A Look At My TNA Article From Last Year

A Look At My TNA Article From Last Year
December 15, 2024
By Ryan Porzl

It was a year ago Impact Wrestling made the announcement they were returning to their old "TNA" name. Around this time last year, I wrote an article on things I would like to see TNA do in 2024 that I felt would improve the product. 2024 was a big year and a very successful year for TNA. Many changes were made on and off camera while the promotion intends to enter 2025 guns blazing. I figured with a year having passed, I look back on my article from a year ago and see what TNA did and didn't do in 2024.

Note: I don't own the graphic. Credit to TNA.

1. "Stop Using Tommy Dreamer As An In-Ring Competitor"

Thankfully, this one has happened. As I mentioned in my article last year, I have a lot of respect for Tommy Dreamer and mean no disrespect. However, he's now 53 years old, broken down, out of shape, and his best days are long behind. Dreamer has his place in wrestling but it's just not in the ring anymore. Thankfully, TNA and Dreamer seem to know it as Dreamer only wrestled one match for TNA this year which was at the Hard To Kill countdown show where he lost the Digital Media Championship to Crazzy Steve. Since then, Dreamer has been very useful behind the scenes as a producer and part of the creative team.

2. "Freshen Up The Knockouts Division"

This one has definitely happened. 2024 definitely saw the KO Division get a shake up as the promotion lost talents like Deonna Purrazzo, Trinity, Mickie James, and Gisele Shaw while others like Havok and Killer Kelly were inactive during the second half of the year and KiLynn King was injured. With that, the promotion would bring in a lot of new fresh faces like Ash By Elegance, Xia Brookside, Lei Ying Lee, Steph de Lander, and Heather By Elegance. Meanwhile, faces that signed late last year like Jody Threat and Dani Luna found their footing as a successful tag team. Veteran talent like Rosemary and Alisha Edwards freshened up with necessary heel turns. Tasha Steelz was more active this year. Former Knockouts World Champion and TNA World Champion Tessa Blanchard also returned at the end of the year. This year also saw the rise of Masha Slamovich first as a successful tag team champion to becoming TNA Knockouts World Champion. TNA's Knockouts division has definitely undergone a facelift in 2024 and the one in December 2024 is certainly different from the one from January. Hopefully, 2025 continues to see more talent and growth.

3. "Replenish Both Tag Team Divisions"

This turned out to be half as it happened with the men but not so with the knockouts. TNA entered 2024 with great and reliable teams like ABC, the Rascalz, and the Good Hands to name some. As the year has gone on, new teams have emerged like the System (Eddie Edwards and Brian Myers), Jake Something and Hammerstone, Sinner and Saint (Judas Icarus and Travis Williams), and Fir$t Cla$$ (AJ Francis, KC Navarro, and Rich Swann) while the Hardyz (Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy) have returned and others like Speedball Mountain (Mike Bailey and Trent Seven) and the Grizzled Young Vets (Zack Gibson and James Drake) came and went. The men's division has gotten richer with talented teams of all sorts from legends to established vets to talented up and comers. While the division has a few setbacks at the end of the year due to injuries, we've seen improvement.

As for the Knockouts Division, it remains as shallow as ever. Some new teams did come in like Spitfire (Dani Luna and Jody Threat) and Ash and Heather By Elegance but the division also lost Decay (Havok and Rosemary) and MK Ultra (Masha Slamovich and Killer Kelly) while the Malisha (Masha Slamovich and Alisha Edwards) came and went. For some reason, 2024 was another year that saw a lack of depth for the Knockouts tag team division. I'm not sure how to remedy it. There has also been a little relief thanks to the NXT relationship as the promotion got to use the team of Carlee Bright and Kendal Grey for several shots while they got Brinley Reece to team with Xia. Hopefully, they'll figure it out in 2025.

4. "Do A Live Episode Of TNA Impact"

This one obviously didn't happen. I thought it would've been cool, especially since they did celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Impact TV show. On a cool note, TNA has since announced that they will do a live TNA Impact in January.

5. "Continue Making Necessary Changes To The Roster"

This would also happen. Many names that didn't offer much anymore like Bully Ray, Johnny Swinger, and Oleg Prudius were quickly dropped while Tommy Dreamer has been used in the back. Meanwhile, 2024 also saw them part ways with the Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) as well as Rhino who were all still reliable hands but did everything they could. Also, with the firing of Scott D'Amore, the promotion also parted ways with some wrestlers associated with him such as Sheldon Jean and Gisele Shaw.

With the departures, the promotion would add a lot of new talent. Along with the likes of late 2023 signings like Leon Slater, KUSHIDA, Trent Seven, and Dani Luna enjoying their first year, the promotion has also brought in former WWE talent like Nic Nemeth and Mustafa Ali who made impacts in 2023. Meanwhile, the promotion signed new talent from everywhere including former WWE stars like Xia Brookside, Ash By Elegance, Lei Ying Lee, AJ Francis, and Steph de Lander as well as big name free agents like former MLW World Champion Hammerstone as well as talented indie wrestlers like Heather by Elegance, KC Navarro, and Sinner & Saint. 

Along with signing new talent, the promotion also brought back former champions and stars such as former TNA World Champions Sami Callihan and Tessa Blanchard as well as the legendary Hardyz and former tag team champion and up and coming singles Mike Santana.

Overall, TNA made some big moves regarding the roster and I think it was for the better.