History Horrible / ImpactWrestling

Wrestling/TotalNonstopActionWrestling (formerly known as Impact Wrestling from 2017--2023) may be somewhat more hardcore than Wrestling/{{WWE}}, but it certainly shares its propensity for idiotic ideas. Of course, having your show staffed top-to-bottom with the Wrestling/{{WCW}} alumni who sank that promotion isn't a recipe for success.

** The very first ''Lockdown'' is remembered for being host to Wrestling/ChrisCandido's last match. In the opening match of the show, Candido landed wrong after taking a dropkick from Sonny Siaki and suffered a compound fracture in his leg. He died days later of a blood clot stemming from surgery for the injury. TNA refused to pay the money it owed Candido to his then-girlfriend/common-law wife Wrestling/TammyLynnSytch (which was technically legal, since they were not officially married), paying his parents instead. Terry Taylor eventually sent her a ham dinner as a condolence gift.

** Wrestling/RobVanDam and [[Wrestling/KenAnderson Mr. Anderson]] faced off for a world title match at ''Lockdown'', only to finish on an [[AntiClimax anticlimactic]] [[ShaggyDogStory double count-out]] with no clear contender. Half the audience chanted ''"Restart the match!"'' in disgust, while the other chanted ''"NO!"'' for fear of watching them wrestle again.

* TNA held a "Reverse Battle Royal" in which half the roster fought ''outside'' of the ring in order to get ''into'' the ring. Once the set number of people had entered, they competed in an actual battle royal until two people remained (at which point the battle royal turned into a one-on-one match). Despite being widely lauded as one of the worst matches of that (or any) year, TNA held another one some time later, then eventually turned it into a joke gimmick in subsequent iterations.

* Black Reign is the lowest point of [[Wrestling/{{Goldust}} Dustin Rhodes]]' career. The gimmick debuted in 2007, after a strange backstage interview in which Rhodes discussed "accusations" of having a "split personality". Rhodes, while deep in a painkiller addiction, donned a goofy black wig and a full bodysuit to hide his poor shape at the time, and his promos were so edgy and hard to take seriously that other wrestlers [[{{Corpsing}} corpsed]] on-camera. Like any edgy TNA character, he was stuck losing to Abyss over and over; the only entertaining thing Black Reign did was hug a "barbed wire" Christmas tree in the infamously bad "Silent Night, Bloody Night" Match. Rhodes left TNA in mid-2008 to finally start rebuilding his career in 2009. Unsurprisingly, [=WrestleCrap=]'s RD Reynolds [[https://www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/black-reign/ doesn't remember this fondly.]]

This ridiculous angle pushed TNA's working relationship with [=NJPW=] past the breaking point; after nine years and a complete change of management on both sides, current Impact president Scott D'Amore personally apologized to Okada for the previous regime's treatment of him. At the very least, Okada later claimed his time in TNA taught him the importance of character work and helped craft his "Rainmaker" gimmick.

** A video package of Mike Tenay interviewing Vince Russo opened a show intended to introduce Russo to new viewers. During the interview, Russo defended putting the WCW Championship (which he referred to as a "prop") on Creator/DavidArquette, defended ruining the cruiserweight division with the likes of Ed Ferrera vs. Wrestling/{{Madusa}}, and provided one of his most infamous quotes ever ("If you want lucha libres [sic], GO TO JAPAN!").
* "Cookiegate": In December 2004, WWE filmed a commercial for the 2005 ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble'' in Orlando. A few TNA stars and a camera crew headed over to the WWE filming set to offer a "welcome wagon" which consisted of some cheap balloons and cookies, but they were escorted out. Naturally, TNA turned this into a storyline where the footage of what supposedly went down would be shown at the 2004 ''Turning Point'' PPV. To hype up how scandalous this footage was supposed to be, a fake Wrestling/VinceMcMahon and Wrestling/TripleH began roaming the Impact Zone to find and destroy the footage while "firing" numerous TNA employees. When the footage finally aired, it was embarrassing: [[Wrestling/RoadDogg BG James]], Wrestling/ShaneDouglas, Wrestling/RonKillings, Wrestling/{{Konnan}}, Wrestling/{{Abyss}}, and Traci Brooks repeatedly asked to speak to Vince [=McMahon=], ate food off the catering table without asking, filmed several WWE wrestlers without permission (including Wrestling/ReyMysterioJr out of his mask),[[note]]which only wasn't even more of a massive breach of permission because he'd already lost his mask once at WCW in 1999; he needed permission from the Mexican athletic commission to start wearing it again.[[/note]] and acted offended when WWE officials told them to leave.

* In 2007, pro football player Adam "Pacman" Jones was signed and put on a tag team with Ron "The Truth" Killings. The problem was, Jones had been suspended from the NFL for paralyzing a man in a shooting at a strip club, and contractual obligations with the Tennessee Titans meant he could not actually wrestle in-ring. All he did was toss a football and do a leapfrog before tagging in Killings. Despite all this, he was still paid through the nose because Jeff Jarrett was a huge Tennessee Titans fan and given the TNA World Tag Team Championship, before thankfully losing said Championship at Bound for Glory to Wrestling/AJStyles and Tomko. And on THAT note...

* Derek Graham-Couch (aka Robbie, one-half of WWE tag team The Highlanders) attended a live ''Impact'' show in March 2008. He had been backstage visiting some friends and stuck around to watch them perform. TNA deliberately decided to show Robbie onscreen (they used his real name to avoid a trademark suit, but misspelled it), and when he noticed he tried to hide himself to no avail. Tenay and West proceeded to brag about a WWE jobber being in the crowd, until a WWE official called Robbie and told him to leave the arena. This happened right before ''{{Wrestling/WrestleMania}}'' (which was that weekend in Orlando), so both Robbie and his tag team partner Rory lost their ''[=WrestleMania=]'' bonus as punishment. WWE kept The Highlanders off TV for months, and the team was eventually released later in the year. TNA also gloated about this on their website until a good amount of the TNA roster demanded that it be taken down. Graham-Couch would later comment in an interview that "I was very unhappy in WWE, and in retrospect I think it was kind of my way to get fired."

* Once TNA started treating the Knockouts Division seriously, they still had [[Wrestling/LisaMarieVaron Tara]] lose her belt in a random draw lockbox. ''Impact'' subjected the Knockouts to the "Lock Box Challenge" early in the night: the Knockouts fought for keys that would open boxes in which a Knockout could win one of four "prizes": an open contract for a match of their choosing, Tara's pet tarantula, the "right" to perform a striptease in the ring (or be fired), or the Knockouts Championship. Wrestling/AngelinaLove unlocked the box with the title and became champion as a result.[[note]]Apparently Russo and his cohorts didn't learn from the infamous '49ers Match from 2000, in which Booker T won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship out of a box.[[/note]] Meaning that not only could the champion lose the title without being pinned, but she could also lose it ''despite winning the match''. Tara unlocked the box with her tarantula; she was forced to treat it like it was more important than the title (just one of the dangers of letting an unchecked Vince Russo onto your property. You get women losing titles in matches they won). Daffney unlocked the striptease, was very clearly displeased by it, and as she went about to very reluctantly do it, was attacked by [[Wrestling/VonErichFamily Lacey Von Erich]] midway through. Lacey, who had indicated earlier in the show that she wanted to do the striptease despite not being in the match, obliviously started stripping as a brawl erupted around her. Despite it being mentioned above that failing to do the striptease would result in being fired, Daffney was not fired. Oh, and the whole "unlocking" segment closed the show.

