The 5 Most Historic Matches In TNA History

TNA Wrestling could be getting themselves a whole host of brand new fans in 2026 as the company has landed itself a television deal with AMC, with the debut episode of "TNA Impact" airing on January 15. It is the culmination of a resurgence for a company that just a few short years ago was literally on the verge of going out of business, and even then it wasn't the first time that the company was dangerously closing to not existing anymore. 

The company wouldn't have made it out of its first year had it not been for Dixie Carter and her family investing her family's money. After "Impact" was dropped by Spike TV, TNA drifted in limbo for a number of years and went through a variety of name changes while barely getting by financially, and much like a lot of companies at the time, the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be a huge hurdle for TNA (or Impact Wrestling as they were known at the time) to overcome. With all that said, not only are TNA still in business but they are doing better than ever.

Beginning with the original name change back to TNA from Impact Wrestling at the beginning of 2024, the company has entered something of a new golden era, with a lot of that success coming after they had established a firm working relationship with WWE. Stars from up and down the TNA roster have been able to appear on "WWE NXT," while now former TNA stars Joe Hendry and Jordynne Grace got to represent the company on major stages like WrestleMania and the Royal Rumble. The company has grown in popularity so much over the past two years that some believe that they could rival AEW in terms of being the number two promotion in the world with the right TV deal, and while they realistically have a long way to go before they reach that point, a wrestling business with an established number three (especially in the United States) is best for everyone.

If you're looking to give TNA a try in the new year with their fresh TV deal, or if you're toying with the idea of diving back into the world of Total Nonstop Action now that "Impact" is on a more accessible network, you might be wondering where you should start or what to watch to re-wet your appetite. Well fear not because, while some of these matches aren't exactly recent, these are five of the most historic matches in TNA history that should give you an insight into what the company can do when firing on all cylinders.

It includes the single most impressive/dangerous/iconic spot in the entire business. It needs to be mentioned.

Thanks to the fact that major wrestling companies like WWE and WCW never truly gave the tag team division the time of day outside of some brief moments, companies like TNA and Ring of Honor decided to capitalize on this and push tag team feuds to the top of their cards. In TNA, the likes of Team Canada, The Naturals, The Disciples of The New Church all found their places in the tag team division and by feuding with each other, they created some very memorable moments, but no tag team feud from the early days of TNA ever topped America's Most Wanted vs. Triple X.

AMW comprised of the "Wildcat" Chris Harris and the "Cowboy" James Storm, while Triple X was the trio of the "Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels, "Primetime" Elix Skipper, and Low Ki who would focus more on his work in Japan and ROH by the end of 2003. Harris, Storm, Daniels, and Skipper would feud on and off for nearly two years, trading the NWA Worlds Tag Team Championships back-and-forth in that time. They had the first-ever Steel Cage match in TNA history, the first-ever tag team Last Man Standing match, and had taken their story to the point where it was worthy of headlining a pay-per-view, and in December 2004, that's exactly what they did.

Triple X and AMW met inside the Six Sides of Steel at the Turning Point pay-per-view in December 2004. It was only TNA's second monthly pay-per-view, as well as the second-ever Six Sides of Steel match, with AMW winning the first one against The Naturals a few months earlier. The feud had reached a point where the two teams simply couldn't be in the same company anymore, meaning that the losing team must disband forever, but what the fans in the Impact Zone were about to witness was a match that is still regarded as perhaps the greatest tag team Steel Cage match in wrestling history.

Three of the four men bled buckets, with the sole exception being Skipper who stole the show by walking on the top of the cage from one side to the other and performing a Hurricanrana. It's a spot that is still talked about to this day, and even through all of the evolution that we've seen in wrestling in the two decades since this match, it still holds up as a genuinely incredible moment. Sadly for Skipper, even his inhuman ability to walk across the wall of the cage wasn't enough to win him or Daniels the match as AMW got the win, leading to Harris and Storm remaining as a team. Even without Skipper's death-defying stunt, it would still be considered as one of the best matches in TNA history, and a prime example of how, when done right, tag team wrestling rules.

The jewel in the crown of TNA Wrestling from the very beginning was the company's "X-Division." It wasn't about weight limits, it was about no limits, and while the TNA X-Division Championship still exists to this day as a new generation of stars fly around the company performing stunts Elix Skipper would be proud of, the 2000s division was generational. An updated version of the beloved WCW cruiserweight division, only instead of focusing on stars from Japan and Mexico, the crop of stars that were forging their own paths on the independent scene took the spotlight. 

