20 Terrible TNA Pay-Per-View matches, In Chronological Order.

Impact Wrestling has been in business since 2002. The promotion (then TNA) proved to make upcoming stars that we see today. Stars such as AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, Homicide, and Jay Lethal all had their first big break over there. TNA also reinvented careers of former WWE and WCW superstars, and introduced us to their women’s division called the Knockouts Division. With that, along with unique match stipulations, TNA was something of an alternative at the time when they launched.

But over the years and to this day, there is at least one terrible match per year that gives Impact the “LOLTNA” reputation that the internet wrestling community coined. Today, I will list those very bad matches from that promotion in the order of when it happened that year.

Hair vs. Hair: Raven vs. Larry Zbyszko
Victory Road 2006
Watch Raven try to carry a 54-year-old, broken old man for 4 minutes, and fail spectacularly. No one should be wrestling at this guy’s age. See also: Larry Z’s Loser Leaves match with Eric Young at BFG of the same year.

Jay Lethal vs. Petey Williams
No Surrender 2006
Jay Lethal had been turned into a Jackass fanboy in one of the worst pieces of cross-promotion ever (see also: JWoww in TNA). But even with bad build, how could these two great workers produce such a terrible match? Hint: it involves laxatives.

Tuxedo Match: Christy Hemme vs. The Big Fat Oily Guy
Against All Odds 2007
Yes, that’s right, Christy Hemme once feuded with a nameless Big Dick Johnson ripoff, which culminated in one of the regular worst match stipulations, a rip-off-the-clothes match.

Elevation X: AJ Styles vs. Rhino
Destination X 2007


Wonder why no one does scaffold matches anymore? They’re ridiculously dangerous and impossible to have a good match on. But substituting the single scaffold for 2 scaffolds in an X-shape… yeah, no, it doesn’t make it any less unsafe or unwatchable.

Blindfold Cage Match: James Storm vs. Chris Harris
Lockdown 2007


Thank heaven the “Eye for an Eye” fiasco didn’t include a blindfold match at some point. They’re almost always awful, good only for a couple of cold-warm-hot spots with the crowd. This didn’t even have that.

Electrified Cage Match for the Tag Team Titles: LAX (c) vs. Team 3D
Lockdown 2007

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esCtfaL1aRY


Sure, it’s electrified. If by “electrified” you mean “completely normal, but the wrestlers convulse when they hit the cage while the lights flash and a joy buzzer sound effect plays”.

Reverse Battle Royal
Bound for Glory 2007


Yes, REVERSE Battle Royal. Sixteen men fighting to get INSIDE the ring, at which they suddenly struggle immensely despite being okay with it the rest of their careers. This was on their biggest show of the year, somehow.

MMA Match: AJ Styles vs. Frank Trigg
No Surrender 2008
Faux-shoot matches (e.g. the Mr. T/Piper boxing match) are never good. Styles can’t even pretend to play a legit fighter, and Trigg is a fish out of water in the scripted world of wrestling. Also, it ends in shenanigans.

Number 1 Contender for the Knockouts Title: ODB/Roxxi/Taylor Wilde vs. The Kongtourage
Genesis 2009


Three actual good women’s wrestlers try to make sense of the hopeless Rhaka Khan and Sojo Bolt, as well as Cheerleader Melissa in a burqa. The “one who wins the pinfall gets a title shot” stipulation rears its ugly head, leading to obvious shenanigans.

Jenna Morasca vs. Sharmell
Victory Road 2009


When wrestling fans think “bad TNA match”, all too often they’re thinking of this, and it’s not hard to see why. A valet against a no-name Survivor contestant – with ACTUAL WRESTLER Awesome Kong at ringside – produces a legendary piece of **** of a match.