* Jeff's TNA run, and career, reached rock bottom at ''Victory Road'' 2011. Hardy was to plan out his match with Sting and a road agent, but refused to show his face until moments before the match--Bruce Prichard claims he was carried behind the curtain "''Film/WeekendAtBernies''-style." He stumbled to the ring in a daze ''forty seconds'' after his cue and mugged to the camera during introductions; at this point referee Brian Hebner kew he was unfit to wrestle. So he signaled to Eric Bischoff who, with nobody else to make the call, cut a promo so he could [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7XgwEWaqNM tell Sting and Hardy]] to wrap it quickly while padding for time. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uTCHS8KHdE The match only lasted about ninety seconds]] because Jeff was completely uncooperative; he spent a minute teasing that he'd throw his shirt at the crowd, and then Sting had to legit force him into every spot. In fact, as TNA killed time with a recap that ran for longer than the match, he didn't seem to know where he was. [[MemeticMutation Memetically]], the crowd chanted "this is bullshit" and Sting shouted "I agree!" as he made his exit. The one reason Hardy wasn't fired outright--instead of just suspended indefinitely and buried on-air--was that he still moved loads of merch. The fallout was heard far and wide: ''Website/{{Botchamania}}'' added a snippet to the intro, and it was [[http://wrestlecrap.com/inductions/induction-hardyvssting/ inducted]] into ''[=WrestleCrap=]''. It later came out that Bischoff, who was the last word on the match going, "couldn't think of anything else."

'''''Important Note''''': If something bad was an isolated incident or simply stupid, it does not make the whole thing Horrible. Merely being offensive in its subject matter is not enough to justify a work as Horrible. Hard as it is to imagine at times, there's a market for all types of deviancy (no matter how small a niche it is). It has to fail to appeal even to that niche to qualify as this. Additionally, to ensure that the work is judged with a clear mind and the hatred isn't just a knee-jerk reaction, as well as to allow opinions to properly form, '''[[Administrivia/NoRecentExamplesPlease examples should not be added until at least one month after the event]]'''.

'''''Important Note''''': If something bad was an isolated incident or simply stupid, it does not make the whole thing Horrible. Merely being offensive in its subject matter is not enough to justify a work as Horrible. Hard as it is to imagine at times, there's a market for all types of deviancy (no matter how small a niche it is). It has to fail to appeal even to that niche to qualify as this.

* The 2007 Christmas episode had Wrestling/{{Abyss}}, [[Wrestling/{{Goldust}} Black Reign]], Rellik (that's killer spelled backwards), and ([[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers for some reason]]) Wrestling/SharkBoy competing in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD7mV84p9ys "Silent Night, Bloody Night" Match]]. This hardcore match featured a barbed-wire Christmas Tree with presents underneath that contained weapons. The Christmas Tree was suspended from the ceiling like a pendulum and was hyped as the most effective weapon. All four competitors initially ignored the tree and ran right for the gifts. At one point, Abyss unwrapped a barbed-wire baseball bat and responded with glee despite having an entire fucking tree made of barbed wire right next to him. Because the tree was hanging from the ceiling and had nothing anchoring it down, it swung all over the place. Shark Boy was struck by the tree as soon as it came into play...and the tree casually bounced off of him. Regardless, a highlight of the match was when the tree was swung into the corner and Black Reign had to hug the tree to keep it from bouncing off of him, as well. The match was duly [[http://wrestlecrap.com/inductions/classic-induction-silent-night-bloody-night/ inducted]] into the annals of ''[=WrestleCrap=].''

Wrestling/ImpactWrestling (formerly known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, and will be known as such once again starting in January 2024) may be somewhat more hardcore than Wrestling/{{WWE}}, but it certainly shares its propensity for idiotic ideas. Of course, having your show staffed top-to-bottom with the Wrestling/{{WCW}} alumni who sank that promotion isn't a recipe for success.

* In an omen of things to come, Hardy started out 2011 by working Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling's Tokyo Dome show, defending his title against Wrestling/TetsuyaNaito while intoxicated. The match was so terrible by NJPW standards, Naito's NJPW push was derailed for a while.

* Jeff's TNA run, and career, reached rock bottom at ''Victory Road'' 2011. Hardy was supposed to plan out his match with Sting and a road agent, but did not (and ''would not'') show up until shortly before the match. According to Bruce Prichard, he was carried behind the curtain "''Film/WeekendAtBernies''-style." He stumbled to the ring in a daze ''forty seconds'' after his cue, mugging to the camera during introductions--even the ref Brian Hebner could tell he was unfit to wrestle. So he signaled to Eric Bischoff who, with nobody else to make the call, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7XgwEWaqNM told Sting and Hardy]] to wrap up the match quickly while padding for time with a promo. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uTCHS8KHdE The match lasted about ninety seconds]]--sixty of which was Jeff teasing throwing his shirt at the crowd before dropping it at ringside. He refused to play along--Sting had to legit force him into all their spots because he fought like hell. In fact, as TNA killed time with a recap that ran for longer than the match, he didn't seem to know where he was. [[MemeticMutation Memetically]], the crowd chanted "this is bullshit" and Sting shouted "I agree!" as he made his exit. The one reason Hardy wasn't fired outright--instead of just suspended indefinitely and buried on-air--was that he still moved loads of merch. The fallout was heard far and wide: ''Website/{{Botchamania}}'' added a snippet to the intro, and it was [[http://wrestlecrap.com/inductions/induction-hardyvssting/ inducted]] into ''[=WrestleCrap=]''. It later came out that Bischoff, who was the last word on the match going, "couldn't think of anything else."

Wrestling/ImpactWrestling (formerly known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, and will be known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling once again starting in January 2024) may be somewhat more hardcore than Wrestling/{{WWE}}, but it certainly shares its propensity for idiotic ideas. Of course, having your show staffed top-to-bottom with the Wrestling/{{WCW}} alumni who sank that promotion isn't a recipe for success.

* Jeff's TNA run, and career, reached rock bottom at ''Victory Road'' 2011. Hardy was supposed to plan out his match with Sting and a road agent, but did not (and ''would not'') show up until shortly before the match. According to Bruce Prichard, he was carried behind the curtain "''Film/WeekendAtBernies''-style." He stumbled to the ring in a daze ''forty seconds'' after his cue, mugging to the camera during introductions--even the ref Brian Hebner could tell he was unfit to wrestle. So he signaled to Eric Bischoff who, with nobody else to back him up, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7XgwEWaqNM told Sting and Hardy]] to wrap up the match quickly while padding for time with a promo. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uTCHS8KHdE The match lasted about ninety seconds]--sixty of which was Jeff teasing throwing his shirt at the crowd before dropping it at ringside. He refused to play along--Sting had to legit force him into all their spots because he fought like hell. In fact, as TNA killed time with a recap that ran for longer than the match, he didn't seem to know where he was. [[MemeticMutation Memetically]], the crowd chanted "this is bullshit" and Sting shouted "I agree!" as he made his exit. The one reason Hardy wasn't fired outright--instead of just suspended indefinitely and buried on-air--was that he still moved loads of merch. The fallout was heard far and wide: ''Website/{{Botchamania}}'' added a snippet to the intro, and it was [[http://wrestlecrap.com/inductions/induction-hardyvssting/ inducted]] into ''[=WrestleCrap=]''. It later came out that Bischoff, who "couldn't think of anything else", was the last word on the match going.