Of all the names who long-time TNA fans associate with the X-Division, three men stand head and shoulders above the rest. AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, and Samoa Joe. Styles was the inaugural TNA X-Division Champion, winning the title in a Double Elimination match against Low Ki, Jerry Lynn, and Psicosis back in 2002 that is more than worthy of an honorable mention, even in his formative years as a wrestler, he certainly lived up to his nickname of "The Phenomenal One." We've already mentioned Daniels in the AMW/Triple X feud, but he was a Rolls Royce of a wrestler in his prime and was seen as a true highlight of the X-Division. Then there was Samoa Joe, already seen as a king in Ring of Honor, he was the embodiment of the lack of limits the X-Division prided itself on.

Over the years, the three men would cross paths many times, but when you mention the three men by themselves or as a group, this is the match people think of. Much like Turning Point 2004, Unbreakable 2005 saw TNA put trust in the workhorses of the company as the three-way match between Styles, Daniels, and Joe for the TNA X-Division Championship main evented the pay-per-view. Given that the main event spot had never been given to an X-Division match at the time, all three men knew they had to deliver, and even though they've all individually revealed that most of this match was improvised on the spot, they made magic together.

The match is so good that it is literally referred to as "The Unbreakable Three Way." You know a match is historic when it has its own nickname. It's both incredible and influential in its own right, with current AEW star Will Ospreay even stating that the match is the reason he became a wrestler at all. The stars aligned for Styles, Daniels, and Joe at Unbreakable 2005 as they produced the match that many still consider to be the single greatest match in TNA history. While all three men would meet in matches that some actually like more than this, no one can deny how important this match is to both TNA, and how modern wrestling is structured and viewed. Essential viewing for anyone wanting to get into TNA, and essential viewing for any wrestling fan in general.

By late 2006, TNA Wrestling was firing on all cylinders. The company had firmly established itself as the number two promotion in the United States (and in the world to many) behind WWE, positioning itself as a true alternative with a more modern style thanks to the X-Division, the six sided ring, and enough recognizable names from the past and present to give the company casual credibility. The weekly "TNA Impact" television show had been on Spike TV for more than a year, and had grown in popularity so much that it was moved from a late night slot on Saturday nights to a prime time Thursday night slot each week.

Of the recognizable names that made the move to TNA, the likes of Sting, Christian Cage, and Team 3D (The Dudley Boyz) all turned some heads, but the one man who truly made the biggest impact (pun sort of intended) was Kurt Angle. Earlier in the year, Angle was defending the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on pay-per-view against The Undertaker, and even walked into WrestleMania 22 with the gold around his waist. Despite issues outside of the ring, he was still seen as a wrestling machine by WWE fans, making him the perfect acquisition for TNA when he left WWE in the summer of 2006.

When Angle arrived in the Impact Zone, there was only one man at the time who people wanted to see him wrestle, Samoa Joe. The former TNA X-Division Champion hadn't been pinned or submitted during his entire run with TNA, so it was only right that Angle's first test in his new home would be to do what no one else had been able to do; beat the "Samoan Submission Machine." Some fans expected to see the match be a last minute edition to that year's Bound For Glory pay-per-view, the first TNA monthly pay-per-view to not take place in the Impact Zone, while others thought there should be a little bit more build towards the eventual showdown.

TNA met in the middle and gave Angle and Joe top billing at the event after Bound For Glory, Genesis 2006. The anticipation for one of the biggest dream matches in wrestling at the time led to Genesis 2006 being the most bought TNA pay-per-view in company history, a record that still stands to this day, and it's safe to say that the match delivered in style. Angle working outside of the WWE bubble for the first time taking on a prime version of Joe who had just come off of one of the single greatest years for any wrestler in 2005. It was a hard-hitting affair that led to Joe finally tapping out, and it was so good that they ended up having a trilogy of matches leading into 2007, and eventually feuding over the TNA World Championship into 2008 as well. It's not often dream matches live up to the dream match status, but this one did.

