Major Players in Pro Wrestling: TNA

Total Nonstop Action

Total Nonstop Action is generally regarded as the #2 wrestling promotion in North America. Unlike WWE, which has been around for decades, TNA is a younger company that was established in 2002. They claim to be an alternative to WWE and, originally, they actually were.

For one thing, TNA is one of the few wrestling promotions in the world to use a six-sided ring [a ring is traditionally has four sides]. While WWE placed an emphasis on really huge, muscular wrestlers who normally work slower paced matches, TNA focused on smaller wrestlers, who may have not been as physically impressive but worked fasted paced matches and provided a lot more excitement [hence the name “Total Nonstop Action”].

However, in the last year or so, TNA actually comes off more as a poor man’s version of the WWE. They currently have a lot of former WWE wrestlers, they use just as many [silly] storylines as the WWE and some of the gimmicks of the TNA wrestlers are parodies of WWE stars. But hey, they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Although the company headquarters is based in Tennessee, TNA usually holds their weekly TV show, Impact, in Orlando, Florida, which is different from the WWE, who tours all over the world. However, they’ve recently begun holding monthly pay-per-view [the biggest event a wrestling promotion holds] in cities outside of Florida like Detroit, Michigan and Greenville, South Carolina.

Here are some of TNA's current big stars:

Kurt Angle

Kurt Angle is the current TNA World Heavyweight Champion and is an actual Olympic gold medalist in Men’s freestyle wrestling from the 1996 Games. Angle is also a former WWE talent and was one of their biggest stars before leaving for TNA. “The Olympic Hero” is very intense in the ring and uses a lot of grappling based moves such as suplexes [a move that has a wrestler grab an opponent, pick them off the ground and use their body weight to slam them back down], slams and submissions.

Samoa Joe

Samoa Joe is arguably the most popular and one of the more unique wrestlers on the TNA roster. Despite his size, Joe is surprisingly quick and agile. “The Samoan Submission Machine” wrestles a very physical style, so physical, that the fans chant “Joe is gonna kill you,” to Joe’s opponents before his matches.



Christian Cage

“The Instant Classic” Christian Cage is a former TNA World Heavyweight Champion. He is also uses to wrestle for the WWE, where he was apart of a successful tag team with Edge [WWE’s current World Heavyweight Champion]. For the majority of his time in TNA, Christian has played the cocky, overconfident heel. However, after a recent face turn, now he’s a cocky, overconfident babyface. Regardless of his disposition, Christian has lots of charisma and always gives entertaining interviews.


Booker T

Booker T is a former 5-time, 5-time, 5-time, 5-time, 5-time World Champion [but he’s actually never won a belt in TNA] and he is also recently new addition to the roster. Guess what promotion he worked for last. WWE, anyone? Booker T is a pretty exciting wrestler and also is very entertaining on the microphone.


AJ Styles

AJ Styles is one of the few wrestlers to have been with TNA from the beginning. He is currently a co-holder of the TNA Tag Team Titles and is the only person on the roster to have held every belt in the company. AJ Styles’ can be referred to as a “human highlight reel” because of his high-flying maneuvers in the ring.