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Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), a privately controlled integrated-media and sports entertainment company, deals primarily in professional wrestling. It uses television, the Internet, and live events, with additional major revenue sources from product licensing and direct product sales. Dixie Carter Salinas is the president and chairwoman of the company and co-founder Jeff Jarrett is the vice president. As of 2005 Panda Energy International owns the majority of its shares.

The company has its headquarters in Orlando, Florida; its trading company TNA Entertainment, LLC operates out of Nashville, Tennessee. The company previously bore the name "NWA Total Nonstop Action" — at the time of its formation it belonged to the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). TNA was granted exclusive rights to both the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Tag Team Championship. TNA withdrew from the NWA in 2004, but was permitted to continue to use the championships until the NWA abrogated the agreement in May 2007.

TNA became the first American promotion to make exclusive use of a hexagonal wrestling-ring (as opposed to the more conventional four-sided ring). The organization also employed the unconventional rule that a championship can change hands as the result of a disqualification or countout, but has slowly phased out this rule. TNA's business focus is on professional wrestling, a simulated sport that consists of wrestling combined with acting and theatre. It is currently the second largest professional wrestling promotion in North America, behind World Wrestling Entertainment.

History

Formation

The concept of TNA Wrestling originated shortly after the end of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) (2001). Bob Ryder, Jeff Jarrett, and Jerry Jarrett went on a fishing trip and contemplated their futures in the business of wrestling. The World Wrestling Federation (WWF) remained the only wrestling product on U.S. national television — WWF had purchased WCW in March 2001, and Extreme Championship Wrestling had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy that same year. Ryder felt that this situation led many television stations to regard wrestling as bad for business, and suggested a company that does not need television, but rather just goes straight to pay-per-view. Of the three, only Jeff Jarrett took the discussion seriously (the other two thought of it as "just fishing talk").

The Jarretts found the help they needed, and the company put on its first show on June 19, 2002. This night, however, in a dark match just before they went on the air, a 450lb wrestler named Cheex hit the ropes with so much force that one of them broke. The estimated repair time was 30–60 minutes, which they did not have because the schedule called for them to go live in a few minutes, whether the ring was ready or not. Backstage, the producers shuffled the schedule so that some non-wrestling segments went first to give the ring crew some more time, but they did not have many of them. The ring crew came up with a creative way to fix the rope with the help of Ron and Don Harris, and everyone went live hoping for the best.

TNA Xplosion and Weekly PPVs

The original TNA business model differed from that employed by WWE in several key ways. By not touring like other major federations had done, TNA could keep costs down. Until the introduction of the syndicated show, TNA Xplosion, in late 2002, TNA's weekly pay-per-view show operated as the company's main source of revenue, in place of monthly pay-per-view events used by other promotions. These shows started on June 19, 2002 and were held mostly at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds in Nashville to lower production costs. After 27 months, TNA felt that they had a fanbase that would support three-hour pay-per-views and ceased their weekly shows on September 8, 2004. TNA held its first three-hour monthly pay-per-view, Victory Road, on November 7, 2004.

TNA Impact!

TNA began airing TNA Impact! (officially typeset "TNA iMPACT!") on June 4, 2004 on Fox Sports Net, and it soon replaced the weekly pay-per-views as TNA's primary broadcast, while the monthly events became the main source of revenue. The contract was not renewed one year later with the show getting consistent low ratings. As a result, TNA was left with no television deal other than the monthly pay-per-views, so on July 1, 2005, TNA turned to broadcasting Impact! from their official website, while seeking a new television outlet. TNA later secured a deal with Spike TV and aired its first episode on October 1, 2005. Since the move, Impact! achieved considerably higher ratings and was moved twice, now having a primetime slot on Thursdays. Impact! expanded to a two-hour format on October 4, 2007.

Expansion

Apart from their weekly shows, TNA started running house shows on March 17, 2006.

In October 2006, TNA started holding some of its monthly pay-per-views outside of its central filming location. TNA has also expanded into other areas with the development of a video game with Midway Games, titled TNA Impact!, released in 2008. In April 2006, TNA announced a partnership with YouTube where TNA supplied YouTube with exclusive video content in exchange for hosting, leading to the production of internet shows. In January 2007, TNA's mobile content deal with New Motion, Inc. led to the introduction of TNA Mobile and mobile fan voting. TNA has also launched the TNA U program to help promote the brand and has started airing podcasts through YouTube which they call TNA U TV.

In August 2007, live-events coordinator Craig Jenkins stated that TNA intended to stage eight pay-per-views and 96 house shows outside Orlando, Florida in 2008. In 2008 TNA conducted its first tour of the UK, with most shows selling out. 2009 saw the promotion first touring Germany.

In May 2009, Bravo in the UK started airing a new TNA television series called TNA Epics which showed past matches and events from the "TNA Video Vault". Epics ran for 8 episodes in the UK before going off-air, but all 10 created episodes are still available in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

TNA footage appears in the wrestling documentary, Bloodstained Memoirs. On June 21, TNA launched an online video vault subscription service, where subscribers could watch past pay-per-views by choosing either one of three payment options.

