Happy new year ladies and gentlemen

As we finally draw the curtain on the year that was 2025, a sense of new optimism is in the air with all the possibilities that can occur in 2026 especially for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

But before we look headfirst into TNA’s future in the new year, let’s take some time to look back at the previous year and all the great stuff that came out it; And although 2025 was far from a perfect year on TNA’s side (in particular the booking side of things), they still did enough for 2025 to be considered a success in the eyes of many.

Dishonorable Mentions:

• The Departures of Josh Matthews and Gail Kim
• RIP Digital Media Championship/ PCO’s GCW Stunt
• Lack of Creative Storylines
• Joe Hendry’s World Title Reign
• No Resolution for John Layfield and Judas Mesias
• Masha’s Domestic Allegations
• Ash By Elegance Retires

Honorable Mentions:

• The TNA International Championship
• Signing New Stars (Maggie Lee, Elijah, Myla Grace, Indi Hartwell, Harley Hudson, Mance Warner etc.)
• Warner vs. Callihan: Barbed Wire Massacre
• The Year of the X Division
• Spitfire vs. Eleganace Brand Feud
• Mike Santana Wins the TNA World Title

#10. Historic Title Reigns

The year kicked off with Joe Hendry becoming the brand new TNA World Champion at the Genesis pay-per-view, making Joe the second Scottish born wrestler since Drew McIntyre to become a world champion in TNA; His 126 day reign saw the Viral Sensation compete in TNA, NXT and even make a few appearances as the Royal Rumble and even brief singles match with Randy Orton at Wrestlemania 41 Night Two.

Hendry’s time on top would be ended at the hands of Trick Williams at NXT Battleground, which officially started the trend of NXT stars winning TNA titles as names like Kelani Jordan, Channing Lorenzo and Jacy Jayne all became champions in 2025 (with Jacy becoming the first women to hold the NXT and TNA Women’s titles at the same time)

Meanwhile Matt and Jeff Hardy won the NXT Tag Team Titles (the only TNA stars to win NXT gold), while Ash By Elegance and LeI Ying Lee won their first Knockouts World Championships on NXT Programming.

Outside of these crossover title changes, Mike Santana became the first Puerto Rican wrestler to win the world title at Bound For Glory and then 30 plus days later, Frankie Kazarian became the first TNA Original since Eric Young in 2020 to become world champion…Truly a year of memorable time when came to championships switching hands.

#9. Order 4

In recent years, TNA has gotten into the habit of putting some of their wrestlers in factions albeit with varying degrees of success, but of the many groups that helped to define TNA in 2025, it has to be Order 4.

Following Mustafa Ali’s return to TNA (more on that later), the former X Division Champion decided to create a group of likeminded individuals in the form of Jason Hotch and John Skyler of the Great Hands and former Knockouts Champion Tasha Steelz.

Serving as the main members of Ali’s cabinet, the group would flaunt their superiority in the face of the fans and members of the locker room whilst being flanked by secret service agents including a hulking new addition to group known as ‘Agent Zero’.

In-fighting soon began to break out within the group by the Summer, but that was soon dealt with thanks to Tasha Steelz’s skills in manipulation; Cedric Alexander, The Hardys, The System and The Rascalz have all tangled with Order 4 this year and in the process produced some of the best matches of 2025.

#8. The Santana/Ali Feud

Not content with having a legion of supporters in Order 4, Mustafa Ali went to battle with various wrestlers on the TNA Roster, but undoubtably the best would have to be Ali’s rivalry with Mike Santana.

On January 23rd edition of Impact, Ali made a surprise return and announced that he had officially signed with TNA Wrestling much to the delight of fans, however in making this announcement Ali interrupted Santana in the middle of a promo and straight up ignored his presence whilst in the ring.

It soon became clear a feud was bound to emerge between the two with elements of ego, soberity, and essentially determining who would be the guy to lead TNA in the future.