The 2000s weren't exactly a hotbed for women's wrestling anywhere in the world. The Joshi scene in Japan was entering a dark age that it wouldn't emerge from until the 2010s. All-female promotions like SHIMMER were only just finding their feet and would have to be patient before achieving the success they eventually did, and in WWE, it was more about whether you were attractive enough to pose for Playboy rather than if you were a good wrestler that got you hired. Fortunately for American wrestling fans, TNA Wrestling had its Knockouts division.

Much like the X-Division and the innovative tag teams the company had, TNA always thrived as a challenger brand to WWE when they took advantage of the opposition's weaknesses. WWE weren't interested in taking women's wrestling seriously, so TNA decided to give the Knockouts division the time and effort to make it must-see programming on a weekly basis. Stars like Taylor Wilde, ODB, Miss Jackie Moore, Daffney, Roxxi, and The Beautiful People weren't just Knockouts on the surface, they were Knockouts in the ring and put on matches that at times rivalled or surpassed what their male counterparts were doing. However, there was one definitive Knockouts rivalry, Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong.

One of the best blueprints for a wrestling rivalry is the David vs. Goliath story. A plucky, underdog and often undersized babyface going against the much larger, much more dominant heel, and this worked extra well for Kim and Kong. Kim hadn't had the best of times in WWE and left for TNA in early 2006 in the hopes of women's wrestling being taken more seriously, while Kong was a phenom on the independent scene and in Japan as there was literally no one else like her, especially in the United States. The irresistible positive force of Kim taking on the immovable violent object of Kong worked wonders for TNA, and their No Disqualification match from the first of two Final Resolution pay-per-views in 2008 is arguably their best.

Truth be told, a number of Kim's matches with Kong in 2007 and 2008 could take this spot because they are all as equally important and historic in their own way. With said, given how the bloody and hardcore side of wrestling has been embraced by women's divisions across the world, letting Kim and Kong get a little more nasty with the weapons and physicality puts this bout a tad higher than the rest. Kim was already being pushed to her limits as the first-ever TNA Knockouts Champion, and a number of people thought Kong would dominate 2008 as the champion, but a back-and-forth contest capped off with a very unique finish meant that Kong had to wait a little longer before she got her hands on the gold. One of the most influential and important women's rivalries of all time, this match was Kim and Kong's finest hour.

It would be foolish not to mention anything from the current TNA product given how much of a resurgence it has made in the eye of the common fan. From the rebrand back to the letters that made the company famous, to the working relationship with WWE, TNA Wrestling has been setting records left, right, and center over the past two years, with the biggest success coming in the form of their annual Bound For Glory pay-per-view in 2025.

Bound For Glory has always been seen as TNA's version of WWE WrestleMania, and the 2025 instalment saw the company break their own North American attendance record that was originally set with the Slammiversary pay-per-view just a few months earlier. The company announced an attendance of 7,794, which is also the new record for the highest attended sporting event at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Massachusetts (the venue for the event), and even though a later report confirmed that only 6,137 tickets were used, it didn't damper the spirits of those who attended the show.

The main event of the show was a match that had every TNA fan on the edge of their seat as many people, including a number of the wrestlers and backstage staff within the company, weren't happy at the fact that their top titles were around the waists of "WWE NXT" talent. Kelani Jordan had the TNA Knockout's World Championship and retained her title earlier in the evening, leaving all of the hopes in TNA personnel in the hands of Mike Santana. He had already attempted to dethrone Trick Williams back at Slammiversary in front of his hometown fans but came up short, but renewed sense of optimism heading into the biggest show of the year for TNA gave Santana the extra kick he needed to get the job done.

Santana didn't have it easy as he had to deal with outside interference, being busted open early on in the match, and Williams, who was firing on all cylinders in this one, getting in the face of Santana's daughter sitting at ringside (he got a slap for his efforts). Despite both Nic Nemeth and Frankie Kazarian wanting to cash in their own title shots, it was Santana who overcame all of the odds to finally win the big one and became the TNA World Champion for the first time.

The show went off the air with one of the most emotional moments in recent wrestling history. Santana had been very open about his alcoholism, to the point where he revealed that his daughter once asked Santa Claus for her dad to get better for Christmas. This gave him the motivation to get his life and career back on track, and when he finally got his hands on the TNA World Championship, Santana handed the title to his daughter as a way of saying thank you for making him the best possible version of himself.