Every professional wrestling company has some awful storylines, one of which was TNA. They have maintained this existence despite some tumultuous, wild, and disturbing times. The former TNA once looked like a promising promotion with an opportunity to compete and create an alternative to WWE. However, bad decisions, poor treatment of long-time performers, and reliance on former WWE talent have led to the company almost being dead in the water on multiple occasions.

As previously mentioned, TNA has produced some of professional wrestling's hottest garbage and here we will look at the worst TNA storylines ever.

UPDATE: 2024/03/28 18:00 EST BY BENJAMIN VIEIRA

Every professional wrestling company will have good and bad storylines. Sometimes there are better, sometimes there are worse. Throughout TNA's history, the company has put on some truly excellent and fantastic storylines and matches. However, there is also the flip of that and the truly terrible stories in its history. The stories that nobody wanted to see and that are better left in the history books and not to be revisited. With TNA's revival this year, let's hope that there is no revisiting some of these truly awful stories from the company's past.

19 Pacman Jones As Tag Team Champion

He Held The Title With R-Truth

• TNA brought in Jones as a means to attract crossover fans.
• His NFL contract did not allow him to actually compete.
• He held the titles with Ron Killings (R-Truth) for 35 days.

TNA decided it wanted to bring in some crossover fans. This has worked in the past. WWE was able to really get headlines when New York Giants star Lawrence Taylor fought Bam Bam Bigelow in the main event of WrestleMania. WCW, and now AEW, brought in Dennis Rodman, and that helped create a boost in publicity for both companies. However, thanks to its base in Tennessee, TNA chose to bring in Pacman Jones. This never worked to the levels of other signings because he was suspended, and he was really not a major NFL name.

Then, TNA made one of the dumbest decisions in company history. The company agreed to put the tag team titles on Ron Killings (R-Truth) and Pacman Jones. The problem is that Pacman's NFL contract didn't allow him to compete in an actual wrestling match. This meant that TNA gave the tag titles to someone who couldn't even defend them. This led to Consequences Creed (Xavier Woods) taking Pacman's place, and that was a fun tag team, but the Pacman Jones angle was a terrible decision that never even got a payoff.

18 The Johnsons Were A Lazy Gimmick

It Was Truly Ridiculous

• The Johnsons debuted in the early days of TNA.
• They were portrayed by Mike and Todd Shane.
• Mortimer Plumtree was their manager.

When TNA started, there was a lot to love about the company. New young stars like AJ Styles, James Storm, and Christopher Daniels got a chance to shine and soon the WCW replacement that fans wished for finally existed. However, while there were great new wrestlers and moments that fans who didn't like WWE programming could enjoy, there was also some stupidity. The dumbest angle that arrived at the start of TNA was a tag team called The Johnsons.

This was a gimmick that was just disgusting and lazy. The Johnsons were bigger tag teams by size, but they also wore latex outfits and masks, covering them from head to toe. They were called The Johnsons and their outfits made them look like they were covered with giant condoms. With Mortimer Plumtree as their manager, they were characters doomed from the start in TNA.

17 James Storm's Attempted Murder Of Mickie James

It Was A Totally Out Of Character Move

• There have been many murder storylines in TNA's history.
• James Storm was in a feud with Magnus (Nick Aldis in WWE).
• It was implied that James Storm pushed Mickie James in front of a moving train.

There have been plenty of murders in TNA storylines. Whether it is Allie (Bunny from AEW) dying in an angle with Rosemary or PCO getting killed to write him out, these moments have just become a fun part of the storyline. However, the reason they work is that TNA winks at the fans the entire time. With that said, there was one moment that didn't work and just came across as wrong on many levels.

This terrible TNA storyline saw James Storm in an angle with Mickie James. What this saw was James using his friendship with Mickie to get into the head of her husband Magnus (Nick Aldis). However, James soon meets with his friend Mickie to discuss his feud with her husband at a train station. Then, out of nowhere, James pushed Mickie off the platform and onto the train tracks. It was played like an attempted murder, and it not only seemed out of character for James, but it was a shocking and unintentionally funny moment for TNA.

