Feast or Fired is a professional wrestling match concept featured in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. The idea is based on the object on a pole match, which sees wrestlers trying to gain possession of items hanging from poles attached to the ring posts. In this case, the participants in the match try to grab one of four briefcases from the poles. In the match itself, a wrestler can only claim a briefcase if he/she leaves the ring with it and both feet touch the floor.
Inside each of the briefcases is some sort of paperwork. One of the cases holds a contract for an TNA World Championship match, one holds a contract for an TNA X Division Championship match, and one holds a contract for an TNA World Tag Team Championship match (with a partner of that wrestler's choosing). The fourth and final briefcase contains a pink slip, which fires the wrestler carrying it. In later years, alternate titles were used as options in place of the X Division Title—the TNA King of the Mountain Championship in 2016 and the TNA Digital Media Championship in 2023.
The winners of the briefcases do not reveal what is in them that night. Instead, they are revealed in a segment on a later episode of Impact!. Before the contents of the cases are revealed, each wrestler is given a choice to keep their case or forfeit it, which protects the wrestler from being fired, but also gives up any potential title match.
Once a wrestler wins a briefcase, it may be (and has been) defended in matches similar to the way championships are.
The allocated time period during which a wrestler must invoke their title opportunity has not been explicitly stated, all that has been said is that the title opportunity can be invoked "anywhere, anytime", making it similar in fashion to the WWE Money in the Bank ladder match contract, which lasts for one year.
Year | Title (Date) | Winner | Other competitor(s) | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|
2007 | Turning Point (December 2) | Scott Steiner (Case 2 – World Title match) (11:54) Petey Williams (Case 4 – X Division Title match) (03:04) B.G. James (Case 1 – Tag Team Title match) (04:53) Senshi (Case 3 – Pink Slip) (06:27) | Shark Boy, Lance Hoyt, Christopher Daniels, Elix Skipper, Homicide, Hernandez, Kip James, Jimmy Rave, Chris Harris, and Sonjay Dutt[1] | 11:55 |
2008 | Final Resolution (December 7) | Hernandez (Case 4 – World Title match) (03:53) Homicide (Case 1 – X Division Title match) (09:33) Jay Lethal (Case 2 –Tag Team Title match) (12:10) Curry Man (Case 3 – Pink Slip) (06:31) | Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Jimmy Rave, Lance Rock, Sonjay Dutt, B.G. James, Consequences Creed, Cute Kip and Shark Boy. | 12:10 |
2009 | Final Resolution (December 20) | Samoa Joe (Case 3 – World Title match) (09:20) Rob Terry (Case 4 – X Division Title match) (05:00) Kevin Nash (Case 1 – Tag Team Title match) (07:14) Sheik Abdul Bashir (Case 2 – Pink Slip) (04:47) | Robert Roode, James Storm, Global Champion Eric Young, Homicide, Kiyoshi, Cody Deaner, Jay Lethal, and Consequences Creed | 11:00 |
2013 | Impact Wrestling (December 12) | Gunner (Case 1 – World Title match) (14:11) Zema Ion (Case 2 – X Division Title match) (08:39) Ethan Carter III (Case 3 – Tag Team Title match) (02:06) Chavo Guerrero (Case 4 – Pink Slip) (12:19) | X Division Champion Austin Aries, Chris Sabin, Curry Man, Dewey Barnes, James Storm, Norv Fernum, Hernandez and Samoa Joe. | 14:11 |
2015 | Impact Wrestling (aired January 23) | Austin Aries (Case 1 – World Title match) (05:45) Rockstar Spud (Case 4 – X Division Title match) (04:20) Magnus (Case 3 – Tag Team Title match) (07:43) Velvet Sky (Case 2 – Pink Slip) (01:17) | Crazzy Steve, Samuel Shaw, Gunner, Jessie Godderz, DJ Z, Robbie E, Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards and Bram | 07:43 |
2016 | Impact Wrestling (aired January 26) | Drew Galloway (Case 1 – World Title match) (10:07) Eli Drake (Case 4 – King of the Mountain Title match) (12:38) James Storm (Case 3 – Tag Team Title match) (16:06) Grado (Case 2 – Pink Slip) (04:16) | Bobby Roode, Robbie E, Aiden O'Shea, King of the Mountain Champion Eric Young, Bram, Jessie Godderz, Chris Melendez and Rockstar Spud[2] | 16:06 |
2018 | Impact! (taped January 13, aired March 15 and 22) | Moose (Case 4 – World Title match) Petey Williams (Case 2 – X Division Title match) Eli Drake (Case 1 – Tag Team Title match) Ethan Carter III (Case 3 – Pink Slip) | Rohit Raju, Taiji Ishimori, Trevor Lee, Caleb Konley, KM and Tyrus | 17:50 |
2023 | Impact 1000 (taped September 9, 2023, aired September, 14, 2023) | Moose (Case 2 - World Title match) (13:34) Crazzy Steve (Case 1 - Digital Media Title match) (06:17) Chris Bey (Case 3 - Tag Team Title match) (02:54) Yuya Uemura (Case 4 - Pink Slip) (09:45) | Alpha Bravo, Bhupinder Gujjar, Black Taurus, Brian Myers, Heath, Jai Vidal, Joe Hendry, Johnny Swinger, John Skyler, Jonathan Gresham, Kevin Knight, Kushida, Laredo Kid, PCO, Sami Callihan, and Steve Maclin | 13:34 |
scope=col | Championship | scope=col | Wins | scope=col | Losses | scope=col | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
World Heavyweight/Global Championship | 2 | 6 | 8 | ||||
Digital Media Championship | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||||
King of the Mountain Championship | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||
Tag Team Championship | 7 | 1 | 8 | ||||
