Is TNA the worst wrestling promotion in history?

[El-P]

Aron Rex doing a Liberace/Lanny Poffo gimmick in 2017 is one of the most cringe inducing shit I've seen in a long time. Totally died a painfull death immediately too. Seriously, this guy, apart from the short time doing the Mizdow gimmick, is the fucking pits. 

Early 2017, before Jarrett and the GFW crew made any more creatively, was basically 2016, for better (the same people praised earlier) or worse.

[Big Pete]

I was actually following the product around this time. NXT was actively recruiting from Impact and instead of seeing guys showing up on NXT and being told how good they were on Impact I wanted to judge it for myself. The only time you'd hear about Impact is if one of their top guys left or they did something actively bad.

I will say the Broken Matt Hardy stuff was an exception at that time. Fans were so burnt out on the Hardys by this point, this bold direction they took with the Broken universe was actually fresh. Plus on a show that was only being watched by hardcore fans who knew everything ahead of time, the vignettes were one of the few things you actually had to tune into see.

And yeah I loved the Allie stuff at the time and think by the end of it everyone becomes way more interesting just for being involved. Even Bennett as the battered husband and a window into Suttor's future was enjoyable in his role. Unfortunately Allie was never really able to hit those highs again. I kept tabs but the Rosemary stuff was just too hit and miss and her biggest angle in AEW was duping QT Marshall which says it all really...

One of the biggest issues with a show on it's last legs is that everything has to be taped in large stretches. It gave the show this manufactured feel where it seemed like guys would appear exactly on the same spot on the card in each episode, all the title belts would swap over every six weeks and guys would go missing for months if they happened to miss those tapings.

The Death Crew Council was DOA, it was hard to buy either Storm or Kingston in the gimmick and it was odd they'd still wear their mask after willingly exposing their identities on TV. It was just a waste of those guys and considering the roster was so bare-bones they were having Snow/Shera work the Tribunal it said something.

One benefit of having Billy Corgan involved was having access to licensed music. The Decay coming out to Marilyn Manson's 'Nobodies' was a genuinely good fit that boosted their stocks.

I'm not sure if I was being too harsh at the time, but I remember thinking Corgan's body-guard Ryan Braddock was just a waste of screen time.

What was the name of that title they wrestled in rounds for? The Grand Championship or something? I get TNA were trying to do something different to create some buzz and I think Drew picked up some kind of injury but that was another misfire. Not only is wrestling in rounds a pretty tricky gimmick to pull off, but weren't they having Moose and Aron Rex fighting over it?

Still, there was a ton of talent on the show and despite the ship sinking it gave me the impression they were giving their best effort. I wasn't shocked at all to see so many people picked up by the WWE, most of them deserved it (Shera getting a gig shocked me - yes he has size, but really?).

I'm not sure if you've seen it yet, but outside of the Hardy compound stuff my favourite match was between Davey Richards-Lashley on one of those taped PPVs. I just remember that match having just a bit more intensity than the Eddie-Lashley match.

Final note - for whatever reason there was always something endearing about Eddie. I always lump him together with Davey and Roderick and of the three I don't think Eddie was as polished as the others yet he always came off as a more appealing babyface.

[El-P]

1 hour ago, Big Pete said:

And yeah I loved the Allie stuff at the time and think by the end of it everyone becomes way more interesting just for being involved. Even Bennett as the battered husband and a window into Suttor's future was enjoyable in his role. Unfortunately Allie was never really able to hit those highs again. I kept tabs but the Rosemary stuff was just too hit and miss and her biggest angle in AEW was duping QT Marshall which says it all really...

I really enjoyed the Rosemary stuff I had seen when I started to watch then current IMPACT in 2018 (she was already batshit Bunny then I think). She's been really misused since, but AEW really hasn't been very good in term of making strong or fun strictly character based angles (they screwed up a simple wrestling wedding, come on now). It's why sometimes it's just better to be in smaller promotions when you can be used at your best, monetary issues notwithstanding. Maria Kanellis was a wonderful foe for her too. I agree that after the Summer, Bennett became more fun to watch, because it became obvious his entire gimmick was being a loser (as opposed to the guy who would became the champ) and he was going all the way with it, humiliations after humiliations. His in-ring work at the end of 2016 and early 2017 seemed better too (he's ten times better in a tag team setting with Taven though).

