The history of TNA featured many great talents not being used to their full potential or wrestlers that struggled to get opportunities. Every wrestler to spend enough time in TNA likely had at least one odd angle that is more fascinating to watch back. The role of a sidekick ended up being pivotal for certain characters trying to make it work.
TNA was like any other wrestling company to have their fair share of storylines with one wrestler being stronger and their ally serving as a sidekick. This isn’t always a death sentence as certain talents ended up making great careers out of that role like Stevie Richards, Jimmy Hart and Chyna. The following wrestlers were sidekicks in TNA that have been forgotten for those roles.
10 Rebel
AEW currently sees Rebel as arguably the best sidekick character in wrestling today working with Britt Baker. However, it has become forgotten that Rebel had a lot of experience in this role and a longer overall stint in TNA.
Rebel joined wrestling later than most and received two roles as a secondary character. The Menagerie faction debuted Rebel as a sidekick for leader Mike Knox. An even better example of this position featured Rebel joining The Dollhouse faction to help Taryn Terrell dominate the Knockouts division.
9 Okato
Kazuchika Okada becoming a generational talent for NJPW makes TNA look even worse for how they booked him. NJPW and TNA’s working relationship led to Okada coming to the United States at a young age to learn and grow during his excursion. Okada was so used so badly that it angered NJPW for years.
TNA barely found ways to spotlight Okada on television and made him a comedic sidekick at his best. Okato was the new name given to him when playing a character inspired from Green Hornet sidekick Kato. The new gimmick saw Okada wearing a mask and becoming Samoa Joe’s sidekick in ridiculous segments.
8 Tyson Tomko
Few wrestlers received as many opportunities to play a sidekick as much as Tyson Tomko did in the 2000s. WWE first booked Tomko as the “problem” solver bodyguard for Christian Cage when he ran his mouth and needed someone else to back it up.
TNA hired Tomko to join the company shortly after Christian turned heel to reunite the act. Cage and Tomko were outstanding together until Tomko betrayed him. AJ Styles and Tomko turning on Christian saw Tomko becoming a sidekick to Kurt Angle moving forward.
7 Santana Garrett
Few TNA fans will have strong memories of Santana Garrett in the company since both stints ended quite abruptly. Orlando Jordan’s controversial gimmick saw Santana as his girlfriend in his inner circle with a boyfriend as both partners played his sidekicks.
TNA brought Garrett back a few years later and placed her in a new heel role dating the demented Samuel Shaw character. The storyline featured her loving Shaw’s dark side and trying to help him unleash that while harming their mutual enemies.
6 Rellik
The Rellik will end up in many historic TNA lists looking back at some of the more ludicrous characters. Johnny the Bull wanted to revamp his career after getting fired by WWE to play a horror character with a mask.
Unfortunately, the timing of Rellik joining TNA lined up with Dustin Rhodes introducing the Black Reign character. Both gimmicks having that horror and creepy appeal led to TNA placing them together. Dustin received more time and credibility for his act due to past success, and it made Rellik come off as a failed sidekick.
5 Consequences Creed
Xavier Woods remains one of the most underutilized stars in TNA history when seeing his WWE accomplishments. There are no important aspects of wrestling that Woods is not good at, to make it more surprising that he flopped in TNA.
Consequences Creed was the name given to Woods when teaming up with Pacman Jones, R-Truth and Jay Lethal at various points. TNA used Creed as a sidekick in every sole partnership to stifle his character progression. WWE placing Woods in New Day showed his potential after the weak TNA sidekick run.
4 Johnny Devine
Another wrestler to get an identity of being a sidekick featured X-Division talent Johnny Devine. Team Canada added Devine later into the group’s start to be their sidekick helping out the bigger names like Petey Williams, Bobby Roode and Eric Young.
The rest of Devine’s TNA career saw him always as a sidekick to various names like Alex Shelley, Kevin Nash, Team 3D and Raven. None of these roles worked to get Devine a long-term roster spot, but he always entertained as the cowardly sidekick character.
3 Rockstar Spud
Rockstar Spud is currently part of the WWE creative team, but he has been chasing the wrestling dream for years. TNA was the first major United States promotion to sign Spud to a full-time contract after he won the first season of British Boot Camp.
The majority of Spud’s TNA career was spent being the sidekick and embracing that role. EC3, Dixie Carter, Matt Hardy and a few other wrestlers had Spud as their backup. Even though he had great matches when called upon, Spud thrived most as a character making sure he entertained as a sidekick.
2 Jenna Morasca
TNA signing former Survivor reality show star Jenna Morasca led to her playing two forms of a sidekick. Morasca’s biggest and only role in TNA featured her becoming Kevin Nash’s manager and a part of the Main Event Mafia by association.
Nash picking Jenna at the end of a long manager search saw her enjoying that role as a managing sidekick. However, tension started when Sharmell started treating Morasca as her lackey. Jenna standing up to Sharmell unfortunately gave us an all-time bad match still mocked today.
1 Eddie Kingston
TNA did so little with Eddie Kingston that many fans forgot he even worked there. Kingston’s two biggest roles saw him playing a sidekick in various ways. The Death Council Crew faction started with James Storm as the leader having Eddie and Bram become his sidekicks.
There were deeper layers to the big original LAX vs new LAX feud of Kingston aligning with Homicide and Hernandez to feud with Santana, Ortiz and Konnan. Eddie started out as Konnan’s sidekick before causing the rift to start an intense rivalry.