LARIAT Magazine.

Founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett, voiced by Mike Tenay, Don West and Jeremy Borash, with the art of professional wrestling crafted inside of a six-sided ring situated in the IMPACT Zone and with TNA soon becoming legal to drink within its own country, I think it’s time to celebrate the legacy and longevity of Total Nonstop Action as we investigate the history, the impact and importance of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. 

The genesis of TNA was under the NWA banner with humble beginnings in the form of weekly pay per views from the beloved TNA Asylum. From the get-go within the Impact Zone, we saw the likes of Ken Shamrock, Ron Killings, Scott Hall and Jeff Hardy reignite a love for professional wrestling.

Shamrock would win the prestigious championship in one of TNA’s own creations; ‘A Gauntlet for the Gold’ match, where participants would follow the 2 men would enter then every 90 seconds a new contestant would join the match. Eliminations would occur via throwing your opponent over the top rope, and then the final two men would battle it out with a normal wrestling match rules, pinfall or submission rules. Like a Royal Rumble but with extra Jarrett spice on top. This was one of many of TNA’s finest creations, amongst many others, which we will get into later.  

Ken Shamrock would be crowned NWA World’s Champion but would lose it to Ron Killings as Killings became the first African American NWA champion during his time at TNA. This era also has a hell of lot of hidden gems from CM Punk, Jon Moxley, Jay Briscoe and Monty Brown.

TNA Wrestling: Cross the Line.

TNA Wrestling saw their most commercially successful period between 2006 and 2009 as Barry Scott muttered the words of ‘TNA Wrestling: Cross the Line.

This era was the pinnacle of TNA many fans believed it could’ve competed with WWE if given the right opportunities. This was the begin of TNA’s mainstream success where they saw a license of video games, which introduced the mysterious character and overall superhero of the X Division Suicide as the playable character of the first and only TNA game to date. Christian would become an NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion; the debut of Kurt Angle gave us banger after banger as he feuded with Samoa Joe, and we saw the headbutt heard around the world as well as the epic moon-sault from Angle onto Abyss.

Speaking of Abyss, he proved himself one of the faces of TNA, and bloody violent one at that. Abyss’ messy feuds and gore filled matches with the likes of Raven, Mick Foley and Steve Richards showcased why Abyss was a crucial part of TNA, even going as far as to create a new stipulation match in the form of a Monster’s Ball match.

Sting, Kevin Nash, Kurt Angle, Scott Steiner and Booker T brought eyes to the growing product with their ever-longing battles with TNA’s Frontline. This feud not only showed these legends still had, but also continued to push the youthful generation of the TNA Roster, such as AJ Styles, Eric Young, Consequence Creed, and Samoa Joe. The Main Event Mafia would rule over TNA teaching the younger lads about respect, a spiritual successor to WCW’s NWO faction, if you will.  

No Limits

Alongside the odd legend coming back to revive a career; the Ravens, Road Doggs, Ken Shamrocks, Jeff Hardys, and Ron Killings, Total Nonstop Action had its own homegrown talent, who worked their asses of on the indies to get a spot-on Jeff Jarett’s pro wrestling house of fun. Talents such as Samoa Joe, Robert Roode, Elix Skipper, Eric Young, Frankie Kaz, Christopher Daniels, and of course ‘The Phenomenal’ AJ Styles. It was under the influence of these next generation talents that the X Division was created.

The X Division was TNA’s answer to the WWE’s Cruiserweight championship, or the ROH PURE Championship. The only exception: there was no limits, no weight limits, and no wrestling style limits. Anything goes in the X Division. The X Division brought something special and unique to the roster of Total Nonstop Action, adding a bit of originality to the wrestling industry with innovative athletes such as AJ Styles, Amazing Red and Alex Shelley having some of the best matches of the mid 00’s, just check out the incredible triple threat match between AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels from Unbreakable, 2005. It is truly an epic, and in the eyes of many IMPACT Wrestling historians ‘the greatest TNA match ever’, with the likes of Will Osprey claiming that that match is the reason he became a wrestler.

The X Division also saw the arrival of the Super X Cup, a series of annual tournaments including X Division talent from all over the global including the most notorious places for pro wrestling such as Japan ,Canda, the UK and Mexico, as well as the US of A, battling in an 8 person tournament to try and gain the Super X Cup, the first edition of the tournament being won by Chris Sabin in 2003. TNA also welcomed the World X Cup one year on from the Super X Cup. The World X Cup was very similar to the Super X Cup, only with teams of international competitors fighting for X Division supremacy. The teams were as followed; Team NWA/TNA, Team UK, Team Mexico & Team Canada. Whilst The World X Cup bought eyes to the high-flying adrenaline fuelled superstars like Shelley, Styles and Sabin, it also introduced American eyes to the international stars such as Doug Williams from the UK, Ultimo Guerrero from Mexico and Hiroki Goto, who represented team Japan in 2006.

