Impact Wrestling (formerly TNA) has been home to many of the biggest names in wrestling throughout the years. Most wrestlers viewed TNA as the best place outside of WWE to potentially make solid money and build momentum in the years between WCW ending and AEW starting. Unfortunately, there were more instances of TNA running into hiccups than rising to the occasion.
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The promising talents that failed to reach their full potential had a mix of the company booking them poorly or the wrestlers themselves deserving blame. Quite a few wrestlers were known for making poor decisions or having backstage drama follow them. TNA would not get the absolute best long-term impact desired from the following names due to screwing themselves.
Jeff Hardy should have easily been the biggest signing in TNA history when one looks back at the history. Kurt Angle, Sting and Christian Cage were great additions, but Hardy was coming off the best run of his career in WWE when signing in early 2010.
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WWE witnessed Jeff becoming the second most over face in the company after John Cena. Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff convinced Hardy to sign with TNA, but personal demons continued to follow him. Jeff showing up under the influence for his title match against Sting completely doomed his chances at hitting his full success.
TNA fell into a habit of signing any noteworthy WWE name that hit the free agent market and wasn't a massive contract. Rikishi was an interesting name since he was among the most over faces of the Attitude Era teaming with Too Cool.
Unfortunately, the new chance in TNA didn't lead to anything upward as Rikishi completely dropped the ball. Junior Fatu was the name used by Rikishi as he showed up with little enthusiasm. Promos calling his opponents the wrong name and even weaker in-ring efforts ended Rikishi's stint in a few weeks.
Hulk Hogan was responsible for quite a few talents getting another chance in TNA when he gained power. The Nasty Boys were two of Hogan's closest friends in the '90s and received yet another chance with TNA thanks to him.
No one expected Brian Knobbs or Jerry Sags to have a hot run, but they could have easily been a secondary team for veteran depth. Backstage stories insulting wrestlers like Jay Lethal or acting unprofessional at network parties caused them to get fired after one feud with Team 3D.
Many fans wonder why Low Ki never made it further after great in-ring performances for both Ring of Honor and Impact Wrestling. Low Ki was considered part of that early indie wrestling boom with peers like AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, CM Punk and Christopher Daniels.
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The biggest enemy of Low Ki throughout his career was himself when refusing to do what was asked of him if he didn't like his creative. Low Ki had multiple stints in TNA and had them always end without him reaching anywhere near his full potential like most of his peers did.
The earlier weekly PPV years of TNA saw Teddy Hart trying to find his new home in wrestling after released from a WWE developmental deal. Hart was once considered a top tier prospect in the wrestling industry due to his family legacy and the shocking high-risk.
CM Punk's history of having drama with co-workers backstage featured Teddy as one of the wrestlers to run into issues with him. The two had a shocking real-life fight with management viewing Hart as the more unprofessional of them to stop booking him.
Impact Wrestling rebuilding under the Scott D'Amore regime saw Michael Elgin getting a huge opportunity. Elgin had a failed ROH World Championship reign that hurt his reputation after he continuously did and said things that created negative headlines.
The Impact tenure suffered the same fate with Elgin getting a main event chance and eventually getting fired for negative attention. Allegations made towards Elgin and his absurd reactions created enough negative headlines to stop booking him. Recent news saw Elgin still struggling after getting arrested for stealing protein powder in Japan in between shows.
TNA actually did find the biggest success of Austin Aries' career, but it should have gone much longer. Aries has always found his way into the spotlight for saying or doing things to cause negative attention then using the wrestling character excuse to get away with it.
Moments like the Christy Hemme incident where she felt attacked or mocking Taya Valkyrie's weight resulted in Aries always bottoming out after great stints. Aries is a former TNA World Champion that was stopped being used at all costs due to backstage drama more than in-ring work.
No wrestler had a bigger fall off in Impact Wrestling than Tessa Blanchard during her Impact World Championship reign. Blanchard was arguably the most successful signing of the new regime with a dominant run in the Knockouts division and the chance to move into intergender matches against male wrestlers.
A controversial tweet from Tessa about women needing to support other women the day she won the Impact World Championship essentially ruined her career. Blanchard was called out by multiple co-workers for having a racist tirade against another female wrestler from her past. All the negative attention and Tessa refusing to show up for events in the pandemic ended her run in the worst fashion vacating the belt.