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Total Nonstop Action

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling is an American Independent professional wrestling Promotion founded by Jeff Jarrett and his father Jerry Jarrett. The company originally operated out of Nashville, Tennessee, and now operates from Orlando, Florida, with an office in Manhattan, New York. Until recently, TNA Wrestling was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance and was also known as NWA: TNA. However, TNA Wrestling has acquired the rights to use the NWA's World Heavyweight Championship and World Tag Team Championship belts until the year 2014, and their champions will still be known as NWA champions.

Table of contents

Background

After the fall of World Championship Wrestling (WCW), there was still a demand for southern-style and cruiserweight wrestling that Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) was not fulfilling. TNA attempted to cater to this niche market by offering an alternative to the WWE, and by recruiting many former WCW and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) performers who had not signed with WWE. On May 10, 2002, J Sports and Entertainment (a limited company with Jerry Jarrett as Chief Executive Officer and Jeff Jarrett as President) announced the formation of Total Nonstop Action.

While several companies such as World Wrestling Allstars (WWA) had attempted to fill the void that the closure of WCW and ECW left, TNA has been the most successful. Some suspect a partial motive behind the creation of TNA was to provide employment and mainstream exposure for Jeff Jarrett, the son of long-time wrestling promoter Jerry Jarrett, who was unemployed after the collapse of WCW, and was unable to find work with the McMahons (ostensibly because he blackmailed Vince McMahon for a large sum of money to perform after his contract expired while he held the Intercontinental Championship in 1999).

From its formation, TNA had been losing a great deal of money. In October 2002, Jerry Jarrett sold his controlling interest in the company to the privately-held company Panda Energy International, whose Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Robert W. Carter, was a wrestling fan (Jarrett remains a minority shareholder). On October 31, 2002, Panda Energy and J Sports and Entertainment created the company TNA Entertainment (J Sports and Entertainment was later dissolved). Jeff Jarrett was appointed Vice-President of TNA Entertainment, while Carter's daughter, Dixie Carter (no relation to the actress of the same name) was appointed President.

Dixie Carter is a big wrestling fan, and has become highly involved with the day-to-day operation of the company. Her ideas are rumoured to include the hiring of the highly-controversial Johnny Fairplay and the much criticised all-cage match Pay Per View, Lockdown. Panda Energy also appointed Chris Sobol, the Panda Manager of Business Development, as TNA Vice President of Operations. TNA has continued to lose money since the takeover by Panda Energy, though Panda Energy has repeatedly reaffirmed their continued support.

Business model

The TNA Wrestling business model is different from that employed by the WWE and the former WCW in several key ways. By not touring like other major federations do, or have done, TNA Wrestling has been able to keep its costs down.

Its original system of programing was comprised of weekly pay-per-view cable television shows. While it's not unusual for a federation to air a monthly pay-per-view (ECW, WWF/E, and WCW used to all follow this practice, and WWE continues to do so today), not having a weekly network, syndicated, or cable show at the beginning was a radical departure from the usual practice of televised wrestling federations. The weekly TNA Wrestling PPVs was priced at $9.95 per week, much less than the monthly PPVs of its rivals. While this made it more difficult for TNA Wrestling to pick up casual fans, it developed a small, hardcore viewership which loyally watched its product. Initial estimates by TNA predicted that about 50,000 PPV "buys" would be needed each week to break even. Actual buys were, according to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, ranged from anywhere between 5,000–15,000 on a weekly basis. After 111 weeks, TNA Wrestling stopped the weekly PPV on September 8, 2004.

TNA Wrestling started TNA Wrestling iMPACT! in June of 2004 on FOX Sports Net. TNA Wrestling iMPACT!, taped on Tuesdays at Universal Studios in Orlando, is broadcast at 4:00pm on FOX Sports Net in most markets. TNA Wrestling purchases the one hour time slot from FOX Sports Net, with the monthly PPV earnings being their main source of income. Some say that TNA Wrestling hopes they will be able to sell their weekly show and make a profit from that, rather than paying for the time slot. There was also talks of the TNA Wrestling iMPACT! show appearing on TSN in Canada but those negotiations have since gone down. Rumors that TNA would eventually end up being broadcast on Spike TV once the WWE moves from that network to the USA Network have since been debunked by Spike, who say they have no interest in broadcasting anymore wrestling programs after WWE departs.

