Brian Damage
This Week in Wrestling: Week 23 of 2026
The Decline of TNA
There was a period of time, when TNA aka Total Non-Stop Action looked like it was finally emerging out from the doldrums that it was in for a number of years. The Dixie Carter years of TNA were definitely a mixed bag of results. On one hand, Dixie and the Carter family saved TNA from extinction by pumping much needed cash into the dying company. On the other hand, Dixie’s lack of wrestling knowledge and pushing the wrong talent to the top severely hurt TNA and set it back years.
It wasn’t until Scott D’Amore and to a smaller degree Don Callis that TNA finally creeped out from the shadows and became much watch programming again. Say what you will about D’Amore, but he had wrestlers wanting to work for him and work hard for that matter. He was able to bring in an array of talent that set TNA apart from others. Something that the promotion simply lacked for a long time.
It was D’Amore that brokered a deal with ‘The Rainmaker’ Kazuchika Okada and actually helped Okada make amends with TNA after a number of years holding bitter feelings towards the company. When Scott D’Amore was let go and replaced with Carlos Silva, the company still showed signs of strength and momentum. They secured a partnership with WWE in particular NXT to exchange talent. That partnership helped TNA grow further and fans came out and paid to see TNA wrestling once again.
That partnership in a small way helped TNA secure a better TV deal as it signed with AMC. With the promotion on a channel that wrestling fans actually had, it helped get more eyeballs on them. Everything looked like it was turning up roses for TNA. Since their AMC debut, the company has seemingly been in a creative funk. The matches have been good, but nothing spectacular. Recently, TNA stars like Myla Grace and Steve Maclin have requested and granted their releases. Leon Slater is expected to depart the company once his TNA contract expires with both AEW and WWE heavily interested in him.
Even the reigning TNA world champion Mike Santana is believed to leave after his contract is up, as WWE is rumored to have interest in signing him away. With a number of wrestlers leaving TNA, there really hasn’t been a great deal of new talent being brought in. TNA is definitely in a rut. They have been in this position many times in the past, so it is nothing new. It’s just unfortunate that after making great strides, the promotion has returned to not being talked about as the “in” thing anymore.
Photo Gallery
Dr. Ruth and Leapin’ Lanny
CJ Perry
Liv Morgan
Jordynne Grace
Jade Cargill
Ash By Elegance
Jenni Neidhart
Mandy Rose
Mina Shirakawa
Video Gallery
Great memories…
CHICC
Personal opinion: I agree of D’Amore’s TNA was its phoenix rising creating a good balance of storylines & rivalries with intense matches. Josh Alexander being a prime example – for me TNA rose up from fast-paced matches to a more scientific technical stylearound Omega’s reign onwards back in spring ’21
. That’s not to say Dixie’s TNA wasn’t a good alternative (on a smaller scale) to WCW when it folded – you only have to look at the list of champions then to see that and, okay, you can say most of them were ‘used up’/burnt out or just not needed by WWE etc BUT it was an outlet & option for those wrestlers during their ‘darker days’.
I never got to watch GCW but, prior to GCW, one of the many established wrestlers who had long runs as TNA champion was Magnus who’s currently WWE SD GM and GCW’s final champion – Eli Drake who’s now very popular in WWE as LA Knight.
Back to where I said of spring ’21, for me TNA has had solid champion rivalries in Maclin, Alexander, Moose & Shelley.
Since Silva replaced D’Amore (for him to take on Maple Leaf) the momentum has continued with more ‘released talent’ given opportunities like: Elias/Elijah, Mustafa Ali, Nic Nemeth, Hardyz, Mara Sade, Lei Ying Lee (now a 2xKnockouts champion and building a quality rivalry with a heel Xia Brookside). Not long before Lei Ying Lee (Xia Li), they gave Keilani Jordan a superb heel run as part of the NXT/TNA cross-promotion which also saw Trick Williams hold a heel run as TNA champion that almost mirrors his present US title reign. Prior to Keilani was Jacy Jayne, go back the previous year to 2023-4 you had Trinity (Naomi) and, much later, Ash by Elegance (Dana Brooke) went on to form a quality heel stable – The Elegance brand.
This is not even beginning to cover the exceptional talent – Leon Slater!
My point to all this? TNA has always picked up ‘released’ talent & gave them opportunity that they never had elsewhere while also signing/creating new stars like the recent explosion of Leon Slater.
Don’t disregard this prmotion when its delivering good angles & rivalries to wrestlers who often are misused or overlooked.
David Fullam
TNA, in any incarnation, never appealed to me. Can’t tell you how many times I thought “Well, that is the end of them.” And then they survived. And they kept surviving. So I would not count them out based on previous years. They may never become the next big thing, but as long as there is another alternative out there for fans to watch, and workers to get paid and have exposure, I’m cool with it.