The Rise & Fall Of TNA | Wrestling Timelines

6. January 4, 2017 | The Night They Drove Dixie Down

Dixie Carter Hulk Hogan
impactwrestling.com

January 4, 2017 is the date on which Kenny Omega loses to IWGP Heavyweight champion Kazuchika Okada - briefly a caricature on a TNA excursion - at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11. The match is awarded ****** by Dave Meltzer. It’s an instantly seminal piece of business, considered by many to be the athletic and dramatic pinnacle of the sport. Omega becomes the biggest star outside of WWE across 46 minutes, and he does it by losing cleanly in a match so monumentally great that it changes the world. The result, finish, and tone is antithetical to TNA’s approach. 

There is in fact a way of competing with WWE; as it turns out, it’s by doing everything Vince Russo, Carter’s career-long obsession, said that you shouldn’t. It is incredibly poetic, then, that January 4, 2017 is also the date on which Dixie Carter resigns as TNA chairwoman upon the 85% share purchase of TNA by Anthem Sports and Entertainment. 

Anthem had been circling for a while, as TNA circled the drain, and the deal is now complete. TNA as you know it is dead. 

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Michael Sidgwick (Creative Writing BA Hons) is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over a decade of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential UK institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!