. The NWA Championship Committee, established in 2004, comprised a group of wrestling veterans who acted as arbitrators, determining a winner in the event of a time-limit draw. The committee consisted of Harley Race, Larry Zbyszko and Terry Funk, with Funk later replaced by Roddy Piper without ever having appeared on TNA television. After Race and Piper left TNA, the Committee essentially ceased to exist as a physical on-screen body, although Zbyszko continued to be referred to as a member of the committee while simultaneously acting as on-screen authority figure, booking matches and giving title shots.
Wrestler contracts
Contracted wrestlers are forbidden by contract from working for WWE, but are free to work for any other independent wrestling promotion, domestic or international. Many Impact Wrestling wrestlers perform regularly for various promotions on the independent circuit in addition to Impact Wrestling's weekly shows.
List of TNA Television Champions. Final champion Lashley. The TNA Television Championship was a professional wrestling championship owned by the professional wrestling promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA, formerly Impact Wrestling ). [1] [2] Being a professional wrestling championship, it is won via a scripted ending to a match or ...
No.ChampionChampionship Change(date)Championship Change(event)—DeactivatedAugust 12, 201624August 11, 201623July 14, 201622April 23, 2016- Number of days held
- Reign number for the specific champion
- Overall reign number
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TNA Rebellion 2024 Full Preview. TNA Wrestling presents its spring pay-per-view extravaganza, Rebellion LIVE TONIGHT, April 20th at 8pm ET from the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Nic Nemeth challenges Moose for the TNA World Championship. Jordynne Grace defends the Knockouts World Title against Steph De Lander.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Canada's Anthem Sports & Entertainment.
