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.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
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[citation needed] to fix the rope with the help of Ron and Don Harris, and everyone went live hoping for the best.
[edit] 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.
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[citation needed] to fix the rope with the help of Ron and Don Harris, and everyone went live hoping for the best.
[edit] 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.
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.
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.
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.
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