In many ways, TNA was the heir apparent to WCW's legacy - in both good aspects and bad. From its inception, the promotion that became today's Impact Wrestling was the home to many top names in the industry - from legends like Hulk Hogan and Sting to up-and-coming stars like AJ Styles and CM Punk.
Like WCW (and WWE, as well as every other promotion that's ever existed...), for every talented wrestler TNA helped reach their potential, there were several others who they mismanaged. From the obvious to the obscure, Impact Wrestling has had several would-be stars walk through their dressing rooms, and many couldn't escape its terrible booking.
10 AJ Styles
Despite arguably being 'Mr. TNA' during his tenure from 2002 until his departure in 2014 (or maybe because of it), AJ Styles - the five-time NWA/TNA World Champion - suffered from their terrible booking several times.
Styles was at the forefront of some of TNA's worst storylines: from the promotion's origins in the hands of Vince Russo to Fortune's confusing feud/alliance with Hulk Hogan's Immortal (and AJ's Ric Flair impression), to the Claire Lynch saga. Despite it all, his undeniable ability and talent consistently shined through, and he proved his greatness with his further success in New Japan and WWE.
9 Tenille Dashwood
When Tenille Dashwood, formerly known as Emma during her six years in WWE, made her return to Impact Wrestling in December 2021 with fellow Aussies Cassie Lee and Jessica McKay, the jubilant reunion was the most she'd done in months.
She did have a decent run during her first stint from 2019-2020, unsuccessfully challenging Taya Valkyrie for the Knockouts Championship and feuding with Alisha Edwards. However, whether it be due to poor, stop-start booking or Dashwood's penchant for world travel, much like her tenure in WWE, she's struggled to find her footing despite clearly being talented and having a fan following.
8 Eric Young
If AJ Styles was 'Mr. TNA,' Eric Young was like a 'junior' version of the same concept: a wrestler who, regardless of ever-changing booking regimes and other leadership, was a steady, entertaining presence through all of the company's proverbial ups and downs throughout the dozen years (2004-2016) he spent during his original run.
With that said, by the time Young finally had his first run with the TNA World Championship in 2014, the perennial underdog had run through the gamut of silly gimmicks that could have ruined his career. From 'Super Eric' to the time a bump on the head in 2010 led to a series of unfunny vignettes; Young suffered through several bad creative decisions with the company that probably would have buried a lesser talent. Even the 2014 championship run was pegged as a rip-off of WWE's storyline with Daniel Bryan.
7 Jimmy Rave
Any discussion on Jimmy Rave's time in wrestling needs to be prefaced with acknowledging that his unfortunate issues with drug addiction tremendously impacted his career and sadly, his life. Rave, who passed away in December 2021 after suffering multiple amputations due to MRSA over the past year, even admitted that his 2009 release from Ring of Honor was due to his issues at the time.
Perhaps this has something to do with TNA's general misuse of the talented youngster, as well as its Indian spinoff, Ring Ka King, where he also worked as a trainer. Rave is probably best remembered by TNA fans for his time with Lance (Hoyt/Archer) Rock and manager Christy Hemme as the 'Rock and Rave Infection,' an entertaining mid-card act. It's easy to imagine an alternate reality where it was a springboard to bigger and better things for the former Ring of Honor star.
6 Homicide
While several Ring of Honor stars of the early 2000s - AJ Styles, CM Punk, and Bryan Danielson, to name a few - became some of the biggest names in the sport through the 2010s, Homicide seemed to miss the boat to superstardom. He was one of several wrestlers who were allowed to split time between ROH and TNA in the middle part of the decade, and made several appearances as part of the Latin American Xchange (LAX), even winning the then-NWA World Tag Team Championships with partner Hernandez.
Unfortunately, after Homicide bid farewell to ROH in 2007 - where he'd been World Champion since defeating Danielson the previous year at Final Battle, his exclusive contract with TNA didn't deliver the results he must've been expecting. Subsequently, he was booked almost exclusively in the tag division despite showing his ability as a singles competitor before being granted his release in 2010.