Celebrity involvement

Since its inception, several celebrities have appeared with TNA in a variety of roles.

Different features

Ring shape and locations

Distinctively in the United States professional wrestling promotion scene, TNA utilizes a hexagonal ring as opposed to the traditional square ring. Steel-cage matches, referred to as Six Sides of Steel matches, also take place in the ring; in addition, the promotion holds a now annual pay-per-view called Lockdown which features every match on the card inside the cage. Also, although TNA runs some house shows and a few PPV events in arenas, TNA holds most of its events at a set location, referred to as the TNA Impact! Zone, in Universal Studios, Orlando, Florida as opposed to an arena, presenting more of a regional promotion atmosphere.

X Division

The high-flying, high-risk style of wrestling had become one of the features of World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling in the late 1990s. Rather than emphasizing the fact that most wrestlers who perform this style are under 220 lb (100 kg) by calling it a cruiserweight division, TNA decided to emphasize the high-risk nature of the moves that these wrestlers perform. There is no upper weight limit on the X Division or its title, though in practice, most of the wrestlers in this division have been cruiserweights, with Sonny Siaki, Samoa Joe, and Kurt Angle, being notable exceptions. To further emphasize this point, the slogan "It's not about weight limits, it's about no limits" is used to describe the division. Although it was de-emphasized throughout 2007 and throughout 2009, the X Division is generally regarded as one of the key attractions of TNA and was replicated in several independent promotions.

Championships

TNA originally recognized the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) World Heavyweight and World Tag Team Championships, in addition to the X Division Championship, the only championship controlled and owned exclusively by TNA. Traditionally, NWA World Champions regularly defended their titles against local contenders in the various NWA territories. This did not often happen when TNA used the titles, with TNA leasing the titles from the NWA in order to free the champion from these obligations. Wrestlers who win all three titles are said to have won the TNA Triple Crown.

On May 13, 2007, the NWA withdrew recognition of TNA's champions, leaving the two NWA titles vacant. TNA invented new titles, the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and the TNA World Tag Team Championship, and unveiled them later in that week. TNA credits wrestlers who held the NWA World Heavyweight and World Tag Team championships as former TNA champions; for example, it bills Ron Killings as a two-time TNA World Champion, yet his two reigns involved the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Along with this, TNA redesigned the X Division title belt.

The TNA Women's World Championship commenced on October 14, 2007 at "Bound for Glory". Gail Kim won a 10-woman gauntlet match to become the first Women's Champion in TNA. She is also the first to hold both the TNA Women's World Championship and the WWE Women's Championship. On October 23, 2008 on a live edition of Impact! from Las Vegas, Booker T opened a briefcase and revealed the TNA Legends Championship and declared himself the first champion. Following the victory of this title by A.J. Styles on March 15, 2009, it established him as the first TNA Grand Slam winner, as he already achieved the Triple Crown. TNA also recognizes when their wrestlers hold a championship sanctioned by New Japan Pro Wrestling. On the August 20 episode of Impact!, TNA announced plans to create Knockout Tag Team Championship.

Champions

Other accomplishments

Creative team

Jeff and Jerry Jarrett did the initial booking, followed by Dusty Rhodes; while Vince Russo focused more on writing. At times, the position of booker has been coterminous with the on-screen position of Director of Authority.

Authority figures

When TNA first launched, it billed the on-air authority figure as a representative appointed by the National Wrestling Alliance. It did this for storyline purposes only, however, and the actual "representatives" already worked in some capacity for TNA. From February 19, 2003, TNA had no active authority figure until July 23, 2003 when Erik Watts made his return to TNA as the Director of Authority. Watts started feuding with Don Callis (billed as TNA Management Consultant), ending with Watts forced to quit. On February 18, 2004, TNA named Vince Russo the new Director of Authority, a position he held until November 7, 2004 when Dusty Rhodes defeated and replaced him.

The NWA Championship Committee, established in 2004, comprised a group of wrestling veterans who acted as arbitrators, determining a winner in the event of a time-limit draw. The committee consisted of Harley Race, Larry Zbyszko and Terry Funk, with Funk later replaced by Roddy Piper without ever having appeared on TNA television. After Race and Piper left TNA, the Committee essentially ceased to exist as a physical on-screen body, although Zbyszko continued to be referred to as a member of the committee while simultaneously acting as on-screen authority figure, booking matches and giving title shots.

In October 2005, Larry Zbyszko began to repeatedly reference an ambiguous authority within TNA known only as "TNA Management". "TNA Management" has, in the past, appeared in the form of "special referee" Earl Hebner, "consultant" Dave Hebner and "messenger" Christy Hemme. The current face of "TNA Management" emerged at Slammiversary 2006 in the form of Jim Cornette, who has been called the "Management Director" in press releases following that pay-per-view. On October 23, 2008, on the first high-definition episode of Impact!, TNA announced that Mick Foley had become TNA's (kayfabe) Executive Shareholder. In September 2009, however, Cornette was released from his TNA contract.

