Total Nonstop Action Wrestling is an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Jeff Jarrett and his father Jerry Jarrett. The company originally operated out of Nashville, and now operates from Orlando, with offices in Manhattan and Nashville. TNA Wrestling was originally a member of the National Wrestling Alliance and was also known as NWA: TNA. TNA withdrew from the NWA in 2004, but acquired the rights to use the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and NWA World Tag Team Championship title belts until the year 2014. A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that performs regular shows involving professional wrestling for monetary gain. ... Jeffrey Leonard Jarrett, normally Jeff Jarrett (born April 14, 1967, in Nashville, Tennessee), is an American professional wrestler. ... Jerry W. Jarrett (born September 4, 1942 in Nashville, Tennessee) is an American promoter and professional wrestler, and the father of wrestler Jeff Jarrett. ... The Nashville skyline Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee. ... Skyline of Orlando at night, from across Lake Eola The city of Orlando is the county seat of Orange County, Florida. ... Manhattan is an island bordering the lower Hudson River. ... The National Wrestling Alliance is a group of independent professional wrestling promotions, in operation since 1948. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship is a title in the simulated sporting events of professional wrestling. ... The NWA World Tag Team Championship is the premier tag team title in the National Wrestling Alliance. ... 2014 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

TNA is the first American promotion to exclusively use a hexagonal ring as opposed to the more conventional four-sided ring, though some Mexican lucha libre promotions have been known to use six-sided rings at times. TNA is also unorthodox in that championships can change hands as a result of a disqualification or count out, thereby nullifying the "champion's advantage". A regular hexagon A hexagon (also known as sexagon) is a polygon with six edges and six vertices. ... The squared circle of professional wrestling is the ring where the match takes place (at least initially and primarily) and is a term borrowed from boxing, as is the ring itself; legitimate amateur wrestling takes place on a mat on a floor, not in a boxing ring. ... El Hijo del Santo. ...

Background

After the closure of World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling in March and April 2001, there was still a demand for southern-style and cruiserweight wrestling that Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Entertainment was not fulfilling. TNA attempted to cater to this niche market by offering an alternative to WWE, and by recruiting many former WCW and 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. WCW logo from 1999-2001. ... ECW logo from 1994-2001. ... 2001 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December Events: March 3 - A U.S. Air Force Materials Command C-23 Sherpa transport crashes during stormy weather in the U.S. state of Georgia, killing 21. ... 2001 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December Events: April 1: An EP-3E United States Navy plane collides with a Chinese Peoples Liberation Army fighter jet. ... Southern style of pro wrestling that was synonymous with the old NWA regional, and mid south promotions. ... In professional wrestling, a Cruiserweight is a wrestler weighing below 220lbs (100 kg), with no lower weight limit. ... Vince McMahon Vincent Kennedy McMahon (born August 24, 1945 in Pinehurst, North Carolina), is an American professional wrestling promoter. ... // World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE, is a professional wrestling promotion, currently the largest in North America. ... May 10 is the 130th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (131st in leap years). ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jerry W. Jarrett (born September 4, 1942 in Nashville, Tennessee) is an American promoter and professional wrestler, and the father of wrestler Jeff Jarrett. ... Within a corporation, the chief executive officer is the highest-ranking corporate officer or executive. ... Jeffrey Leonard Jarrett, normally Jeff Jarrett (born April 14, 1967, in Nashville, Tennessee), is an American professional wrestler. ...

While several companies, such as World Wrestling Allstars, 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). The World Wrestling All-Stars, or WWA, was one of the Professional wrestling promotions to come into existence after the fall of ECW and WCW. They focused on signing the wrestlers that did not get signed by WWE after the merger. ... Blackmail is threatening to reveal substantially true information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a monetary demand is met. ... Intercontinental Championship belt used from 1985-1998. ... 1999 is a common year starting on Friday of the Common Era, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...

From its formation, TNA lost large sums 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 limited liability 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. Panda Energy owns 71% of TNA Entertainment, LLC. ^[1] 2002 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December A timeline of events in the news for October, 2002. ... October 31 is the 304th day of the year (305th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 61 days remaining, as the final day of October. ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A Limited liability company (denoted by L.L.C. or LLC) is a type of legal entity which has only relatively recently been made possible to establish in the United States and many other, mainly anglophone, countries. ...