* Jeff's TNA run, and his career, reached their rock bottom at ''Victory Road'' 2011. Hardy showed up at the Impact Zone at usual call-time of 11 AM. He was supposed to plan out his match with Sting and a road agent, but did not (and ''would not'') show up until shortly before the match. Then-producer Bruce Prichard claimed to have seen two people carry Jeff into the gorilla position, "''Film/WeekendAtBernies''-style."\\\
[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uTCHS8KHdE The match itself]] was a black comedy of errors. Jeff missed his entrance cue by ''forty seconds'', and when he finally came out, he was clearly intoxicated, made all the more obvious by his strange mugs to the camera during the ring introductions. Referee Brian Hebner signaled Hardy was in no condition to wrestle. According to Bischoff in his podcast, nobody else with power was at gorilla position — so he called an audible and killed time with a promo, during which he [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7XgwEWaqNM told Sting and Hardy]] to wrap up the match as soon as possible.\\\
The match lasted about ninety seconds. The first minute consisted of Hardy teasing throwing his shirt at the crowd and dropping it at ringside; the final thirty seconds were Sting legitimately dragging Hardy by his hair into a Scorpion Death Drop and forcibly pinning him. Hardy struggled so hard to kick out of that pin, he left scratch marks on Sting's neck. Jeff looked completely disoriented as the match ended, and TNA killed time with a recap of the night that ran for longer than the main event. The crowd angrily chanted ''"this is bullshit"'' and Sting [[MemeticMutation memetically]] ''agreed'' loud enough for the viewing audience to hear.\\\
This was the last straw for TNA, who suspended Hardy indefinitely and buried him on-air — but did not fire him, as he was one of their top merch sellers. The fallout of Sting vs. Hardy was heard far and wide: ''Website/{{Botchamania}}'' shone a big spotlight on it by adding a clip of the leering Jeff in their intro, and it was [[http://wrestlecrap.com/inductions/induction-hardyvssting/ inducted]] into ''[=WrestleCrap=]''. ''Impact'' was always a little wacky (Jarrett's reign of terror, his bizarre gold investment scams, and trying to sell shards of the table Dixie Carter went through for $200 apiece), but this was when everyone realized they were plain old carnies.
** Bischoff was later outed as the one who made the call to send Hardy out there in that state, allegedly because he "couldn't think of anything else". As a #1 contendership match between Rob Van Dam and Mr. Anderson had ended in a double countout immediately beforehand, it would not have been hard to kick Hardy out of the ring and add both RVD and Anderson as an impromptu triple threat.
* Months later, Jeff, whose court case still hadn't wrapped up, returned to ''Impact!'' as a face, acknowledging that he hit rock bottom at ''Victory Road'', asking for "one more shot" and starting a feud with his former stable Immortal and Jeff Jarrett. Hardy would go on to beat Jarrett literally three times in less than ten minutes at ''Turning Point'' before the latter and his wife Karen were fired from TNA by Sting.
** On the flipside, Hardy's court case ''finally'' wrapped up in September, nearly two years to the day of his arrest. He didn't serve his sentence until the following month.

* When the state of Missouri would not grant Sean Waltman a license to wrestle due to his Hepatitis C, he gave due notice that he'd have to pull out of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frmqsZslULo Lockdown 2010.]] TNA, however, exploited his history of no-shows (including a disappearance) by keeping him on the card right until the event went live, at which point Taz described his absence as as "just X-Pac being X-Pac". Waltman later said he didn't hold a grudge against Taz because he knew the way TNA buried people.

* Sean Waltman was promoted as part of the card for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frmqsZslULo Lockdown]] 2010. When the event went live, Taz announced it as a no-show, describing it on-air as "just X-Pac being X-Pac". While Waltman had a history of no-showing TNA events in their early years (even going missing at one point), this time Waltman had actually told TNA weeks in advance that he would not show up, and for a good reason: the state of Missouri would not grant him a license to wrestle because he had tested positive for Hepatitis C. Why TNA would slander him like that is a mystery, but Waltman later said he didn't hold a grudge against Taz because he knew the way TNA buried people.

* Sean Waltman was on the card for ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frmqsZslULo Lockdown]]'' 2010. The only problem was that the state of Missouri wouldn't grand him a license to wrestle, as he had tested positive for Hepatitis C--''and TNA knew this.'' So, instead of removing Waltman from the card and all advertisements, they waited until the PPV went live and ordered [[Wrestling/{{Tazz}} Taz]] to announce it as a no-show, and brush it off as "just X-Pac being X-Pac". Waltman later said he had been clean for many years, but didn't hold a grudge against Taz because he knew the way TNA buries people.

* Hogan and Bischoff opened ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJsLxOJ9bJE Genesis]]'' 2010 by introducing the traditional four-sided ring. The crowd shit all over the entire segment, loudly chanting "WE WANT SIX SIDES", as it furthered TNA's degeneration into a WWE knockoff. Hogan responded by burying TNA's history (much like he did on January 4 with Jarrett), which resulted in more boos. Hogan and Bischoff resorted to insulting Wrestling/VinceMcMahon so the fans would cheer again. Nobody on the roster was informed of the ring change prior to their arrival at the arena. This was gross negligence on TNA's part, as matches had to be changed to accommodate the new ring and injuries may have resulted from the roster not being prepared for the switch. The change was made to appeal to the new talent Dixie hired (Hogan and his buddies).[[note]]In fairness, this move was applauded by pretty much everyone in the wrestling business, including most of the TNA wrestlers, as while the six sided ring is quite popular with the Mexican ''lucha libre'' promotions (and the Japanese promotions that work a similar style, which mostly involves acrobatics and striking and little of the "flat back bumps" that make up most of American style wrestling), it's mostly HATED by anyone north of the Rio Grande. It's hard to bump on because it has no give, it's smaller, any move involving the ropes is a crapshoot because you're hitting them at a weird angle, and the TV production crew absolutely despised it. It was frankly a hazard to the wrestlers, and while TNA fans liked it because of its distinctive look (though to people that were ''not'' TNA fans it was considered bush league) basically no one that actually had to work in it was sorry to see it go. The one issue people agreed to have with Hogan and Bischoff's makeover was that they did it without telling anyone and just let them see it for themselves when they arrived.[[/note]]

Wrestling/ImpactWrestling (formerly known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling) may be somewhat more hardcore than Wrestling/{{WWE}}, but it certainly shares its propensity for idiotic ideas. Of course, having your show staffed top-to-bottom with the Wrestling/{{WCW}} alumni who sank that promotion isn't a recipe for success.

