10 Precise Moments TNA Was The Best Wrestling Show On Earth
Here is something you can't understand, Impact could just kill a man...
"Talk of the industry" is perhaps overstating it, but "talk of Wrestling Twitter, for a few hours, by select fans" was about the level of buzz Impact generated for and following the Halloween wedding of John E Bravo and Rosemary.
Ahead of them sealing their nuptials, the lights went out and literal shots were fired. When the darkness lifted, Bravo lay prone with a bullet wound in his chest. It was every bit as ridiculous as it sounds and yet not entirely out of the company's creative reach. There have been clues that something like this might occur for weeks leading up to the big moment, and Impact has - for years now - been the sort of environment where this sort of sh*t can occur almost completely free of the type of critique AEW's outstanding 'Le Dinner Debonair' received.
There, that type of departure from the traditional tenets of pro wrestling doesn't work for everybody. In Impact, it's become something of an expectation. Even when TNA was at its tightest, the show skewed a little to the left of mainstream wrestling norms.
But chaos can foster creativity...
10. Final Deletion
It was natural to refer to Final Deletion as "ahead of its time" when it first occurred, but few could have predicted that the exact period people were referring to in that assessment was a little under four years. What blew minds in 2016 looks like just another cinematic solution in 2020 - and that's the crucial context required to still get a kick out of this classic Matt Hardy creation.
The elder of the two brothers was mocked when he first introduced his 'Broken' character to television after a particularly brutal battle with the 'Charismatic Enigma', but the gimmick somehow generated the first truly epic match between the pair as a result.
An enormous gamble from a company that had nothing to lose in 2016, the match spawned numerous sequels that fleshed out a "universe" that had a bit of a midas touch for those that interacted with it. Drawing incredible viewing figures and buzz, Impact's only error was not being able to harness its success for the company - Matt and Jeff were made men again, but the promotion itself didn't particularly bottle the acclaim.