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TNA Wrestling History

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) is an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Jeff Jarrett and his father Jerry Jarrett in May 2002. The current majority share owner is Panda Energy International.[1] The company, which trades as TNA Entertainment, LLC, operates out of Nashville, Tennessee, with an office in Orlando, Florida.

TNA was originally a member of the National Wrestling Alliance, with the company known as NWA TNA, but withdrew from them in 2004, in the process acquiring the rights to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Tag Team Championship until 2014.[citation needed]

TNA is the first American promotion to exclusively use a hexagonal ring as opposed to the more conventional four-sided ring. The organization also employs the unconventional rule that a title can change hands as the result of a disqualification. In addition, two separate entrance ramps are used for heels and faces.

Since World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) purchased World Championship Wrestling, it has become the largest and most influential professional wrestling company in the United States and this prompted Jerry Jarrett and his son Jeff Jarrett to start a new wrestling company, named JSports & Entertainment, in May 2002 in conjunction with the National Wrestling Alliance and with HealthSouth as their financing partner.[2] In October 2002, Panda Energy International bought the controlling interest in the project and replaced HealthSouth after they pulled out due to financial problems.[3] The company was renamed TNA Entertainment.

The original TNA business model was different from that employed by WWE in several key ways. By not touring like other major federations have done, TNA was able to keep costs down. Until the introduction of the syndicated show, TNA Xplosion, in late 2002, TNA's system of programming comprised of a typical weekly two-hour cable show but was provided over pay-per-view to also act as their main source of revenue, in place of monthly pay-per-view events used by other promotions.[4] These shows started on June 19, 2002 and were held mostly at the Nashville Fairgrounds to lower production costs.[5] Although the weekly TNA shows were priced at much less than the monthly WWE events, they achieved low buy rates. After 27 months, TNA felt that they had a fanbase that would support three-hour pay-per-views and ceased their weekly shows on September 8, 2004.[6] TNA held its first three-hour monthly pay-per-view, Victory Road, on November 7, 2004 but still achieved low buys.

TNA began airing TNA Impact! on June 4, 2004 on Fox Sports Net and it soon replaced the weekly pay-per-views as their primary broadcast while the monthly events became the main source of revenue.[7] The contract was not renewed one year later with the show getting consistent low ratings. This left TNA with no television deal other than the monthly pay-per-views, so on July 1, 2005, TNA turned to broadcasting Impact! from their official website, through BitTorrent and RealNetworks, while seeking a new television outlet.[8][9] TNA would finally secure a deal with Spike TV and air its first episode on October 1, 2005.[10] Since the move, Impact! achieved considerably higher ratings and was moved twice, now having a primetime slot on Thursdays.

Apart from their weekly shows, TNA started running house shows on March 17, 2006[11] and in October, TNA started holding some of their monthly pay-per-views outside of their central filming location with Bound for Glory 2006 being the first. TNA has also expanded into other areas with the development of a video game with Midway Games, tentatively titled TNA Impact!, scheduled for release in 2008.[12] In April 2006, TNA announced a partnership with YouTube that would see TNA supply 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. added mobile fan voting into their shows.[13]

The high-flying, high risk style of wrestling had been one of the features of WCW and ECW. Rather than emphasizing the fact that most wrestlers who perform this style are under 220 lb (100 kg) by calling it a cruiserweight division, TNA 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. 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 2004, the X Division is generally regarded as one of the key attractions of TNA and was replicated in several independent promotions.

The creative team is headed by Jeff Jarrett and consists of Dutch Mantell and Vince Russo.[14] Prior to this, booking power was typically vested in the hands of a small number of people. Jeff and Jerry Jarrett were initially responsible for booking, followed by Russo, and then by Dusty Rhodes. At times, the position of booker has been coterminous with the on-screen position of Director of Authority.

When TNA first launched, the on-air authority figure was billed as a representative appointed by the National Wrestling Alliance, however this was done for storyline purposes only 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 who was billed as TNA Management Consultant in which ended with Watts forced to quit. On February 18, 2004, TNA named Vince Russo the new Directory of Authority, a position he would hold until November 07, 2004 when he was defeated and replaced by Dusty Rhodes.

The NWA Championship Committee, established in 2004, was 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 being 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.

In October 2005, Larry Zbyszko began repeatedly referencing an ambiguous authority within TNA known only as "TNA Management". "TNA Management" has in the past been represented by "special referee" Earl Hebner, "consultant" Dave Hebner and "messenger" Christy Hemme. The current face of "TNA Management" was revealed at Slammiversary 2006 to be Jim Cornette, who has been called the "Management Director" in press releases following that pay-per-view.

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