 The X Division style tournaments would continue biannually until 2008, with a brief return in 2017 & 2021 with the Super X Cup won by Desmond Xavier (2017) & Ace Austin (2021), respectively.

A personal favourite stipulation of mine and one of TNA’s more finer and innovative creations TNA is the Ultimate X match. A flurry of opponents from the X Division would wrestle and race each other towards the big red ‘X’, which was assembled via cable wire connected to the turnbuckles. The winner being the first man to untie the massive ‘X’ from the cable wire, often resulting mental high spots from some of the most innovative athletes during the match.  The X Division also gave us the Steel Asylum match, another chance of creativity, risky maneuverers (insert Elix Skipper clip here). It was like a steel cage match on speed, with the winner climbing through a small sized steel hole which was situated at the top of this disgusting red massive steel structure. 

LOLTNA

From the Super X Cup, The King of the Mountain, the Gauntlet for the Gold and Lockdown pay per views, in which every match was contested in a steel cage of some sort. From the good, the bad and the damn right ugly, Jeff Jarrett and company loved a good gimmick match or spicy tournament.  Especially in the early days, TNA was full of them. Some say cringe, others say professional wrestling gold.

All in all, it was inherently TNA to have an overcomplicated match type or two, that was overbooked and over the top. It was original and prime TNA.  Take the ‘Feast or Fired’ match for instances, four briefcases attached to each turnbuckle, much like the WWE Money in the Bank match but with four possible outcomes. The briefcases included a TNA world’s championship title shot, an opportunity at the TNA X Division belt, a tag team championship match, and in classic case of LOLTNA, a pink slip, which would obviously mean you’re getting sacked in the morning.

The King of the Mountain match is another example of TNA having too many cooks in the kitchen, the rules are confusing and almost shambolic, but it was great fun once you had chance to understand them. The rules are as followed; a multi person match with falls count anywhere. Simple so far however, here’s where the complications begin. Wrestlers are only eligible to win once they have pinned another participant. After, the person who took the fall would be placed in a penalty box whilst the person who gained the pinfall would now be eligible to win via hanging the championship in a reverse ladder match style match. Sound complicated? Good. Classic LOLTNA overbooked but massively fun match stipulation brought to you by Jeff Jarrett and Vince Russo.  

 This wouldn’t help TNA beat the WCW 2000 lite allegations, and even coined the term from the IWC of ‘LOLTNA’.

From RELLIK’ is killer spelled backwards, to the whole GFW era IMPACT has its fair share of cringe content. However, in the modern era Impact Wrestling has seemingly leaned into the gimmick, having outlandish and creatively experimental storylines and matches, such as Mickie James getting pushed into a train and killed off by James Storm or Steiner maths, or the Kurt Angle ‘Yeah!’ clips as the company became more self-aware with the rise of social media, using the odd clip from a past TNA broadcast to promote new content from the product. 

Knocking Out the Glass Ceiling

In an era of professional wrestling never took the women seriously and would have scantily clad Divas in the house of the opposition, WWE having bra and panties matches, bikini contests and mud matches. TNA branched out a women’s wrestling revolution and introduced the Knockout’s Divisions. 

I remember being astonished at the pure size and strength of Awesome Kong, the outrageous attitude of ODB, the pure athleticism of a familiar faces of Gail Kim and Mickie James. And introduced me to an array of new faces such as The Beautiful People’s, Maddison Rayne, Angelina Love and Velvet Sky, WCW’s Scream Queen Daffney, ‘The Original Knockout’ Traci Brookes & Taylor Wilde

The Knockouts division had some of the best women’s matches and feuds in all professional wrestling, such as Awesome Kong vs Gail Kim. It was a re-enactment of David and Goliath, that made TNA stand out from the T & A beauty contest of WWE. Whilst WWE were desensitizing the youth of America with segments like ‘The Lesbians’, TNA gave a place for female athletes to display strength and athleticism as well as beauty and sex appeal.   

Although not every match can be an Awesome Kong vs Gail Kim classic, and sometimes you end with the ingredients of Jenna vs Sharmell from Victory Road 2009. The Knockout remains an important piece of the Impact puzzle to this very day becoming one of, if not the best women’s wrestling rosters today with the likes of Deonna Purrazzo, Masha Slammovich, Gisele Shaw and Trinity Fatu having mesmerising matches and brilliant stories.

Hulk Hogan & The Downfall of TNA?