On Sunday November 7, 2004 TNA Wrestling held their first Sunday three hour PPV event, TNA Wrestling Victory Road from Universal Studios in Orlando. Featuring Jeff Jarrett and Jeff Hardy in the main event with appearances from Scott Hall, Roddy Piper and the debuts of Kevin Nash and Randy Savage, this was the first PPV since TNA Wrestling changed their business model mid 2004. Initial "buys" for the PPV were estimated to be in the low 10,000s while reports surfaced that most of the live crowd that attended the event were allowed in for free due to low ticket sales. Furthermore, Randy Savage abruptly quit the company less than a day after making his PPV debut due to alleged disputes with TNA management.

During the week after TNA Wrestling iMPACT!, TNA Wrestling partnered with Fox Sports Net's The Best Damn Sports Show Period to create The Best Damn Wrestling Event Period. The specials, filmed at Universal Studios, featured wrestling matches and promoted TNA Wrestling's next PPV, TNA Wrestling Turning Point. The specials were widely criticized by wrestling insiders and fans for treating pro wrestling as a joke and making a mockery of several TNA workers.

On Sunday December 5, 2004 TNA Wrestling Turning Point broadcast featuring footage filmed at Universal Studios Orlando between a few TNA Wrestling wrestlers invading a commercial shoot for WWE's upcoming Royal Rumble PPV. The event also featured a spoof of Vince McMahon and Triple H invading the PPV and demanding that the footage be handed over to them (WWE has demanded the footage be handed over to them rather than aired, or legal action will be taken.) TNA had hoped to provoke some sort of response from their larger rival with this skit, but the more mainstream WWE completely ignored the event in the end.

The event also featured an intense match between tag teams XXX and America's Most Wanted in a Six Sides of Steel Cage Match.

Since December, 2004, reports have surfaced that several workers have been shorted in pay, with further reports that Sean Waltman, better known in the WWE as X-Pac, may leave TNA due to pay issues.

Pay-Per Views (2005):

X Division

The high-flying, high risk style of wrestling (derided by some as being 'spot-fests') had been one of the key reasons viewers turned in to WCW and ECW. Rather than emphasizing the fact that most wrestlers who perform this style are under 250 lb (115 kg) by calling it a "Cruiserweight division", TNA Wrestling decided to emphasize the high risk nature of the moves these wrestlers perform (there is no upper weight limit on the X Division title, though in practice most of the champions have been Cruiserweights). Thus a key attraction of TNA Wrestling is the "X Division".

Current championships

The TNA World and Tag Team Championships are national titles owned by the National Wrestling Alliance. Traditionally, national champions regularly defend their titles against local contendors in the various NWA territories. This has rarely been the case, but TNA has leased the titles from the NWA, removing the obligations from the champion. The X Division Championship is a regional championship, created and owned exclusively by TNA.

Title Notes: Current Champion(s)
NWA World Heavyweight Championship Jeff Jarrett
NWA World Tag Team Championship The Naturals (Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens)
TNA X Division Championship Christopher Daniels

Roster

Active wrestlers

TNA Girls

  • Tracy Brooks (Tracy Brookshaw)
  • Trinity (Stephanie Finochio)

Injured

Prospects

  • Kid Romeo

Factions/Tag Teams

  • 3 Live Kru (B.G. James/Konnan/Ron Killings)
  • America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris/James Storm)
  • Disciples of Destruction (Don Harris/Ron Harris)
  • Phi-Delta Slam (Big Tilly/Bruno Sassi)
  • Dustin Rhodes/Cassidy Riley
  • Planet Jarrett ("Alpha Male" Monty Brown/Andy Douglas/Chase Stevens/Jeff Jarrett/The Outlaw)
  • Team Canada (Allistar Ralph/Bobby Roode/Eric Young/Johnny Devine/Petey Williams/Scott D'Amore)
  • The Naturals (Andy Douglas/Chase Stevens)
  • Buck Quartermain/Lex Lovett
  • Jerrelle Clark/Mikey Batts

Past and present DoAs

The TNA Director of Authority is the head official (figurehead) of TNA Wrestling. More or less a Commissioner for the company, the DoA makes the matches for TNA's PPVs and Impact TV shows. While Erik Watts had no real creative power, Vince Russo and Dusty Rhodes were, in addition to their onscreen roles, the company bookers.

Other On-air Talent

  • Mike Tenay (Play-by-Play Commentator)
  • Don West (Color Commentator)
  • Armando Quintero (Spanish commentator)
  • Moody Jack Melendez (Spanish commentator)
  • Shane Douglas (interviewer)
  • Jeremy Borash (Ring Announcer)
  • Jeff Hammond (Lead Analyst)
  • Andrew Thomas (Referee)
  • Mark "Slick" Johnson (Referee)
  • Rudy Charles (Senior referee)
  • Harley Race (Championship Committee)
  • Larry Zybszko (Championship Committee)
  • "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (Championship Committee)
  • Jonny Fairplay

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