* Hogan and Bischoff opened ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJsLxOJ9bJE Genesis]]'' 2010 by introducing the traditional four-sided ring. The crowd shit all over the entire segment, loudly chanting "WE WANT SIX SIDES", as it furthered TNA's degeneration into a WWE knockoff. Hogan responded by burying TNA's history (much like he did on January 4 with Jarrett), which resulted in more boos. Hogan and Bischoff resorted to insulting Wrestling/VinceMcMahon so the fans would cheer again. Nobody on the roster was informed of the ring change prior to their arrival at the arena. This was gross negligence on TNA's part, as matches had to be changed to accommodate the new ring and injuries may have resulted from the roster not being prepared for the switch. The change was made to appeal to the new talent Dixie hired (Hogan and his buddies).[[note]]In fairness, this move was applauded by pretty much everyone in the wrestling business, including most of the TNA wrestlers, as while the six sided ring is quite popular with the Mexican ''lucha libre'' promotions (and the Japanese promotions that work a similar style, which mostly involves acrobatics and striking and little of the "flat back bumps" that make up most of American style wrestling), it's mostly HATED by anyone north of the Rio Grande. It's hard to bump on because it has no give, it's smaller, any move involving the ropes is a crapshoot because you're hitting them at a weird angle, and the TV production crew absolutely despised it. It was frankly a hazard to the wrestlers, and while TNA fans liked it because of its distinctive look (though to people that were ''not'' TNA fans it was considered bush league) basically no one that actually had to work in it was sorry to see it go. The one issue with this regarding Hogan and Bischoff's reveal was the fact that they did it without telling anyone and just let them see it for themselves when they arrived.[[/note]]

* Hogan and Bischoff opened ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJsLxOJ9bJE Genesis]]'' 2010 by introducing the traditional four-sided ring. The crowd shit all over the entire segment, loudly chanting "WE WANT SIX SIDES", as it furthered TNA's degeneration into a WWE knockoff. Hogan responded by burying TNA's history (much like he did on January 4 with Jarrett), which resulted in more boos. Hogan and Bischoff resorted to insulting Wrestling/VinceMcMahon so the fans would cheer again. Nobody on the roster was informed of the ring change prior to their arrival at the arena. This was gross negligence on TNA's part, as matches had to be changed to accommodate the new ring and injuries may have resulted from the roster not being prepared for the switch. The change was made to appeal to the new talent Dixie hired (Hogan and his buddies).[[note]]In fairness, this move was applauded by pretty much everyone in the wrestling business (outside of the fact that they did it without telling anyone and just let them see it for themselves when they arrived), including most of the TNA wrestlers. While the six sided ring is quite popular with the Mexican ''lucha libre'' promotions (and the Japanese promotions that work a similar style, which mostly involves acrobatics and striking and little of the "flat back bumps" that make up most of American style wrestling) it's mostly HATED by anyone north of the Rio Grande. It's hard to bump on because it has no give, it's smaller, any move involving the ropes is a crapshoot because you're hitting them at a weird angle, and the TV production crew absolutely despised it. It was frankly a hazard to the wrestlers, and while TNA fans liked it because of its distinctive look (though to people that were ''not'' TNA fans it was considered bush league) basically no one that actually had to work in it was sorry to see it go.[[/note]]

** The very first ''Lockdown'' is remembered for playing host to Wrestling/ChrisCandido's last match. In the opening match of the show, Candido landed wrong after taking a dropkick from Sonny Siaki and fractured several bones in his leg. He died days later of a blood clot stemming from surgery on his leg. TNA refused to pay the money it owed Candido to his then-girlfriend/common-law wife Wrestling/TammyLynnSytch (which was technically legal, since they were not officially married), paying his parents instead. Terry Taylor eventually sent her a ham dinner as a condolence gift.
** To further exploit Candido's death for fun and profit (especially profit), TNA held a tournament for the "Candido Cup". [[Wrestling/XPac Sean Waltman]] and Alex Shelley won the tourney, but Waltman no-showed the PPV (and disappeared for an entire week) in which he and Shelley were entered into [[https://youtu.be/4AQ7A2hk-dY?t=5655 a four-way for the tag titles]]. Midway through the match, Candido's brother Johnny was subbed in as Shelley's partner. (They didn't win.)

* In 2007, pro football player Adam "Pacman" Jones was signed and put on a tag team with Ron "The Truth" Killings. The problem was, Jones had been suspended from the NFL for paralyzing a man in a shooting at a strip club, and contractual obligations with the Tennessee Titans meant he could not actually wrestle in-ring. All he did was toss a football and do a leapfrog before tagging in Killings. Despite all this, he was still paid through the nose because Jeff Jarrett was a huge Tennessee Titans fan and given the TNA World Tag Team Championship.
* Throughout 2007 and 2008, Wrestling/{{Christian}}'s Coalition dissolved in the worst possible way.\\\
First, Wrestling/AJStyles and Tomko cost Christian a world title shot and then helped Wrestling/KurtAngle win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in the same night, with the implication that Kurt's wife Karen seduced and conned AJ into it to help start the Angle Alliance. AJ was later [[BreakTheHaughty humiliated]] by losing matches at the cost of having to wear reindeer and turkey suits, with Kurt yelling at him the whole time. Karen seduced him yet again, this time in a bathroom stall, to get him to screw Christian over in a match against Kurt.\\\

* Dixie's reign of terror finally came to an end in 2014, in a feud with [[Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys Bully Ray]]. After her escape was cut off by the entire locker room, Bully did what he did best, and Dixie got [[https://youtu.be/floQKufornI put through a table]] and was never seen in wrestling again... but TNA ''still'' got itself in trouble, as it was reported that they did the stunt while knowing their TV network Creator/SpikeTV had vetoed man-on-woman violence on ''Impact!''[[note]]But not on Spike's other programming, for some reason.[[/note]]. Due to this (and TNA's secret rehiring of Vince Russo the previous year), Spike did not renew ''Impact!'''s television rights at the end of 2014.

* The ''Lockdown'' 2005 PPV. The idea originally came as a joke during a booking session in which Wrestling/DustyRhodes suggested that every match on the card be contested inside a cage. Dixie Carter, unaware he was joking, jumped at the idea. ''Lockdown'' became a staple of the TNA PPV as a result. [[note]](Though the company did the smart thing in 2013 by abandoning the "all matches in a cage" format and limiting the gimmick to specific matches.)[[/note]]

** To further exploit Candido's death for fun and profit (especially profit), TNA held a tournament for the "Candido Cup". [[Wrestling/XPac Sean Waltman]] and Alex Shelley won the tourney, but Waltman no-showed the PPV (and disappeared for an entire week) in which he and Shelley were entered into a four-way for the tag titles. Midway through the match, Candido's brother Johnny was subbed in as Shelley's partner. (They didn't win.)
* In 2009, TNA brought in Jenna Morasca, a former RealityTV contestant best-known for winning ''Series/{{Survivor}}: The Amazon''... over six years prior. She stuck around the Main Event Mafia and did nothing of note for months, then feuded out of nowhere with Wrestling/BookerT's wife Sharmell. This built up to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4MceD3fHHU their disastrous match]] at that year's ''Victory Road,'' with [[Wrestling/KiaStevens Awesome Kong]] as Jenna's manager. The two non-wrestlers were hopelessly out of their depth, and it showed--Jenna in particular prioritized being MsFanservice well over executing spots. All Kong was allowed to do was lay Sharmell out for the fall, after eight of the absolute worst minutes in wrestling history, male or female. It got a "'''[[BrokeTheRatingScale MINUS! FIVE! STARS!]]'''" from ''[[Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter WON]]'' and [[http://wrestlecrap.com/inductions/jenna-vs-sharmell-its-official-were-in-hell/ an article]] on ''Website/{{WrestleCrap}}''. ''Website/{{Botchamania}}'' and [=420chan=]'s ''Disasterpiece Theatre'' also featured this. TNA reportedly paid Morasca half a million dollars per appearance, while at the same time losing Wrestling/GailKim to WWE for denying her a raise. While many blamed Dixie Carter's unhealthy obsession with reality shows for Morasca's signing, Wrestling/KurtAngle had also starred with her in the [[DirectToVideo direct-to-DVD]] flop ''End Game'', itself a [[http://wrestlecrap.com/inductions/active-inductions/end-game/ WrestleCrap inductee.]]
* Sean Waltman was on the card for ''Lockdown'' 2010. The only problem was that the state of Missouri wouldn't grand him a license to wrestle, as he had tested positive for Hepatitis C--''and TNA knew this.'' So, instead of removing Waltman from the card and all advertisements, they waited until the PPV went live and ordered [[Wrestling/{{Tazz}} Taz]] to announce it as a no-show, and brush it off as "just X-Pac being X-Pac". Waltman later said he had been clean for many years, but didn't hold a grudge against Taz because he knew the way TNA buries people.

