Time and again, people have dismissed TNA. From its earliest days with the weekly PPV model, vocal critics saw it as a dressed up indie for talents who couldn’t find a spot with WWE. That stigma, paired with questionable business choices around empowering Vince Russo and later Hulk Hogan and a rollercoaster of both booking and management structure changes made a lot of fans give up on the brand over time. The rise of AEW, in some ways, felt like a final nail in the coffin for TNA, as the longer standing brand was firmly supplanted by a different, better-resourced number two US promotion.
TNA has momentum, though, in 2025. That includes a Slammiversary show that, in drawing a reported 7,623 live fans marked the largest live attendance the promotion has ever drawn in North America. Moreover, the show delivered. While it wasn’t necessarily an all-time classic PPV, it highlighted a number of things going right for and that uniquely represent TNA today.
TNA Has A Long History Worth Celebrating
For all its haters, TNA has a history that dates back to 2002, and has a legitimate claim to have featured talents including Christian Cage Samoa Joe, R-Truth, Bobby Roode, Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley in main event, world champion roles before they attained such success with WWE.
Indeed, the company has a history worth celebrating and the Slammiversary event, which has occurred each June or July explicitly celebrates the anniversary of the first TNA show and all the history since.
Slammiversary 2025 fittingly featured AJ Styles, in many ways the face of TNA for its first decade-plus, returning to his old stomping grounds for a feel good moment. Moreover, Bully Ray—a TNA Hall of Famer, World Champion, and tag team icon—also appeared to make some news of his own. All of this served as a testament to the promotion’s longevity and importance to the wrestling business.
The Hardys Vs. Team 3D Makes Sense In TNA
When Bully Ray appeared at Slammiversary, he set the stage for a nostalgic dream match between Team 3D and The Hardys at Bound For Glory, TNA’s biggest annual show.
This particular match is perfect for TNA. Were WWE to book it in 2025, fans would complain about old-timers taking a spot that could go to younger talents. A similar critique might emerge in AEW, and the fast-paced action fans have come to expect there might not make a collision of these veteran teams really click with the audience.
TNA fans tend to be loyalists and devoted wrestling fans—exactly the right audience to reprise a twenty-five year old rivalry, particularly when both teams have substantial TNA history (albeit very little history under the TNA banner with each other). Featuring this match highlights some of the upside of being a third-tier brand with a smaller, more specific audience to serve.
The NXT Crossover Will Continue To Draw A Larger Audience
There’s little doubt that some of TNA’s commercial success this year relates to their partnership with NXT, which has included a talent exchange and cross-promotion. Some critics might suggest it’s bad for TNA that Trick Williams and Jacy Jayne—talents under WWE developmental contracts—hold TNA’s respective world titles. That criticism is short-sighted, though.
Having the TNA World and Knockouts Championships featured on NXT regularly is a big plus for TNA’s exposure. Indeed, there’s a real case to be made that TNA talents like Joe Hendry have seen their star power rocket since his involvement with WWE in general. Assuming Williams and Jayne retain their titles or at least remain in their title pictures through Bound For Glory, TNA could well be building to their most attention-grabbing PPV yet come October. That will be especially rewarding if they can pay off the buzz with homegrown TNA stars taking the titles back in great matches at that major event.
TNA Is Still Building Its Own Stars
While Trick Williams and Jacy Jayne may have claimed the top titles in TNA, Slammiversary also included an important sub-plot of Leon Slater capturing the X-Division Championship. At only twenty years old, Slater is a promising TNA prospect to say the least.
This title change—with him beating no lesser star than Moose—also highlights TNA does still have an eye on its own future. Only time will tell how the NXT-TNA partnership plays out in the long run, but for now it’s a very good thing that with so many eyes on the product, TNA was also able to produce a passing the torch moment for a top young talent. That came complete with TNA Legend and current WWE Superstar AJ Styles putting over Slater on the mic after the big win.
No one in wrestling has a crystal ball to tell what a company’s long-term prospects might look like. Nonetheless, TNA has beaten the odds in surviving into 2025, and perhaps least likely of all, thriving at its highest level by a number of metrics. Slammiversary offered just cause for celebration as the company keeps on building momentum.