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Impact Wrestling has, in recent times, taken a back seat to both WWE and AEW, but audiences often forget how big Impact once was in its early 2000s prime. Audiences also sometimes forget how many great stars once competed for Impact in both the early days and fairly recently.
The truth is, due to the small size and budget of the company, talent often left Impact quickly or failed to build a legacy there. Many great in-ring performers had Impact careers that lasted a few years while others only lasted a few matches. Whether these superstars were exiting other promotions, coming up early in their careers, or established talent looking for something new, all these stars are great wrestlers that even the most hardcore wrestling fan forgets had short careers at Impact Wrestling.
10 Chyna
Chyna is one of the most important women to ever step foot in a wrestling ring. She was a staple of the Attitude Era and deserves a solo spot in the WWE Hall of Fame. Many fans forget Chyna actually wrestled her last match in TNA. In May 2011, ten years after she left the WWE, Chyna was introduced on an episode of Impact as Kurt Angle's business associate.
This storyline led to an intergender match at Sacrifice 2011 where she and Kurt Angle defeated Jeff and Karen Jarrett. She disappeared off of Impact soon after and never wrestled again.
9 Eddie Kingston
After wrestling for almost two decades, Eddie Kingston has established himself as a great wrestler. He is having great success in AEW where he has been a staple since debuting in 2020. Before arriving to AEW, Kingston actually had a short stint at Impact. He debuted as a member of the Death Drew Council alongside James Storm and Bram.
He competed for the TNA World Tag Team Titles on two occasions and later joined the Latin American Xchange (LAX) for a few months before leaving the company.
8 Vader
2022 WWE Hall of Famer, Vader, had a great wrestling career. Many forget his legacy includes a quick stint in TNA where he saved legend, Dusty Rhodes. The two later won a tag team match. This was the first and last time he would ever compete alongside Dusty in his career.
After the tag match, Vader started a quick feud with Nikita Koloff before quickly departing from the company. Vader returned for a one-off appearance 12 years later. Vader won the match against Bram via DQ, which set a feud between Matt Morgan and Bram.
7 The Young Bucks
Before the Young Bucks were the tag team faces of AEW, Nick and Matt Jackson wrestled for a couple of years in TNA as "Generation Me." The pair competed for the TNA World Tag Team Titles six months after their debut and failed to capture them during their short TNA career.
The two also fought against each other in a singles match in 2011. After a little over a year with the company, the two requested their release citing monetary and creative issues. The two would wrestle two matches in 2013 before joining NJPW and launching themselves into international superstars.
6 Dusty Rhodes
Dusty Rhodes is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. He is largely responsible for the growth of middle-class wrestling audiences and was a promo monster. Many forget his Hall of Fame career includes a short stint at TNA during the early years of the company. Dusty didn't enter the company to be a manager either.
Rhodes wrestled various times and even competed for the NWA World Heavyweight Title against AJ Styles in what many consider a "dream match." He never held any gold and left the company after two years.
5 Xavier Woods
Before he founded one of the greatest tag team stables in the history of WWE, "The New Day," Xavier Woods first started his early career in TNA. Billed as "Consequences Creed," Woods became a fixture on television competing for the X-Division title on numerous occasions failing to capture the title during his entire career.
Foreshadowing the success he would later have in WWE, Woods and future AEW star, Jay Lethal, captured the TNA World Tag Team Titles for a week in 2008. A couple of months after leaving TNA, Woods would sign a developmental contract with WWE.
4 Rikishi
In his prime, Rikishi was surrounded by the likes of Stone Cold and The Rock during the Attitude Era and still managed to stand out in the WWE. Although he was never a top guy, Rikishi held his own on the roster and always excited fans in the ring. In 2007, he appeared on an episode of Impact His first match was a loss to Christian Cage with the help of AJ Styles.
He continued to make appearances and wrestle on Impact through October 2007. After wrestling five matches for the company and TNA refusing to meet Rikishi's pay request he left the company and never returned.
3 CM Punk
"The Best in the World" has left an impact on wrestling at a level many will never reach. He's currently a major part of the AEW roster and his return to wrestling in 2021 is one of the greatest returns in wrestling history. Before he was CM Punk, the straight edge superstar, he was wrestling for a company called NWA: Total Nonstop Action, a.k.a early Impact Wrestling.
He wrestled numerous matches for a little over a year competing with the likes of Abyss and AJ Styles. He quit the company in 2004 after he was informed he was no longer allowed to compete for both ROH and TNA. Not the worst breakup of his wrestling career.
2 Curt Hennig
With so many triumphs in both WWE and WCW, many fans forget Hennig ended his career in TNA. After being released from the WWE, Hennig showed up in TNA. Within a couple of weeks of his arrival in 2002, Hennig was already competing for the NWA World Heavyweight Title against Ron Killings, who would later be known as R-Truth. He never captured the title but wrestled his last match in TNA against David Flair. A little over a month after the match, Hennig tragically passed away.
1 Kazuchika Okada
Today, when wrestling fans hear the name, Kazuchika Okada, a picture of arguably the best wrestler in the world comes to their minds. Kazuchika Okada's list of accolades reads iconic even though it seems his career is far from over. Before he was wrestling 10-star matches against Kenny Omega, Okada was wrestling on Impact.
Okada never fought a "dream opponent" and of his seven matches, two of them were dark. The treatment of Okada at TNA was so bad Impact Wrestling has apologized to Okada for his treatment during his stint there. Still, Okada credits his time in TNA as crucial to him learning how to create a persona since his great in-ring performances hardly got him over with the audiences.