History Wrestling / TotalNonstopActionWrestling

* '''Digital Media Champion:''' '''Crazzy Steve''' since January 13, 2024

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Joseph Park asks Eric Young to help him find his brother Abyss. Young is the only guy on the roster who's wacky enough to not only deduce that Joseph Park ''is'' Abyss, but to seek to trigger the realization in the two alter egos. This results in Abyss turning on Young during a tag team title shot, beating Young in a Monster's Ball, and reacting to Young's unmasking him in said Monster's Ball by walking away to find someone who can "understand him" and help him "fix this". [[spoiler:This then crosses into ForWantOfANail when Abyss finds that someone in World Heavyweight Champion Magnus, who he proceeds to help screw Wrestling/SamoaJoe out of the world title at Lockdown.]]

* '''World Tag Team Champions:''' '''The System (Brain Myers and Wrestling/EddieEdwards)''' since March 8, 2024

* '''World Tag Team Champions:''' '''The System (Brain Myers and Eddie Edwards)''' since March 8, 2024

* '''World Tag Team Champions:''' '''ABC (Ace Austin and Chris Bey)''' since October 21, 2023

* '''Knockouts Tag Team Champions:''' '''MK Ultra (Masha Slamovich and Killer Kelly)''' since February 23, 2024

* '''X-Division Champion:''' '''[[Wrestling/MotorCityMachineGuns Chris Sabin]]''' since September 14, 2023

* '''Knockouts Tag Team Champions:''' '''Decay (Wrestling/{{Rosemary}} and Havok)''' since January 13, 2024

** The Aces and Eights are pretty obviously a wrestling version of SAMCRO from ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy.'' Various tweets from TNA wrestlers that imply nearly the entire roster are big fans of the series make this pretty obvious.
* FauxAffablyEvil: It was pretty hard ''not'' to hate Jeff Jarrett and (the former) Karen Angle both in their Immortal run in 2011 and their brief GFW Invasion run in 2015. They were essentially the main reason Dixie Carter didn't get booed for her character's stupidity.

* ICallItVera: Abyss' nail covered 2x4, "Janice," and his "10.10.10" branding iron "Bob." Though it was never stated, these weapons [[MeaningfulName were named after Dixie Carter's parents,]] {{Foreshadowing}} her forceful exit from the company.

[[caption-width-right:800:CROSS THE LINE]]

* Being the UnknownRival to WWE in their early years, through numerous [[TakeThat jabs and parodies]] at the latter's expense. For example, after a report circulated online about WWE fully excising the word "wrestling" from their corporate tongue in exchange for "Sports Entertainment", Impact immediately changed their slogan to "We Are Wrestling." Their [[Website/YouTube YouTube]] channel has also been used to troll WWE: Whenever WWE announced an event that would be occurring "for the first time ever", or whenever any significant events happen to one of their former stars, Impact would upload [[FleetingDemographicRule similar matches and footage from years prior]].

* Spotlighting women's wrestling. The Knockouts division was once regarded as the best place for women's wrestling on national television. Nowadays, while WWE has the market mostly cornered on amazing women's matches since 2016, Impact still prominently features its women in a natural way.
* Attracting a number of ex-WWE, WCW, and ECW talent during their heydays, most prominently Wrestling/KurtAngle and Wrestling/{{Sting}}. This would either lead to a CareerResurrection (Christian Cage, The Pope, Ethan Carter III) or attract the company derision for pushing the new free agent who was clearly phoning it in over homegrown talent (Booker T, Junior Fatu, ''so'' many others).
* The six-sided ring. They began using it after ''Impact'' premiered on Creator/{{Fox}} Sports Net in June 2004. At the start of the [[Wrestling/HulkHogan Hogan]]-era in January 2010, the company reverted back to a traditional four-sided ring, but a fan poll would bring back the six sided ring from June 2014 until its second retirement at the January 2018 television tapings. (It was done away with because the wrestlers never particularly liked it. It's inherently stiffer than a traditional ring due to geometry, so there were concerns of it causing more wear and tear on bodies, and everyone trains in a regular ring, so timing and safety were concerns.)

