It’s been pretty easy to slam TNA over the years for some very bad stuff. From their obsession with “evil supergroup taking over the company” storylines to some pretty terrible gimmick matches, the company has presented some horrendous things for fans. It’s easy to pick on many angles that lasted way too long like Aces & Eights or the Immortal/Fortune fight. Yet it’s notable how many times TNA/Impact has presented storylines that often had little point. They could have been major things with some of the biggest stars and presented as huge deals but never led to anything notable in the end.
Sometimes, the problem is how there were real-life issues suddenly shifting the angle up and preventing the payoff. Other times, they were poorly planned from the start so it’s little wonder they turned out to be so lame in the ending. It’s amazing to see how often TNA (in any name) has set up what looks like a big storyline only to let just taper out to nothing. A few dominate more than others given how TNA has given so much bad stuff. Here are 10 big TNA storylines that just didn’t pay off as a reminder of how much trouble the company has had sticking the landing.
10 August 1
The entire bloated Aces & Eights storyline dragged on for far too long and little payoff. Yet this is still a notable moment. For weeks in 2013, mysterious messages had hinted something big was coming on August 1st. The date rolled around and out came Tito Ortiz, the MMA fighter whose peak had long passed. The crowd was dead silent for it as Ortiz just stood with arms crossed. He was offered a spot in the Main Event Mafia only to turn on them. Before anything else could happen, Bellator ordered Ortiz to sever connections with TNA so he left to waste this whole big setup.
9 Abyss’ Brother
In 2005, Abyss and James Mitchell united into a fantastic pairing with Mitchell doing terrific promos to sell Abyss as a monster. By 2007, they were on the outs, with Abyss facing Sting for the World title when Judas Mesias came out to attack Abyss. Mitchell then revealed he was Abyss’ true father and Mesias was also his son and Abyss’ half-brother.
Yep, it was the entire Undertaker/Kane/Paul Bearer storyline all over again. Abyss beat Mesias in a “barbed wire bat” match and he and Mitchell left while Abyss began his transformation into a comedic worker to damage his career.
8 Angelina Love Brainwashed
This was just downright weird. Angelina Love began seeing a reflection in the mirror of a woman named Winter calling herself Love’s biggest fan. No one else could see her although the audience could. It gets worse. Winter would turn out to be real and joining with Love to win the Knockouts Tag Titles. It was clear Winter was drugging and brainwashing Love into her slave as she also won the Knockouts title. There was no true payoff to it all as both ladies left TNA and when Love returned, she was back to normal with the entire thing forgotten.
7 Samoa Joe’s Kidnapping
For a guy who was one of TNA’s long-term stars, Samoa Joe had a lot of very bad stuff over the years. In 2010, an angle was shot where Joe was walking backstage only to be kidnapped by masked men and tossed into a van.
A message was released saying “they are coming” which promised Joe returning with a harsh new attitude. When he did come back, the entire kidnapping was never referenced at all as if Joe just took a vacation instead of being the victim of a crime.
6 Maria and Allie
Given the long length of this storyline, the fact it went nowhere says a lot. Maria had been pushed in TNA as a truly wicked heel who loved to boast on her greatness and cheating her way to becoming Knockouts Champion. Allie was the innocent woman Maria abused constantly. On screen Allie clearly had a crush on Braxton Sutter (her real-life husband) who was being forced to marry Laurel Van Ness.
The big wedding ended with Sutter dumping Laurel to be with Allie and Maria firing her. This was going to set up a big feud with them and Sutter facing Mike Kanellis only for Maria and Kanellis to immediately leave the company so there was no proper payoff.
5 Evil Owner MVP
MVP joined TNA in 2014 as the storyline “investor” and soon rose up to be commissioner. He was a face but then turned heel to attack World champion Eric Young. MVP created the Beat Down Clan with the plot to win the World title and dominate as a heel champion.
But then MVP suffered a real leg injury so Lashley had to take his place to win the belt. The BDC would suffer as MVP lost his power and then was fired as the fall guy for the Hernandez-Lucha Underground mess. This had promise but various events caused it to fall apart.
4 Jackie’s Tape
Even by TNA standards, this was baffling. In late 2005, Jackie Gayda was part of Jeff Jarrett’s huge group. She began talking about having a “tape” of Jarrett that would ruin him. She gave no indication of what was on the tape or why Jarrett would find it so damaging to his career. Scott D’amore was sent to try and defuse the situation which included Alex Shelly taping Jackie in her home to catch her doing something shady (which also wasn’t explained). Jackie and Jeff both had their blackmail tapes but Jackie suddenly left the company to make this a colossal waste of time after so much attention was given to it.
3 Nation of Violence
Yep, it’s Samoa Joe again. In 2009, Joe decided to take on a bold new look with his “Nation of Violence” gimmick. Now wearing face paint, Joe was incredibly brutal in fights to the point of threatening guys with a machete. It was wild as he faced the Main Event Mafia in various matches and talked of having an “advisor.”
The payoff to it all? Joe turned heel to join the Mafia simply because they paid him off. He was soon dressed in suits and that entire “violent” period was completely brushed off despite how it got Joe more over than ever.
2 GFW “Invasion”
After leaving TNA in a cloud, Jeff Jarrett started up his own Global Force Wrestling. It didn’t do too well but Jarrett hoped to have it bounce back by staging a huge “invasion” of TNA. The GFW guys would attack TNA guys and have some good beatings going. There was a challenge match at Lockdown which gave Jarrett power over TNA and promised much more action to come.
Instead, in just a few weeks, TNA won a special rematch to drop it. The reason was that Jarrett had thought GFW would dominate more but TNA didn’t want that. This led to the seriously ugly lawsuit which ended with TNA briefly “merged” with GFW only to drop that not long afterward and make this all worthless.
1 Claire Lynch
In the annals of horrible wrestling storylines, this is one of the biggest. Christopher Daniels and Kazarian were making it sound as if AJ Styles had an affair with a woman named Claire Lynch. Lynch herself showed up to claim Styles was also the father of her child despite his denials. It was hated by scores of fans and the backlash hit the actress playing Lynch hard.
So much so that she quit to go back to her old job playing Olive Oyl at Universal Studios (really). A “lawyer” showed up to announce Claire had made the whole thing up and it was dropped but the horror lives on.