By Craig Ferriman@MrImpact
Over the years, TNA/IMPACT Wrestling have had many moments that will go down in history as game changers for the company that has had their fair share of ups and downs. Here are just a few that I feel made the biggest IMPACT.
Kurt Angle: In 2010 the company that people weren’t really taking as a serious alternative made one of the biggest acquisitions in Wrestling. When Kurt Angle would make his way into the IMPACT Zone, it changed everything and TNA had the hottest free agent of the time. Kurt would go on to have one the greatest feuds in TNA history with Samoa Joe and win the world championship on many occasions along with the world Tag Team Championships with partners like AJ Styles. Also the X Division Championship however would lose it to Jay Lethal in what Many deemed one of the best X Division Championship matches.
Birth of the X Division: In 2002 the most Athletic Division in Wrestling was born, a division to rival the WWE cruiser weights. Something which many people were saying that were on par with the superb WCW Cruiser weights, of course some of those cruiser weights would make their way to the X Division at some point like Seann Waltman (X Pac). All though at some points the division would dip in size they would always give everything they’ve got and even to this day fans look forward to seeing what the X Division will do.
Christian Cage: Arguably the first big name to jump ship from WWE to TNA, which worked wonders for his career as he finally gained the one thing that had alluded is previous run with WWE, the world championship which he defeated then champion Jeff Jarrett at against all odds 2006. Cage would stick around long enough to have several note able feuds with big names like Abyss, AJ Styles, Booker T and of course Jeff Jarrett. Cage opened the door for many disgruntled former WWE guys/girls to make their way to the IMPACT Zone.
Bischoff & Hogan: This moment was history making for the wrong reasons in my opinion and is cited as the death of TNA. Which I have to agree with, although these where some of the best times in terms of roster size and TV exposure it’s the worst financial times with Talent either receiving payments late, or not at all. Bischoff would eventually be written off screen after his team lost a lethal lockdown match to team Hogan at the hands of his son Garret. He would leave the company soon after, Hulk However would stick around until mid 2013 after he would quit on air due to Dixie Carter.
Billy Corgan: This is something that many other fans felt was a wasted opportunity, I personally don’t agree with that because as good as Corgan was I wasn’t a huge fan of his and was unsure if he knew how to run a wrestling promotion. Although at that point anyone was better than Dixie Carter I Didn’t think Billy was ready although he has proved me wrong with how he’s running the NWA I’m glad he didn’t fully takeover IMPACT simply because Anthem are the best thing to happen to that company now.
ANTHEM Sports & Entertainment: Without doubt Anthem is the best thing that has ever happened to the company formally known as Total Nonstop Action, from the backstage personalities to the names they’ve attracted to the main roster. Anthem SE have done an outstanding job because unlike Corgan Anthem knew they didn’t know how to run a wrestling promotion so they bought guys like Scott D’Amore, Jeff Jarrett and Don Callis on board and although the agreement with Jarrett would eventually fall apart IMPACT Wrestling kept their momentum going. Now they’re on the verge of selling out their biggest capacity venue Since TNA’S heyday, the week of Slammiversary they were the only major promotion to sell out 2 venues, It’s clear Impact is in safe hands and it can only go up from here.
Thank you for reading, why not take a look at IMPACT and see what they’re up to. I promise they will not disappoint.