* '''X-Division Champion:''' '''Chris Sabin''' since September 14, 2023

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hqdefault_432.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{ThemeTune}} We own the night!]] [[note]]The current theme music of Impact's weekly show introduced in the Summer of 2020]][[/note]]

One of these was Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), a [[Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance NWA]] affiliate founded by Jerry Jarrett and his son {{Wrestling/Jeff|Jarrett}} in 2002 as a reaction to the latter's [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor falling-out]] with WWE. In 2017, after gaining new ownership, it dropped the TNA name for the Impact Wrestling name, taken from its main weekly TV series.

Impact officially rebranded as the revived Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on January 13, 2024 at that year's Hard to Kill PPV.

At the conclusion of the Bound for Glory PPV on October 21, 2023, it was announced that Impact will rebrand as the revived Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on January 13, 2024 starting with that year's Hard to Kill PPV.

Impact Wrestling currently recognizes six championships:

* '''Impact World Champion:''' '''Alex Shelley''' since June 9, 2023

* '''Digital Media Champion:''' '''Wrestling/TommyDreamer''' since September 8, 2023

* '''Knockouts Champion:''' '''[[Wrestling/NaomiWrestler Trinity]]''' since July 15, 2023
* '''Knockouts Tag Team Champions:''' '''MK Ultra (Masha Slamovich and Killer Kelly)''' since July 15, 2023

!!NWA Era
TNA's original business model concentrated on offering low-priced, weekly pay-per-view events broadcasting out of "The Asylum", the nickname for the Tennessee State Fairground Sports Arena located in Nashville, which was the Jarretts' stomping grounds. In October 2002, TNA launched their first television series, ''Xplosion!'', which aired in time-brokered syndication and was used to promote the weekly [=PPVs=]. Unfortunately, they were unable to attract enough regular [=PPV=] buyers to turn a profit, and they were forced to refinance the promotion by selling the majority share to a power-plant company called Panda Energy. With the considerable financial backing of their new owners, TNA would slowly cut ties from the NWA, dropping the NWA part of their name in 2004, and creating their own championship titles after their agreement to use the NWA's titles came to an end in May 2007.

In May 2004, TNA got a new TV deal with Creator/{{Fox}} [=SportsNet=] and began to take on a contemporary business model. TNA's new flagship program, ''iMPACT!'' premiered in June 2004, and the company would eventually adopt monthly pay-per-views. When the Fox deal expired in May of 2005, ''Impact'' became a WebOriginal for a few months until Creator/SpikeTV picked up the series in October. This new deal with Spike was lucrative enough for TNA to finally make a profit thanks to television licensing fees. For nine years (2004–2013), TNA taped its most of its weekly programing at the "Impact Zone", a soundstage at Ride/UniversalStudios Florida, while occasionally hosting [=PPVs=] and other events across the U.S and other countries.

Beginning in March 2013, TNA attempted to permanently leave Universal Studios and tape ''Impact!'' on the road, but they could not sell enough tickets to cover the travel costs. Not only would TNA be forced to return to the Impact Zone, the company would also make drastic cutbacks in almost every area of business, and fans could feel it. An exodus of talent would occur throughout late 2013, and Spike would continue to air TNA programming until the end of 2014, when it refused to renew it's contract with the company.

In January 2015, TNA programming moved to [[Creator/DiscoveryChannel Destination America]]. As ''Impact!'' was the first notable program to the air on the network since it [[NetworkDecay began its decay]], Destination America tried to expand its pro wrestling coverage by syndicating Wrestling/RingOfHonor's weekly television program for 26 weeks as a lead-in.[[note]]The added reach of Destination America, combined with their weekly Saturday slot still airing on Sinclair Broadcasting affiliates, technically put Ring of Honor in more potential households than TNA. If that were the measuring stick, then Ring of Honor was the #2 wrestling promotion in America while the deal lasted.[[/note]] Ultimately, Destination America would lose interest in wrestling, choosing to drop both ''Impact!'' and ''Ring of Honor Wrestling'' by the end of that same year.