Abyss vs. Mr. Anderson
Genesis 2010
A hardcore wrestler working a four-sided ring for the first time in forever vs. a guy wrestling the “generic mid-2000s WWE” style. That clash of styles isn’t exactly going to result in anything good. The crowd, who weren’t exactly happy as it was, HATED this.

for the Global Title: Rob Terry vs. Orlando Jordan
Sacrifice 2010


See Genesis 2010, but substitute Abyss’s description for “Rob Terry, a man who has never been able to wrestle at all”. Eight minutes that feel like eight years.

For the Knockouts Tag Team Titles: Winter/Angelina Love vs. Mexican America
Victory Road 2011


Featuring a notable botch where the future Zelina Vega has to hold Winter down in a roll-up pinfall for a good 20 seconds because Velvet Sky missed her cue. If that sounds good to you, you’ll love this match! Sarita deserved better.

First Blood: Matt Morgan vs. Hernandez
Victory Road 2011

A finish to a feud that had been on hold for years, featuring no end to end action, no good wrestling (because Matt Morgan) and a stupid, screwy finish. I could put all of Victory Road ’11 on here actually. They managed to make an Ultimate X match suck! How?!

No Disqualification Match for the World Title: Sting (c) vs. Jeff Hardy
Victory Road 2011


There’s not much of a match here, as Hardy going out while completely off his face on drugs curtailed the action to 89 sad, sad seconds. Instead, admire the efforts of the referee, Sting, and Eric Bischoff to ensure that no one came out of this night hurt.

Crimson vs. Rob Van Dam
Hardcore Justice 2011
I could put Crimson’s entire “winning streak” on here. Repeated DQ wins and generally looking like shit for an “undefeatable” wrestler will do that to you. This match’s ending is one of the dumbest you will ever see, especially considering what it’s meant to build to.

Robbie E vs. Robbie T
Lockdown 2013
Robbie E was always best when he was outside of the right, whereas Rob Terry… wasn’t best anywhere. This was the peak of a feud based around “bro-offs”, featuring everyone trying to pretend this massive Welsh man can dance.

Knockouts Gauntlet Battle Royal
One Night Only: Live! 1


This got -2.5 stars from Meltzer, which is somehow the third-worst rated TNA match ever. A slow and heatless mini-Rumble featuring a young Deonna Purrazzo, who will want to forget she was even at this show.

Monster’s Ball: Abyss vs. Grado
One Night Only: Live! 1
A hardcore bout with barely any hardcore and Grado fucking about, described by one commentator on Cagematch as “XPW with higher production values”. If you want to see Grado actually work the stipulation, watch Bound for Glory 2017 instead.

Rebel vs. Shelly Martinez
One Night Only: Knockouts Knockdown 4
Just when you thought Jenna/Sharmell was the worst women’s match ever, here is this disaster, featuring offense that targets the vagina. Not even kidding.

These 20 matches really stand out to me. It is because it pinpoints the worst time to be a fan of Impact Wrestling. I hope within the next decade, I will not have to do a top 40.

Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content.

Wrestling Observer Newsletter year end awards of 2013

Today the Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards were announced and here are the results. The ones listed as “1.” are the ones that won the category

LOU THESZ/RIC FLAIR AWARD (WRESTLER OF THE YEAR)