** Wrestling/AJStyles was demoted to bumping and selling for an out-of-shape Wrestling/MattHardy, who inexplicably dictated the pace of their match.

** The infamous world title match between Wrestling/JeffHardy and Wrestling/{{Sting}}, in which Hardy was so strung out he could not compete. The full sordid story is covered below on "Jeff Hardy, TNA Champion".

* ''Lockdown'' 2011 managed to top ''Victory Road'''s record for shortest championship match by having one (with two in-ring promos that outpaced it) that lasted only ''40 seconds''. Thankfully it was for the Knockouts title instead of the World Heavyweight title this time, but it gets worse considering the champ lost to Wrestling/MickieJames ''with a broken arm.''
* ''No Surrender'' 2011 featured '''five''' blinding spots in the course of three hours. Three matches ended with a blinding spot, including the main event: Wrestling/JamesStorm lost to Bully Ray via DQ when he accidentally spat beer in the referee's face, Mickie James lost her match with Winter by getting blood sprayed in her face, and Sting lost his title match after getting blinded by Wrestling/HulkHogan.

* That same year, TNA debuted the Elevation-X Match, essentially a scaffold match with two scaffolds forming an "X". The match featured very little action and plenty of reaction shots of people in the Impact Zone covering their mouths in horror. Like the Reverse Battle Royal, this stupid concept match happened twice.

* Former tag team partners Chris Harris and Wrestling/JamesStorm of America's Most Wanted faced off against each other in a blindfold cage match. Blindfold matches are pretty much doomed by default, but the 2007 Six Sides of Steel blindfold match at ''TNA Lockdown'' was in a league of failure of its own. Instead of actual blindfolds, they wrestled with cloth sacks on their heads, and the referee spent most of the match trying to put the bags back on. Critics called this the worst match in TNA (and wrestling overall) in 2007 and it gained itself [[https://www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/induction-blindfoldcage/ its own induction]] into ''[=WrestleCrap=]''; Dixie Carter had the balls to call them idiots for their disapproval.
* [[Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys Team 3D]] fought LAX in an Electrified Six Sides of Steel Match. Because the cage wasn't actually electrified, TNA simply turned off the house lights and lit the ring with a light bluish glow. Whenever someone touched the cage, the light flickered and the wrestlers seized up as though they'd been tazed. None of this stopped TNA from showing close-ups of the wrestlers touching the cage outside of these "shock spots", or Hernandez wearing gloves in order to climb the cage. Though the crowd chanted "FIRE [[Wrestling/VinceRusso RUSSO]]" during it, Dixie blamed Russo's fellow booker Dutch Mantell. Dutch vehemently denied being involved with this one.
* The 2007 Christmas episode had Wrestling/{{Abyss}}, [[Wrestling/{{Goldust}} Black Reign]], Rellik (that's killer spelled backwards), and ([[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers for some reason]]) Wrestling/SharkBoy competing in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opM6eyjIYH0 "Silent Night, Bloody Night" Match]]. This hardcore match featured a barbed-wire Christmas Tree with presents underneath that contained weapons. The Christmas Tree was suspended from the ceiling like a pendulum and was hyped as the most effective weapon. All four competitors initially ignored the tree and ran right for the gifts. At one point, Abyss unwrapped a barbed-wire baseball bat and responded with glee despite having an entire fucking tree made of barbed wire right next to him. Because the tree was hanging from the ceiling and had nothing anchoring it down, it swung all over the place. Shark Boy was struck by the tree as soon as it came into play...and the tree casually bounced off of him. Regardless, a highlight of the match was when the tree was swung into the corner and Black Reign had to hug the tree to keep it from bouncing off of him, as well. The match was duly [[http://wrestlecrap.com/inductions/classic-induction-silent-night-bloody-night/ inducted]] into the annals of ''[=WrestleCrap=].''
** The Knockouts competed in a Santa's Workshop Knockout Street Fight. The match consisted of slow brawls between the various Knockouts with a big obnoxious box in the ring. Wrestling/AJStyles and [[Wrestling/FrankieKazarian Kaz]] competed in a Ladder Match with a reindeer suit hanging above the ring. Styles lost and closed his second 2007 holiday special in an animal costume. The show closed with Mike Tenay saying, "Something like this can only happen in TNA." And that's a good thing.
* On the January 4, 2010 edition of ''Impact'' (which started a multi-week run of the show airing on Mondays against ''Raw''), an X-Division Asylum match opened the show. To win the match, one of the participants had to climb up the domed cage structure and through the hole on the top. The cage's blinding red color made it nearly impossible to see what was going on in the ring, and the incompetent cameramen missed every spot. [[Wrestling/NelsonErazo Homicide]] attempted to climb out of the cage, but when he failed he dropped down to the ring and hit everyone with a baton, causing a cage match to end in a No Contest. This resulted in very loud "THIS IS BULLSHIT" chants from the audience. Once Homicide was eventually able to climb out (after getting stuck midway through the second try), he was attacked by Wrestling/JeffHardy. As Hardy didn't appear on TNA TV again until March, this was never explained. TNA did this as its first salvo in a "New [[Wrestling/MondayNightWars Monday Night War]]".

* TNA showed Hulk Hogan's arrival via limousine on its way to the Impact Zone. The footage clearly showed the limo driving around Universal Orlando Resort. Hogan arrived and said "I've been in the back all day" (that line was edited out of the repeat showing). During Bischoff's first promo with the company, he asked [=SoCal Val=] to bring him the script for the night, ripped the script up and threw it into the crowd, then gave Val his version. Security went into the crowd during commercial and asked the fans to hand the ripped pages back (since Bischoff had ripped up a real script). Fans booed Hogan, who was still supposed to be a face, after he verbally attacked Wrestling/JeffJarrett (who was supposed to be the heel but behaved like a face) following a heartfelt speech. More irony ensued as Hogan accused Jarrett of being a famewhore who held young talent down for his own gain.