1 hour ago, Big Pete said:

What was the name of that title they wrestled in rounds for? The Grand Championship or something? I get TNA were trying to do something different to create some buzz and I think Drew picked up some kind of injury but that was another misfire. Not only is wrestling in rounds a pretty tricky gimmick to pull off, but weren't they having Moose and Aron Rex fighting over it?

Yeah, that was an interesting idea on paper, but you gotta have the workers to go along with it. Aron Rex getting the title made it immediately meaningless. Moose was not as good as would become, but he was much better carrying the thing, but really, that was a useless title in replacement of the King of the Mountain title which basically was a useless belt that changed names a bunch of times and came from a gimmick belt made for Booker T when he was there.

1 hour ago, Big Pete said:

Final note - for whatever reason there was always something endearing about Eddie. I always lump him together with Davey and Roderick and of the three I don't think Eddie was as polished as the others yet he always came off as a more appealing babyface.

When you see the Wolves, at first Davey Richards looks like the star, because of his obvious Dynamite Kid filiation, but Eddie Edwards developed into a really good babyface despite questionable promo skills and no "jump at the screen" charisma, and really over the years has evolved into the heart of soul of IMPACT Wrestling, terrific worker, great babyface and since last year has showed really good work as a heel too. He's gonna stay under the radar for ever because he's associated with IMPACT and I doubt he ends up in WWE ever now (even in AEW, I'm not sure how far he would be pushed), but he's certainly a super high end worker of the last 10 years who can do anything and work with anybody (he really made W. Morrissey, excuse me, Big Bill, look better than anyone ever had).

[strobogo]

Eddie Edwards suuuuucks and his turn into modern Tommy Dreamer (but with WERKRATE) also fucking sucks.

[SomethingSavage]

First off, I LOVE these reviews. Really digging them, man. Takes me back to such a specific time and place as a fan, when nobody was giving Impact much of a chance. There's always something neat about finding value in an overlooked corners like that.

If you haven't listened, I'd recommend checking out the Becoming Broken series of Matt's podcast from last year. He goes way in depth on the decisions and choices made during that time - everything from the Wolves rivalry to Big Money Matt transforming into Broken gets dissected. It's pretty great.

The pod has gone on to become repetitive and fairly obnoxious with Alba's celebrity worship of Jeff and his melodramatic trauma talk all the time, but those episodes are a major highlight for sure.

[KawadaSmile]

Aron Rex's TNA career is further proof that Miz can sell basically anything you want. People wanted MIZDOW to be pushed.

[El-P]

7 hours ago, SomethingSavage said:

First off, I LOVE these reviews. Really digging them, man.

Thanks ! These are totally non-formal, but I'm trying to keep posting some thoughts about my seemingly never-ending TNA watch. Ain't gonna stop now, so close to the end of the road (I started following IMPACT as it happened in June of 2018)

7 hours ago, SomethingSavage said:

If you haven't listened, I'd recommend checking out the Becoming Broken series of Matt's podcast from last year. He goes way in depth on the decisions and choices made during that time - everything from the Wolves rivalry to Big Money Matt transforming into Broken gets dissected. It's pretty great.

Thanks for the reco, I'm gonna check those out because I really loved every minute of the Broken Matt suff.

[El-P]

The Braxton Sutter & Laurel Von Ness wedding was just a terrific display of the wedding as a classic pro-wrestling trope. Everything was great leading to it, including Mike Bennett who totally shined in his supportive role of definitely miserable husband. He finally won me over after all.