16 Bully Ray Marries Brooke Hogan

It Was A Part Of The Aces & Eights Storyline

• Bully Ray had been involved in a romantic storyline with Brooke Hogan.
• Hulk Hogan was not happy about their relationship.
• The wedding was crashed by Aces & Eights and Tazz was revealed as a member of the group.

In one of TNA's worst storylines in history, Bully Ray was involved in a TNA angle with Hulk Hogan. Bully Ray started a romantic TNA relationship with Brooke Hogan, Hulk's daughter. This all started when Hogan was feuding with Aces & Eights and the faction came after Brooke, which brought out Bully Ray to save her. This led to the two developing romantic feelings for each other, much to Hulk Hogan's chagrin. However, he slowly came around and this resulted in Bully Ray dropping to a knee and proposing to Brooke.

The wedding was just one week later, and it ended with Taz showing up and revealing he was part of Aces & Eights and the group attacked Ray, leading to Hulk saving him. This then led Hulk Hogan, the commissioner of TNA, to name Bully Ray the new number-one contender for the world title. That was all Bully wanted, and he revealed he only married Brooke to get this, and he was the actual leader of Aces & Eights. The romance never worked, and a broken-hearted Brooke was even worse.

15 Eric Young Becomes The TNA World Champion

It Was A Rip-Off Of WWE's Daniel Bryan Story At The Same Time

• Eric Young was a TNA Original as a member of Team Canada.
• He defeated Magnus to win the title.
• It was a blatant copy of what WWE was doing at the same time.

Eric Young began his TNA career as a member of Team Canada, a heel stable led and managed by Scott D'Amore. After the stable dissolved, Young would become a fan favorite. He was as goofy as can be. He would be frightened by his entrance pyrotechnics to the point where Young would fall and stumble down the ramp. Despite all of his antics, Young was given a run with the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.

Not only that, he defeated Magnus. Magnus was a much more relevant and serious character than Young, but Young still ended his title reign. During this time, Daniel Bryan had finally finished his journey to the World Championship for the WWE. Many fans believe that Young receiving a title reign was TNA's attempt to copy what the WWE was doing at the time.

14 Abyss & Hulk Hogan's Hall Of Fame Ring Made "The Monster" Not Taken Seriously

TNA Made Abyss A Weaker Character

• Abyss had been one of TNA's most dominant wrestlers in the early years.
• He joined forces with Hulk Hogan in 2010.
• The story failed in making Abyss a stronger character.

Abyss was one of wrestling's absolute monsters. During the mid-2000s, Abyss was booked to perfection and had a reign with the NWA World Championship at one point. For other reasons displayed on this list, Abyss' character lost the mystic. He was made to be an absolute joke. He was put into an angle with Hulk Hogan once he arrived at TNA. Hogan was Abyss' "friend" and was given his Hall of Fame ring.

Hogan told Abyss who was once again one of wrestling's most feared men that he would be made into a "god of wrestling." Although it may not sound as bad, it's a shame that the "Monster" Abyss would turn into that. WWE managed to do the same with Kane years prior. Turning a monster into a much weaker character.

13 Jay Lethal's Impersonation Of "The Nature Boy"

Lethal Did Much Better As A "Macho Man" Randy Savage Impersonator

• Lethal had been impersonating Randy Savage for three years.
• Flair wrestled Lethal and lost.
• Flair did not want Lethal impersonating him.

Jay Lethal is currently competing in AEW, but he made his name in TNA as he spent the better part of five years with TNA. During that time, Lethal was made into a "Macho Man" Randy Savage impersonator. As bad as that sounds, the worst was yet to come. Lethal dropped the "Macho Man" impersonator gimmick after being with it for over three years.

Lethal would then impersonate another legend, Ric Flair. Leading to a match in which Lethal would win. The issue here is Ric Flair had "retired" from in-ring action two years prior at WrestleMania 24. Another issue here is that Flair took issue with Lethal impersonating him, but had no issue with AJ Styles doing it.