* Hogan and Bischoff opened ''Genesis'' 2010 by introducing the traditional four-sided ring. The crowd shit all over the entire segment, loudly chanting "WE WANT SIX SIDES", as it furthered TNA's degeneration into a WWE knockoff. Hogan responded by burying TNA's history (much like he did on January 4 with Jarrett), which resulted in more boos. Hogan and Bischoff resorted to insulting Wrestling/VinceMcMahon so the fans would cheer again. Nobody on the roster was informed of the ring change prior to their arrival at the arena. This was gross negligence on TNA's part, as matches had to be changed to accommodate the new ring and injuries may have resulted from the roster not being prepared for the switch. The change was made to appeal to the new talent Dixie hired (Hogan and his buddies).[[note]]In fairness, this move was applauded by pretty much everyone in the wrestling business (outside of the fact that they did it without telling anyone and just let them see it for themselves when they arrived), including most of the TNA wrestlers. While the six sided ring is quite popular with the Mexican ''lucha libre'' promotions (and the Japanese promotions that work a similar style, which mostly involves acrobatics and striking and little of the "flat back bumps" that make up most of American style wrestling) it's mostly HATED by anyone north of the Rio Grande. It's hard to bump on because it has no give, it's smaller, any move involving the ropes is a crapshoot because you're hitting them at a weird angle, and the TV production crew absolutely despised it. It was frankly a hazard to the wrestlers, and while TNA fans liked it because of its distinctive look (though to people that were ''not'' TNA fans it was considered bush league) basically no one that actually had to work in it was sorry to see it go.[[/note]]
** To reward Wrestling/ChristopherDaniels for "Match of the Year" main events at the turn of 2010, Hulk Hogan brought in Sean Morley (WWE's Wrestling/ValVenis) to feud with him. The former WWF enhancement talent, now severely out of shape, beat Christopher Daniels clean at ''Genesis''. Although Morley was playing the face and Daniels the heel, several fans turned their backs on the ring, as if they were turning their backs on TNA (Morley had two more matches after this before leaving, while Daniels was reduced to obscurity before getting released). TNA was so butthurt over the reaction they got at ''Genesis'' that Senior Director of Production Steve Small went out to address the crowd. Small explained to the live audience that they must tell a story to the (home viewing) audience by reacting to the show properly. He also addressed the crowd as "cast members". This drove away half of the Impact Zone regulars, many of whom had attended it for years. TNA later stacked the thinning crowd with obvious plants (most noticeably, several hot girls in the front row who would only cheer when the camera was directly on them, which resulted in [[http://i.imgur.com/6KvrF.gif this]] at one point). The formerly-rowdy Impact Zone crowd soon became dead enough that TNA would pump in hair dryer noise during taped shows. The 2013 move to finally leave the Impact Zone and go on the road was greeted with wide approval.

## AJ was billed as "The New Nature Boy" and wore flamboyant robes to the ring. The gimmick didn't stick since it didn't suit Styles and there was little chemistry between him and Flair. AJ Styles went from "household name" to midcard goon as both the TV champion and a member of Wrestling/{{Fortune}} (still better than being Angle's bitch, though). Three months after the angle began, Hogan and Flair leapt back into the ring to resume their feud. At one point, TNA management actually had to tell Flair to keep his clothes on while on TV, as they'd been getting complaints from...well, everyone, really. His last hurrah with Wrestling/{{Sting}} was [[http://wrestlecrap.com/inductions/induction-flairsfinalmatch/ inducted]] into ''[=WrestleCrap=]''. Blessedly, it wasn't Flair's "last" match; Flair's last match at the moment was a tag match in Wrestling/AllJapanProWrestling in 2013.

** In the ''Impact'' before ''Bound for Glory'', Ric Flair and Mick Foley had a pretty gruesome Last Man Standing Match. These two veterans were given more time than any other singles match on the card.

** The October 14, 2010 episode of ''Impact'' is a dumpster fire of its own. The show opens with Hogan talking...and talking....and it would be almost an hour of promos and non-wrestling segments before the first match. In total, TNA had about 16 minutes of wrestling on a two-hour show; and since the main event bled into the aftershow, ''[=ReAction=]'', that's an additional 16 minutes of wrestling in a '''three'''-hour show. Flair comes out to interrupt Hogan's promo, getting a huge pop, then he throws it all away by aligning his group Fortune with Immortal. Not only did this invalidate much of the angle, it ignored Flair and Hogan's decades-long feud. It also yielded a group consisting of what was then around 2/3 of their whole roster, all of whom were heels. Tellingly, Russo thought this was a terrible idea (it was more Hulk and Bischoff's idea than his), and Fortune later ended up betraying Immortal, anyway (there's also [[Wrestling/RobVanDam RVD]] and [=EV2.0=]. So now you've got ''three'' different stables being the focus of every show). The postshow, ''[=ReAction=]'', was dedicated to showing how Immortal was formed. When you [[ContinuityLockout need an hour just to explain an angle, on top of a two-hour show filled with nothing but promos...]]

** After returning in March, Sting turned heel and began spouting off cryptic nonsense every week. He donned the red Wolfpac facepaint, to boot. Sting was also in the worst shape of his entire career, forcing him to wear a t-shirt in every match. He was supposed to warn us about the formation of the Immortal faction, but TNA dragged it out for over six months. By the time everything came to fruition, nobody cared. Sting then spent an entire year trying to wrest control of TNA away from Hogan and back into the hands of Dixie. In 2012, Sting began campaigning for Hulk Hogan to run TNA again so that Sting could step down from the position and go back to wrestling. Yes, after nearly a full year of Sting and Dixie challenging Hulk and finally taking the reins of power from him, they gave it right back to him a few months later. To make matters worse, ''Lockdown'' 2012's hype revolved around this storyline instead of the long-awaited Wrestling/JamesStorm vs. Wrestling/BobbyRoode.
* RVD debuted in ridiculous fashion: after being revealed as a mystery opponent for Sting, the excitement was killed stone dead when Sting grabbed a baseball bat and delivered a beatdown lasting nearly ten minutes. Sting then hit Hogan with the bat to end the segment, leaving the focus squarely on Sting and Hogan. Way to debut a big name acquisition (post-show dirtsheets revealed Sting was rehabbing from shoulder surgery and Hogan was late to the ring, so facepalms all around).
** It was later revealed that RVD was signed to a contract where he was only contractually obligated to make a certain number of appearances. That didn't stop TNA from making AJ Styles (the longest-reigning TNA Champ in history at that point) drop the belt to Van Dam on a random ''Impact'' with zero hype. As a result of RVD getting "injured" by Abyss, TNA vacated the World Title, but RVD miraculously recovered and beat Abyss without much difficulty. He spent the next several months whining about how he never lost the belt and demanding a title shot. In an interview which took place during his reign as champ, RVD said he would not lose to anyone who didn't work during the Wrestling/AttitudeEra, then compared himself and Jeff Hardy to rockstars (and buried the rest of the TNA roster in the process). Nice choice in choosing RVD as your world champ there, TNA. TNA nearly used up all the guaranteed appearances for RVD in his contract, so they booked him into an injury angle which let him vacate the title without having to lose a match to anyone (made worse when he showed up a month later, completely peachy, on the same night they crowned a new champ).

** First, Jay Lethal revealed he'd gotten Ric Flair's Hall of Fame ring and debuted his excellent Flair impersonation; when Flair tried to confront him, he meekly returned the ring, acted happy to be here, and got beaten on anyway, making him look like a loser. Cut to Hogan and Bischoff in their limo, hearing about Lethal and calling him an idiot for going out with the ring in the first place!
** "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero was being set up for a feud with [[Wrestling/KenAnderson Mr. Anderson]], but he was attacked backstage by Anderson ([[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext who was dressed like an altar boy]]), had his trademark sunglasses stolen, and was subject to a mocking promo by Anderson immediately after, during which Jeff Hardy took his place in the Anderson feud. Pope never got to even think about wrestling a main eventer again after that.
** Finally, the aforementioned squashes of Desmond Wolfe. Especially depressing as he was released from TNA one year later in June before his legit hepatitis B diagnosis forced him to retire in December of 2011.