See also

• List of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling employees
• List of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling alumni

References

1. ^ "Interview of: Dixie Carter" (PDF). United States House of Representatives. 2007-12-06. Retrieved 2008-04-26.
2. Keller, Wade (2005-05-23). "TNA News: New group makes offer to buy controlling interest in TNA from Panda Energy". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2007-01-01.
3. ^ "NWA/Trobich strips TNA/Cage/Team 3-D of NWA branded Championships". National Wrestling Alliance. 2007-05-13. Retrieved 2007-05-14.
4. The History of TNA: Year 1 (DVD). TNA Home Video. {{cite AV media}}: Unknown parameter |year2= ignored (help)
5. "Press Release: Jarretts and NWA announce weekly PPVs". Lords of Pain. 2002-05-09. Retrieved 2007-03-10.
6. "Austin removed from video game cover, NWA/TNA moving to a new arena, more". Lords of Pain. 2002-07-18. Retrieved 2007-03-10.
7. Wojcik, Alan (2004-10-27). "Interview with Jerry Jarrett". Retrieved 2007-02-01.
8. "NWA: TNA's TV deal officially signed, Latest on Hirohito angle, WWE trademarks". Lords of Pain. 2004-05-05. Retrieved 2007-03-10. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help); Unknown parameter |lasr= ignored (help)
9. "TNA Officially via Bit Torrent". 2005-06-25. Retrieved 2007-03-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
10. "TNA Reaches Deal With Real Broadcast Network To Stream "iMPACT!" News". 2005-06-30. Retrieved 2007-03-19.
11. Cantor, Brian (2005-07-21). "Breaking News: Spike TV confirms deal with TNA in press release". Lords of Pain. Retrieved 2007-03-10.
12. "TNA Wrestling Goes Two Hours On SpikeTV Starting October 4". Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. 2007-09-09. Retrieved 2007-09-16.
13. "TNA Announces First Ever House Show". Pro-Wrestling News Direct. 2006-01-17. Retrieved 2007-03-20.
14. "Midway Acquires Exclusive Worldwide Videogame Rights to TNA Wrestling". Midway. 2005-11-07. Archived from the original on 2007-10-15. Retrieved 2007-01-12.
15. "TNA Wrestling Announces Mobile Content Deal - Details". Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. 2007-01-12. Retrieved 2007-01-12.
16. "Info on TNA U". TNA Wrestling.com. 2007-11-30. Retrieved 2008-03-13.
17. Marvez, Alex (2007-08-03). "Benoit case could slam promoter growth plans". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
18. "In mainstream media". TNA Wrestling News.com. 2007-11-30. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
19. Umstead, R. Thomas (2009-06-22). "TNA Jumps Into the Broadband Ring". Retrieved 2009-06-21.
20. ^ Abreu, Donnie (2003-03-26). "Pacman Catching up on NWA-TNA". Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
21. ^ Sokol, Chris (2005-12-10). "Impact: Baseball becomes basebrawl". Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
22. ^ Baines, Tim (2005-12-18). "Orton used to running with big dogs". Ottawa Sun. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
23. ^ Sokol, Chris (2007-02-11). "Christian retains belt Against All Odds". Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
24. ^ Johnson, Steven (2004-07-09). "Impact looks to hook racing fans". Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
25. "Pacman Jones, TNA apparently close to deal". Canadian Online Explorer. 2007-07-30. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
26. "Titans intend to block Pacman's wrestling appearance". ESPN. 2007-08-10. Retrieved 2007-08-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
27. "Titans, Jones agree to modified wrestling restrictions". ESPN. 2007-08-11. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
28. http://www.tnawrestling.com/content/view/156/84/
29. Waldman, Jon (2005-05-13). "Countdown to TNA Hard Justice". Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2007-08-01.
30. Waldman, Jon (2005-10-21). "Countdown to TNA Bound for Glory". Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2007-08-01.
31. ^ Sokol, Chris (2007-02-23). "Impact: Ladders and a Belting Pot". Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
32. Wheeler, Nate (2004-01-29). "NWA TNA Preview". WrestlingWire.net. Retrieved 2007-08-08.
33. http://www.tnawrestling.com/content/view/1512/84/
34. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBxkrYWsO4c
35. Martin, Adam (2003-07-24). "Full NWA TNA PPV Results - 7/23/03". WrestleView. Retrieved 2007-05-31.
36. Martin, Adam (2009-09-20). "More on Cornette and James releases". Wrestle View. Retrieved 2009-10-09.

External links

• TNAwrestling.com
• UKTNA.com
• TNA at MySpace
• TNA at Facebook
• TNA at YouTube
• TNA Figure Collection Database

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