This month marks fifteen years since the debut of Total Nonstop Action/Impact Wrestling. The company experienced tremendous highs and tumultuous lows throughout its history. I prefer to celebrate the good instead of making them the perennial butt of every joke about modern professional wrestling. To commemorate the occasion, we here at The Scrum Sports have decided to pick our fifteen greatest moments in TNA history. Whether good or bad, these moments helped to shape the company into what it is today.
15.) TNA’s Very First Live Event (06/19/2002): In the beginning, before the promotion had a TV deal, Total Nonstop Action held a series of weekly pay-per-view events. Their first one, held at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama was quite the show. While most people’s attention was on the Gauntlet for the Gold Battle Royal (which saw Ken Shamrock go on to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship). Die hard wrestling fans paid closer attention to the opening bout. Jimmy Yang, Sonny Siaki and Jorge Estrada defeated Low Ki, Jerry Lynn and AJ Styles. This wasn’t Styles’ first televised match, but it was the first where he got to truly show what he was capable of. Even in defeat, Styles would show just how phenomenal he is. Styles would later go on to become one of the cornerstones of the promotion for the next decade. But it all started right here.
14.) Jim Cornette Becomes Part of TNA Management (06/18/2006): This one may be a bit too “insider” for the average fan. During the Slammiversary main event, the company sought to recreate the controversy of the Montreal Screwjob. Jeff Jarrett, along with Larry Zbyszko and Earl Hebner screwed over Christian Cage, Sting, Ron Killings and Abyss. Cornette came in as an onscreen authority figure to give the heels their comeuppance. However, there was one person in creative that he would have loved to verbally eviscerate with a live microphone as a shoot. Vince Russo was the head writer for TNA at the time. Russo and Cornette butted heads in WWE over different philosophies when it came to creative/booking. Smart marks were hoping for some juicy dirt sheet Intel. It took significantly longer to occur, but when it hit the fan, Cornette made it publically known what occurred and what he thought of one Mr. Russo.
13.) First Ever Pay-Per-View Event with Every Match in a Steel Cage (4/24/2005): What made TNA great early on is the company’s desire to be different. Well, nothing gets more different than a show where every match on the card takes place inside the six sides of steel. TNA gave us high flying affairs such as Christopher Daniels vs. Elix Skipper. We got a great triple threat match in 3 Live Kru vs. The Naturals and David Young & Lex Lovett. We even got to see the utter brutality of AJ Styles vs. an unleashed Abyss inside of that cage. TNA was at its best when it showed off its innovation.
12.) Sting’s Return to Professional Wrestling (1/15/2006): TNA’s Final Resolution pay-per-view had quite the stacked card. While personally, I most looked forward to the Christopher Daniels vs. Samoa Joe match for the X Division Championship. The company’s objective though was to captivate the casual viewer. Nothing did so more than the return of Sting, who hadn’t been active in close to five years at that point. The former WCW alumn teamed with the recently acquired former WWE talent, Christian Cage, in a match against Jeff Jarrett and Monty Brown. While this was not a tag team clinic, the crowd popped for the icon harder than any TNA crowd to date.
11.) AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels for the X Division Championship (9/11/2005): This match alone was enough to justify purchasing this pay-per-view event. The damaged friendship of Styles & Daniels as well as the building rivalry between Joe and Styles made for several interesting weeks of build up. What we wound up getting was twenty-two minutes and fifty seconds of some of the highest flying and hardest hitting action ever seen in a North American wrestling promotion. Between Joe and Styles’ “strong style” kicking contest and the most amazing Shooting Star Press out of the ring ever performed, all three men brought their A-game and then some. In the end, Styles countered his former best friend’s finisher and performed a bridge to pick up the victory. I implore any who have yet to witness the awesomeness of this match to do so, immediately. There’s a reason that Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter rated this match 5 stars.
10.) Ron Killings Becomes NWA/TNA World Champion (08/07/2002): I don’t think that I need to express how rare it is that a major North American wrestling promotion has a person of color as its world champion. At NWA-TNA’s eighth weekly pay-per-view, Killings defeated Ken Shamrock, to win the world title. The fact that TPTB were willing to pull the trigger on a Killings title reign spoke to his work ethic. TNA is willing to take chances on performers that other companies wouldn’t. I give kudos to TNA for making this move.
9.) Billy Corgan announced as Senior Producer of Creative & Talent Development (April 2015): Anyone that follows professional wrestling knows that TNA dug themselves quite the ditch. Mismanagement and poor decision making from the top trickled down. This made it that much harder for the talent to get over. Along comes former front man for the Smashing Pumpkins and brilliant wrestling mind, Billy Corgan. In the time that he held power in the company, he assisted in revitalizing several neglected talents. He also helped to make stars out of some that other promotions wouldn’t give that chance to (Ethan Carter III). Thought that story did not have a happy ending, the good that Corgan did while he was in TNA gave the promotion a new lease on life.