12 The TNA Front Line Vs. The Main Event Mafia Was Another Faction War

TNA Made Their Own Names Look Weak

• The Main Event Mafia consisted of Kurt Angle, Booker T, Scott Steiner, Kevin Nash, and Sting.
• The TNA Frontline consisted of AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Rhino, Team 3D, Christopher Daniels, The Motor City Machine Guns, Lethal Consequences, Beer Money, ODB, Petey Williams, and Eric Young.
• The feud made TNA's homegrown stars look like jobbers.

In 2009, TNA had fallen in love with stars who made their names elsewhere and had forgotten to recognize those who had actually made their name for the promotion. This was clearly evident in late 2008 when TNA decided to create The Main Event Mafia. A stable made up of Kurt Angle, Scott Steiner, Sting, Booker T, and Kevin Nash. They ran roughshod through TNA's young guns.

They were known as The TNA Front Line and were made up of guys like AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Team 3D, and Rhino. As previously mentioned, The Front Line would always lose. Joe lost to Nash, Styles lost to Sting, and The Front Line would lose in an Eight-Man Tag against The Mafia. TNA jobbed their own guys to already established talent, which hurt them in the long run.

11 Black Reign Was One Of Dustin Runnels' Worst Gimmicks

It Was Another Of Russo's Bad Gimmicks For Runnels

• The gimmick was debuted at Hardcore Justice 2007.
• He carried a rat to the ring.
• Black Reign was in tag team with Rellik.

Dustin Runnels, better known as Goldust in WWE and Dustin Rhodes in AEW, bounced back and forth between WWE and TNA throughout the 2000s. He was released from WWE for a third time and joined TNA for the second time. This reign was much different than his prior reign in WWE. He was given the name Black Reign. He was a schizophrenic dual-personality wrestler. He would have the same gear and face paint except it was completely black.

Reign would form a tag team with Rellik (which is killer spelled backward). The team would have little to no success. Reign would slowly be phased out of TNA television. Vince Russo who was the head writer at the time, must have had an incredible fascination with Runnels. He made him Seven in WCW and made him do this nonsense in TNA.

10 The August 1 Warning Had Weak Results

It Was The Debut Of Tito Ortiz As An Aces & Eights Member

• Ortiz was involved in the Aces & Eights versus Main Event Mafia story.
• He never wrestled in a match during this time.
• Bellator MMA pulled him and Rampage Jackson out of TNA.

The stable Aces & Eights led by Bully Ray had plateaued in the middle of 2014. They were embroiled in a stale feud with the new Main Event Mafia who had added MMA icon Rampage Jackson to their stable. And what I am about to say did not make it any better. Vignettes began to show hinting at someone appearing on August 1, 2014. Once that day came, the crowd was stunned by who appeared. Stunned silent that is as MMA legend Tito Ortiz interrupted the segment.

Mike Tenay then proceeded with the greatest call in professional wrestling history. Tenay shouted in fake excitement "August 1 Warning, identity revealed as the MMA legend Tito Ortiz." Ortiz's time in TNA did not last very long as he was forced to leave after Bellator no longer allowed him to make appearances for TNA.

9 Samoa Joe Gets Kidnapped

The Former World Champion Was Kidnapped By Ninjas

• The event happened in 2010.
• The story was never explained, and it was never mentioned again.
• It did not do anything to affect Samoa Joe's character.

The current AEW World Champion has a well-documented history in TNA. Samoa Joe was undefeated in one-on-one competition for his first year in the company. His undefeated streak was then ended by the debuting Kurt Angle. Joe would get his major win back when he defeated Angle at Lockdown 2008 to win the TNA Championship. In early 2010, Joe was seen walking backstage where he was abducted by ninjas.

Although that may sound interesting, Joe's kidnapping was never explained. He returned as if nothing had ever happened. According to Vince Russo, this kidnapping was planned to have Samoa Joe become a psycho character. Sadly, this would never come to be as they did not have any top babyface guys to replace him, so the storyline was dropped as if nothing had happened.

