10 Most Insanely Popular TNA Matches Ever
No AJ Styles or Samoa Joe, but there IS Jessie Godderz and Mahabali Shera!
Total Nonstop Action/IMPACT Wrestling - that's the last correlation you'll find here between the two distinctly diverse organisations - has never been a consistent hotbed for pro wrestling excellence. Its highlights are instead dispersed throughout its 21-year history.
Ethan Carter III and Rockstar Spud, before they became afterthoughts in WWE, wrestled a bloody, barbarous Hair vs. Hair match in a dynamic babyface performance for Spud. Abyss and Sabu's Barbed Wire Massacre set the benchmark for the stipulation with an uncivilised, yet methodical clash reminiscent of the latter's Born To Be Wired match vs. Terry Funk. Josh Alexander and TJP's Iron Man match took the world by storm in 2021 before it aired. AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, and Samoa Joe's generational three-way broke the trio, the X Division, and TNA into the mainstream.
None of those matches are on this list.
This isn't a collage of TNA's commendable in-ring efforts, though a couple of highlights certainly feature. The key 'insanely popular' phrase is used in the most literal sense; the ten matches below are the top ten matches from the 'popular' tab on what-is-now IMPACT Wrestling's YouTube channel.
Turns out, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, and the litany of TNA icons who you'd imagine are on this list aren't as popular as...
10. Brittany Vs. Madison Rayne (Xplosion, 2 July 2014)
To be clear, not everything on this list will be dire. Some of it's actually rather good. Really good.
This wasn't.
Poor pro wrestling matches often have a habit of remaining fun. They're not fun to watch, but to ridicule? Absolutely. It's one of your writer's guilty pleasures, particularly if the abhorrent clash has a redeeming quality; Goldberg vs. The Fiend for the former no-selling Bray Wyatt's fiendish antics, Rebel vs. Shelly Martinez for 'my vag!', the Chamber of Horrors match for its ridiculous finish, et al.
There is nothing redeeming about Brittany vs. Madison Rayne from TNA Xplosion's 2 July 2014 broadcast.
An attempted exhibition of catch-as-catch-can quickly turned into a crime scene with the duo's appalling display of the enthralling artform. It was a slow, plodding mess that did little to highlight the genuine appeal of either performer. Brittany's attempt at her typically mesmerising Shining Star Press saw Rayne evade her, which is fine, but Brittany planted her hands on the canvas, carefully lowered herself down mid-backflip, and landed without a thud, bereft of impact, immediately rendering it a futile 'finisher'. You'd assume she'd put a little extra force in there had it been the end sequence - but would she have?
7.6 million of you liked it, though.
7.6!