This month Impact Wrestling will return to the United Kingdom for the first time since January 2016 with the UK Invasion Tour. Glasgow will be the tour’s first stop on October 26th and host a Gut Check event the day before.
This is an exciting time for fans in Scotland and the wider UK who, after being a key market for the former Total Nonstop Action Wrestling for quite some time, have unfortunately not been invited to “Cross the Line” in recent years.
Today we can watch more wrestling than ever before, and enjoy seeing Scottish wrestlers on WWE RAW, SmackDown, NXT, Pro Wrestling Noah, All Elite Wrestling (albeit briefly), and even Netflix. But in a WWE-dominated market, this was not always the case–and it was Impact that attempted to fill that void. Whether through reality television or World Heavyweight Championships, Impact was one of the few places where some of today’s top Scottish wrestlers could get international exposure.
Now with just a week until Impact’s return to Scotland, we take a chronological lookback at some significant Scottish moments in the company’s history from the early stages of NWA: Total Nonstop Action to the present day.
1. Jeff Jarrett Defends the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in Glasgow
Though the National Wrestling Alliance had been formally established in 1948, Jeff Jarrett became the first, and at present, only NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion to make a defence in Scotland. He accomplished this on December 6th, 2002, by defeating Nathan Jones inside the SECC Arena on a PPV from the Australian promotion World Wrestling All-Stars.
Although occurring in a WWA ring, the ten pounds of gold was very much a title controlled by Nashville’s NWA-TNA in 2002, and Jarrett was its co-founder. WWA existed from 2001 to 2003, but it had a significant crossover with TNA in its short lifespan and both utilised the myriad talent that had not been absorbed by WWF purchases of Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling, in addition to younger talent like Frankie Kazarian, Shark Boy, and Chris Sabin. Come The Reckoning PPV in May 2003, the NWA-TNA champions Jarrett and Chris Sabin would best WWA champions Sting and Jerry Lynn to unify the titles.
After a virtual merger between the two companies, TNA would continue to go from strength to strength despite the many changes to its name, branding, ownership, and roster. Scottish wrestling has also experienced significant evolutions but has continued to be a part of this journey.
2. TNA Debuts in Scotland with the 2009 Maximum Impact Tour
Having dropped the first three initials, TNA made its Scottish debut in Glasgow’s Braehead Arena on January 22nd, 2009. The main event saw AJ Styles and Jarrett defeat Kurt Angle and Scott Steiner. Elsewhere in what can now be looked back on as a remarkable showing of consistency, the now-reigning Impact World Champion Alex Shelley defended his TNA X-Division Championship in the opener against Consequence Creed, Eric Young, and Jay Lethal.
3. Glasgow Makes its Impact Wrestling TV Debut:
Six years after first bringing house shows to Scotland, TNA taped two editions of Impact Wrestling TV in Glasgow on January 30th, 2014. The Hydro witnessed Abyss defeat Eric Young in a Monster’s Ball on a card rounded out by iconic TNA stars like Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, Ethan Carter III, Gail Kim, James Storm, Kaz, Bobby Roode, and Christopher Daniels. Gunner was also there
4. The British Bootcamp and the ICW Impact
Given the prominence of Scotland in the booming UK wrestling scene of 2014, it was no surprise that Insane Championship Wrestling stars were all over season two of TNA British Camp. Viper, Nikki Storm, Rampage Brown, Dave Mastiff, Noam Dar, Grado, Kris Travis, The Owens Twins, Martin Stone, Sha Samuels, and Kay Lee Ray all gave eventual winner Mark Andrews (ICW alumni in his own right) a run for his money.
When TNA returned to the UK in 2015, Grado, Rampage, Dar, Mastiff, Mandrews, and the future Alba Fyre were there, and we got to see them mix it up in a series of Xplosion matches.
5. Grado Meets Galloway
That same 2015 UK tour saw some major moments. Rockstar Spud had a banger with EC3; Samoa Joe wrestled his last TNA match, and Kurt Angle defeated Lashley for the final World Heavyweight Championship of his incredible career–but appropriately, it was the Glasgow taping that was most significant for Scotland’s homegrown talent.
As the Beat Down Clan attempted to steal a big moment from Grado, Drew Galloway jumped a guardrail to intervene. Making his surprise debut, Galloway wreaked havoc on Samoa Joe, Kenny King, and (especially) Low Ki to save Grado from harm and to allow him to stand tall at the end of the night.
6. Gradomania
Though polarising, Grado’s 2014 to 2018 run with Impact was a rare opportunity to see a Scottish wrestler showcased on weekly American television. This run saw him challenge for both the TNA X-Division and TNA World Tag Team Championships, as well as compete in signature match types like Monster’s Ball, Six Sides of Steel, Turkey Bowl, Joker’s Wild, Bound for Gold and, most significantly, Feast or Fired.
In what proved to be a bittersweet night, Grado and Galloway both celebrated securing briefcases in the Feast or Fired match. But while one guaranteed Galloway a World Heavyweight Championship match, the other contained a pink slip. Grado’s firing led to the debut of Odarg The Great, and a feud with the devious LA Knight.