As mentioned in our video on the Best TNA Matches of 2025, the matches between Santana and Ali (Notably their match at Rebellion) was one of the all time best of 2025, so much so that it earned the award for match of the year by both fans and management.

With Santana poised to recapture the World Title in the near future and Ali more than ready to compete in the main event scene, it’s only a matter of time before we see these two face off inside a TNA ring.

#7. Steve Maclin’s Career Resurgence

There are few wrestlers who have managed to stay consistent in their character and body of work then Steve Maclin. Often the seen as the Dark Horse of TNA, Maclin’s rise within the ranks culminated when he won the Impact World Championship at Rebellion 2023, only for it to end after 54 days.

Following this, Maclin’s booking felt pretty aimless for much of late 2023 to 2024, sure his matches with Nic Nemeth and Josh Alexander were great, but Maclin still came off as underutilized in the eye of fans and something needed to change.

By April of 2025, the Digital Media Title was retired and in it’s place was the brand new International Championship with a tournament being made at that year’s Unbreakable event to crown the inaugural champion.

Maclin won the title and for a combined 216 days he would defend the belt against Eric Young, Jake Something and Mance Warner in a series of violent matches that helped to make the title feel important and by extension made Steve Maclin feel like rising star once again

His losses to Frankie Kazarian and latter Channing Lorenzo for the title might’ve dented his momentum somewhat, but Maclin’s run as International Champion helped to elevate his stock after a period of creative stagnation.

#6. The Elegance Brand

Order 4 wasn’t the only group dominating the headlines in 2025, as this year also saw the rise of perhaps of the most elegant faction to grace the Knockouts division.

By late 2024, Ash By Elegance and her Personal Concierge had already incorporated indie wrestler Heather Reckless into their group and had already began a feud with Jody Threat and Dani Luna of Spitfire for the Knockouts Tag Team Championships.

By early 2025 the feud continued on with both Heather and Ash finally capturing the tag titles during a 3 on 2 handicap at Sacrifice. Around the same time, they also added another indie wrestler into the group in Maggie Lee (soon renamed M by Elegance) and before the long to group became known as the Elegance Brand.

For much of the Summer and the Fall, the Elegance Brand would sneak their way to victory during matches with the IInspiration, The Angel Warriors and in brought back the Knockouts World Title back to TNA after Ash By Elegance won a three way match on NXT to win the title.

Sadly for undisclosed reasons, Ash had to not only vacant the title she just won but also retire from in-ring competition. Not long after this, Heather and M would lose the tag straps to the IInspiration before losing the rematch at the Countdown to Bound For Glory event.

Although the group continues it’s pursuit of adding a new member to the group, it’s likely will see a return to prominence by the Elegance Brand.

#5. Live Episodes

As many fans know, TNA records weeks of programming during a set of tapings which leads to websites and fans alike to leak spoilers about stuff that takes place during these tapings, but by 2025 the company decided to do something it hadn’t done in over a decade and that’s airing live episodes of the show.

In 2025 around 12 episodes of TNA Impact were aired live across the entire year with certain episodes containing memorable moments like the aforementioned Mustafa Ali announcing his signing with the company to Frankie Kazarian’s shocking win of the TNA World Championship.

Of course due to the amount of money it takes to run live episodes, TNA doesn’t do it as much as other promotions, but in their attempt to make the live shows interesting they’ll make special announcements or have shocking returns take place to keep the fans on their toes.

And speaking of shocking returns…

#4. The Returns

2025 didn’t just see NXT stars make an appearance in TNA, in fact this year saw a lot of familar faces make a comeback with a small few of them actually wrestled.

While wrestlers like Chris Bey, The Beautiful People, Tara and Mickie James appeared for ceremonial reasons, other like Jazz, Sean Waltman, Chavo Guerrero and Mr Anderson either got physical during a match or wrestled on an episode of Impact.

Elsewhere you had Killer Kelly, Rich Swann, Mustafa Ali, The IInspiration and Desmond Xavier compete on a regular basis upon their return to the company.