X Division Championship | 4 | 2 | 6 |
scope=col | scope=col | Case Holder | scope=col | Championship | scope=col | Event | scope=col | Title Opportunity Invoking Date | scope=col | Results | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
B.G. James | Tag Team | Against All Odds | February 10, 2008 | James and his partner Bullet Bob Armstrong lost to TNA World Tag Team Champions A.J. Styles and Tomko | |||||||
Petey Williams | X Division | Impact! | April 17, 2008 | Williams defeated Jay Lethal to become the new TNA X Division Champion | |||||||
Scott Steiner | World Heavyweight | Sacrifice | May 11, 2008 | Steiner lost to TNA World Heavyweight Champion Samoa Joe | |||||||
Jay Lethal | Tag Team | Impact! | December 16, 2008 | Lethal and his partner Consequences Creed defeated Beer Money, Inc. (Robert Roode and James Storm) to become the new TNA World Tag Team Champions | |||||||
Homicide | X Division | Impact! | June 25, 2009 | Homicide defeated Suicide to become the new TNA X Division Champion | |||||||
Hernandez | World Heavyweight | Impact! No Surrender | January 15, 2009 September 20, 2009 | Hernandez invoked his title opportunity vs Sting and won via disqualification due to outside interference by the Main Event Mafia. Due to the disqualification, TNA Managing Partner Mick Foley returned the briefcase to Hernandez, allowing him a second chance. Hernandez lost to A.J. Styles, who would become the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion, in a five-way match also involving the former TNA World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle, Matt Morgan and Sting | |||||||
Doug Williams | X Division | Impact! | January 19, 2010 | Williams defeated Amazing Red to win the TNA X Division Championship | |||||||
Samoa Joe | World Heavyweight | Against All Odds | February 14, 2010 | Joe was defeated by TNA World Heavyweight Champion A.J. Styles in a No Disqualification match with Eric Bischoff as the special guest referee | |||||||
Kevin Nash | Tag Team | Impact! | May 4, 2010 | Nash and his partner Scott Hall defeated Matt Morgan to become the new TNA World Tag Team Champions | |||||||
Zema Ion | X Division | Impact Wrestling | January 30, 2014 | Ion was defeated by TNA X Division Champion Austin Aries. Aired February 6, 2014. | |||||||
Gunner | World Heavyweight | Impact Wrestling | January 31, 2014 | Gunner was defeated by TNA World Heavyweight Champion Magnus. Aired February 20, 2014. | |||||||
Tag Team | Impact Wrestling | September 19, 2014 | James Storm and his partner Abyss defeated The Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards) to become the new TNA World Tag Team Champions. Aired November 12, 2014. | ||||||||
Rockstar Spud | X Division | Impact Wrestling | January 31, 2015 | Spud defeated Low Ki to win the TNA X Division Championship. Aired March 20, 2015. | |||||||
Austin Aries | World Heavyweight | Destination X | May 11, 2015 | Aries was defeated by TNA World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle. Aired June 10, 2015. | |||||||
GFW | Tag Team | Impact Wrestling | July 28, 2015 | Brian Myers and Trevor Lee defeated The Wolves (Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards) to win the TNA World Tag Team Championship. Aired September 2, 2015. | |||||||
James Storm | Tag Team | Impact Wrestling | January 31, 2016 | Beer Money (James Storm and Bobby Roode) defeated The Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards) to win the TNA World Tag Team Championship. Aired on March 8. | |||||||
Drew Galloway | World Heavyweight | Impact Wrestling | March 15, 2016 | Galloway defeated Matt Hardy to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. | |||||||
Eli Drake | King of the Mountain | Impact Wrestling | April 23, 2016 | Drake defeated Bram to win the TNA King of the Mountain Championship. Aired May 31, 2016. | |||||||
Eli Drake | Tag Team | Redemption | April 22, 2018 | Drake and his partner Scott Steiner defeated LAX (Santana and Ortiz) to win the Impact World Tag Team Championships[3] | |||||||
Petey Williams | X Division | Redemption | April 22, 2018 | Williams was defeated by X Division Champion Matt Sydal. | |||||||
Eli Drake | Heavyweight | Impact Wrestling | April 23, 2018 | Drake was defeated by World Heavyweight Champion Pentagón Jr. | |||||||
Chris Bey | Tag Team | Bound for Glory | October 21, 2023 | ABC (Chris Bey and Ace Austin) defeated The Rascalz (Zachary Wentz and Trey Miguel) to win the Impact World Tag Team Championships. | |||||||
Crazzy Steve | Digital Media | Impact Wrestling | October 22, 2023 | Steve defeated Digital Media Champion Tommy Dreamer by disqualification meaning Steve didn’t win title. Aired on November 9, 2023. | |||||||
24 | Moose | Heavyweight | Hard To Kill | January 13, 2024 | Moose defeated Alex Shelley to win the TNA World Championship. |
Race for the Case was a similar concept used by Impact in 2017. This was a pole match where different colored briefcases hang from poles. Retrieving a briefcase allows to the participant to challenge any wrestler in any match stipulation on an Open Fight Night episode of Impact Wrestling. Inside each briefcase contained a number from one to four, which denotes the winning wrestlers placement in being able to make a challenge. Once a wrestler lays down a challenge, the other briefcase holders are no longer able to make the same challenge.[4]