Total Nonstop Action -- TNA (now known as Impact Wrestling) -- has been around since 2002, and there’s been a lot of turmoil over that nearly two decades of existence. A lot of it is the usual LOLTNA mix of bad decisions and blowing promising potential, but there’s also a lot of changes in the company with regard to who owns the company.
So what’s the deal with TNA’s ownership? Let’s take a look at the history of TNA and examine the various entities that have had a part in TNA’s actual ownership, including the Jarretts, Dixie Carter and her family, and, randomly, Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins.
10 The Beginning
TNA grew from the ashes of World Championship Wrestling. WWE had bought up all the competition -- namely WCW and ECW -- effectively becoming the only game in town when it came to nationally televised professional wrestling. As a result, former WCW/WWE star Jeff Jarrett and his father Jerry decided to form a new wrestling promotion of their own. Working with Attitude Era and late-period WCW writer Vince Russo, TNA was born.
9 The Jarretts
Starting up in mid-2002, TNA was owned by theJarretts and financially backed by a company called HealthSouth Corporation. Expecting that lucrative TV deals weren’t going to be feasible due to the public downfall of WCW and ECW, TNA opted for a weekly pay-per-view model. This would not work out, thanks to poor buyrates, and things would get worse by Fall as HealthSouth would cease their funding amid a financial scandal.
8 Panda Energy
Here’s where Dixie Carter enters the story. The owner of the PR company Trifecta Entertainment, TNA Wrestling was one of Carter’s clients. Jeff Jarrett, desperate to find some new funding for his fledgling wrestling promotion, turned over every stone possible, including that of the firm in charge of TNA’s marketing.
Dixie’s parents owned Panda Energy, a company that built power plants, so they had loads of money. Carter sold her parents on backing TNA, so Panda bought a majority stake in the company.
7 Dixie Carter
Soon after Panda Energy bought their majority stake, Dixie Carter became President of TNA. After about a decade and a number of ups in downs in the televised product, in 2012 Panda divested its stake in the company, with Dixie Carter herself buying that stake so she alone could be majority shareholder. Eventually, Jeff Jarrett, would quit TNA in 2013 and eventually sell his stake to Carter, too. As a result, Dixie Carter would become the sole owner of TNA.
6 Aroluxe Marketing
By 2016, TNA would be in financial straits again. Spike TV kicked TNA’s show Impact Wrestling to the curb, and its stint airing on Destination America was short-lived. At this point it was already on Pop TV, and shedding even more viewers. At this point the promotion received more financial backing thanks to Aroluxe Marketing, a company that employed former WWF, WCW, and TNA tag team Don and Ron Harris. Dixie Carter still had a majority share, but Aroluxe was in charge of handling TNA’s TV production.
5 Billy Corgan
In 2015, ‘90s rock god Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins -- a huge wrestling fan, and loaded with cash -- became involved in TNA, working with the company on the creative side and even appearing on the show as an on-screen authority figure. By 2016, Corgan reportedly invested $1.8 million in TNA as a loan, and became President of the company, with Dixie Carter moved to another high-level position. However, this didn’t last long, as Corgan would lose his position after yet another financial shakeup.
4 Anthem Sports
A couple of months after Billy Corgan got financially involved in TNA, Anthem Sports & Entertainment, a Canadian sports broadcasting company, would buy a majority stake in TNA. Corgan would pursue legal action to deal with all the money TNA owed him, and eventually reach a settlement.
As a result of Anthem’s purchase of TNA, a restructuring would occur, with Dixie Carter moving from a management position to being on Anthem Sports’ Advisory Board, while still acting as a minority shareholder of TNA.
3 Impact Wrestling
With Anthem’s acquisition of TNA, the promotion underwent a much-needed rebranding, as many would agree that TNA was a bad pun that did not age well past its early beginnings as an “edgy” Attitude Era-esque promotion. Therefore, by Spring 2017 the company had been renamed Impact Wrestling to match the name of its flagship program. Somewhat ironically, it was also during this time that Jeff Jarrett would be brought back into the fold, resulting in another (albeit brief) name change.
2 Global Force Wrestling
During his time away from TNA/Impact, Jeff Jarrett had started a new wrestling promotion called Global Force Wrestling, and plans were in the works to merge GFW and Impact, rebranding the company yet again as Global Force Wrestling. The idea was to create, as the name would suggest, a genuine global wrestling brand, with international broadcasting deals and working partnerships with promotions in Japan and Mexico. However, despite the rebranding, the deal would never actually go, and Jarrett would leave the company again, taking his GFW trademarks with him.
1 AXS TV
There would be another acquisition in 2019, but this time it would work in Impact’s favor. Impact’s parent company, Anthem, would buy a majority stake in AXS TV, a former satellite broadcaster of concerts, sports, and pro-wrestling -- namely former TNA partner New Japan Pro Wrestling and WOW: Women of Wrestling -- that had expanded to some cable providers and other venues. As a result, Impact! would air on AXS TV, a much more stable home than many of its post-Spike TV channels.