The wedding itself, with the exception of Aron Rex who is pretty easy to ignore in the background, was perfectly executed, and really was in and out of itself a pro-wrestling match. There was the heat segments straight from the beginning, with Maria & Laurel getting their spots in, there's the crowd cheering for the babyface to make a comeback with hilarious chants like "We object !", "Just say no !" and even "Delete !", there's a big hope spots with Allie (the main character of the whole thing) entering the scene, then even more heat as she's getting humiliated, the big hope spot with Sutter saying he won't marry Laurel, then Maria Kanellis cutting him before the actual babyface comeback consisting of Allie kicking out of Maria's finisher (or countering it, whatever you like the most), the classic "You're fired !", with her "I quit !", and from there several babyface run-ins to dispose of the heels before the finish of the match for the big pop, which is really Allie kissing Braxton (they actually said something to each other while kissing and it was probably cute, as they were together and married already).

And the last weeks of the Hardies showing up in various indies, and also Konnan's Crash promotion (with the hilarious story of the referee who had to be blurred because of Lucha Underground preventing him from appearing on a concurrent US TV), to procure tag team titles, which was such a cool angle and gave us more Broken Hardy Brilliance...

And then...

In a matter of two weeks, IMPACT loses : The Hardies, Mike Bennett & Maria Kannellis, Drew Gallaway, Jade (Mia Yim, who was the workhorse of the female division and just had two excellent garbage brawls against Rosemary)... 

And then get : Bruce fucking Prichard in all his podcast shilling glory, making a hundred WWE references; Dutch Mantell, doing his WWE gimmick and making a hundred references at guys who were in TNA and are now in WWE; all in a marketing campaign based on Donald fucking Trump's catchphrase. While Josh Matthews is now being UN-BEA-RA-BLE doing one of the stupidest WWE angle of the last 20 years aka "The lead announcer is a douchebag heel", as the big important feud apparently is now Matthews vs Jeremy Borash. And then we get the debut of Alberto el Abuser, who by then was already both confirmed as a toxic shit and if we speak strictly talent-wise, a complete and total under-deliverer who had failed to reach to the level he was expected to pretty much everywhere. Alberto who wins the title in his first appearance, but oh well not really because he gave back the belt the following week because he cheated so yeah, a Dusty finish in 2017 for ya. "We're telling a story" I guess was Brucie's excuse. And also, the Hardies left as tag champs, so oh well.

Also, Cody Rhodes showed up back to work a super odd angle of him being an insecure little shit because Brandi got befriended by Moose, who saved her from Decay and was just being a good friend. Oh, and he's got some GFW belt too. Because yeah, more GFW stupidity (and useless workers) are on their way. Can't wait to fast forward through some of this shit and speedrun that dumb-ass year.

I know, some good stuff are also happening, such as the debut of the new LAX (who really peaked in IMPACT and indies around those years), and the continuation of the Allie & Laurel Von Ness (who is turning into the crazy Hot Mess after her wedding was ruined, and Chelsea was doing quite a job with this too) storyline and the Eddie Edward vs Davey Richards (seconded by his wife Angelina Love, always excellent with her character work) blood feud. 

But still, as a reboot, the vibes given the first few weeks are probably the worse and some of the dumbest shit I've seen since the infamous Russo/Bischoff reboot of WCW in 2000, and I for one should know.

[SomethingSavage]

I know Jeff just recently released an episode of his podcast detailing his 2017 TNA return (and I haven't heard his take on that yet), but word was that most of those "reboot" waves were a result of Jarrett coming back into power there for a bit. I know he was directly responsible for the Hardys leaving and Bruce coming in, but I don't know how much of the other stuff has been talked about.

[Big Pete]

This was the period I tapped out for basically all the reasons outlined. It was just clear with new management that they were throwing whatever they could against the wall and trying to see what would stick. This became really difficult when major talent would leave the company between tapings so you could never get invested in what was happening. This eased somewhat when Callis/D'Amore came in but by that point my interest in Impact had dulled to where it is now where I check in every six months or so.

The only exception was Kenny Omega who drew me in and came out stronger because of how well he was booked in Impact.

[El-P]

The build to Slammiversary (15 years) was an odd twist of fate in that, a few years after a GFW invasion angle that was basically destined to write off Jarrett from the company for good, this was the IRL takeover of GFW, complete with a slow rebranding of the entire company, starting with the titles. Which meant double sets of belts, unifying deals and whatnot. And a bunch of Jarrett boys getting on TV, like Magnus who was as dull as ever ( I for one can get why Prichard never saw shit in him, and really apart from his NWA champ cosplay days, he never clicked in any way) or Sonjay Dutt who was gonna get his day as X-div champ during the cool Mumbai tapings. Got a bunch of tepid matches involving scrubs like Matt Morgan coming back for a cup of coffee, or the former Crimson in a very MAGAeseque military tag team gimmick.