1. HIROSHI TANAHASHI (348) 3.488

2. Kazuchika Okada (153) 2,168

3. Daniel Bryan (139) 1,444

4. John Cena (58) 925

5. C.M. Punk (31) 520

6. KENTA (13) 133

7. Shinsuke Nakamura (2) 51

MIXED MARTIAL ARTS MOST VALUABLE

1. GEORGES ST-PIERRE (569) 3,215

2. Ronda Rousey (110) 1,414

3. Jon Jones (48) 1,211

4. Cain Velasquez (41) 861

5. Anderson Silva (12) 732

6. Chris Weidman (3) 85

MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER

1. HIROSHI TANAHASHI (470) 3,237

2. Daniel Bryan (205) 1,894

3. Kazuchika Okada (126) 1,760

4. C.M. Punk (10) 374

5. Negro Casas (18) 275

6. Shinsuke Nakamura (22) 245

7. Antonio Cesaro (16) 163

8. Katsuyori Shibata (11) 137

9. Prince Devitt (3) 133

10. Tomohiro Ishii (1) 132

MOST OUTSTANDING FIGHTER OF THE YEAR

1. CAIN VELASQUEZ (354) 2,062

2. Jon Jones (70) 878

3. Johny Hendricks (45) 512

4. Chris Weidman (23) 502

5. Georges St-Pierre (51) 488

6. Vitor Belfort (34) 449

7. Demetrious Johnson (41) 447

8. Anthony Pettis (3) 373

9. Urijah Faber (26) 282

10. Ronda Rousey (29) 281

BEST BOX OFFICE DRAW

1. GEORGES ST-PIERRE (351) 2,699

2. The Rock (220) 1,915

3. John Cena (115) 1,533

4. Hiroshi Tanahashi (35) 562

5. Brock Lesnar (15) 309

6. Ronda Rousey (34) 305

7. Anderson Silva (2) 155

8. Daniel Bryan (1) 63

FEUD OF THE YEAR

1. HIROSHI TANAHASHI VS. KAZUCHIKA OKADA (534) 3,259

2. Ronda Rousey vs. Miesha Tate (106) 875

3. Hirooki Goto vs. Katsuyori Shibata (1) 634

4. C.M. Punk vs. Brock Lesnar (23) 623

5. C.M. Punk vs. Paul Heyman (82) 535

6. Georges St-Pierre vs. Nick Diaz (38) 447

7. The Shield vs. Kane & Daniel Bryan (44) 358

8. Negro Casas vs. Rush (52) 334

9. La Sombra vs. Volador Jr. (2) 171

10. C.M. Punk vs. The Rock (6) 142

TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR

1. SETH ROLLINS & ROMAN REIGNS (440) 2,723

2. Goldust & Cody Rhodes (72) 1,152

3. Young Bucks (94) 1,035

4. Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer (47) 705

5. Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov (10) 312

6. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian (7) 258

7. Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish (26) 247

8. Jack Evans & Angelico (12) 205

9. Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka (11) 204

10. Jimmy & Jey Uso (2) 196

MOST IMPROVED

1. ROMAN REIGNS (323) 2,013

2. Tomohiro Ishii (51) 757

3. Goldust (89) 577

4. Lance Archer (19) 439

5. Adam Cole (35) 425

6. Davey Boy Smith Jr. (46) 285

7. Magnus (29) 272

8. Big E Langston (10) 213

9. Cody Rhodes (9) 203

10. Taryn Terrell (19) 199

BEST ON INTERVIEWS

1. PAUL HEYMAN (310) 2,150

2. C.M. Punk (206) 2,054

3. The Rock (55) 573

4. Mark Henry (24) 472

5. Chael Sonnen (39) 354

6. John Cena (19) 311

7. Bray Wyatt (23) 273

8. Bully Ray (13) 254

9. Daniel Bryan (31) 229

10. Dean Ambrose (2) 207

MOST CHARISMATIC

1. HIROSHI TANAHASHI (181) 1,425

2. The Rock (236) 1,382

3. John Cena (76) 1,078

4. Daniel Bryan (134) 1,025

5. Shinsuke Nakamura (82) 925

6. C.M. Punk (13) 482

7. Brock Lesnar (2) 129

8. Minoru Suzuki (8) 122

9. Negro Casas (16) 115

10. Chael Sonnen (2) 98

BEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER

1. DANIEL BRYAN (362) 2,269

2. Hiroshi Tanahashi (157) 1,314

3. Antonio Cesaro (34) 787

4. Blue Panther (58) 517

5. Zack Sabre Jr. (47) 443

6. Kazuchika Okada (2) 425

7. Shinsuke Nakamura (62) 363

8. Prince Devitt (36) 352

9. Davey Richards (4) 163

10. KENTA (10) 135

BRUISER BRODY MEMORIAL AWARD (BEST BRAWLER)

