Mention about wrestling, or professional wrestling, to be more specific, to a layman, and 99.9% of them would instantly reply, “You mean WWE, right?” (and if you are unfortunate enough, you might hear a “WWF” from one of them). Even though World Wrestling Entertainment has made itself synonymous with professional wrestling and what it calls ‘sports entertainment’ in many parts of the world, there are various other companies which have occupied small bands in the wide spectrum of the business, and the largest of them happens to be Total Non-Stop Action, or TNA.
TNA started off as a fledgling production of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Indeed, for the first two years it was called NWA TNA, and the titles defended on the shows were called NWA Championships until 2007, when TNA broke off and created its own titles. Founded by Jeff Jarrett and his father Jerry, the company is currently run by a board of directors headed by Dixie Carter, President of TNA. Other key authority figures include Eric Bischoff, Jim Cornette and Jerry Jarrett himself (Jeff chooses to limit his administrative duties and focus on being just a wrestler). TNA’s flagship TV show, Impact Wrestling (formerly known as TNA iMPACT) is broadcast from the Impact Zone at Orlando, Florida (unlike the WWE which travels across USA and Canada, hosting shows in a new city every week) in more than 100 countries worldwide.
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The performers:
Starting off as a small band of dedicated professionals, TNA soon became a haven for wrestlers who wanted to be a part of a world-class promotion but could not come to terms with the WWE. Erstwhile WCW superstars like Sting, Sabu and Jarrett himself formed the backbone of the promotion. Over the years, many WWE superstars have had stints with the TNA. Notable among them are Jeff Hardy, the Dudley Boyz, Kurt Angle, Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan (Hogan enjoys a post in the administrative framework).
But TNA has itself given birth to an ensemble of pro-wrestling talent. With each passing day, stars like Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, Jay Lethal, Abyss and AJ Styles are being mentioned in the same breath as the John Cenas and Rey Mysterios of the business. Many of them have been offered lucrative contracts by various other promotions across the world.
What makes it diffferent:
TNA has always experimented with the look and feel of the action it provides to the fans. The most important in its list of innovations is the ‘X-Division’, which symbolises high-risk, aerial wrestling and allows the competitors to do almost anything. Incredible athletes like AJ Styles and Jay Lethal have graced the X-Division championship.
Next up was the unique six-sided ring which the TNA used for quite some time. The ring provided a larger number of ropes and turnbuckles so that wrestlers could try out moves like fying clotheslines and hurricanranas from almost any angle. This was phased out in 2009 when the fans as well as the TNA administration felt that the traditional form of wrestling should not be disturbed in the quest for innovation.
There have been other experiments which did not go very well. For example, it was ruled that championships could change hands via disqualification or count-out, which later turned out to work heavily against the champions. TNA also boasts of some great new match types such as the ultimate-X match, which truly tests how worthy a wrestler is of being in the X-Division and the King of the Mountain match, which is one of the best 6-man elimination formats one will ever see.
The “Impact’:
For most of the fans, TNA wrestling has been a refreshing change, even though hard-core WWE fans seem to virtually deny the presence of any such promotion being there. But the show’s ratings have been decent in terms of TV reception as well as Pay-Per-View attendance. In fact, a lot of fans have switched over to watching TNA simply because their favourite wrestlers have opted for the brand. Some vintage wrestling followers have even gone on to say that Impact brings pro-wrestling in its purest form.
For the world of wrestling, iMPACT wrestling’s time of entry could not have been better. Just when the WWE seemed to gain total supremacy of the pro-wrestling world (as it had bought out WCW and ECW, the other two big names of the game), the Jarrets’ home production brought the competition back into play. The lucrative contracts offered by TNA has brought many superstars into their family, and this might just be the spark the WWE needs to bring back the charm which pushed it to the top in the attitude era.