The one good influence of Jarrett was a legit refocus on the X-division, with TNA original Low-ki showing up, in full Hitman dress-up (no, not that one, Agent 47). And damn every time it's the same thing, he shows up and holy shit that guy is a GREAT pro-wrestler. They also got quality new guys like Dezmond Xavier, Kaleb (with a K) Konley, plus veteran Matt Sydal, so there's a lot of talent there + you had Trevor Lee who is finally gonna get more of a serious push eventually. By the summer they even bring back the Super X-Cup (and old 00's TNA yearly event), with guys like Taiji Ishimori (thanks to their new NOAH connection), Drago (thanks to their AAA connection) and even Sammy Guevara (damn he looks even more like a kid). Those interpromotional connections would produce the great opener at Slammiversary, a four way tag team match with guys from the Crash too, a very much LU flair to it (hey, Hijo de Fantasma !). There would be more to come on that front, something the D'Amore/Callis regime would really take advantage of. So, that's good stuff.

On the women side, it's very much carried by strong characters like Rosemary, who finally turns babyface after the end of Decay and not surprisingly gets over big as such, starting her storyline with Allie who's still developing as a worker (in storyline) and... Laurel Von Ness. Ok, there's something to be said about people going for absolute broke with ridiculous gimmick, and Chelsea Green certainly did that with the Hot Mess absurdity, she makes it entertaining to watch if anything. The pairing with Kongo Kong really has a 80's gimmick feel to it, for better or worse (let's be real, the idea of a Missing Link gimmick in 2017 is very much on the cringe side of things, and the underlying stuff of the relationship with Laurel aka a big black beast called Kong with a hot blonde girl... yeah, you get the idea, although all of it was very much über-cartoonish). Sienna is quite ok, really. Hey, Ava Storie aka Brandi Lauren as a young JTTS, last time I saw her she was an undead bride of Su Yung. 

The announcer vs announcer storyline was of course unbearable, until the point of the training vignettes of JB & Joseph Parks (I guess that was a Prichard call, and honestly Abyss is just doing his best character work under this identity, so why not) which were pretty fun. The match itself which was highlighted by the presence of Scott Steiner (looking old and not so Poppa Pump anymore, but still throwing some mean-ass suplexes and with good comedic presence), was basically a mix of in-ring stuff (which honestly was quite fun, from all part including douchebag heel Josh Matthews) and some cinematic stuff. I wonder how much of this was JB's vanity project of wanting his own Total Deletion, since they lost the Hardies. In the end, it turned into a fun spectacle, but damn the weeks of build-ups were a complete turn-off.

The "Make IMPACT Great Again" thankfully was short-lived, Dutch never appeared as his WWE self again, and Prichard basically was fine in his babyface authority figure, although with a tendency of bossing around too much (and unlike D'Amore much later, without that exasperated deadpan sense of humor which made it work). Karen Jarrett was there a few weeks, then was gone, then showed up in vignettes. Just a sense of inconsistency on that front. Jeff only appeared at Slammiversary, thinking he had gain the control of his promotion back I guess. Can't wait to hear the next podcasts about 2017, as he mentioned that it was the year his alcohol abuse got out of control. 

The highlight faction clearly is LAX, the entire package : two young Santana & Ortiz and their entourage, plus LU-like vignettes. I think there's something to this as why they never looked as big in AEW as plain "Santana & Ortiz". In IMPACT they had all the production, the LAX name and music, the separate entrance, the lights and sirens, Konnan cutting promos and at this time Homicide & Diamanté around too. That plus the terrific in-ring stuff made them stand out big time. Sadly after Slammiversary they feud with Alberto, so that's FF material. Yeah, I'm not spending a minute watching that piece of trash, I feel dirty enough just knowing he was pushed as their top star, for whatever reasons (WWE reject, failed as a main event guy, underdelivers in the ring most of the time). That would really bite them in the ass, as months and months of building the rebranding around this piece of trash and a few weeks after Slammiversary, he was suspended after his domestic violence incident at an airport (with Paige). It's kinda baffling he was even brought back a few months later, although that would eventually bite them in the ass again with him no-showing in 2018. Anyway, fuck that piece of trash and fuck Konnan for booking him in 2023 (still hoping this wont happen in the end...). Oh, yeah, LAX. Terrific act.

