TNA Wrestling was dreamed up on a fishing trip to rival WWE
When World Championship Wrestling collapsed in 2001, WWE was left with the American wrestling business to itself. On a fishing trip, Jeff Jarrett, his father Jerry and Bob Ryder sketched a challenger that would skip television entirely and sell its shows straight to viewers as weekly pay-per-views.
Total Nonstop Action launched in May 2002 in Nashville, its initials a cheeky pun supplied, by his own account, by the writer Vince Russo, who wanted it seen as edgier than WWE. Weekly pay-per-views, mostly staged at a state fairground arena fans nicknamed the Asylum, were the main income; 111 aired before the format ended in September 2004. That October of 2002 Panda Energy bought 72% of the company, and Dixie Carter, daughter of Panda's founder, became president the following spring.
Its weekly television show, Impact!, arrived in May 2004 with a distinctive six-sided ring and a sports-style presentation stressing fast, acrobatic matches and female performers. A 2005 three-way bout between AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe earned the promotion its first five-star rating from the journalist Dave Meltzer. A deal with Spike TV that year brought big names such as Kurt Angle, Sting, Booker T and Mick Foley, and TNA became America's second-largest promotion, touring Europe to sold-out crowds.
Then things unravelled. Carter hired Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff in 2009; they scrapped the six-sided ring and in 2010 moved the show head to head against WWE's Monday night flagship, the first such clash since the 1990s, before retreating to Thursdays. Financial mismanagement and creative missteps from 2010 to 2016 drove away stars. Styles left in 2013 rather than accept a 60% pay cut.
Panda sold its stake to Carter in 2012, and she sold to Anthem Sports & Entertainment in 2017. Renamed Impact Wrestling that year, the company returned to its original name in 2024 and now ranks third among US promotions, behind WWE and All Elite Wrestling.
Source: Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
