10 Best TNA Wrestling Moments

Whatever the name, be it TNA, Global Force or IMPACT Wrestling, it’s quite astonishing that the promotion that so many people wrote off time and time again has now been around for over 20 years and over 1,000 episodes of television.

Not only that, but TNA Wrestling has provided some truly amazing moments in that time. We’re not just writing about amazing moments for IMPACT, either, as their contributions to the industry as a whole should not be slept on.

From epic debuts and emotional title triumphs to physics-defying stunts, these are the 10 Best TNA Wrestling Moments.

10. The Unbreakable 2005 Three-Way

The main event of Unbreakable 2005 was given to AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, and Samoa Joe, as the ultra-talented threesome clashed in a Three Way match for the Fallen Angel’s X-Division Title.

The X-division stars had routinely stolen the show since the promotion’s inception, but this was the first time the high-fliers had been tasked with headlining a pay-per-view. What the trio of stalwarts managed to produce exceeded even the loftiest of expectations.

For almost 25 breathtaking minutes, Daniels, Joe and Styles put it all on the line in one of the most hard-hitting and innovative bouts ever seen inside a six-sided ring, which ended with The Phenomenal One regaining the title.

Summing up what the company’s hungry up-and-comers were all about, this five-star classic not only shone a spotlight on the hardworking X division, but reinforced the notion that TNA were a group very much on the rise.

If you wanted cutting-edge professional wrestling performed by fresh faces, this was the place to see it.

There have been many great matches in TNA history, but the main event of Unbreakable 2005 remains the crème de la crème.

9. Formation of the Main Event Mafia

There was often criticism levelled at IMPACT’S part-time crew of ageing headliners, with some fans believing that they greedily took the focus away from the ever-grafting ‘originals’ of the promotion.

While some of the criticism was perhaps warranted, there’s no denying that when one particular group of established legends banded together it was nothing but a good thing for the company.

After a couple of months of storyline hints, Kurt Angle, Kevin Nash, Sting and Booker T announced the formation of the Main Event Mafia on the October 23, 2008, episode of IMPACT in a very entertaining pre-taped backstage segment.

Noting that they were out to get respect from the younger members of the roster, the Mafia soon added Scott Steiner to their ranks.

TNA’s own spin on factions such as the Four Horsemen and Evolution, the Main Event Mafia was the brainchild of Nash.

Running roughshod over the promotion while decked out in designer suits, the Main Event Mafia were quite easily the most dominant and impressive stable in TNA history, at one point holding all the gold the promotion had to offer before disbanding at the end of 2009.

8. Victory Road 2004

For the first couple of years of its existence, TNA operated on a weekly, two-hour pay-per-view model. While this was novel, it was far from sustainable and, at some point, they realised they needed to switch to a more economically viable monthly schedule.

After a couple of false dawns, TNA finally presented its first three-hour monthly pay-per-view on November 7th, 2004.

Giving fans a taste of a little bit of everything they were about, Victory Road had a couple of exciting X-division matches, a Monster’s Ball brawl featuring Raven and homegrown favourites Abyss and Monty Brown, an Elimination Last Man Standing NWA Tag Team Title contest between America’s Most Wanted and Triple X and more.

In the show’s main event, Jeff Jarrett retained his NWA Worlds Heavyweight Title by beating Jeff Hardy with help from Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, before the reclusive Randy Savage emerged for the cliff-hanger conclusion.

It wasn’t a perfect show by any stretch of the imagination, but it was certainly a historic one and put TNA on the pay-per-view map once and for all.

7. IMPACT debuts on Spike TV

After they’d sorted out the whole monthly pay-per-view thing, IMPACT next needed to remedy their television situation.

Between June of 2004 and 2005, IMPACT had aired on Fox Sports Net in an undesirable one-hour Friday Afternoon time slot.

After leaving FSN, IMPACT successfully negotiated with Spike TV for a more appealing Saturday night slot. The first episode of IMPACT on Spike debuted on October 1, 2005 – five days after WWE Raw had left Spike to go back to the USA Network.

Outside of a handful of matches featuring some of the company’s favourites, the big news to come out of the show was the surprise debut of Team 3D, AKA the Dudley Boys.

IMPACT would go from strength to strength on Spike TV, increasing the momentum the promotion had built up and heightening the sense of optimism amongst fans.

A major step in the right direction, the show’s one-hour duration soon grew to become two hours and the ratings were so strong that Spike ended up moving them from Sundays to Thursdays and then to a coveted primetime slot.

It cannot be overstated just how important IMPACT starting on Spike TV was in terms of the company’s survival and growth.

6. Christian Cage wins the big one

One of the biggest names to jump ship from WWE to TNA was Christian Cage, who left Vince McMahon’s employ when he allowed his contract to expire on October 31, 2005.

Two weeks later, Captain Charisma showed up in the IMPACT Zone during the Genesis pay-per-view, kicking off a rivalry with NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett.

For the next few months, Christian and Double J set the stage for their inevitable showdown, which was booked as the main event of Against All Odds 2006.

Fans were desperate to see Cage topple Jarrett, the man who had been NWA champ for the vast majority of IMPACT’s life to that point.

After a see-saw battle, Christian warded off interference and hit the Unprettier to win his first world title.

It was a joyous moment for the fans, who really wanted to see a new person on top, as well as for the ever-consistent Canadian, who had left the competition and bet on himself to become the star he believed he had been held back from being.

5. Going head-to-head with WWE Raw

So the decision for IMPACT to go head-to-head with WWE Raw might not have been such a success – and that’s putting it mildly – but you’d be a liar if you didn’t admit there wasn’t a strong sense of excitement when they first went up against each other on Monday, January 4, 2010.

The move came about following the arrivals of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff, who believed the best way to compete with Vince McMahon was to try and take him on directly.

