TNA first opened its doors in 2002 with very little fanfare. The brainchild of the legendary promoter, Jerry Jarrett and his son Jeff Jarrett. Over the years it has had some of the biggest names in the industry, such as Hulk Hogan, Sting, Rick Flair and Kurt Angle, while giving breaks to future hall of famers such as Samoa Joe and AJ Styles.
Over the years TNA's changes in management and ownership have hindered the promotion, however, under the IMPACT Wrestling banner and TNA Original, Scott D'amore's stewardship Impact is now consistently putting out quality PPV shows, focussing on storytelling. However, TNA's booking has seldom been consistent which has led to some great shows on paper, failing to deliver. Here are 10 stacked TNA/IMPACT PPVs that failed to deliver.
10 Lockdown (2007)
TNA's annual steel cage-only PPV is usually one of the highlights of the wrestling calendar. Unfortunately, this failed to deliver. The Xscape X-Division match was the shows highlight, the 2 biggest low points of the show were the James Storm Vs Chris Harris blindfold match, where the blindfolds kept falling off and sucked all the energy out of the arena.
The advertised electrified steel cage match between Team 3D and LAX was a disaster. The P.A. loudly playing a white noise sound while the lights flickered took away any tension from the match.
9 Hardcore Justice (2010)
The Hard Justice PPV had its name tweaked to Hardcore Justice as in 2010 this was built as an ECW reunion show. After the success of WWE's two One Night Stand events, the hopes for this were high. Sadly this wasn't the success fans hoped it would be. The biggest factor being the location.
The fans are what made ECW special, and as a North East based promotion, holding the event in Florida took away the feeling this was ECW, as this was a TNA crowd full stop. The other issue was TNA didn't own the rights to the ECW name, so they were named EV2.
8 Victory Road (2009)
On a card featuring Kevin Nash Vs AJ Styles, Team 3D Vs The British Invasion as well as Kurt Angle vs Mick Foley for the world title, nothing hit home in this PPV.
Not only did Wrestling Observer's Dave Melzer rate this as the worst PPV of 2009 across all promotions, but the celebrity inclusion of Jenna Marasca in the match against Sharmell received a negative 5-star rating, with many people claiming this is the single worst wrestling match in history.
7 Knockouts Knockdown 2016
While the women's revolution was riding high, TNA's knockout division had been considered the deepest women's division for years. When this all women's PPV was announced it was met with ridicule by the wider wrestling community, however TNA fans were excited, and as women from the independents were added to the card the buzz about this event increased.
Sadly it failed to deliver, with no one seeming to gel with their opponents. Unfortunately, this event did a real disservice to the Knockouts who were all capable of better, as they showed both before and since.
6 Bound For Glory (2010)
Bound for Glory is TNA's marquee show, their WrestleMania, so it came as no surprise to see a truly stacked card featuring Samoa Joe, Jeff Jarrett, AJ Styles, Kurt Angle. The PPV started strongly, with Motor City Machine Guns beating Generation Me (a young Young Bucks).in what was a taste of the awesome rivalry they would go on to have.
The last few matches really sank this show, with a lackluster Monsters ball, a 3-on-2 handicap turning into a 3-on-1 as Jarrett left Samoa Joe standing. The main event saw Jeff Hardy turn heel in what was an obvious NWO formation rehash, confirming TNA had gone from alternative to WWE 2.0 under Hulk Hogan.
5 Destination X (2009)
This PPV was TNA at both its best and its worst. A good strong card with matches fans wanted to see and storylines people had invested in, ruined by bad booking. The anticipated Scott Steiner vs Samoa Joe ended by DQ in 100 seconds.
Beer Money had been feuding with Team 3D having some great matches, but after the DQ earlier the count-out decision really didn't sit well. The final 2 matches of the show were better, however the atmosphere in the Impact Zone felt like an Impact pre-tape, as did the show.
4 Destination X (2007)
Where to begin? This show was so bad, by the end of the 1st co-main event, the fans were shouting for the booker to be fired. LAX Vs Team 3D in a ghetto brawl was the 1st of 6 gimmick matches, including a mixed-gender Bull-Rope match, and the now infamous Last Rights match.
The fall out to this event led to Vince Russo being fired. Spike TV opted not to renew the TV deal after finding out Russo was still booking secretly for TNA after expressly prohibiting it.
3 Against All Odds (2011)
On paper this looked exciting and started with a replacement as The Young Buck, both of whom were in the number one contenders triple threat match, had quit the promotion before the PPV to work for Ring of Honor, Robbie E doing a good job in a match with Kaz, but it still felt flat with the lack of notice given for the change.
Everything else ran just like an episode of Impact, with little build to any of the matches prior to the last 2. Jeff Jarrett Vs Kurt Angle was centered around the real live marital status of the 2 men, And Jeff Hardy vs Mr Anderson for the title in a ladder match was unmemorable.
2 Slammiversary (2017)
This show was centered around the working relationship with Global Force Wrestling, with the world, women's and tag titles all involved in unification matches.
However, nothing felt like a champion vs champion caliber match. The inter-gender Full Metal Mayhem match while making sense from a story point of view was horrible when put into practice.
1 Victory Road (2011)
If it could go wrong, it went wrong. The women's tag title match they messed the timings up in key spots. The first blood between Hernandez and Matt Morgan was not only a screwy finish but the cameras caught Hernandez blatantly blading. The co main between Rob Van Dam and Mr Anderson for the number one contender finished in a no contest. Then came the most infamous moment in TNA's 20-year history; Sting vs Jeff Hardy for the TNA world title.
Eric Bischoff came to the ring in the guise of wishing both men luck, but in reality, he was just making it clear to Sting that Jeff was intoxicated. Ninety seconds after the bell rang to start the match, Sting shot a legitimate pinfall on Jeff who physically could not kick out. The fans chanting "Bulls***" was a surreal moment, with Sting by the entrance tunnel agreeing vocally with the fans.