By far the biggest returns this year had both took place at Slammiversary, when AJ Styles arrived at the end of a X Division Title match to address the TNA fans for the first time in over a decade and even gave Leon Slater a massive endorsement following his title win.

Following the Hardy’s recapture of the TNA Tag Titles, out came Bully Ray who challenged the Matt and Jeff to a table match at Bound For Glory with the bout being the final send off for Team 3D

They say nostalgia sells and considering the numbers TNA did this year, that proved to be the case.

#3. Leon Slater

If there was one wrestler who unquestionably had a great year in professional wrestling last year, look no further than Leon Slater.

At the beginning of the year, Slater had one goal on his mind and that’s to become the Youngest X Division Champion in company history; while he nearly achieved this at TNA’s Rebellion pay-per-view, he came up short thanks to defending champion Moose, but at least Slater hitting his 450 Swanton finisher during the Ultimate X match became an iconic if not dangerous moment within his career.

After feuding with the System on and off, Leon defeated Moose at Slammiversary to become the youngest X Division Champion at just 21 years old. Slater also got the endorsements of legends like AJ Styles, John Cena and the Hardys with Team Extreme even dubbing the young Leon an honorary Hardy.

But it wasn’t just TNA Slater was making waves, he also competed on NXT and even a episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event which also happened to the same show where John Cena had his final wrestling match.

While a certain section of the fans are expecting Leon to sign with WWE once his contract is up, we think he still has a lot to prove in TNA and it’s going to be interesting to see what’s in store for him in 2026.

#2. Business Keeps Booming

For many years TNA has slowly grabbed the attention of the wrestling world once more, due to their partnerships with AEW, New Japan and WWE not to mention the in-ring product and the talent involved had helped to make TNA a brand worth watching, but in 2025 it was the business side of things where the company shined.

January through March saw TNA host major shows in the state of Texas and saw an estimated 3,000-4,000 people inside the Curtis Culwell Center and the El Paso County Coliseum.

In April, TNA sold out the Galen Center in Los Angeles Cailfornia for their Rebellion pay-per-view not to mention Under Siege and Turning Point were also sold out shows in the month of May and November, but it was the months of July and October that proved to be a high point for TNA’s ticket sells.

Slammiversary (TNA’s annual summer event) saw the show accumulate a record breaking 7,623 people in attendance for a TNA pay-per-view, shattering the previous record held by Lockdown 2013 at 7,200.

Bound For Glory also did great business, although the attendance figures the company reported and what they actually were ended up being a point of contention; Regardless, TNA proved they could draw in huge numbers for their shows, but if were talking about the company’s biggest success story of 2025 it has to be…

#1. The AMC TV Deal

It was on July 28th 2014 when news broke that TNA Wrestling was going to be cancelled by Spike TV, ending a near 10 year run on the channel and paved the way for the a period of channel hopping for TNA which saw the ratings massively dip compared to what they did on Spike.

Although TNA’s newest parent company (Anthem Sports) managed to buy AXS TV in 2019 as a way to get more eyeballs on the product it simply wasn’t enough, but on a late November Night in 2025 an announcement was made that sudden changed TNA’s fortune when it came to viewership and visibility going into the new year.

On November 2nd, a video from AMC’s official X account revealed that TNA Wrestling was moving to their network on January 15th (mere days before the company’s Genesis pay-per-view).

The response to this news was damn near universial with fans, journalists and wrestlers alike celebrating TNA for finally getting another major TV deal and one with channel that gave the world shows like Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead.

Although the exact amount of money TNA is making from this deal isn’t entirely clear, some estimate between 10-30 million dollars and considering the contract situation of some of TNA’s wrestlers this could help in convincing many of them to stay or open the door sign new talent to the roster.

For these reasons and so much more, the company’s TV deal with AMC takes the top spot as the best thing about TNA Wrestling in 2025.

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