1. KATSUYORI SHIBATA (306) 2,187

2. Tomohiro Ishii (134) 1,330

3. Kevin Steen (107) 1,099

4. Togi Makabe (59) 767

5. Brock Lesnar (85) 629

6. Bully Ray (56) 575

7. Minoru Suzuki (22) 210

8. L.A. Park (19) 186

9. Roman Reigns (16) 154

10. Masato Tanaka (10) 145

BEST FLYING WRESTLER

1. KOTA IBUSHI (416) 2,777

2. Ricochet (186) 1,788

3. Adrian Neville (96) 1,224

4. La Sombra (88) 890

5. Sami Zayn (9) 404

6. Mascara Dorada (42) 388

7. A.R. Fox (25) 289

8. ACH (22) 246

9. Samuray del Sol (12) 228

10. Rey Cometa (3) 192

MOST OVERRATED

1. RANDY ORTON (164) 1,145

2. Ryback (104) 900

3. HHH (102) 651

4. The Miz (62) 564

5. Big Show (19) 501

6. Alberto Del Rio (28) 425

7. Magnus (31) 304

8. Curtis Axel (14) 177

9. Eva Marie (10) 120

10. Ken Anderson (8) 119

MOST UNDERRATED

1. ANTONIO CESARO (296) 2,027

2. Dolph Ziggler (149) 1,427

3. Tomohiro Ishii (49) 652

4. Chris Hero (32) 521

5. Daniel Bryan (52) 364

6. Tyson Kidd (29) 308

7. Sami Zayn (8) 224

8. Tomoaki Honma (1) 194

9. Yoshi Tatsu (26) 153

10. Austin Aries (20) 128

PROMOTION OF THE YEAR

1. NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING (634) 4,520

2. Ultimate Fighting Championship (110) 1,942

3. World Wrestling Entertainment (14) 1,136

4. Dragon Gate (2) 558

5. PWG (3) 302

6. Ring of Honor (5) 212

7. CMLL (11) 209

8. Glory (11) 60

BEST WEEKLY TV SHOW

1. WWE NXT (172) 1,837

2. WWE Raw (113) 1,210

3. Dragon Gate Infinity (83) 844

4. Ring of Honor (81) 812

5. The Ultimate Fighter (77) 660

6. WWE Total Divas (38) 393

7. WWE Smackdown (31) 372

8. New Japan World Pro Wrestling (46) 297

9. CMLL (15) 272

10. TNA Impact (16) 263

PRO WRESTLING MATCH OF THE YEAR

1. HIROSHI TANAHASHI VS. KAZUCHIKA OKADA 4/7 TOKYO (305)2,002

2. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii 8/4 Osaka (153) 1,497

3. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada 10/14 Tokyo (142) 1,151

4. Brock Lesnar vs. C.M. Punk 8/18 Los Angeles (76) 829

5. John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan 8/18 Los Angeles (34) 556

6. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii 8/2 Tokyo (14) 451

7. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kota Ibushi 8/4 Osaka (33) 338

8. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada 1/4 Tokyo (39) 252

9. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hirooki Goto 6/22 Osaka (11) 229

10. Undertaker vs. C.M. Punk 4/7 East Rutherford (15) 212

MMA MATCH OF THE YEAR

1. GILBERT MELENDEZ VS. DIEGO SANCHEZ 10/19 Houston (345) 2,298

2. Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson 9/21 Toronto (189) 1,835

3. Wanderlei Silva vs. Brian Stann 3/3 Tokyo (82) 723

4. Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler 11/9 Long Beach (1) 629