Whether it was an engagement to Laurel Van Ness or his quest for a visa, Grado’s time with Impact was certainly colourful. It was not all to everyone’s taste, but when he main-evented the SSE Hydro against his British Boot Camp detractor Al Snow, 1,500 Glaswegians witnessed Grado prove himself worthy.
Now, with it being almost nine years since Impact last came to Scotland, Grado will make his return to the company. Having bragged about his time there pretty much weekly on his Wrestling Daft podcast, you have to assume Grado is chuffed to be back.
7. Drew Galloway Wins the TNA World Heavyweight Championship
Although Grado’s Feast or Fired briefcase had been more trouble than it was worth, Galloway had a much easier run of it. Four years before Drew McIntyre slayed the beast at WrestleMania to become the first Scottish WWE Champion, the man from Ayr ran through Matt Hardy to become the first Scottish TNA World Heavyweight Champion on March 15th, 2016.
Having made history by breaking “the curse” of the briefcase, Galloway successfully defended his championship nine times. At Universal Studios and abroad, the champion retained against challengers including Jeff Hardy, Lashley, Eli Drake, Tyrus, Eddie Dennis, and his longtime friend Jack Jester at a sold-out show in Kilmarnock.
During his two years on the roster, he accomplished enough to justify a list of his own best moments for the company. His achievements included main-eventing Bound for Glory and Slammiversary, beating Kurt Angle, and winning the IMPACT Grand Championship–but this was his moment.
8. “FUCK TNA!”
Galloway’s success overseas was not always universally praised by the fans at home. He had been cheered by the crowds of WrestleZone and Rock N Wrestle as the travelling EVOLVE Champion but ICW fans, who had chanted “Drew Galloway, Galloway, Drew Galloway!” in 2014, now jeered: “Drew Go Away, Go Away, Back to TNA!”.
Things got ugly in London when Galloway held both his TNA World Heavyweight Championship and the ICW World Heavyweight Championship of a prone Big Damo aloft. This was too much for some dafties in attendance, and when drinks were thrown into the ring, wrestlers jumped into the crowd. Galloway had plenty to say about this in his book, but he had more to say about it in the moment:
“Like us or hate us, I don’t care–you don’t ever provoke us because we will fuck you up…I fucking hate London. Look at this shit. You people have no class and no fucking respect for professional wrestling. You can go suck my dick, you pricks.” – Drew Galloway (ICW Pin Pals, March 2016)
Galloway had already decked one ICW attendee five months earlier for swinging at him, so when “Wish It Away” began to blast from the PA, it felt like a hasty effort to get everyone back behind the curtain before things escalated further.
The wrestling landscape has shifted tremendously since 2016 with NXT UK, the rise of AEW, COVID lockdowns, Speaking Out, and (the now dead) WWE partnerships with European independents. In 2023, it is pretty bizarre to think back to a time when fans let out vitriolic chants of “Fuck TNA!”–but it happened. It disrupted top babyface runs and made great heels better–and Galloway, more than anyone, lived that rollercoaster through his runs as ICW and TNA World Heavyweight Champion.
9. Joe Hendry Wins Impact Wrestling Digital Media Championship
After a bit of a false start in 2018, Joe Hendry re-debuted for Impact in 2022. Within just four matches, he became the second Scotsman to be a champion for this hard-to-kill promotion.
On October 22nd, 2022, Hendry won the Impact Digital Media Championship when he defeated Brian Myers. Hendry set new records for both defences and longevity while defending the title in Canada, Poland, England, the United States, and Australia against challengers like Trent Seven, Eddie Edwards, Moose, Yuya Uemura, and Matt Cardona. Hendry also took the title home to Edinburgh in June 2023, where he made a successful defence against Jack Morris for Discovery Wrestling.
10. Kez Evans Challenges Josh Alexander for the Impact Wrestling World Championship
Come February 2023, Kez Evans was a couple of months removed from an all-timer run as the ICW World Heavyweight Champion. For 364 days, Evans’ reign had survived the considerable threats of Wolfgang, Mark Haskins, Grado, BT Gunn, and Jack Jester in matches broadcast on the WWE Network.
Missing the title that had defined him, Evans went south to England to begin a new reign of terror. For the Manchester-based Sovereign Pro Wrestling, Evans challenged Josh Alexander for the Impact Wrestling World Championship.
Evans pushed the World Champion into deep, dark waters in this contest. He utilised every underhanded tactic in his extensive repertoire of deviousness, including breaking an Ankle Lock by spitting in Alexander’s face, and decking the champion with brass knuckles.
Despite coming close, Evans’ ankle finally gave out after 20-plus-minutes of abuse, and Alexander retained by submission. Nonetheless, Evans became the first Scot to challenge for Impact’s top title since Galloway in 2016, and the first of the Impact Wrestling era.
It’s true that Evans cannot say that he beat Alexander for the Impact World Championship, but as Alexander will tell you in the build for Bound for Glory 2023: neither can Alex Shelley.
Time will tell what is to come next, but with a Glasgow Gut Check, a show at the O2 Academy, and Joe Hendry enjoying a great run–there are more Scottish moments for Impact Wrestling to come.
Further details on Impact’s UK Invasion tour can be found here.
SCOTTISH WRESTLING NETWORK | SWN 