TNA can be terrible at handling talent for a company that has often managed to make some good stuff work. It's well known how the company has a habit of signing up any WWE castoff and pushing them hard while ignoring their home-grown talents. There are also attempts to sign a fresher face that doesn't go well. The problem is that TNA creative has some awful ideas that bungle any would-be stardom.
It's not like they haven't had chances. It's amazing to see how TNA had several future stars under their contract but failed to do much with them (see Consequences Creed aka Xavier Woods). TNA has bungled the chance of several would-be great stars between creative bungling, the infamous low pay, and other issues.
10 Garett Bischoff
Nepotism is as old as wrestling, but that doesn't make it better when it happens. Garett Bischoff entered TNA in 2010, although it was in 2011 where he publically revealed himself as Eric Bischoff's son. He wasn't too awful but hardly deserving of being "trained" by Hulk Hogan to take on his father's agents.
His heel turn to join Aces & Eights was equally awful, paired with Kurt Angle, but fans did not care. His "face turn" was worse with him beaten up and eventually out of the company. Garett later sued TNA for non-payment, a fitting end to his attempted stardom.
9 Okato
It's harder to find the bungling of a future mega-star like this. After establishing himself as a rookie favorite in Japan, Kazuchika Okada was signed to TNA as part of an agreement with New Japan. The man had potential and charisma and could have been terrific. TNA's idea? Dress him up like Kato from The Green Hornet, complete with mask, call him Okato and live up to kung-fu cliches.
After numerous losses, not only was Okada gone, but NJPW cut ties with TNA. The fact Okada is now one of the best wrestlers on the planet shows just how badly TNA wasted this talent.
8 Sonny Siaki
TNA really thought Sonny Siaki was going to be their version of The Rock. He had a good build, some skill in the ring, but that was about it. He lacked any charisma (let alone The Rock's level), and his ring work was pretty generic. Having him follow AJ Styles and Jerry Lynn as X Division Champion was a bad move and his reign was a boring mess.
After he lost the belt, Siaki slumped down the ranks, just used in tag bouts and battle royals before leaving in 2005. He was the first (but hardly the last) "would-be star" misfire for TNA.
7 Sheik Abdul Bashir
In WWE, Muhammad Hassan was a terrible character perpetuating Arab cliches. When TNA hired his manager Davari, they decided it was logical to give him an act that made Hassan look subtle (his entrance music had a plane crash sound).
TNA kept pushing him, including a run as X Division Champion. His feuds included ref Shane Sewell, and his defenses were awful. He was out of TNA in a year, although he has made a recent return as Daivari.
6 Lacey Von Erich
The Von Erich clan has sadly become infamous for the long list of tragedies hitting them. Lacey was trying to beat that when she came into TNA and was pushed simply off the family name. This included TNA having her be the "mentor" to Brooke Tessmacher...only for Brooke to turn into 10 times the worker and star Lacey could be.
Lacey was botching moves, and her promos were awful. It appeared the Von Erich curse hit her differently as she was out of TNA in less than a year.
5 Monty Brown
What makes Monty Brown's failure so epic is that it really looked like TNA was going to make him a mega-star. The former NFL player had the full package of a great look, astounding charisma, good on the mic and his "Pounce" finisher was sharp. He was given a significant push, including challenging for the NWA World Title.
Then, for no reason, TNA turned him heel. It ruined all of Brown's momentum, and his career took a sharp nosedive to leave TNA in 2006. Brown could have been their homegrown success story but instead became a major missed opportunity.
4 Trytan
Few times has a guy hyped so much fallen flat so soon. In 2005, TNA began vignettes of Trytan, a powerful-looking guy dressed as the Terminator. He was soon on video threatening Monty Brown and later hinting he would attack him.
Trytan would show up, glare at Brown, and vanish. He finally made his debut at Destination X 2005...and had no wrestling ability whatsoever. After an awful "match", Trytan vanished immediately to make fans wonder what the point of his signing was.
3 Rellik
It seemed the only reason Rellik was around was just so the announcers could incessantly remind fans his name was "killer" spelled backward. That weird look was off-putting enough, but worse was sticking him into an overlong program with Black Reign (aka Goldust) and Abyss.
Aside from a few hardcore bouts, Rellik did nothing notable, was a waste of TV time and few missed him when he was finally cut. Maybe his name should have been "polf."
2 Gunner
It's never a good thing when it's hard to tell one guy from another. Such was the case when Gunner debuted in TNA as a security guard. The issue was, too many folks mixed him up with partner Murphy. Even a TV Title reign wasn't enough to make him stand out.
TNA tried again with him as the "surprise partner" for James Storm to briefly hold the tag titles, but Gunner was just interchangeable with any of a dozen guys in the company. He left in a cloud with few even caring he was gone.
1 Crimson
A few promotions have tried over the years to replicate their own Goldberg, but few failed as much as Crimson in Impact Wrestling. TNA really made a big deal out of the man entering the company and going undefeated for 470 days. Of course, they left off the detail much of that time was Crimson out for injury, and fans barely caring about him when he did wrestle.
And after all that hype on the "streak," it ended in a two-minute match to James Storm. Aside from a brief tag title reign with Matt Morgan, Crimson never achieved much before being cut in 2013, making the "streak" meaningless.