8.) Kurt Angle vs. Ken Anderson inside Six Sides of Steel (4/18/2010): When it comes to sheer brutality, not many matches in TNA history can compare to this one. It not only showed that Kurt Angle should teach Babyfaces in Peril 101, but it finally silenced the critics of Ken Anderson. Anderson came out of this looking like the top heel in the company. It is a badge that he wore with pride for several years after. This is a highly underrated match that should be watched and then watched again.
7.) Debut of Kurt Angle in TNA (10/19/2006): TNA President Dixie Carter announced in late 2006 that former Olympic gold medalist and WWE superstar Kurt Angle would be joining the Impact Wrestling roster. I had trepidation. My two major gripes were a) that TNA was pulling a “WCW” during the mid 2000s by signing a bunch of older established talent instead of developing and pushing their younger homegrown talent and b) Angle’s health issues and his stubborn refusal to take time off when he needed it. Thankfully, after some trying times, Angle got past his demons. He gave us a truly definitive run as one of the all time top stars in TNA.
6.) Awesome Kong vs. Gail Kim (1/6/2008): Awesome Kong or Gail Kim is involved in the majority of top ten Knockouts matches. There’s a reason for that. Both women are not only gifted in ring athletes, but have unparalleled ring psychology. Their No DQ match at Final Resolution was epic in every sense. The fight immediately broke out into the crowd. Weapons got involved later on, making this one of the more brutal women’s matches in recent history. Gail’s roll up pin allowed her to retain the title. Her hand being raised made her look like a Ricky Morton style babyface. That is one of the highest compliments one can receive.
5.) Elix Skipper’s Death Defying Hurrincanrana (12/5/2004): This one makes the list because it was the craziest stunt I’ve ever seen live at a major promotion. Turning Point featured a tag team match inside the six sides of steel. America’s Most Wanted fought against Triple X. AMW attempted to cut off the heat for the heels. Skipper did a tight rope style walk across the top of the cage, leaped onto Chris Harris (also sitting on top of the cage) and did a Hurricanrana to Harris, off of the cage. Those few hundred people in the Impact Zone at Universal Studios chanted with more thunderous passion than most WWE events I’ve been to.
4.) Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle at Genesis (11/19/2006): This was a feud for the ages. The undefeated Samoan Submission Machine vs. the Olympic hero. The match was given several weeks of build up. In a peculiar move, TNA treated this less like a typical wrestling feud and more of an MMA rivalry. The realism involved helped to build towards possibly the greatest match in TNA history. Their encounter was visceral. Both men would forgo typical worked moves in favor of strike and submission based offense. Samoa Joe’s undefeated streak wasn’t the only thing broken that night. TNA Genesis 2006 also broke the company record for highest pay-per-view buy rate of all time.
3.) Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff Appear for Monday Night Impact (1/4/2010): For better or worse, something was needed to reinvigorate the brand. That something was the former President of WCW and the biggest icon in wrestling history showing up at the Impact Zone. To make this event feel even more special, TNA opted to move to Monday night. The idea was to compete with WWE Monday Night Raw. Their ultimately futile attempt to reinvigorate the Monday Night Wars did manage to make TNA relevant once again.
2.) The Final Deletion (7/5/2016): I had to stop myself from filling up the list with everything Broken Matt Hardy related. I elected to use just one instance of his broken brilliance. This match had the best buildup of any in several years. The mentally damaged (or enlightened) Broken Matt Hardy, upset at his “Brother Nero” (Jeff Hardy) for his crazy stunts costing them the TNA Tag Titles erupted into the most over the top match ever to air on Impact. From sentient drones to firework battles to dilapidated boats, Matt and producer Jeremy Borash, struck gold with this gimmick.
1.) TNA Weekly Broadcast Airs On Spike TV (10/1/2005): 2002 is where it all began. 2005 is where TNA strived to become a household name. This was the most vital deal in the company’s fifteen year history. If the TV deal with Spike never occurred, TNA would have been nothing but a short term blip on the radar. Whether positively or negatively, fans and wrestling insiders still speak of TNA to this day. The majority of this is due to the near decade of TNA making Spike TV its home. TNA has enjoyed a longer weekly televised existence than Extreme Championship Wrestling or even World Championship Wrestling. This has to be the number one moment just for long term impact alone, no pun intended.
There were so many great moments to choose from, however these stuck out the most, imho. What were some moments that you feel should have made the cut? Or if we did a top 30, which events would you add?