* Hogan went on a media run the weekend before ''Bound for Glory'' 2011, which featured Kurt Angle vs. Bobby Roode in the main event for the World Heavyweight Title. On ''Radio/TheHowardSternShow'', Hogan hyped his match with Sting while saying Angle would face "some other guy" (Roode). In another radio interview, someone asked Hogan about Bobby Roode. Hogan said Roode's "not ready", then said he would have preferred to see James Storm in Roode's position. Hogan then went on Twitter and referred to fans angry with what he'd said as "marks" and claimed to be working them all. He also proceeded to re-tweet every positive reaction to his comments for a few hours. Angle ended up defeating Bobby Roode at ''Bound for Glory'', despite the massive amount of hype TNA put into Roode's push.

** Hogan defended the booking by claiming that Roode would be better off as a heel. To play up Bobby Roode's heel turn after he (eventually) won the title, TNA established Roode as a neglectful father and husband. The main event of ''Slammiversary'' was Sting vs. Roode. Hogan called Sting the top man in TNA. Nice way to build up Roode, Hogan. He also casually tossed Mr. Anderson under the bus, since the latter was originally going to have a title shot against Roode. Instead, Anderson was put in a three-way with RVD and Jeff Hardy to determine who would face the TNA Champion on... the episode after ''Slammiversary''. Yes, they were still pushing the same old contenders from 2010 because "NOT READY, BROTHER."

** Hogan's final appearance on TNA saw the Hulkster quit the company, and when he tried to leave a crying Dixie clutched at his leg and begged him to stay. Rumors have it that Hogan invoked a creative control clause so that he wouldn't have to put TNA over on his way out. Bischoff himself was removed from the creative process soon after Hogan's departure, and his contract was allowed to expire. He would later sue TNA in conjunction with his business partner Jason Hervey, alleging that TNA had not paid them what they were owed for their production work.

* After the public announcement of TNA signing Wrestling/HulkHogan in October 2009, the TNA locker room remained split over the decision. Dixie decided to [[https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/xa9hep/dixie_carter_addresses_the_locker_room_after_the/ address the roster]] like a mother scolding her children while they sat in bleachers and watched (while also appearing to be bored out of their minds). The overall tone of the speech was ''"my way or the highway"''. Despite this being a briefing to TNA's employees and not a wrestling promo, a video of the speech actually opened an episode of ''Impact''. It was widely mocked and criticized by everyone who watched it.

** First for 2012. The angle began where [[Wrestling/FrankieKazarian Kazarian]] and [[Wrestling/ChristopherDaniels Daniels]] tried to prove AJ was having an affair with Dixie, including a segment where AJ, professional athlete and all, was knocked out by Dixie's non-wrestler husband Serg. Faced with these accusations, AJ and Dixie decided to go public with the "actual" big secret a few months later. When AJ tried to convince Dixie not to reveal it (despite initially wanting to come clean in the first place?), a hysterical woman entered the ring. She identified herself as a pregnant drug addict named Claire Lynch who was trying to get clean with the help of AJ and Dixie. Fans reacted with predictable bewilderment as to who the pregnant junkie is and why they should care about her. At the end of the next episode, Daniels told Dixie that AJ had fathered the junkie's baby. TNA felt proud enough of this angle to praise Wrestling/EricBischoff for coming up with such a compelling twist and rewarded him with a raise. It's important to note that Wrestling/VinceRusso had no hand in this storyline since he'd left the company by then.
** In later weeks, AJ challenged Daniels to a match in which AJ would own up to fathering Claire's baby if he lost, but take a paternity test if he won, à la [[{{Series/Maury}} Maury Povich.]] In the weeks to follow, Claire cut a heel promo in which she was supposed to be smoking a cigarette while pregnant. TNA abruptly ended the storyline when Julia Reilly (the actress who played Claire Lynch) left the company after fans found clips of some of her other acting jobs on Website/{{YouTube}} and left harsh criticism of her work. The whole thing turned out to be a wash as a result, as Claire's attorney (played by Janice Carter, Dixie's mother) informed everyone that Daniels paid Claire to make the whole story up, so it was never mentioned again. The angle ran away with ''[=WrestleCrap=]'''s [[http://www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/claire-lynch-the-2012-gooker-award-winner/ Gooker award for the year.]] Photos also eventually surfaced of Reilly at her day job; playing Olive Oyl in the ''Ride/PopeyeAndBlutosBilgeRatBarges'' ride at [[Ride/UniversalStudios Islands of Adventure]].
** According to Bruce Prichard, the original plan for this was to reveal that AJ and Dixie were indeed having an affair, but it was nixed after Dixie's parents kept getting asked by friends at their country club if they had hooked up for real. Before Claire's involvement, the plan seemed to have been a surprise party for Serg (something supported by a doctored phone conversation which was later revealed in full on TNA's website), but that was never mentioned again, nor did Serg apologize for knocking AJ out.

* "Cookiegate": In December 2004, WWE filmed a commercial for the 2005 ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble'' in Orlando. A few TNA stars and a camera crew headed over to the WWE filming set to offer a "welcome wagon" which consisted of some cheap balloons and cookies, but they were escorted out. Naturally, TNA turned this into a storyline where the footage of what supposedly went down would be shown at the PPV. To hype up how scandalous this footage was supposed to be, a fake Wrestling/VinceMcMahon and Wrestling/TripleH began roaming the Impact Zone to find and destroy the footage while "firing" numerous TNA employees. When the footage finally aired, it was embarrassing: [[Wrestling/RoadDogg BG James]], Wrestling/ShaneDouglas, Wrestling/RonKillings, Wrestling/{{Konnan}}, Wrestling/{{Abyss}}, and Traci Brooks repeatedly asked to speak to Vince [=McMahon=], ate food off the catering table without asking, filmed several WWE wrestlers without permission (including Wrestling/ReyMysterioJr out of his mask),[[note]]which only wasn't even more of a massive breach of permission because he'd already lost his mask once at WCW in 1999; he needed permission from the Mexican athletic commission to start wearing it again.[[/note]] and acted offended when WWE officials told them to leave.

** Just over a month after the kidnapping, a pretaped vignette aired featuring an obviously-distressed Joe screaming that "THEY HAVE SPOKEN." After Joe was brought back in April, this was never mentioned again. Several months later, Abyss started saying those words. Rumor had it that Joe was meant to herald the formation of Immortal, but his involvement was dropped due to, of all things, him still getting cheered for beating people up.

* Orlando Jordan started using an exaggerated [[GorgeousGeorge bisexual gimmick]], a version of which he'd been pitching to WWE before they let him go. Of course, this meant Jordan was portrayed as a freak while Tenay and [[Wrestling/{{Tazz}} Taz]] both acted completely disgusted by everything he did. His antics included spraying lotion all over himself, wearing a diaper on New Year's Day, rubbing himself with a Samoa Joe action figure, descending from the roof while wrapped in caution tape, and talking dirty to a cardboard cutout of Rob Terry. Jordan (who is actually bisexual) defended the gimmick by saying he hoped it would "[[BrokenAesop help troubled teens]]."