And then there was those fun tapings in Mumbai. Surely refreshed the atmosphere a lot. Great lively crowd (plenty good looking people too, that was noticeable, sorry Orlando tourists), a cool moment with Sonjay winning the X-div title for the first time, although in a okay only match. That led to an excellent 2/3 falls match with Low-Ki at Slammiversary.

The best feud during this entire time was Eddie Edwards vs Davey Richards, who had a terrific heel presentation with Angelina Love (so reliable whenever she's a heel). A bunch of really good and violent matches and angles culminating at Slammiversary in a short, messy but intense garbage match involving Angelina & Alesha Edwards too. That's the really good stuff of this period.

Kinda puzzling decision to turn EC3 heel again, which felt like a re-tread. He was so hot as a babyface, and his in-ring work was better as such too. His feud against James Storm (turned babyface from nowhere after the end of the DCC, which was going nowhere indeed) was fine, as Storm is always good in those kinda intense and personal angles, carrying those with his charisma and connection with the IMPACT audience, and really both are troopers for taking insane amount of belt lashes (30+, both of them). Match at Slammiversary ended up in a confusing way tho, with Storm apparently getting legit concussed, but also working some angle around it. EC3 as a heel doing very much WWE-like skits and cutting borderline racist promos in Mumbai just wasn't the right fit after his very good babyface work. I guess they did not wanted him to steal the spotlight from Alberto, but still, that wasn't the right kinda booking, he never felt as hot as he was before.

So yeah, very much a mixed bag, a TV show marred with a slow-as-hell pace with way too much video pieces and re-showing what just happened (a Prichard stample, very WWE-lite), with things getting better in term of in-ring quality as the Summer moves along. Once El Patron is gone and they soon detach themselves from drunken Jarrett and GFW, the product is gonna foreshadow what the D'Amore regime will be the next year, and that's finally when IMPACT gets its fresh and current identity. One more PPV to go, a few months of early D'Amore/Callis and this is done. What a ride.

[El-P]

Well, the last unexpected surprise of this run was that actually, TNA, IMPACT, GFW turned the corner some time during the later tapings of the Jarrett comeback. Now, I'm not sure how much Prichard was involved creatively until that point, but the fact remains it happens right when he's getting the boot, literally speaking as Jim Cornette shows up in a somewhat funny segment to fire his ass. Two cranky, outdated old fuckers from a bygone era having a last fun angle together (the idea that when both ended up in MLW for a cup of coffee, Cornette was thought of as "more in tune" with current pro-wrestling, ponder that one for a minute or two). For the few weeks he did the authority figure, Cornette was unsurprisingly excellent at it, although at some points his mannerisms screamed 80's wrestling, and no, it's not a de facto good thing unless you're hopelessly stuck in the past (or a 25 years old with the average mentality of someone twice your age). But anyhoo, by then, creative turns things around and the TV product becomes the best it's been since the fun 2014 run. With some good mix of actual good in-ring stuff and some efficient vignettes/cinematic work (mostly involving LAX and the fun wrestling vs MMA feud with Dan Lambert already displaying his awesome promo skills).

One cool feature of this time was the international feel with sometimes matches airing from the Crash, AAA and even NOAH, as Eddie becomes the GHC champ. People from LU fame show up, most notably Johnny Impact, fresh of the best work of his career and pushed at the top in Mexico, El Hijo de Fantasma (who reminds me quickly why he was never a huge favorite of mine in LU, he's pretty good but not even close to their best in-ring and/or most charismatic guys), Texano Jr. and on the women side Taya Valkyrie. Also, they actually quickly turn EC3 back babyface, which was the right thing to do, smartly using the real-life issues with AAA (Rosemary getting injured on purpose by the piece of trash Sexy Star, Jarrett and La Parka having a scuffle backstage at Triplemania) to develop somewhat of an interpromotional storyline.