8 Angelina Love Gets Brainwashed

It Was A Random Story With No Explained Ending

• Winter kept Love in a trance.
• They held the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Titles for 94 days.
• Love eventually rejoined The Beautiful People and the story was dropped.

Angelina Love was the leader of The Beautiful People. A stable that clearly promoted bullying. Love and The Beautiful People would feud with the new Knockout, Winter, who is the former Katie Lea Burchill. Very clever TNA. Love would turn on her Beautiful People partner Velvet Sky. Love would then find herself entranced by Winter, almost as though she was having a spell put on her. Love was given drinks to remain under the control of Winter.

The duo would hold the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship on one occasion. Like most of the other stories on the list, the storyline would reach an abrupt and odd ending. It was never explained as to why Love was under the control of Winter and in Love's next tenure with TNA, she would rejoin Velvet Sky as a member of The Beautiful People.

7 Kurt Angle & Karen Jarrett's Divorce Was Showcased on Television

It Was An Uncomfortable Storyline

• Angle and Jarrett battled numerous times over the course of the feud.
• It involved real life tensions between Kurt Angle and the Jarretts.
• The story took placed in 2011.

Kurt Angle is one of professional wrestling's all-time greatest performers. All around, no one got it and understood it more than Kurt Angle. However, with Kurt Angle, unfortunately came a load of personal problems. He was arrested for DUI on multiple occasions, had several career-threatening neck injuries, and had been divorced from his wife. Karen Jarrett, the former Karen Angle, was Kurt Angle's wife and was showcased in various storylines prior to their divorce.

After the divorce, she returned to television and managed her husband, Jeff Jarrett. The two feuded for several months in a very uncomfortable and awkward storyline. Their feud would include a match with Angle and his "mistress" Chyna defeating the Jarretts in a mixed tag team match. Angle would get the better of this feud and would defeat Jarrett in the final encounter between the two.

6 The Samuel Shaw & Christy Hemme Story Was Creepy

It Was An Uncomfortable Stalked Storyline

• The story saw Shaw show a shrine dedicated to Christy Hemme.
• Mr. Anderson got involved in the story.
• Santana Garrett, under the name Brittany, joined the story of Shaw towards the end. However, it did not go anywhere.

Wrestler Samuel Shaw (now Dexter Lumis in WWE) performed on the indies for over five years before making his permanent TNA main roster debut. His character became a creepy, perverted, Dexter Morgan-esque wrestler. He would wrestle in gloves and in street clothes. His finisher would be a standing arm triangle. He would be put into a storyline where he stalked ring announcer Christy Hemme.

To defend Hemme came Mr. Anderson, who by this point was beyond stale, but would attempt to play the hero. Shaw would have a shrine dedicated to Hemme. Anderson would win the feud in a match where the loser was sent to the psychiatric ward. This story went absolutely nowhere. It was just constantly recycled every week and never progressed. Shaw was released from TNA after losing to Crimson of all people.

5 The Voodoo Kin Mafia Takes On WWE

The New Age Outlaws Just Didn't Do It The Same

• VKM was a play on Vince McMahon's initials.
• They often threw shots at Shawn Michaels and Triple H's DX revival.
• VKM lasted from 2006-2008.

What happens when former WWE stars Road Dogg and Billy Gunn join another wrestling promotion and can't use their own name? This. The Voodoo Kin Mafia or VKM is a play on the initials of Vincent Kennedy McMahon. They declared war on the WWE and D-Generation X members Shawn Michaels and Triple H. Every week the two would tear into the revived D-Generation X.

They would use their actual names in worked shoot promos against the two. WWE just ignored the two after constant weeks of attacks including an appearance at a House Show. Eventually, the Voodoo Kin Mafia declared themselves victorious in war where they received no response from the "enemy." Both Billy Gunn and Road Dogg would return to WWE and would work backstage as a trainer and agent respectively.