''Impact!'' was then moved to Creator/PopTV in 2016. During their time on Pop, Carter would sell majority ownership of the company to Canadian broadcast and media company Anthem Sports and Entertainment (who owned TNA's Canadian broadcaster in Fight Network). Anthem would formally announced ownership of the company on January 3, 2017. In the months that followed, the TNA brand would be dropped for good and, in March of that year, "Impact Wrestling" officially became the new name of the company. In late June 2017, Impact announced a merger with Global Force Wrestling, a short-lived promotion founded by Jeff Jarrett after he left TNA, which Impact had previously had done some crossovers with. Originally, the plan was for the combined company to adopt the "GFW" branding while keeping ''Impact!'' as the name of the television series. As part of the merger, Impact would launch their own streaming service called the "Global Wrestling Network". However, following a series of incidents, Jarrett would be placed on a "leave of absence" in September 2017. The Impact-GFW merger, which had never been fully completed at a legal level, was called off in October 2017.

While "Impact Zone"'s static location maximized production values at minimum cost, TNA could not make money from entry tickets because it was classified as a theme park attraction. That ultimately did little to dissuade TNA, as while the booking could be a bit mercurial, it quickly began to distinguish itself on Spike by both snapping up established talent from WCW and ECW, such as Kevin Nash and Scott Steiner, but also talents that were either on their way out from the WWE or looking for their big break on TV from ROH; such as Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, and AJ Styles. Supplementing all of this was the "X-Division", an openweight division largely known for it's high work-rate and excellent opening matches on PPVs; showcasing smaller, cruiserweight talent in a way that had previously only been done in WCW. Things were progressing smoothly for TNA, though never entirely free from controversy or haphazard decisionmaking, it produced a competent alternative to the Fed's content that fans fell in love with.

TNA's original business model concentrated on offering low-priced, weekly pay-per-view events broadcasting out of "The Asylum", the nickname for the Tennessee State Fairground Sports Arena located in Nashville, which was the Jarretts' stomping grounds. Unfortunately, they were unable to attract enough regular buyers to turn a profit, and eventually they was bought out by a power-plant company called Panda Energy. With the considerable financial backing of their new owners, TNA would slowly cut ties from the NWA, changing their name to "Total Nonstop Action Wrestling" (TNA) in 2004, and creating their own championship titles after their agreement to use the NWA's titles came to an end in May 2007. In October 2002, TNA launched their first television series called ''Xplosion!'', which was used to promote the weekly [=PPVs=].

In May 2004, TNA got a new TV deal with Creator/{{Fox}} [=SportsNet=] and began to take on a contemporary business model. TNA's new flagship program, ''iMPACT!'' premiered in June 2004, and the company would eventually adopt monthly pay-per-views. When the Fox deal expired in May of 2005, ''Impact'' became a WebOriginal for a few months until Creator/SpikeTV picked up the series in October. This new deal with Spike was lucrative enough for TNA to finally make a profit thanks to television licensing fees. For nine years (2004-2013), TNA taped its programing at the "Impact Zone", a soundstage at Ride/UniversalStudios Florida, while occasionally hosting [=PPVs=] and other events across the U.S and other countries.

And then, in October of 2009, President Dixie Carter announced that TNA had signed up with Wrestling/EricBischoff and Wrestling/HulkHogan.