X-division gets even more time and focus, with a mix of TNA originals like Sonjay and Petey Williams (talk about a guy who definitely was one of the TNA originals, he definitely was one of them, for sure he was), Trevor Lee and his crew, Garza Jr. from AAA, Matt Sydal and up and comers Dezmond Xavier. They'll have the best (and opening) match at BfG.

On the women side, Gail Kim is having her very last (until she came back to face Tessa Blanchard) claim to fame, and she sure deserved it, 10 years after the debut of the division she pushed for. She really was their Bret Hart, especially after she came back, they always relied on her everytime around to carry the belt when they had no other ideas/options. Taryn Terell came back but sadly only for a cup of coffee, that girl really is one of the biggest overachiever I've seen (considering she was a Diva Search contestant), too bad she left again so soon, but other interests in life (she would show up again for a while in NWA in 2021, then retired for good last year). For the few weeks she was there, she really shined again. With Allie and Rosemary, they had a good crew of strong characters who were over.

Oh, and Laurel Von Ness, again going for broke in a goofy but fun angle with Grado, in which he's trying to marry someone to not get deported (running this angle during Trump's presidency, imagine that), and of course only batshit Laurel is open at this idea, only for him to get grossed at and scared. And when he's about to leave the country, she shows up all cleaned up and sexy AF (I mean, Chelsea Green) and asks for his hand. The punchline being that she's actually Canadian. So Grado ends up leaving her, so she flips her lid AGAIN. Fun stuff indeed. They actually carry on with the storyline, giving it a new twist of Joseph Parks signing Grado under a talent contract, so he can stay and work in the US. But now Parks is actually stealing all of his money as the carny that he is (I was thinking Paul Heyman), in a series of pretty fun vignettes (in one of them, we get the future Salina de la Renta actually delivering the "is he the meal ticket ?" line that sparks the end of the storyline, that's a trivia for ya). All leading to a godawful match at BfG between Grado and Abyss, whose sheer highlight was delivered by Laurel and Rosemary.

Giving the title to Eli Drake was not the worst choice, and he actually made the most out of it, getting into a more serious style of promos and really delivering in-ring, with quality opponents but mainly focused on feuding with Johnny Impact. That gave the product a fresh feel after the months of terrible Alberto stuff. Sadly, el Abuser would show up back in BfG, and they actually do a shit finish during the main event, like they did not learn the lessons of the last 15 years. Maybe that's why the very first PPV of the D'Amore/Callis regime the next year would be called "Redemption" (and they sure did, not to mention Alberto finally got fired for no-show, good fucking riddance). 

And that's pretty much it. It's interesting to see how they slowly phased away both Jarretts on TV with each week passing by, with less and less emphasis on the GFW brand, and by BfG, it's back to IMPACT with no one saying a word about it. But the PPV was not very good and felt very much like TNA of old. This would be the last of Jeremy Borash working for the company too. It would take a few tapings left with the six-ride ring and in early 2018, D'Amore/Callis would get the control of the company and the true redemption would begin, indeed (and hence a new thread).

[El-P]

And I guess I can now officially answer to the question that was asked sometime in 2007, as I don't think anyone is more qualified, very objectively. Sometime in March of 2016 (although I really started the previous year, but it was more a quick and dirty follow-up to the death of WCW project by then), I started this idiotic (not always) idea of watching TNA, as a distraction from very depressing times in my life then. And I kept up until I managed to catch up to the time, two years later, when I actually started to watch IMPACT Wrestling (what, 5 years almost already ?). And so the answer is :

NO

Absolutely not. From a viewer's perspective, the reason is simple : too much great wrestling scattered over its existence. The fact AJ Styles was a mainstay for so long in itself should justify this answer.