Dixie Carter is an avid 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. It should, however, be noted that Panda Energy itself has been described as "financially struggling". ^[2] Jon Dalton, also known as Jonny Fairplay (born March 11, 1974), is a professional wrestler and former art consultant from Danville, Virginia who came in third place as a competitor on the reality TV show Survivor: Pearl Islands. ... This is a list of match types seen in professional wrestling. ...

Business model

The original TNA business model was different from that employed by WWE in several key ways. By not touring like other major federations have done, TNA was able to keep costs down. TNA's original system of programming comprised weekly cable pay-per-views. While most major promotions had aired monthly PPVs, not having a weekly network, syndicated, or cable show from the outset was a radical departure from the norm. The weekly TNA PPVs were priced at $9.95 per week, much less than the monthly WWE PPVs. Initial estimates by TNA showed that about 50,000 PPV buys would be needed each week for TNA to break even. Actual buys, 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 ceased their weekly PPVs on September 8, 2004. On Sunday November 7, 2004 TNA Wrestling held their first three hour PPV, Victory Road, with buys for the PPV estimated to be in the low 10,000s. Coaxial cable is often used to transmit cable television into the house Cable television or Community Antenna Television (CATV) (often shortened to cable) is a system of providing television, FM radio programming and other services to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted directly to people’s televisions through fixed optical... Pay-per-view is the name given to a system by which television viewers can call and order events to be seen on TV and pay for the private telecast of that event to their homes later. ... The United States dollar, or American dollar, is the official currency of the United States. ... Dave Herbert Meltzer (born October 24, 1961 in San Jose, California) is the editor of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, an insider newsletter for the world of professional wrestling. ... September 8 is the 251st day of the year (252nd in leap years). ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... November 7 is the 311th day of the year (312th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 54 days remaining. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Categories: Possible copyright violations ...

TNA began airing TNA iMPACT! on June 4, 2004 on FOX Sports Net. iMPACT! was taped on Tuesdays in Soundstage 21 at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, and then broadcast between 4:00pm and 5:00pm on Fridays on FSN in most markets (iMPACT! was also syndicated throughout Europe and Asia). TNA purchased the one hour time slot from FSN at the cost of $30,000 a week, ^[3] with the weekly PPV earnings being their main source of revenue. TNA iMPACT! is a professional wrestling TV show produced by Total Nonstop Action. ... June 4 is the 155th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (156th in leap years), with 210 days remaining. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Fox Sports Net headquarters in Los Angeles The Fox Sports Regional Networks, or simply Fox Sports Net, are cable TV networks that were originally owned by separate companies. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Skyline of Orlando at night, from across Lake Eola The city of Orlando is the county seat of Orange County, Florida. ... World map showing location of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... World map showing location of Asia Asia is the central and eastern part of Eurasia, defined by subtracting Europe from Eurasia. ...

Since December 2004, reports have surfaced that several workers have been shorted in pay, with Sean Waltman in particular claiming that he had not been adequately paid. However, TNA is known to have a policy of paying wrestlers for scheduled dates regardless of whether they actually wrestled or not. Two instances of this would be when the taping schedule for iMPACT! changed and after TNA's TV deal with FSN lapsed. ← - 2004 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Deaths in December • 30 Artie Shaw • 29 Julius Axelrod • 28 Jacques Dupuis • 28 Jerry Orbach • 28 Susan Sontag • 26 Reggie White • 26 Sir Angus Ogilvy • 23 P. V. Narasimha Rao • 23 Doug Ault • 19 Renata Tebaldi • 16... X-Pac (top left) as a member of DX. Sean Waltman (born July 13, 1972 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is a professional wrestler. ...