The Monday Night Wars of the 1990s would not be re-ignited off the back of it, but this live edition of IMPACT showed they were serious about making some noise by presenting the return of Jeff Hardy and the debut of Ric Flair, along with star power heavy angles featuring the likes of Hogan, Bischoff, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Sean Waltman.

The Nasty Boys and Sean Morley also made their first IMPACT appearances, but the less said about those, the better.

The episode – the in-ring highlight of which was provided by Kurt Angle and AJ Styles – drew the highest rating in the show’s history. They ended up doing around half those numbers by the time they threw in the white flag, however.

4. AJ Styles becomes TNA World Heavyweight Champion

AJ Styles was pivotal to the success of TNA from the very get-go.

A relative unknown whose main exposure came briefly during the dying days of WCW, the Phenomenal One was the lynchpin of the X-division, winning the X-Division Title on the promotion’s second weekly pay-per-view.

Over time, Styles outgrew the division and made the move up to the heavyweight ranks.

He became king of the mountain for the third time when he beat Jeff Jarrett to win the NWA World Heavyweight Title at Hard Justice 2005, though his reign sadly only lasted a little over a month.

It would take AJ more than four years to win another world title, but it was worth the wait.

After outpacing Kurt Angle, Sting, Matt Morgan, and Hernandez to bag his first TNA World Heavyweight Championship in a five-way at No Surrender 2009, Styles was joined in celebration by his longtime rival-turned-partner Christopher Daniels, with friends and fans in the IMPACT Zone flooding the ring to show their appreciation for a man who as much as any other had gotten the company to where it was.

3. Elix Skipper's Cage Walk

Some professional wrestling moments are simply destined to be replayed on the highlight reel for all of eternity, their power undiminished over time.

There have been countless spectacular spots, moves and bumps in the history of TNA Wrestling, but one stands head and shoulders above the rest.

During the excellent and exhausting Six Sides of Steel main event of Turning Point 2004 – IMPACT’s second-ever three-hour pay-per-view – America’s Most Wanted and Triple X pulled out all the stops as they proved they deserved top billing.

In a match featuring no shortage of dangerous spills, Elix Skipper’s death-defying cage walk hurricanrana had viewers’ hearts in their mouths.

Watching Prime Time graciously walk across the (worryingly thin) top of the cage, it felt as though time stood still for a second there.

Only when Chris Harris fell to the mat below did the crowd erupt in appreciation for one of the damnedest things they ever had seen – or ever would see in a TNA Wrestling ring.

Special shoutout to Mike Tenay and the late, great Don West for putting it over big and giving it immediate reverence on commentary, too.

2. The Return of Sting

Sting seemingly didn’t fancy doing too much wrestling following the sale of WCW to WWE in March of 2001 and famously resisted joining Vince McMahon’s promotion until over a decade after the fact.

The Stinger had flirted with Jeff Jarrett’s promotion during their early days, wrestling a handful of matches on the weekly pay-per-views that emanated from the Tennessee State Fairgrounds in Nashville.

TNA wanted a firmer commitment and, after a couple years of speculation and rumour, the imminent re-emergence of The Icon was confirmed at the close of Turning Point 2005.

At the following month’s Final Resolution, Sting walked the aisle of the IMPACT Zone for the first time, teaming with Christian to defeat Jeff Jarrett and Monty Brown in the show’s main event.

The then-46-year-old looked great out there and the fans ate up everything he did. Sting was clearly happy with how things went, as he chose to stick around IMPACT until 2014!

Vince McMahon once expressed outright disgust at Sting’s decision to work for IMPACT, believing it would negatively affect his legacy.

Far from it, as Sting had a wonderful run there – a wonderful run that began with a grand return.

2. The Return of Sting

Sting seemingly didn’t fancy doing too much wrestling following the sale of WCW to WWE in March of 2001 and famously resisted joining Vince McMahon’s promotion until over a decade after the fact.

The Stinger had flirted with Jeff Jarrett’s promotion during their early days, wrestling a handful of matches on the weekly pay-per-views that emanated from the Tennessee State Fairgrounds in Nashville.

TNA wanted a firmer commitment and, after a couple years of speculation and rumour, the imminent re-emergence of The Icon was confirmed at the close of Turning Point 2005.

At the following month’s Final Resolution, Sting walked the aisle of the IMPACT Zone for the first time, teaming with Christian to defeat Jeff Jarrett and Monty Brown in the show’s main event.

The then-46-year-old looked great out there and the fans ate up everything he did. Sting was clearly happy with how things went, as he chose to stick around IMPACT until 2014!

Vince McMahon once expressed outright disgust at Sting’s decision to work for IMPACT, believing it would negatively affect his legacy.

Far from it, as Sting had a wonderful run there – a wonderful run that began with a grand return.

1. Kurt Angle Debuts

As great as the acquisition of the likes of Team 3D, Christian Cage, and Sting were, TNA made a signing in the summer of 2006 that felt like a total and utter game-changer.

Soon after leaving WWE under a cloud, Kurt freakin’ Angle was announced as joining Dixie Carter’s crew at the end of the No Surrender pay-per-view.

The video hyping his impending arrival was enough to set pulses racing, but his actual TNA debut was on another level entirely.

Marching out with purpose on the October 19, 2006, edition of IMPACT on Spike TV, the Olympic gold medallist laid a shoot head butt on Samoa Joe, before hitting the Samoan Submission Machine with an impressive Angle Slam.

The subsequent pull-apart brawl between the two men was positively electric and set the tone for the Wrestling Machine’s frankly incredible almost decade-long TNA Wrestling run.

There have been some amazing moments in TNA Wrestling history, but they don’t come much better than Kurt Angle laying the nut on Samoa Joe.

Oh, it’s true alright, It’s damn true!