TNA Wrestling has been a staple company in the world of pro-wrestling since 2002. From then till now, there’s been alot of ups, and a lot of downs. But, the past is the past and it’s time to speak on the now and the future, which needs dire help.
I’d like to preface this by saying that this writing is in no way a hit piece towards the talented women and men of the TNA locker room. In fact, I believe the TNA talent in a nutshell, are fantastic, and we’ve heard many people say that the TNA locker room is the best locker room around. That’s great, and I’m glad about that. But, this is more focused towards the booking and decision making surrounding the company, which in turn affects the talent and the fans world wide.
To put it bluntly, TNA needs help. And no, WWE isn’t the solution to the problem. In fact, some may argue that they actually add to the on-going issues that TNA wrestling has. The biggest and most obvious issue is the booking. To be plain and simple, it’s bad. And I don’t think that’s a hot take to say. In fact, a lot of fans are echoing the same sentiment. I write this on the night of November 13, 2025. Just moments ago, TNA World Champion Mike Santana lost his title to Frankie Kazarian after he cashed in his “call your shot” trophy. Frankie was able to cash in after several NXT talent interrupted Mike Santana’s original match and beat him down, leaving him as scraps for Frankie to become the new champion.
Reading that, you may be thinking “okay? That’s not so bad.” But, let’s look at the full scope of what went down. First, TNA had built up Mike Santana to be a top contender for their World Title. Santana then got the opportunity for the gold at Slammiversary when he battled Trick Williams and Joe Hendry, which felt like a big crowning moment. But, he lost. That was in July. Santana then waited three months to get back to the gold, where he would challenge Trick Williams in a singles match for the title at TNA Bound For Glory in October. Mike Santana won that night, and sent the fans home happy.
Finally, he’s the champion. Then, TNA took an immediate hiatus and went away for nearly a month. In that time, TNA TV only aired digital content, highlights and old matches, which is a problem in itself. Then tonight, TNA finally returns at Full Sail University for a television episode, where Mike loses the title, without ever even having one title defense.
This feels like a slap in the face to the fans, and to Santana. Not only did they make his run so quick, it truly feels like they didn’t want Mike Santana to have a reign at all, and only gave him the title as a “here, damn!” so the fans clamoring for it would shut up. Now, those same fans who wanted Mike to be champion, are back to the classic “LOLTNA” meme, that was signified during the worst booked TNA era of all time. No matter what they do, TNA can never rub off the stench of “LOLTNA.”
Is Mike Santana going to WWE, now? Maybe that’s the reason they took the title off of him so fast. But, in that case, this is another reason why the WWE partnership hasn’t really helped TNA all that much. Instead, it feels as though WWE is using TNA as some sort of NXT 2.0, allowing them to be the developmental for their developmental, before poaching their talent. We’ve seen the likes of Jordynne Grace make the jump, Fightful Select has reported tonight that Joe Hendry is officially apart of WWE, and now Mike could be NeXT.
Even still, if that is the case with Mike, there was certainly a better way to go about Mike losing the title, especially with TNA and WWE being partners. The transition could’ve been smoother, instead of being hastily thrown together and leaving a sour taste in the fans mouths. And it all comes back to the booking. TNA’s booking is bad, plain and simple. It makes new fans not want to tune in, and it’s starting to make their die-hard fans want to tune out.
For years, TNA has had a very hardcore fan base, especially online, that constantly tries to push everyone towards tuning into TNA. No matter if you’re a WWE, AEW, NJPW or independent fan, TNA die-hard’s were trying to get everyone to watch TNA. Yet, it feels like TNA is pushing back against their own die-hards and proving that no one should be tuning in, because it sucks.
Again, TNA has a phenomenal crop of talent, such as their X-Division champion, Leon Slater. A young man who could easily be primed as a future TNA Champion. But, now, it more so feels like he’s being primed to be the next one to jump over to WWE, and that’s bad news for his current home promotion. While WWE surely does give TNA some good press and has helped them make money, they’re not really helping their overall product when WWE talent win majority of the cross-over matches, they steal their top stars, and eventually will leave TNA more dull and empty than they already are.
In my, and many other fans opinions (if you don’t believe me, just look online,) TNA desperately needs new bookers. Out with the old, in with the new. They need someone who can bring some life back into the soulless body that is Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling. They need someone who can make sure these young guys are not being hyped up just to hop over to WWE the second they get the chance. They need a stable set of people behind them that can make sure they get a television deal, instead of being on channels half of the world doesn’t have, and behind a paywall that no one wants to pay for.
There were rumors of TNA getting a TV deal, and their president Carlos Silva talked about TNA having talks for a potential television deal in the near future. But, that seems like a pipe dream. Barely any updates about it, lots of mystery and silence, and TNA hyping up announcements that people think will be the TV deal, and it never is. Oh, yeah, and you want a TV deal? Well, maybe you shouldn’t go on hiatus for a MONTH with zero new programming! What a stupid decision!
A friend and fellow TNA fan, Gerard (@BearDown316), made a suggestion that since TNA desperately needs new creative, what if they brought in the men behind DPW (Deadlock Pro Wrestling). A fan-favorite independent promotion that has sadly announced they’re going on a bit of a hiatus. The company has spawned many talent, such as NXT’s Je’Von Evans, Saquon Shugars and several top independent and foreign stars. Is this likely? Probably not, but, it wouldn’t be a bad shout to see the Deadlock crew help re-build TNA and help more fans tune in, at least for the time being.
Overall, I’m just a writer, and I don’t know who’s the answer to TNA’s booking problems, but I do know there’s problems. And they need to fix it as soon as possible, otherwise, TNA will continue to steadily decline until they’re six feet in the ground. Adaptation is survival, and TNA has to adapt or die.
📺 FOLLOW & SUBSCRIBE:
🔗 Twitch: Twitch.tv/BodyslamNet
🔗YouTube: YouTube.com/@BodySlamNet
🔗 Twitter: Twitter.com/BodyslamNet
🔗 Facebook: Facebook.com/BodyslamNet
A🔗 Website: Bodyslam.net
🔗 Discord: https://discord.gg/NraZNUjW
🔗 Donate: SlamChats.com
Want to discuss wrestling further? Join our Discord community by clicking here!
If you enjoy Bodyslam’s content, you can help donate to the site here. You can also visit our PWTees store and buy Bodyslam official merchandise here.
Wrestling History Books
Bodyslam Staff Merch
You can listen to all of Bodyslam’s podcasts by following us on Spotify and subscribing to our YouTube Channel, Twitch, Apple, Google, or any of your favorite podcast platforms.
Follow us on X: @BodyslamNet
Follow me on X: BradyFightTalk
