TNA Against All Odds 2006

TNA Against All Odds 2006 took place 10 years ago to the week that I am writing this piece, and looking back on it now with so much water having passed under the bridge since, it’s actually quite a sobering experience remembering how much promise the company had at the time. In 2016, many wrestling pundits and commentators have written off TNA as something of a joke following a number of years where the company seems to have lurched from crisis to crisis and somehow managed to continue existing despite not really providing anything of real value during that time. In fairness to TNA, that perception is a little unfair, but having said that, when a product is presented with so little consistency over such a long space of time, and when that company displays numerous instances of apparent amateur public relations, it’s hard to defend them. Following the move from Spike TV to the much smaller Destination America at the beginning of 2015, TNA hoped for a fresh start, unfortunately, last year ended up being something of a Groundhog Year for the company with another saga over where their TV deal would end up (which they vehemently denied, going so far as to threaten legal action against certain wrestling news sources) and the on-screen product suffering due to practical issues with their taping schedule.

ROH Final Battle 2015

After the ratings collapse that WWE suffered during the final quarter of the year and the tumultuous time that TNA have had once again over the past 12 months, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Ring of Honor had had an uneventful 2015. However, between an expansion of their offerings on traditional pay-per-view, their network television debut on Destination America, there continuing deal with New Japan and the collective challenges all of these bring both directly and indirectly, it is fair to say that 2015 was potentially the most significant year the company has had in some time. Some of the direct issues involved have meant an increased spotlight placed on their talent- essentially putting them in the shop window for other promotions to have a look at- primarily amongst those in this position ahead of Final Battle were Michael Bennett, one half of the ROH Tag Team Champions, The Kingdom, and his wife, and The Kingdom’s valet, Maria Kanellis who are rumoured to have signed a deal with TNA. Indirectly, ROH have come under more scrutiny than ever before from WWE (never likely to take lightly any slight infringement on the money that could potentially come their way, no matter how small the threat).