7 Wrestling Promotions Which Tried To Beat WWE

Perhaps if TNA hadn't had a puerile name straight out of the Attitude era, it could have competed with WWE. Or perhaps had it not went out of its way to make all the same mistakes as WCW.

The first simulated sin was somewhat unavoidable. Founded in 2002 by Bob Ryder and the Jarretts, it was only a matter of time before 'The Chosen One' was made the group's figurehead. Jeff's residual star power from WCW's dying days was, at least at the outset, just about enough to legitimise the newly minted NWA:TNA's novel weekly pay-per-view format. The first two years emanating out of Nashville's Tennessee State Fairgrounds - the so-called 'Asylum' - gradually stood up for themselves, the electric X Division in particular creating new stars in the shape of Christopher Daniels and AJ Styles.

In 2004, TNA emulated WCW once more in making an Orlando sound stage home of their new weekly TV show, the camel-cased iMPACT! To delineate themselves from channel-surfers, the company adopted a new six-sided ring - something WCW had oddly never tried. More significantly, they started promoting three-hour long monthly pay-per-views. They were trying to step up.

Then things began to unravel - in scarily similar fashion to the Atlanta group. Just as iMPACT! was gaining traction on Spike TV, President Dixie Carter fell into Vince Russo's honey trap, drafting the New York quack-hack for a bit of Attitude magic. It fell predictably flat on its rear; the association alone was enough to tarnish TNA's growing reputation.

Dixie's remedy matched WCW's: Eric Bischoff. Only this wasn't 1995 - heck, this wasn't even 2000 - and Easy E's antiquated ideas were just as irrelevant as Russo's. Disastrously, Hulk Hogan was brought on board and given the keys to the kingdom. The X Division promptly plummeted and superannuated stars of yesterday littered the top-line in a re-run less Golden Era and more XWF, whilst a hubristic move to Monday night saw iMPACT! utterly crushed in the ratings. It took years to recover.

Since then, TNA has knocked on death's door so often you reckon the Grim Reaper has a restraining order. It's the only way to explain their miraculous, continual survival. Today, the company exists as Impact Wrestling, and though it is flourishing creatively under Don Callis and Scott D'Amore, it barely even registers on the radar. The fact they are effectively being subsidised by WWE, now entirely willing to pay to feature archival footage on their documentaries, speaks volumes of Impact's threat to Vince McMahon. It's non-existent.

Status: Still on the go, but growth is barely perceptible. A bit like moss, in that regard.