TNA employed some of the best wrestlers of the generation during their long history of ups and downs. The TNA World Championship became a top prize for the company with huge stars holding the prestigious belt. Names like Kurt Angle, Sting, AJ Styles, and a handful of others created strong legacies with the title.

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However, there were quite a few wrestlers who challenged for the belt without much expectations for them actually winning it. TNA was very selective of which talents they pushed and often exposed their challengers of having no shot to become a new title holder. Find out what caused the wrestlers in question to get title shots that meant little in the grand scheme of things.

10 Rockstar Spud

Rockstar Spud and EC3

Rockstar Spud was a popular TNA star before he joined WWE under the new name of Drake Maverick. The face run of Spud allowed him to play a popular underdog character that mostly thrived in the X-Division. 

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Spud used the Option C clause as X-Division Champion to cash in a TNA World Championship match against Kurt Angle. The match was fun, but everyone knew Angle was retaining. EC3 also defended the belt against Spud, which was also too early in his title reign to expect a Spud win.

9 X-Pac

X-Pac in WWE's nWo

The career of Sean Waltman witnessed a huge decline when he left WWE in 2002. Fans knew him for his successful run as X-Pac to get a chance in TNA as one of the bigger names on the young roster.

The NWA Heavyweight Championship was the world title for TNA when X-Pac competed against Raven, AJ Styles, Abyss, and Monty Brown in a King of the Mountain Ladder match. X-Pac was the name fans instantly knew had no chance compared to the others.

8 Kenny King

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Former X-Division Champion Kenny King had a solid run in TNA as one of the better heels for the X-Division. King received one TNA World Championship title shot in his stint against Eric Young.

TNA booked the match too soon into Young’s reign to make fans believe King had a chance, especially since it took place on Impact instead of PPV. King could have had a more realistic shot to win if TNA saved the match for a different time.

7 Chris Harris

Chris Harris in WWE

TNA saw Chris Harris become one of the more heavily pushed stars who thrived in the early years before the growth. Harris received a noteworthy push when he and James Storm split up to end their all-time great TNA tag team America’s Most Wanted.

The first-ever TNA World Championship match featured Harris facing off with Kurt Angle, Christian Cage, AJ Styles, and Samoa Joe to decide who would first hold the gold. Harris stood out as the one name clearly below the others and never received another title shot after the loss.

6 D’Angelo Dinero

D'Angelo Dinero in TNA

Beginning in 2010, Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff's TNA tenure was met with heavy criticism. One move saw D’Angelo Dinero aka Elijah Burke getting one of the biggest pushes as a face. Dinero received momentum to score a huge TNA World Championship match against AJ Styles at Lockdown 2010.

The match had some hype, but it was obvious that Styles would retain the belt. Dinero received another title shot in a fatal four-way before losing and falling back into the mid-card picture for the rest of his run.

5 Jay Lethal

Jay Lethal in TNA

Jay Lethal was one of the most respected TNA wrestlers for his contributions in every area of the card. TNA unfortunately never elevated him to a higher level outside of the one feud with Ric Flair.

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Lethal did have a couple of world title shots in TNA that didn’t show much confidence from fans for him winning. Sting defeated Lethal to retain the TNA World Championship in a match designed to make him look strong in defeat. Lethal also fell short to Jeff Jarrett for the NWA Heavyweight Championship in one of his first TNA matches back in 2006.

4 Desmond Wolfe

Desmond Wolfe in TNA

Former Ring of Honor World Champion Nigel McGuinness saw his WWE contract offer removed in 2009 and it led to him signing in TNA. The new name of Desmond Wolfe introduced him in a great feud with Kurt Angle to start his run.

Wolfe suffered from Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff taking over after that feud. Three TNA World Championship matches all saw him losing as expected. Wolfe actually received heat for winning a fan poll that gave him a title shot against Rob Van Dam against the wishes of management’s hopes for the vote.

3 Frankie Kazarian

Kazarian in ROH

Frankie Kazarian was one of the most respected and appreciated wrestlers in TNA history by the diehard fan base. The biggest instances of success for Kazarian came in the X-Division and tag team division even though he flirted with the main event picture.

Kazarian received two TNA World Championship title shots in his TNA career that both saw him obviously losing. The first shot against Kurt Angle held more momentum since Kazarian scored a career-best victory over Christian Cage to get the match. A second attempt against Samoa Joe also ended in defeat with less buzz this time around.

2 Devon

Devon in TNA

The Dudley Boyz leaving WWE for TNA saw them dominating the TNA tag division for a short while before splitting. However, both TNA World Championship title matches for Devon came when teaming with Bubba.

All four major TNA titles were on the line when Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle faced Team 3D in a winner take all match with Joe and Angle winning the tag gold. Against All Odds 2009 featured Sting retaining the title in a fatal four-way over Devon, Bubba, and Kurt Angle. Devon winning was the least likely option in both matches.

1 Matt Morgan

Matt Morgan poses in TNA

TNA tried to make Matt Morgan a main eventer on a few occasions during his run in the company. Morgan had a few high profile feuds that ultimately never saw him getting over as much as desired to move to the top of the card.

There were five TNA World Championship title shots for Morgan with most coming in multi-man matches. The bigger singles opportunities came in feuds with Jeff Hardy and Mr. Anderson, with fans never viewing Morgan as a credible threat to win the big one.

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