On May 27, 2005 TNA aired its final episode of iMPACT! on Fox Sports Net. iMPACT! averaged a 0.2 household rating over the course of its existence. This left TNA with no television deal other than the monthly PPVs, so on July 1 TNA teamed up with RealNetworks to stream iMPACT! from their official website via RealPlayer. They also enabled people to download iMPACT! through BitTorrent. At the same time, TNA began seeking a more profitable television outlet. TNA first began negotiations with WGN, with a proposed Monday evening timeslot running parallel to WWE RAW, but they could not come to an agreement. TNA then began negotiations with Spike TV for a rumored Saturday night timeslot, a traditional wrestling timeslot dating back to the days of Clash of the Champions and the Saturday Night Main Event. On July 21, TNA announced that they had secured a deal with Spike TV to air iMPACT! as part of Spike TV's Slammin' Saturday Night block, beginning in the autumn of 2005. TNA will tape two episodes every other Tuesday as of September 27, and will begin broadcasting in October 2005. Unlike the Fox Sports deal, TNA will not be paying for the timeslot; instead, Spike will handle the advertising (and take the majority of the revenue from such), with TNA providing the content in exchange for national exposure. May 27 is the 147th day (148th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 218 days remaining. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... July 1 is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 183 days remaining. ... RealNetworks (NASDAQ: RNWK) is a Seattle-based provider of Internet media delivery software and services. ... RealPlayer is a media player, created by RealNetworks, that plays a number of multimedia formats including multiple generations of RealAudio and RealVideo codecs as well as MP3, MPEG-4, QuickTime, etc. ... BitTorrent is the protocol and the name of the peer-to-peer (P2P) file distribution tool written by programmer Bram Cohen and debuted at CodeCon 2002. ... WGN Superstation is an American Cable Television Channel, the national version of WGN-TV, which broadcasts in Chicago. ... // WWE RAW is the Monday night professional wrestling show for World Wrestling Entertainment. ... Spike TV is a cable network that began as The Nashville Network (TNN), founded by Gaylord Entertainment Company and Group W Satellite Communications in March 1983. ... July 21 is the 202nd day (203rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 163 days remaining. ... September 27 is the 270th day of the year (271st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 95 days remaining. ... Ongoing events • 2005 Kuomintang visits to Mainland • Bill C-38 (Canada gay marriage) • German Visa Affair 2005 • Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan • Fuel prices • Election of OAS Secretary General • Stanislav Gross scandal in Czech republic Upcoming events Deaths in May May 3: Jagjit Singh Aurora May 3: Don Canham May...

TNA has become extremely popular in Canada, where a French-language iMPACT! appears on RDS, thanks in large part to the TNA incarnation of Team Canada. They even have a separate Canadian TNA website hosted by Team Canada. Réseau des sports, a Canadian cable television network showing sports and sport-related shows, is the French-language sister station of The Sports Network TSN. It is available in 2. ... Team Canadas Lance Storm with a re-designed WCW belt in a Canadian style. ...

TNA has expressed an intention to begin touring in 2006. 2006 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Pay-Per Views

See List of TNA pay-per-view events Originally, Total Nonstop Action held all of its shows on pay-per-view on a weekly basis. ...

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 since TNA began using the titles in 2002, but TNA has leased the titles from the NWA, removing these obligations from the champion. The X Division Championship is a regional championship, created and owned exclusively by TNA.

The NWA World Women's Championship has also been contested on TNA programming, though it is not controlled by TNA. The National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship is a title in the simulated sporting events of professional wrestling. ... Scott Levy (born September 8, 1962), better known as Raven, is an American professional wrestler. ... The NWA World Tag Team Championship is the premier tag team title in the National Wrestling Alliance. ... The Naturals are a professional wrestling tag team made up of Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens, employed by Total Nonstop Action. ... Andy Douglas is an American professional wrestler, working for Total Nonstop Action as one half of The Naturals with Chase Stevens. ... Chase Stevens (born January 17, 1979 in Washington, Indiana) is an American professional wrestler. ... The TNA X Championship is a title competed for in TNA Wrestling. ... Daniel Christopher Covell aka Fallen Angel Christopher Daniels is a professional wrestler currently performing for Total Nonstop Action, with whom he is under contract until 2008. ... The NWA Womens Championship is the National Wrestling Alliances womens singles professional wrestling title. ...

Matchmakers

Episodes of iMPACT! and pay-per-views are booked by a committee headed by Scott D'Amore and containing Jeremy Borash, Mike Tenay, Dutch Mantell and Bill Banks. Other employees have a varying degree of influence, with Jeff Jarrett in particular regarded as politically powerful. As President of TNA Entertainment, Dixie Carter holds veto power over any decision. A booker as the term is used in professional wrestling is one who puts the matches together, but also determines basics about their content, such as relative overall length, who the eventual victor will be, and many of the moves which will be made during the match — in other words... Scott DAmore (born August 8, 1974 in Windsor, Ontario) is a Canadian professional wrestler, manager and promoter. ... Jeremy Borash (born May 28, 1977 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an American professional wrestling play-by-play commentator, announcer, booker, video producer and website designer. ...