5. Georges St-Pierre vs. Johny Hendricks 11/16 Las Vegas (41) 302

6. Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva 7/6 Las Vegas (34) 251

7. Matt Grice vs. Dennis Bermudez 2/23 Anaheim (14) 238

8. Carlos Condit vs. Johny Hendricks 3/16 Montreal (2) 209

9. Ronda Rousey vs. Liz Carmouche 2/23 Anaheim (6) 202

10. Miesha Tate vs. Cat Zingano 4/13 Las Vegas (13) 166

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

1. YOHEI KOMATSU (58) 906

2. Konosuke Takeshita (118) 902

3. U-T (146) 879

4. Sho Tanaka (86) 769

5. Enzo Amore (47) 361

6. Charlotte (17) 352

7. Mojo Rawley (33) 306

8. Ryotsu Shimizu (4) 301

9. Hitoshi Kumano (22) 185

10. Andrew Everett (11) 112

BEST NON-WRESTLER

1. PAUL HEYMAN (659) 2,730

2. Zeb Colter (44) 1,187

3. Gedo (2) 566

4. Vickie Guerrero (1) 328

5. Brad Maddox (10) 244

6. Ricardo Rodriguez 195

7. Maria Kanellis (9) 144

8. Stephanie McMahon (1) 121

9. Konnan (9) 113

10. Truth Martini 105

BEST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER

1. WILLIAM REGAL (173) 1,460

2. Joe Rogan (106) 1,160

3. John Layfield (92) 817

4. Shimpei Nogami (123) 686

5. Kevin Kelly (59) 634

5. Mike Goldberg (61) 428

6. Nigel McGuinness (45) 393

7. Michael Cole (10) 370

8. Jose Manuel Guillen (43) 299

9. Michael Schiavello (25) 274

10. Mike Tenay (19) 198

WORST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER

1. TAZ (124) 1,334

2. Jerry Lawler (137) 1,315

3. Michael Cole (121) 992

4. The Miz (98) 725

5. John Layfield (93) 716

6. Tony Dawson (29) 274

7. Alex Riley (3) 118

8. Mike Tenay (8) 117

9. Michael Schiavello (6) 109

10. Kevin Kelly (4) 80

BEST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW

1. NEW JAPAN G-1 8/4 OSAKA (334) 2,517

2. New Japan Wrestle Kingdom 1/4 Tokyo Dome (286) 2,251

3. WWE SummerSlam 8/18 Los Angeles (88) 799

4. New Japan Invasion Attack 4/7 Tokyo (36) 438

5. UFC 166 10/19 Houston (37) 422

6. New Japan Dominion 6/22 Osaka (27) 315

7. WWE WrestleMania 4/7 East Rutherford (22) 186

8. Dragon Gate Kobe Festival 7/21 Kobe (25) 178

9. New Japan King of Pro Wrestling 10/14 Tokyo (2) 169

10. New Japan G-1 Climax finals 8/11 Tokyo (1) 135

WORST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW

1. WWE BATTLEGROUND 10/6 BUFFALO 532

2. WWE Survivor Series 11/24 Boston 134

3. WWE Night of Champions 9/15 Detroit 31

BEST WRESTLING MANEUVER

1. KAZUCHIKA OKADA RAINMAKER 329

2. Antonio Cesaro Giant Swing 273

3. Daniel Bryan Busaiku Knee 64

4. Adrian Neville Red Arrow (sky twister) 31

5. Shinsuke Nakamura Bom a ye 25

6. Katsuyori Shibata Corner Dropkick 22

7. Daisuke Sekimoto Dead Lift German suplex 18

8. Yujiro Takahashi Tokyo Pimps 17

9. Hiroshi Tanahashi High Fly Flow 13

10. Tommaso Ciampa Project Ciampa 12

Roman Reigns Spear 12

MOST DISGUSTING PROMOTIONAL TACTIC

1. WWE EXPLOITING DEATH OF BILL MOODY (Paul Bearer)183

2. TNA treatment of Jesse Sorensen 180

3. CMLL not delivering Atlantis vs. Guerrero mask match 35

4. WWE false advertising talent 34

5. HHH burying the roster in promos 28

6. Daniel Bryan/HHH/Randy Orton storyline 27

7. Dana White criticizing GSP after his fight 26

8. El Hijo del Santo blaming hurricane for canceling the Wagner vs. Park vs. Santo mask match that was never going to happen 25