4 Judas Mesias Was Abyss' Long-Lost Brother

It Was Another Rip-Off Of A Classic WWE Storyline

• It was a blatant rip-off of WWE's Kane and Undertaker feud.
• Abyss battled Mesias in a Bared Wire Massacre match.
• Mesis went on to become Mil Muertes outside of TNA.

This storyline began the complete career destruction of the "Monster" Abyss. Abyss was on an absolute tear at the time. Then they turned him into a face and teamed him with the man he feuded with for months, Sting. In a World Title match against Kurt Angle, Abyss lost... by submission nonetheless and was dragged under the ring by Judas Mesias. His former manager James Mitchell threatened to reveal his deepest, darkest secret. Sound familiar? He revealed that he was Abyss' father and that Mesias and Abyss were half-brothers.

Sound even more familiar? Abyss would defeat his "half-brother" in a Barbed-Wire Massacre match and that was the last we saw of Mesias and Mitchell. After this Abyss began becoming a friendlier character and would befriend Matt Morgan. Abyss would even have a girlfriend in Lauren. Abyss went from a monster who destroyed everyone to a joke.

3 Aces & Eights Started Out Strong

The Story Ended Flat

• The story went from 2012-2013.
• Bully Ray was revealed to be the President of the group and won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.
• Members gradually left the company overtime, which contributed to it's weak display.

Aces & Eights at first started out as a pretty sweet idea, but then it slowly faltered. They had many great names like Bully Ray and Taz and Wes Brisco and Garrett Bischoff. How could this group have failed with Wes Brisco and Garrett Bischoff?! The stable began in 2012 as a group of bikers that would enter the Impact Zone. Slowly after that, they would reveal themselves one by one. The first to be unmasked was Brother Devon in a match against Bully Ray and Sting. Other members include Doc Gallows and Knux.

Mr. Anderson was the first non-original member to join. At Lockdown 2013 Bully Ray won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and was revealed to be the leader of Aces & Eights which completely contradicts the fact they had been feuding since the group first started. As I previously mentioned Tito Ortiz would also become a member of the faction. With names like these, it's hard to believe Aces & Eights didn't succeed. This group's failure was also caused by the fact that it lasted forever.

2 Immortal Was A Convoluted Story

It Was Overly And Unneccesarily Complex

• The faction featured two dozen members.
• At Bound for Glory 2010, the group was revealed.
• The faction took up a lot of TV time.

"They're coming" was the phrase often reiterated throughout much of 2010 for TNA. And when they "came" it was one of the most abysmal, dragging, and never-ending storylines in the company's history. Abyss leading up to Bound for Glory would shout the phrase "They're coming" at every Impact show. At Bound for Glory 2010, they were revealed to be Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, Jeff Hardy, Jeff Jarrett, and Abyss.

Then, they spent one hour in the ring explaining an overly complex plan where the group Fortune would also become a member of the group. They would feud with Kurt Angle and Mr. Anderson, who would also become a member of the group. Although it was not the group's fault the Jeff Hardy, Victory Road 2011 incident occurred. This group would last for two years. Two years of the same Hogan and Bischoff nonsense.

1 Claire Lynch Is The Worst TNA Storyline Of All Time

Simply Put, It Was Bad

• The story was messy and did not make any sense.
• It involved a fake pregnancy where AJ Styles was allegedly a father to Claire Lynch's child.
• Styles had to wrestle for a paternity test to be taken.

Why would TNA do this to their franchise? Their poster boy. The one name you associate with the company! AJ Styles had been feuding with the tag duo The Bad Influence. At first, they revealed that Styles and Dixie Carter were having an affair, which obviously wasn't true. Afterward, The Bad Influence claimed that Styles was the father of a baby who was being carried by a drug-addicted woman.

Her name was Claire Lynch. A big issue with this was it went against everything AJ Styles genuinely believes. The story climaxed when they had a paternity test. The test said that Lynch was not pregnant at all. It has to be a guarantee that this horrible angle had to be one of the heavier proponents in AJ leaving TNA and not wanting to return to the company.