There is no denying that Impact Wrestling has suffered many ups and downs during its operation. Since originally debuting in 2002, the company has struggled through financial, personal and talent-related issues that have hindered its success at every turn. Thankfully, the company has continued to persevere through every obstacle and has turned things around to the point that their attendance and viewership numbers have increased, and they are on a much steadier trajectory.

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Despite their continued improvement, there are some aspects of Impact's history that cannot be erased. Whether fans are looking at the history book for the TNA or Impact Wrestling Championship, not every title reign is glittered with gold. In fact, there have been some unfortunate footnotes in the championship's history that the company would prefer to ignore, and even erase if it were possible.

10 2012 - Jeff Hardy

Jeff Hardy as TNA Champion

Jeff Hardy's time with Impact Wrestling was littered with controversy due to his personal demons, which has affected his career many times. While wrestling fans have always supported Jeff on his road to rehabilitation, there have been several instances of him letting his demons get the best of him to the point that his in-ring performances have suffered.

Thankfully, Jeff's third Impact World Championship run in 2012 did not feature one of these instances, but his story was centered around redemption. Despite his popularity, his final run at the top was not nearly as solid as his earlier time with the company, or his final run as Brother Nero.

9 2013 - Chris Sabin

Chris Sabin

There is no denying how positive Chris Sabin's contributions to Impact Wrestling were over the course of his long career. As someone who helped define the X-Division and a great tag-team star alongside Alex Shelley, Sabin was a great part of Impact's roster for many years. Unfortunately, that did not make him a good World Champion.

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At a time when Impact's roster did not have the strength or star power that it once had, Sabin was given the opportunity to be the top wrestler in the company. However, he was not able to sustain that spot for very long, and had one of the shortest championship reigns the title has seen so far. After only 28 days, Sabin proved that he was not ready for this position in the company.

8 2014 - Eric Young

Eric Young as the Impact World Champion

When ranking underdog stories in professional wrestling, Daniel Bryan's journey to becoming WWE Champion is among the greatest. Unfortunately, when Impact tried to replicate this storyline with Eric Young, it was not nearly as well-received by fans and put a strain on the championship belt.

Despite being a long-time Impact employee and a once-beloved wrestler, very few fans had Young winning the World Championship on their bingo card. Young was a great utility wrestler for the company at the time but was not ready to be World Champion, particularly when there were many other solid main-event wrestlers in the company at the time who could have done a much better job.

7 2015 - Matt Hardy

Matt Hardy TNA Impact

Matt Hardy has always been a very solid wrestler, but he was never given a shot at a main-event run as a singles wrestler during all his years in WWE. In 2015, he got his first shot during his stint with Impact Wrestling and received two runs as World Champion. Unfortunately, those reigns left a lot to be desired when fans had been waiting so long.

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To no fault of his own, both of Matt's championship reigns in 2015 ended by nefarious means with strange booking and did not show him as a strong champion. Thankfully, the end of his World Championship reign gave birth to Broken Matt Hardy, which was a very positive contribution to the professional wrestling world.

6 2016 - Ethan Carter III

EC3

Ethan Carter III is the prime example of a wrestler who can do great things when given the opportunity in a company. After a failed stint in WWE, he reinvented himself in Impact Wrestling and had a great first World Championship run in 2015. Unfortunately, not every title reign can be the most successful one, and even the best have a dark mark on their resume.

Carter's second title reign began in 2016 and ended only two days later. Despite being a proven force as a main-eventer, he was not given another chance at holding the championship before departing the company.

5 2017 - Alberto El Patrón

Alberto Del Rio TNA World Champion

When real life crosses into the professional wrestling world, it is not always for the better. Despite coming off of a main event run in WWE, Alberto El Patrón was not the right person to be the face of Impact Wrestling when he arrived in 2017.

Following a domestic abuse arrest, while holding the championship, Alberto was suspended from Impact and subsequently stripped of the title. While Alberto did have name value to offer the company due to his WWE stint, his personal life only served to damage all the hard work the company had done to build itself up. Considering that Patrón did not even defend his title once, there is a case to be made for him being the worst champion in the company's history.

4 2018 - Austin Aries

Austin Aries

Despite being an incredibly talented wrestler, Austin Aries has proven that he is not a valuable commodity to professional wrestling due to his attitude. During his final stint with Impact, he decided to go into business for himself and not honor one of wrestling's longest traditions: losing a championship gracefully on the way out.

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After losing his third Impact World Championship to Johnny Impact, Aries went off-script following the loss and immediately walked out of the ring. Considering that he had just been defeated and pinned, his decision to get up quickly (and flip the bird to numerous people on the way out) left everyone confused and stunned. Had Aries done the right thing, he would go down as one of Impact's best, but he is now someone the company would rather forget.

3 2019 - Brian Cage

Brian Cage as Impact Champion

Given his combination of size, strength, and agility, Brian Cage should be an incredibly successful wrestler in any company he goes to. While he was a solid Impact Champion at a time when the company was restructuring, he was not the strongest champion in comparison to others.

The other champions in 2019 were very strong wrestlers in Johnny Impact and Sami Callihan, who both had very memorable title runs. In comparison, Cage's run is often forgotten as he did do anything spectacular during his time. Considering he left Impact shortly after losing the title, he did not do much for his legacy in the company.

2 2020 - Tessa Blanchard

Tessa Blanchard wins the Impact World Title

Tessa Blanchard's historic Impact Championship win should have been something the company could celebrate for years to come. Unfortunately, many unforeseen circumstances have not only hindered Blanchard's wrestling career but have all but deleted her from Impact's history books.

After becoming the first woman to hold the Impact Championship, Blanchard's relationship with the company started to sour, which was exacerbated by the COVID-19 restrictions on travel across the world. Instead of having a long run as a history-making champion, Blanchard was released from her contract and stripped of the title.

1 2021 - Josh Alexander

josh-alexander-impact-1-

Calling Josh Alexander the worst at anything in the wrestling ring should be a crime, but his only Impact World Championship reign to date was a very disappointing one. Despite being one of the strongest in-ring performers to ever be a part of the company, he holds the record for the shortest championship reign in the company's history.

After a long journey to winning the championship from Christian Cage, Alexander was immediately challenged by Moose and was swiftly defeated after holding the championship for only minutes. While Josh has a great career ahead of him and may become champion again, his first taste of World Championship gold left a lot to be desired.