** Eric Bischoff debuted a ranking system to be voted on by TNA fans: the person who was ranked #1 would earn a title shot. Fans were quick to give [[Wrestling/NigelMcGuinness Desmond Wolfe]] a landslide victory, mainly because the system allowed for infinite votes and fans were dedicating hours to stacking the deck in Wolfe's favor. Bischoff's response to that? He had Wolfe get [[SquashMatch squashed]] by RVD in mere minutes. The fans tried again the following week and Wolfe won again, only to get squashed again. The ranking system was then discontinued and Bischoff took every opportunity to trash wrestling fans in every interview he did. Wolfe was rarely ever seen around the main event after this (where did Abyss, the guy Hogan said would be the next John Cena, rank in the fan poll? Dead last. ''Rob Terry'', who was fairly new at the time and rather disliked among the fanbase, had more votes than Abyss).

** Finally, the aforementioned squash of Desmond Wolfe. Especially depressing as he was released from TNA one year later in June before his legit hepatitis B diagnosis forced him to retire in December of 2011.

* What the hell happened to the X-Division? Once regarded as the gold standard in wrestling (similar to where ''[[Wrestling/{{WWENXT}} NXT]]'' was in 2010), it's been going downhill since 2007. X-Division matches are rarely seen on TNA anymore, and the champion (whoever they are) isn't in the top contenders for the World Title. Let's not forget, it once went to Wrestling/{{Abyss}}, who lost it in a fluke. It was only then that the Network established a weight limit (which was periodically ignored), ensuring only cruiserweights (who never get booked for main events, thanks to Wrestling/EricBischoff) could contend for it. Then they ruled that the title must be fought exclusively in triple-threat matches, a rule which was soon discarded, as well as instituting a referee headcam which made everything look sickly yellow, which was kiboshed two weeks later.

** The then-nigh-unknown Wrestling/EricYoung won the "Legends" title and renamed it the TNA Global Championship, imposing a rule that he would not defend it against American wrestlers or in American soil. Young kept half of his word with his first defense, against Japanese wrestler Ayako Hamada — in ''Orlando, Florida''. Things got a little more in line when Young lost the title to Rob Terry in the latter's native Wales, but Young's rule was abolished soon after. Then Styles won the title from Terry in July 2010 and renamed it the TNA Television Championship, with a rule that it had to be defended every week on ''Impact!'', but that only lasted about two weeks.

* TNA held a "Reverse Battle Royal" in which half the roster fought ''outside'' of the ring in order to get ''into'' the ring. Once the set number of people had entered, they competed in an actual battle royal until two people remained (at which point the battle royal turned into a one-on-one match). Despite being widely lauded as one of the worst matches of that (or any) year, TNA held another one some time later.

* Wrestling/{{Daffney|Unger}}'s career for TNA was a HumiliationConga of the highest order. First off, she was only hired as a UsefulNotes/SarahPalin lookalike when the actual Palin (then a Vice-Presidential candidate) refused to appear on the show. After the 2008 election, she was shunted off to the Knockouts division as a comedy jobber. There, she was given a tryout match against fellow Knockout and [[Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys Team 3D]] golden-girl Rosie Lottalove (Betsy Ruth). The incredibly overweight Rosie sat on Daffney's face, seriously injuring her, but was hired anyway. When she was inevitably let go soon after, Bully Ray allegedly blamed Daffney, to the point of screaming at her backstage over it. TNA also refused to pay Daffney's medical bills caused by a barbwire board shot; when she sued, it was settled out of court before the case even started. Dixie Carter and TNA management rewarded Terry Taylor's ceaseless loyalty by letting him take the fall for this sorry affair, so they could replace him with Bruce Prichard.

* Wrestling/{{Daffney|Unger}}'s career for TNA was a HumiliationConga of the highest order. First off, she was only hired as a UsefulNotes/SarahPalin lookalike when the actual Palin (then a Vice-Presidential candidate) refused to appear on the show. After the 2008 election, she was shunted off to the Knockouts division as a comedy jobber. There, she was given a tryout match against fellow Knockout and [[Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys Team 3D]] golden-girl Rosie Lottalove (Betsy Ruth). The incredibly overweight Rosie sat on Daffney's face, seriously injuring her, but was hired anyway. When she was inevitably let go soon after, Bully Ray allegedly blamed Daffney, to the point of screaming at her backstage over it. TNA also refused to pay Daffney's medical bills caused by a barbwire board shot; when she sued, it was settled out of court before the case even started. Carter and the entire management rewarded Talent Relations head Terry Taylor's ceaseless loyalty by letting him take the fall for it, so they could replace him with Bruce Prichard.

* TNA approached UsefulNotes/{{Alaska}} Governor UsefulNotes/SarahPalin to make a guest-appearance, but she declined, so someone hired Wrestling/{{Daffney|Unger}} as a Palin lookalike. After the election, she was shunted off to the Knockouts division as a comedy jobber. TNA then signed Rosie Lottalove (Betsy Ruth), an obese Knockout fresh out of [[Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys Team 3D]]'s wrestling school whom Bully Ray had sold to them as his best student, and gave her a tryout match with Daffney. Rosie seriously injured Daffney in the match by sitting on her face, but TNA hired Rosie anyway. She wrestled a few more matches for the company before they released her (because she was terrible), something which Bully Ray allegedly blamed Daffney for, to the point of screaming at her backstage over it. TNA also refused to pay for Daffney's medical bills for a barbwire board shot she had suffered a few months earlier (because Dixie Carter is terrible). Daffney filed a lawsuit as a result, which was eventually settled out of court a day before the case was supposed to start (because the American legal system is terrible). The Daffney incident was a huge black eye for Carter and all of TNA management: they put the blame on Terry Taylor, Head of Talent Relations and one of Dixie's known stooges. TNA released Taylor and replaced him with Bruce Prichard.

* In 2009, TNA brought in Jenna Morasca, a former RealityTV contestant best-known for winning ''Series/{{Survivor}}: The Amazon''... over six years prior. She stuck around the Main Event Mafia and did nothing of note for months, then feuded out of nowhere with Wrestling/BookerT's wife Sharmell. This built up to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4MceD3fHHU their disastrous match]] at that year's ''Victory Road,'' with [[Wrestling/KiaStevens Awesome Kong]] as Jenna's manager. The two non-wrestlers were hopelessly out of their depth, and it showed--Jenna in particular prioritized being MsFanservice well over executing spots. All Kong was allowed to do was lay Sharmell out for the fall, after eight of the absolute worst minutes in wrestling history, male or female. It got a "'''[[BrokeTheRatingScale MINUS! FIVE! STARS!]]'''" from ''[[Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter WON]]'' and [[http://wrestlecrap.com/inductions/jenna-vs-sharmell-its-official-were-in-hell/ an article]] on ''Website/{{WrestleCrap}}''. ''Website/{{Botchamania}}'' and [=420chan=]'s ''Disasterpiece Theatre'' also featured this. TNA reportedly paid Morasca half a million dollars per appearance; at the same time, Wrestling/GailKim was denied a raise and left for WWE. While many blamed Dixie Carter's unhealthy obsession with reality shows for Morasca's signing, Wrestling/KurtAngle had also starred with her in the [[DirectToVideo direct-to-DVD]] flop ''End Game'', itself a [[http://wrestlecrap.com/inductions/active-inductions/end-game/ WrestleCrap inductee.]]