TNA
TNA (Total Nonstop Action) is the Nashville, Tennessee-based promotion that was headed up by Jeff Jarrett and his father, Jerry Jarrett in June 2002. They later brought in the Carters and Panda Energy to become majority investors in the promotion in October 2002.
--JuanJoseNYC 09:55, 25 January 2007 (EST)
The Brief History of TNA
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling started off as a member promotion of the revamped National Wrestling Alliance. They started running the business using a Pay-Per-View model across cable outlets all over the country, charging $9.95 for a live weekly 3-hour telecast from the Nashville Fairgrounds, formerly known as the Mid-South Coliseum. However, seeing as they were losing money on an almost weekly basis and with no television sponsorship to vouch as it was being broadcast on Pay-Per-View, the Jarretts brought in the Carters and Panda Energy to become majority investors in the promotion. TNA, after a monetary exchange, were given control of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Tag Team Championship, even though they are no longer full-time members of the National Wrestling Alliance. The debate was how long they were given control of the top two major NWA championships, but it was determined that they would only have control of the titles for 10 years.
They were able to parlay that into a weekly show on Fox Sports Net called TNA iMPACT!. TNA was given a time slot of Friday afternoons at 3:00 PM. However, because of random scheduling by FSN and their affiliates, iMPACT! were sometimes shown later in the day, the following day, or in some cases, were not even broadcast at all. A contract dispute would arise in the summer of 2004 and FSN pulled iMPACT! from their schedules. It was around this time that then-NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Jeff Jarrett, lost the championship to Raven, and focused on trying to get their primary show back into a national presence. Enter Spike TV.
Spike TV, who had recently announced themselves that they could not afford the WWE's demands of a hefty rights fee to carry Monday Night RAW, had originally intended go on without a viable wrestling program. Instead, they did a 180 turn and announced that iMPACT! would be a part of Spike TV's lineup. A drastic upgrade, indeed, for the Carters and the Jarretts. Spike TV placed iMPACT to be aired every Saturday night from 11:00 pm to 12:00 am, then added a replay of the show to be aired at 12:00 am on Tuesdays. Then iMPACT was moved to Thursdays at 11:00 pm as part of Thursday Night Knockouts, following the UFC lead-in. Two months later, iMPACT was moved again and this time to a better time slot - Thursdays at 9:00 pm. After the growing pains that come with running a newly-established promotion now dealt with, TNA has seen more and more viewers watch in anticipation as faces that were recently working for WWE have joined TNA on a full-time basis. Among the latest to join were Kurt Angle, Team 3D, and Christian Cage.
Through it all, TNA never gave up to be a viable alternative to what the WWE was giving their fans. While WWE were sometimes re-hashing storylines that were introduced some 10 years ago, TNA got to work on building a solid foundation not only for their prized X Division, but for the TNA roster in general. TNA came up with a new twist to professional wrestling -- the Six-Sided Ring. TNA also introduced the King of the Mountain match, the World X Cup, the Ultimate X match, and the ever-infamous, yet thrilling Six Sides of Steel Cage match.
Current NWA and TNA Champions
TNA started running cards on June 19, 2002. The first NWA World Heavvyweight Champion in the TNA era was Ken Shamrock.
- NWA World Heavyweight Champion: Christian Cage
- NWA World Tag Team Champions: Latin American Xchange - Homicide & Hotstuff Hernendez
- TNA X Division Champion: Chris Sabin
Major TNA Events
Once a year, TNA promotes a Pay-Per-View to celebrate their anniversary - Slammiversary. Slammiversary takes place on the third Sunday of June.
Current Foreign-Based TNA Wrestlers
Konnan, Homicide, and Hotstuff Hernandez (Latin American Xchange) are the only foreign based competitors currently working for TNA on a regular basis. Others who have competed in the past include Apollo, Hector Garza, Juventud Guerrera, Mr. Aguila, Abismo Negro, El León, Ebessan, Nosawa, Kamen, Miyamoto, Mascarita Sagrada, Mini Pierroth.