5 Jay Lethal
Jay Lethal's recent signing with AEW felt like a longtime respected veteran finally getting a chance to be something more than a series of smaller ponds' proverbial Big Fish. The Ring Of Honor 2010s' Wrestler of the Decade was not just synonymous with the era's biggest indie, as he also managed to win gold across many smaller promotions as well.
Jay Lethal's time in TNA is best remembered for his six X Division Championships, a spot-on Randy Savage impersonation as Black Machismo, and a 'Woo-Off' with Ric Flair. Lethal had plenty of great matches and rivalries during his six-year stint with the company, but it's inarguable that ROH did a much better job at presenting Lethal as a legitimate, serious star than TNA ever did.
4 Nigel McGuiness (Desmond Wolfe)
The misuse in TNA of Ring of Honor stars was something of a trope, but to be fair to TNA, they did a tremendous job with the former ROH World Champion's debut in 2009. Knowing that the two companies shared an overlapping fanbase, TNA didn't waste any time with the rechristened Desmond Wolfe.
Wolfe immediately targeted Kurt Angle, and their subsequent series of matches were examples of Angle's ability to put others over. After the feud concluded, though, Wolfe was somewhat lost in the shuffle, as TNA's main event scene was as crowded as ever at the time. In April 2010, however, Wolfe surprisingly won a fan poll - over folks like Angle, Jeff Hardy, and AJ Styles - for a shot at Rob Van Dam's World Championship, but when he lost in his opportunity on a May Impact, it marked his peak before a Hepatitis B diagnosis led to his eventual premature retirement.
3 Cheerleader Melissa (Raisha Saeed/Alissa Flash)
Long before the TNA Knockouts Division and WWE's Women's Revolution helped change the mainstream perception of women's wrestling in North America, indie promotions like SHIMMER gave young female wrestlers a real platform - one where their in-ring abilities were valued, rather than just their looks.
Cheerleader Melissa's origins go beyond SHIMMER's establishment in 2005. By 2008, with several years of experience under her belt and having had emerged as one of the premier woman wrestlers in the industry, TNA offered Melissa a contract. Of course, their idea on how to use her was terrible: they put her under a niqab in a borderline-offensive gimmick as Awesome Kong's Syrian accomplice, Raisha Saeed. Even when she returned to TNA for a few brief later appearances as Alissa Flash, she wasn't taken seriously and deserved better.
2 Monty Brown
When TNA was a young promotion trying to find its footing and establish an identity in the early 2000s, one of the most important things it could do was create its own stars. In 2004, "The Alpha Male" Monty Brown - who'd appeared a few times in 2002 but didn't stick with the fledgling company - made an impactful return, attacking the Insane Clown Posse.
Brown was immediately thrust into storylines with the company's top stars and even won Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Rookie of the Year award for 2004. However, the company didn't pull the trigger on making Brown an NWA World Champion and despite feuds with legends like Sting, the future 'Marquis/Marcus Cor Von' left TNA when his contract expired in 2006 to sign with WWE before retiring from wrestling altogether in 2007.
1 Kazuchika Okada
American fans who don't follow Japanese wrestling can be forgiven for not understanding why Kazuchika Okada might be TNA's biggest missed opportunity ever. After three years of increasingly impressive showings as a rising star in his native New Japan, Okada came to TNA as part of a talent exchange in 2010. NJPW officials even went as far as to expressly announce the intent of Okada's 'American tour' - with seasoning and experience, it was expected that he'd return after a period as a top star.
This all eventually came to fruition - since his 2012 full-time return to Japan, Okada's won a historic number of 'Match of the Year' and other awards from the likes of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and Pro Wrestling Illustrated. However, this was no thanks to TNA, whose bafflingly inconsistent booking of Okada - even renaming him 'Okato' after several months of work under his longtime moniker - led to New Japan severing ties with TNA and even an explicit apology to Okada from new Impact Wrestling officials during a 2017 Japan visit.