From a business perspective, as much as the promotion has been derided (for good reasons), it gave so many talent a platform to express themselves and get paid (sometime, not nearly as much as they should have, this has been well documented). No matter how you twist it, TNA was the only "mainstream" alternative to WWE for a long time. ROH was always the biggest indie. That's another thing completely than being on national TV. There's so many workers who had the opportunity to shine more there than they would have (or eventually will) anywhere else, and that's including some former WWE talent, the most obvious being Kurt Angle (who had his best years in TNA and watching his work there was big part of me understanding that I was actually an idiot about many things I thought I knew). 

TNA certainly was the biggest missed opportunity company ever, because they could have been successful as an alternative, had they focused on what made them different, and really Jeff Jarrett had it right : the X-division, woman's wrestling and the fact they weren't afraid of getting their hands dirty (to contrast the more and more children friendly image of WWE). But they were cursed by the most inept people since WCW. Wait, some actually were the same. And they were cursed by the graviationnal pull of WWE's style and aura (which even AEW struggles with at times, as showed by the debuts of Christian Cage and Saraya for instance). 

If I would give three key moments why TNA was actually an important company for pro-wrestling, I'd point out these :

2005 : Samoa Joe vs AJ Styles vs Christopher Daniels. This was the avant-garde of pro-wrestling, right there from ROH into a national TV product. This was the peak of pro-wrestling at the time (alongside some of the NOAH stuff). WWE was lagging years behind in term of style. YEARS behind.

2007 : Gail Kim vs Awesome Kong. Best US women wrestling ever at this point. And they drew ratings too. Put these matches in 2023, and they still stand out as great. At this time, WWE was having Ashley Massaro, Melina and Candice Mitchell in "lumberjills" matches and shit (sure they had Beth Phenix too which was a clear case of "good for the Diva era"). Gail Kim remains one of the greatest female US based workers I've ever seen, and Awesome Kong at her peak was just, well awesome. TNA was YEARS in advance on the women's wrestling side of things (although of course Russo and others would make sure they would revert back regularly).

2016 : The Final Deletion. The entire Broken Matt arc is legit one of the greatest and most fun stuff I've seen in my 30+ years of pro-wrestling fandom. And although there have been cinematic matches and mini-movies before, no one was ready for this. This was so great that WWE immediately jumped on it and made a shitty version (two words : Bray Wyatt), despite TNA being completely under the radar then. This is the staple for every great cinematic match to come, most notably the first Stadium Stampede and Undertaker vs AJ Styles (think about it, Taker's last match ever). This was taking the absurd of pro-wrestling to an entire new level, with the self awareness of its inherent goofiness (in a way, it's a pure product of the 10's and the influence of acts like the Young Bucks and programs like Lucha Underground has to be mentioned). If pro-wrestling had a future out of its restricted area (the ring), that was it.

Of course, *most* of TNA was marred by bullshit. But its story is absolutely fascinating to me. In short, TNA was actually  a mostly good company at this various points :

2005-2/3 of 2006 (the peak of the Russo-less era)

2008 (the peak involving Russo)

The last months of 2009 (the carefree months before the apocalypse)

2013-2014 (a fun rebound after years of being a complete chore)

Beginning and last half of 2016 (during Corgan's stint)

Last third of 2017 (the post Jarrett take-over)

And then after 2018 and on aka the true IMPACT Wrestling years.

The moment things fall apart completely really comes with Hogan and Bischoff in 2010. Surprise surprise. That's the point where it quickly gets hopeless, and things gets worse and worse until the company is pretty irrelevant. Then gets fun again, but at this point, they are done.

Worst bookers, well :

Vince Russo, obviously. He's one major reason why TNA got into the dirt. Hell, they lost their major TV deal because of his presence. When he shows up back in 2006, he literally kills the promotion dead (this is his most deadly work, worst than WCW 2000, because then there was nothing to kill anymore in term of quality). It takes a while for them to get better in 2007 and actually a balance sets in and by 2008 we get the best product ever involving Russo (let's be real, the Attitude Era was mostly crap).