Hogan and Bischoff were hired primarily to be creative consultants, but that also meant they mostly had the ability to do what they wanted, which was felt right away. Their tenure featured a litany of very unpopular changes throughout 2010; less focus on the talents that had come to define TNA and more on friends of Bischoff and Hogan, the loss of the beloved six-sided ring, nonsensical invasion angles, and an increased dependence on purely ex-WWE talent to attempt to draw crowds, all wrapped up in a disastrous attempted switch to being promoted live opposite to Monday Night RAW, which crushed it soundly through every week, before they returned to Thursday nights without any fanfare. This would coincide with a series of negative business decisions that all but ensured TNA's gains were for naught; they would never again see the kind of highs they had seen in the late 00's.

''Impact!'' was then moved to Creator/PopTV in 2016. During their time on Pop, Carter would sell majority ownership of the company to Canadian broadcast and media company Anthem Sports and Entertainment (who owned TNA's native broadcaster in Fight Network). Anthem would formally announced ownership of the company on January 3, 2017. In the months that followed, the TNA brand would be dropped for good and, in March of that year, "Impact Wrestling" officially became the new name of the company. In late June 2017, Impact announced a merger with Global Force Wrestling, a short-lived successor promotion founded by Jeff Jarrett, which Impact had previously had done some crossovers with. Originally, the plan was for the combined company to adopt the "GFW" branding while keeping ''Impact!'' as the name of the television series. As part of the merger, Impact would launch their own streaming service called the "Global Wrestling Network". However, following a series of incidents, Jarrett would be placed on a "leave of absence" in September 2017. The Impact-GFW merger, which had never been fully completed at a legal level, was called off in October 2017.

* Spotlighting women's wrestling. The Knockouts division was once regarded as the best source for women's wrestling on national television. Nowadays, whilst WWE has the market mostly cornered on amazing women's matches since 2016, Impact still prominently features its women in a natural way.

* The X Division, a contemporary crossover between Wrestling/{{ECW}}-style Lucha Libre and high-flying cruiserweight wrestling made famous by such promotions as Wrestling/{{WCW}}, Wrestling/{{AAA}}, and Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling.

At the conclusion of the Wrestling/MondayNightWars on March 26, 2001, Wrestling/{{WWE}} became the dominant wrestling company in the United States. From its ashes, several smaller promotions were founded to cater to the various niches displaced by WWE's programming.

* Dialing up the [[HotterAndSexier mature]] [[DarkerAndEdgier content]] to attract fans of the Wrestling/AttitudeEra, in contrast to WWE's ever-the-becoming [[LighterAndSofter cleaner and family-oriented]] product. This was especially true of the initial "Asylum Era", where their weekly Pay-Per-Views were raunchier and more violent than WWE's offerings.

* TheThemeParkVersion: Literally for a while, as they used to broadcast their TV shows and InNameOnly [=PPV=]s ''from'' the Universal Studios theme park in Orlando.

* The six-sided ring. They began using it after ''Impact'' premiered on Creator/{{Fox}} Sports Net in June 2004. At the start of the [[Wrestling/HulkHogan Hogan]]-era in January 2010, the company reverted back to a traditional four-sided ring, but a fan poll would bring back the six sided ring from June 2014 until its second retirement at the January 2018 television tapings.

** Who was Samoa Joe abducted by? Where is the Nation of Violence thing? And since Joe was the first to proclaim that "They" had spoken, why wasn't he in Immortal? The answer to both questions is the same; Joe was meant to be in Immortal, but when the crowd wouldn't boo him for beating up the least sympathetic collection of faces in TNA history (American Made Abyss and Jeff Jarrett) they did a U-turn.

** TNA has a strange habit of building people up and booking them in major story arcs in the immediate run-up to their contracts expiring, and then either refusing to give them a new contract that reflects their status, or simply demanding huge pay cuts from their new stars, apparently oblivious to the bargaining power that they themselves put in these people's hands. These wrestlers often quit in disgust, stopping their storylines cold.
** Joe Hendry and Yuya Uemura's team as "JOYA" looked like it was going places until, a month in, NJPW called Yuya back from his excursion, forcing Impsct to write him off in the Feast or Fired match at Impact 1000.