Total Nonstop Action is a paradox of professional wrestling.
This past weekend’s Bound For Glory pay-per-view, the biggest event on the Anthem-owned organization’s calendar was proof of that, but all things considered, the dichotomy of TNA has been very much a part of nearly its entire existence. From the time that the upstart league launched in Nashville, against the odds, it has survived in contradictory fashion. When Jay Hassman fabricated the earliest PPV numbers, the NWA-TNA product should’ve been dead in the water within three weeks. When Hulk Hogan worked Dixie Carter for major money and then walked out the door so that nothing was left to re-sign AJ Styles or Samoa Joe, the group lost some of their best in-ring assets. When it was revealed that Dixie Cater lied to Spike TV about Vince Russo working for the company so the network canceled Impact, it should’ve been the end of the road. When Dixie tried to swindle Billy Corgan out of six figures to pay for her to play TV star, the house of cards should’ve collapsed. When the state of Tennessee had a tax lien against the promotion, it was almost unbelievable that Anthem saved the day to keep the show on their network in Canada with the acquisition of the brand. Even since Anthem purchased Impact Wrestling a decade ago before the rebrand, by all rights, there’s no way that a wrestling show that had such small crowds should’ve justified any type of television deal. It’s just as wild that the company landed back on mainstream cable earlier this year, its biggest stage since the Spike TV cancellation in 2014.
But, through it all, Total Nonstop Action survived, and the quality is still there, as we’ve seen even today, talent make the jump to bigger platforms to excel based on the valuable TV experience that they gained under the TNA banner.
In some ways, it’s very commendable that TNA somehow kept its doors open. Jim Crockett couldn’t do that, Verne Gagne couldn’t do that, Championship Wrestling from Florida couldn’t do that, ECW couldn’t do that, and the hard-nosed Bill Watts knew when to sell to be able to cash out before the dominoes fell on Mid-South. Furthermore, it’s not a negative that more guys are able to make a full-time living in pro wrestling, both working for TNA itself, as well as the doors that working there can open down the road.
Make no mistake about it, the pro wrestling business is better off with TNA rather than without it, the pipeline of talent that made their name there is proof of that.
That being said, they are more or less stuck in the middle of the road in terms of their cache, or lack thereof within the industry. Let’s be honest here, the brand landing on AMC was much more sizzle than substance, the numbers show that. The fact that Tommy Dreamer was removed from his position on the creative team is evidence of that. The reality is, Impact didn’t propel to the next level after mainstream cable audience had access to the show. Granted, AMC isn’t known for being a “wrestling network,” but the bottom line is that if fans wanted to watch the show, they would’ve since it was more accessible in 2026 than it was for more than a decade. Impact usually averages around 200,000 viewers, ranking it well below any of the other major wrestling TV shows on cable. The show simply doesn’t have enough of an audience or a market share to have a direct “impact” on the rest of the industry in terms of what’s booked for the product.
The reason for this, as I mentioned earlier, is that TNA is more or less middle of the road in what they bring to the table, which isn’t to say that the effort isn’t there, it is, but rather to point out why there’s a level of indifference around the brand. TNA has solid in-ring work, Eddie Edwards, one of the more underrated talents on the roster, had a good match against Ricky Sosa to open the show at Bound For Glory. Everything they did was crisp and smooth. The X-Division bout where newly-minted Hall of Famer, Amazing Red won the championship was a very entertaining contest. The problem is, that TNA doesn’t have the work rate to draw the All Elite Wrestling audience since AEW, positively or negatively, took the original X-Division style a step further. The matches are solid, but if a fan specifically wants to watch that style, they are usually going to watch All Elite.
Zoey Serrano and Shayna Baszler beat Allie and Kiera Hogan to win the Knockouts Tag Team titles. Shayna is a solid addition to any roster, but her and Zoey were both cut from the WWE. That becomes a problem as well, with the amount of talent that Tony Khan signs, there’s not much left on the free agent market, as far as performers with television experience that can start on Impact immediately. The other side of the coin is that the line-up starts to look secondary because it’s basically the wrestlers that other companies didn’t consider valuable enough to keep on the roster. Indi Hartwell, who won the Knockouts title, wouldn’t be working for TNA if she didn’t get cut from WWE. The same could be said for Max Caster, who became a free agent after his AEW contract expired recently so he was the one who answered Moose’s open challenge. Reportedly, TNA already cut ties with Caster because of a line that he said on the mic that referenced the attacks on the Saudi airport. According to The Wrestling Observer site, the line was “unscripted and unapproved.”
There are usually only two exceptions for when a talent leaves a bigger group when they don’t look secondary upon their arrival to a smaller league. If they were underutilized, the fans see it as an opportunity to excel, or when a performer left on their own to pursue a better option for their individual career. There’s a reason that Mike Santana and Kazarian had notable runs when they rejoined the promotion. Syx beat The Hardys in a falls count anywhere match when Erik Rowan debuted to assist them for the win. It remains to be seen what category the former Wyatt stable will be in TNA.
The totality of that scenario is simple, TNA has names on the roster that wrestling fans have seen before, but outside of The Hardys, and possibly Nic Nemeth, the company doesn’t have legitimate star power that will move the needle. That’s not a knock on the roster either since it’s much more difficult to draw today than it was in previous generations because pro wrestling has to compete with every form of expanded entertainment options for consumer dollars. The WWE is the biggest sports entertainment company in the world by a relatively large margin, particularly after the merger with the UFC a few years ago, and there are only a select few guys in the WWE that are legitimate difference makers in terms of the numbers.
If the more causal fans want the star power and the spectacle, they will watch WWE. That’s ultimately why TNA finds itself in such a niche situation. They don’t have the work rate to draw in a piece of the All Elite audience, and they don’t have the star power to catch the attention of WWE fans. Leon Slater defeated Nic Nemeth to capture the world championship in the main event at Bound For Glory. Slater is a tremendous high-flyer and will have a very bright future ahead of him, but does he sell tickets as the world champion? When an ESPN+ subscription is $30 a month to watch the WWE pay-per-views, and it’s $50 to order an AEW PPV on traditional pay-per-view, it becomes a tough sell when it costs $39.99 for a TNA pay-per-view.
With how unpredictable the pro wrestling business is, and quite frankly how unbelievable some of TNA’s history is, you can’t rule anything out as far as where the company could go, but at least for right now, it looks like the company will remain either a bridge to bigger opportunities or a safety net if someone gets released from another organization.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
E mail [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
