Created by Dixie Carter | Starring Impact roster | |
Genre Sports entertainment
Professional wrestling Presented by Mike Tenay (2002–2008, 2013–2014)
Jeremy Borash (2008–2016)
Josh Mathews (2015–Present) No. of episodes 725 (as of August 12, 2014 (2014-08-12)) Location(s) Tennessee State Fairground Sports Arena (2002-2004)
Impact Zone (2004-2016, 2016)
Various arenas (2013-2014, 2016) | ||
TNA Xplosion is a television program hosted by various people, it is produced by the Impact Wrestling promotion, featuring both highlights from the flagship Impact Wrestling television programme and exclusive taped matches. It is currently produced only for international markets with no broadcast distribution in the United States.
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It also airs in Asia and the Middle East on ESPN Star Sports, in Israel on EGO Total. It also airs in Canada on Fight Network.
2002–2008
Xplosion was launched on November 27, 2002 as TNA's only regular cable show and featured exclusive matches from the TNA Asylum as well as exclusive interviews with all the TNA Wrestling personalities.
On November 18, 2004, the show became a recap show of the previous week's Impact! in light of alterations in the taping schedule. However, Xplosion resumed airing exclusive matches (billed as "Xplosion Xclusives") once more on October 7, 2005 in addition to recapping Impact!. The "Xplosion Xclusives" also aired on the now-ceased TNA Global Impact! internet show.
All of the matches seen on Xplosion are taped ahead of time along with Impact!. Matches normally feature wrestlers who rarely appear on Impact!. Occasionally, wrestlers may make their debut or return on Xplosion and angles have also taken place.
Since May 2006, the hosts of the show are ring announcer/backstage reporter Jeremy Borash and SoCal Val. Airing of Xplosion in the United States ceased at the end of 2006, although some of the exclusive matches could be seen on TNA Today.
2008–2014
Beginning on December 22, 2008, "Xplosion Xclusive" matches are broadcast as web matches on the TNA website and TNA's YouTube page. The show was revamped at the June 14, 2010, tapings of the 300th episode of Xplosion, becoming more of an original program instead of a highlight show, with Jeremy Borash working as the lead play-by-play commentator. This was confirmed by Dixie Carter, who announced that Xplosion would be re-fitted to feature new and exclusive matches with the TNA personalities, as well as updates on everything TNA, including coverage of its flagship series Impact!, saying "TNA features more talented superstars than ever before in company history, so it made sense to refresh Xplosion and make it a more important part of the TNA brand."
In addition to the format changes, Xplosion received a new logo, graphics and theme music performed by Taproot. At the May 16, 2011, tapings, Desmond Wolfe was announced as the new Xplosion Commissioner. He would however serve in the role only for a month, before being released from his TNA contract.
Xplosion received a new logo and graphics with In This Moment's "The Gun Show" used as its official theme until mid-2012. The show became more of an original program instead of a highlight show, with Jeremy Borash working as the lead play-by-play commentator next to Mike Tenay (sometimes with special commentators). The show features new and exclusive matches with the TNA personalities, as well as updates on everything, including coverage of its flagship series Impact Wrestling and exclusive interviews with TNA personalities.
Xplosion also features the Spin Cycle, where Jeremy Borash has a Q&A session with various TNA stars in front of a live crowd. As of 2013, TNA started showing matches from the early years of TNA and matches prior to the upcoming TNA PPV. beginning December 2013 Rockstar Spud was a new addition to the broadcast team as color commentator replacing long term color commentator Mike Tenay who thereafter stood in for Rockstar Spud in 2014 from time to time when Spud could not make the tapings.
2014–2016
Challenge and TNA decided to repackage Xplosion. The all-new version airs weekly on Saturdays at 9am from May 31, 2014. The show has been reformatted with families in mind and to purposely differentiate itself from TNA’s flagship post-watershed programme Impact Wrestling. It is still hosted by Jeremy Borash and features a mix of new matches, classic bouts. The show also continues to be shown in its current late night time slot of 11pm on Wednesday evenings (or 1am on Tuesday nights when there is a TNA PPV event shown on the Wednesday). During this time Rockstar Spud was replaced with Josh Mathews. The final Xplosion shown on Wednesday evening on Challenge was November 11, 2015. Thereafter Xplosion only aired on Saturday mornings in the UK. During 2015 in the spring long term host Jeremy Borash step down from the post and handed the reigns to Josh Mathews temporarily until September, 2015 when he briefly took it back over until October when Josh Mathews took over permanently, However, in 2016 Borash returned as color commentator alongside Josh Mathews. Recently the Spin Cycle returned by popular demand. By June, 2016 Jeremy Borash returned to running the show solo. However in August, 2016 Borash moved to ring announcing and The Pope joined full time after replacing Mathews in the past.