Dusty Rhodes. He gets power in 2004 and HOLY FUCK this is bad. Bad and boring. Jeez, this guy's rep has been cleaned up something fierce by NXT (to which degree of WWE revisionism and confirmation bias by stans, I have no idea)

Bruce Prichard. Ok, I'll give the devil his due in term of production and streamlining of the product. He made things better from that point of view. You can see his experience running things in WWE. BUT. His booking ideas were the shits. The Bobby Roode reign of terror is endless, boring, endlessly boring, with shit finishes after shit finishes. They missed the point with James Storm. They wasted Aries momentum. And then the following year, Aces & Eights is the drizzling shits of hell. Yeah, I know "We're telling a story". But your stories suck. 

Best booker, oh well that's obvious : Scott D'Amore. Was responsible for the best period in 2005/06. Then look at what he has done with it since 2018 (and started a turnaround in 2017 already). Interestingly enough, he was a younger guy, not a fossil from another generation with dated concept and ideas. That's what pro-wrestling needs : fresh minds. 

Well, it's been fun. 

Wait, I gotta say, TNA also had some great music themes.

Ok, it's been fun. Kinda. And kinda took me forever too. 7 years ? Are you kidding me ? What the hell did I do with my life. Well, I watched some great pro-wrestling. And tons of really fucking shitty pro-wrestling too, but that's the name of the game.

I guess that's it for me. For now.

[Alucard]

Congratulations on the end of the ride! This was an awesome thread, I loved it all the way. Great final wrap up review there as well.

[NintendoLogic]

That begs the question, though: if TNA isn't the worst wrestling promotion in history, what is?

[Stiva]

Yeah, this was a fun little revisionism project and it sort of makes me want to watch the whole run for myself but it’ll take a Herculean effort to drag me from my big Memphis rewatch. Maybe one day I’ll give them a fair crack of the whip 

[Ricky Jackson]

3 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

That begs the question, though: if TNA isn't the worst wrestling promotion in history, what is?

Probably Bruiser Bedlam 

 

[Blehschmidt]

4 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

That begs the question, though: if TNA isn't the worst wrestling promotion in history, what is?

It has to be Abrams UWF. 

@GeneJackson95 and I just attempted a podcast of watching the whole run and after 12 episodes we are switching up the concept because we just can't take it.

It is nothing but repetitive squash matches with the same talent over and over again that build to absolutely nothing, because there are no house shows or pay per views to build too.

You have Abrams, Albano, and John Tolos screaming on nearly every episode, sometimes in mutiple segments and it's getting absolutely no one over.

Then you have the utter garbage like Tony Halme as The Viking using an elbow drop to send guys out on a stretcher. Tolos claiming Dan Spivey is at his villa in Greece to cover the fact that he is in Japan and isn't coming back. Billy Jack Haynes cutting an interview againat Colonel Debeers where he claimed he was "babysat by black people" and was "fighting for the blacks and the orientals."

Then you have the really famous stuff like Debeers vs the black referee, an angle which apart from being tasteless, is totally nonsensical, when you see how it's run. You also have the other referee that no sells the chair shots from Dr. Death and is lucky to be alive, footage that they would show multiple times for whatever reason!!

Seriously, all of that! and that all happens in the first 12 episodes of the fucking show. It's amateur hour, and it only gets worse. Eventually they do get a PPV to build toward, but it only gets worse.

So Yeah, that'd get my vote!

[KawadaSmile]

I'd argue that even WWE's version of Final Deletion managed to capture the camp charm of the original. Might be the only good non-traditional match Bray Wyatt has ever had, too. It says a lot!

And yeah, it still is one of the most remarkably influential things in wrestling. Wild, that.

[sek69]

So since I took the day off for Halloween, I was able to watch the show tonight (which to be fair, was pretty good). During the show they mentioned Chris Bey's injury and plugged his GoFundme for his medical bill which may have been the most embarrassingly bush league thing I've ever seen. As much as we make fun of TNA, they are owned by a multi million dollar company and for them to act like a podunk indy fed was a terrible look. Not wanting to invest more in your rasslin' promotion is one thing, shilling the crowd funding campaign for a guy who broke his fuckin neck on your show should be something that should give even the most corporate brained exec pause.

[Al]

I don't begrudge the GoFundMe because there's a ton of expenses not associated with normal medical bills. But yeah, shilling for it on your television show is awkward.