Roster

This is a list of professional wrestlers and notable ancillary staff working for Total Nonstop Action, an American professional wrestling promotion and limited liability company based in Orlando, Florida. ...

Features of Total Nonstop Action

X Division

The high-flying, high risk style of wrestling (derided by some as being spotfests) 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). Although it was de-emphasized throughout 2004, the X Division is generally regarded as one of the key attractions of TNA, and was replicated in several other promotions. In professional wrestling, a spotfest is a match which consists mainly or entirely of spots, normally with little flow between moves and no logical transitions. ... In professional wrestling, a Cruiserweight is a wrestler weighing below 220lbs (100 kg), with no lower weight limit. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Director of Authority

The TNA Director of Authority (DoA) is the (figurehead) head official of TNA. The DoA is given onscreen credit for making matches.

• Erik Watts (July 23, 2003 - January 28, 2004)
• Vince Russo (February 18, 2004 - November 7, 2004)
• Dusty Rhodes (November 7, 2004 - June 16, 2005)
• Larry Zbyszko (June 19, 2005 -)

Erik Watts Erik Watts is an American Professional Wrestler, occasionally appearing with Total Nonstop Action. ... July 23 is the 204th day (205th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 161 days remaining. ... 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... January 28 is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Vince Russo is one of the most controversial figures in modern North American professional wrestling. ... February 18 is the 49th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... November 7 is the 311th day of the year (312th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 54 days remaining. ... The American Dream Dusty Rhodes Virgil Runnels, Jr. ... June 16 is the 167th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (168th in leap years), with 198 days remaining. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... Larry Zbyszko Larry Zbyszko (born Lawrence Whistler on December 5, 1954 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) was a professional wrestler. ... June 19 is the 170th day of the year (171st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 195 days remaining. ...

TNA Championship Committee

The TNA Championship Committee was 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 being replaced by Rowdy Roddy Piper. After Race and Piper gradually departed TNA and Zbyszko was "promoted" to Director of Authority, the Committee essentially ceased to exist as a physical on-screen body, though it is still mentioned at times on-camera. Harley Race Harley Leland Race (born April 11, 1943 in Quitman, Missouri), is an American professional wrestler and promoter. ... Larry Zbyszko Larry Zbyszko (born Lawrence Whistler on December 5, 1954 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) was a professional wrestler. ... Terry Funk Terry Funk (born June 30, 1944) is an American professional wrestler known by some modern fans for his violent, hardcore matches. ... Roderick George Toombs (born on April 17, 1954 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan), best known by his stage name of Rowdy Roddy Piper, is a Canadian professional wrestler of Scottish descent. ...

Chris Candido Memorial Tag Team Tournament

Beginning in 2005, the Chris Candido Memorial Tag Team Tournament is an annual tag team tournament held to commemorate the memory of the late Chris Candido, with each team containing both a young rookie and an established veteran. In professional wrestling, the Chris Candido Memorial Tag Team Tournament is an annual tag team tournament held by Total Nonstop Action to commemorate the memory of the late Chris Candido, who passed away on April 28, 2005 while contracted to TNA. Rather than featuring established tag teams, the tournament will... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... Chris Candito (March 21, 1972 – April 28, 2005), also known as Chris Candido or Skip was a professional wrestler best known for his participation in a World Wrestling Federation tag team known as The Bodydonnas with Zip, and his widow and valet Sunny. ...

Super X Cup Tournament

Beginning in 2003, the Super X Cup is a biennial tournament in which a number one contender to the TNA X Division Championship is crowned. The 2005 Super X Cup Tournament, also known as the Christopher Daniels Invitational, is an ongoing professional wrestling tournament at Total Nonstop Action wrestling. ... 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The TNA X Championship is a title competed for in TNA Wrestling. ...

References

• 1 - Interview with Dave Nelson
• 2 - Yahoo profile of Panda Energy International
• 3 - Interview with Scott D'Amore

External links

• http://www.tnawrestling.com : The Official Total Nonstop Action Wrestling website
• http://www.tnawrestling.com/canada/index.php : TNA Canada (in English and French)
• http://www.tnauk.tk : United Kingdom TNA Website, in sync with TNA on The Wrestling Channel.