Like the high school bully who hit their peak in high school, IMPACT Wrestling was on the verge of mainstream success only to flop it within the year. 2010, it was. Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff came to the IMPACT Zone with much anticipation and a history of bad decisions. Hulk Hogan and Dixie could’ve made IMPACT the next big thing, however, what happened next was more LOLTNA banter. Hogan went to employ best old pals like the Nasty Boys, Scott Hall, Kevin and X-Pac, putting them over the likes of AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and other mainstay talent that had put TNA where it was. It was also matched with dreadful storylines, dodgy dealings and an upcoming Monday Night War, which only TNA higher ups cared for. TNA was the alternative for wrestling fans who didn’t like the sports entertainment they were offering elsewhere, however what happens when you begin to copy the competition and lose most the originality you had as a brand.

Well…You get an August 1 warning in the form of Tito Ortiz; you have Samoa Joe being kidnapped by a sidekick, who later becomes one of the greatest wrestlers in the world in Okada, and you get Bully Ray marrying Brooke Hogan. AJ Styles leaves for Japan and TNA is at a rock bottom.  During this abysmal period, we did get the odd parts of professional storyline genius and cracking matches the rise of EC3, Beer Money breaking up, and Bobby Roode having a glorious world’s championship reign, even Aces and Eights were decent for what it was, but after three years and a failed attempt and being on the brink of bankruptcy Hogan was gone.

Total Impact Traders

Dixie would become the sole of owner of the promotion, and to be honest things would stay pretty much the same for a few years. 2014, Jeff Jarrett would create the Global Force Wrestling promotion, which would invade the promotion trying to regroup after the damage down form Hogan and Bischoff. After the GFW saga, which saw the return of Jeff Jarrett to the company alongside likes of Sonjay Dutt, Brian Myers, Trevor Lee and Moose.

After an invasion angle, we saw IMPACT Wrestling sold off again to pro wrestling fan and Smashing Pumpkins vocalist, Billy Corgan who had big plans for the Impact Wrestling, including the return of The Hardy Boyz and the creation of the Broken Universe bringing eyes to a revived product. Drew Galloway, Cody Rhodes and even Bobby Lashley even smashed the granny out of the house and won all the championships at one point, and revive his career in professional wrestling… It would also introduce us to the fresh faces of the future such as Eli Drake, Ethan Page, Laurel Van Ness, Trevor Lee and Mia Yim. Billy Corgan ran into legal issues and money trouble was forced to sell up the new vision of IMPACT Wrestling to ANTHEM Entertainment, who are based in Toronto, Canada.  

We Own the Night

The Anthem purchase became a reset button for the company, in the best possible way, taking it back to its roots and what set them apart from the rest, bringing focus back onto the X Division with talents such as Chris Bey, Ace Austin, Trey Migel and so many more. The Knockouts division made even bigger strides as they signed Deonna Purezzo, Rosemary, Tasha Steel and Taya Valkyrie as well as the returning Taylor Wilde, Mickie James and the addition of Gail Kim in a backstage producer and mentorship role. The Impact’s Knockout division saw a return of the Impact Knockout’s Tag Team Championships as the roster gained more momentum and hosted some of the best battles with all pro wrestling, regardless of gender.

It has become a delectable 1 hour and 30-minute sweet wrestling treat, and an overall joy to watch, recharging my love for the IMPACT Zone and keeping me busy with the Lockdown. Where WWE saw wasted pay cheques and pink slips, IMPACT took advantage of the missed opportunities and wasted potential of these talents as WWE gave the boot to a large portion of their roster.  Striking gold and having surprises galore when Slammiversary came around we saw the debuts of Heath, Matt Cardona, Motor City Machine Guns tore up the place and became IMPACT Tag Team Champions once again. And a trend that continues to grow within IMPACT’s future, Trinity Fatu AKA Naomi, and they even struck a brief deal with AEW to have Christian Cage and Kenny Omega to hold the IMPACT Championship for a while. Although, fans saw this as one-sided affair with AEW stars getting the majority airtime and wins ratio, IMPACT benefited from the new professional wrestling forbidden door, just check out WWE Royal Rumble 2022 when Mickie James brought the IMPACT Knockout’s championship to the WWE Universe.       

Not bad for a professional wrestling promotion who have had more hard times than Dusty Rhodes, laughed and mocked, and forever underrated by pro wrestling insiders and was told it wouldn’t last longer than a few years and often compare to WCW (1988 -2001) & ECW (which originally ran from 1997 -2001), but IMPACT keeps being IMPACT in the year of our Lord, 2024. These days IMPACT Wrestling, at least for me, is one of the better products out there in terms of just the outrageous fun and innovative excitably of the overall product. It is fair to say IMPACT Wrestling has found its place in the professional wrestling landscape, and we are absolutely here for it.