9. WWE firing Jim Ross 22

WORST TELEVISION SHOW

1. TNA IMPACT 449

2. WWE Raw 113

3. WWE Smackdown 61

4. WWE Total Divas 29

5. WWE Main Event 18

6. Bellator Rampage 4 Real 10

WORST MATCH OF THE YEAR

1. NATALYA & NAOMI & CAMERON & BELLA TWINS & JO JO & EVA MARIE VS. FOX & AKSANA & LEE & SNUKA & MENDES & KAITLYN & SUMMER RAE 11/24 BOSTON 142

2. Randy Orton vs. Big Show 11/24 Boston 126

3. Kane vs. Bray Wyatt 8/18 Los Angeles 118

4. Eva Marie & Jo Jo & Natalya vs. Aksana & Mendes & Fox 10/7 Pittsburgh 19

5. Mark Henry vs. Ryback 11/24 Boston 19

6. Natalya & Naomi & Cameron & Bella Twins & Jo Jo & Eva Marie vs. Fox & Aksana & Lee & Snuka & Mendes & Kaitlyn & Summer Rae 11/25 Uniondale, NY 13

7. Naoya Ogawa vs. Kazuyuki Fujita 12/31 Tokyo 12

8. Tyron Woodley vs. Jake Shields 6/15 Winnipeg 9

WORST FEUD OF THE YEAR

1. BIG SHOW VS. AUTHORITY 145

2. TNA vs. Aces and 8s 98

3. Total Divas vs. WWE Divas 77

4. A.J. Styles vs. Dixie Carter 74

5. Daniel Bryan vs. The Authority 70

6. Brock Lesnar vs. HHH 44

7. The Miz vs. Kofi Kingston 37

8. Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton 34

9. Hulk Hogan vs. Bully Ray 23

10. Kane vs. Bray Wyatt 18

WORST PROMOTION OF THE YEAR

1. TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION 485

2. All Japan Pro Wrestling 158

3. CHIKARA Pro 110

4. Ring of Honor 30

5. World Wrestling Entertainment 29

6. Bellator MMA 11

BEST BOOKER

1. GEDO & JADO 643

2. Joe Silva 142

3. Hunter Johnston 43

BEST GIMMICK

1. THE WYATT FAMILY 307

2. The Bullet Club 141

3. The Shield 139

4. Daniel Bryan 62

5. Shinsuke Nakamura 32

6. Bad Influence 18

7. Aiden English 12

8. Fandango 10

WORST GIMMICK

1. ACES & 8S 129

2. Heel owner Dixie Carter 99

3. Los Matadores 69

4. The Miz as babyface 64

5. The Authority 46

6. C.J. Parker 38

7. Fandango 36

8. Antonio Cesaro yodeling 34

9. Joseph Park 22

10. Bad News Barrett 20

BEST PRO WRESTLING BOOK

1. MAD DOGS, MIDGETS AND SCREWJOBS BY PATRIC LAPRADE & BERTRAND HEBERT 444

2. The Hardcore Truth by Bob Holly & Ross Williams 203

3. The Squared Circle by David Shoemaker 50

4. The 50 Greatest Professional Wrestlers of All-Time by Larry Matysik 41

5. Three Count by Jimmy Korderas 34

BEST PRO WRESTLING DVD

1. JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS: THE GOOD OLD DAYS 227

2. Legends of Mid South Wrestling 215

3. Barbed Wire City 115

4. For All Mankind 85

5. War Games 38

6. HHH: Thy Kingdom Come 32

7. Best of In Your House 25

8. History of the WWE 19

9. Fake It So Real 13

Money in the Bank Anthology 13

Sources: Wrestling observer Newsletter, pwinsider.com