Despite the roller coaster the business that has been Impact Wrestling since its inception in 2002, there have certainly been some bright moments in the promotion. For all its faults, there have been some big stars who have worked with the company over the years. While there certainly been some former WWE and WCW talent who have joined the company, there have been some homegrown stars.
Unfortunately, when some of these stars who have appeared for Impact Wrestling transition to WWE, there is not always a success story that follows. For every wrestler like AJ Styles who joins WWE, there are many other wrestlers who seem to fail for one simple reason - WWE officials do not know what to do with them once they get them on a contract.
10 EC3
Leave it to WWE to take one of the biggest TNA-built stars and multi-time World Champion and turn him in to an invisible wrestler. When EC3 left Impact Wrestling in 2018, fans were excited about what he could do with the company.
Unfortunately, things quickly started to go the way of his first WWE run, and he did not accomplish anything the entire time. He was released again in 2020, and logic says he will not be accepting another offer from them anytime soon.
9 Kaval / Low Ki
At one point, Low Ki was one of the most promising wrestlers outside of WWE. A multi-time TNA X-Division Champion and the first Ring of Honor Champion, he had the pedigree to have a great career in WWE.
That is why it was so surprising when he was booked very poorly in WWE, and was not given much of a chance to succeed. Despite winning the second season of the NXT program, he quickly fizzled in WWE and returned to the independent circuit without looking back.
8 Monty Brown
Monty Brown had a great upper-mid card career in the early years of TNA, and was poised for a main event run in the company. However, when he transitioned to WWE during their rebranding of ECW, he quickly faded in to the background.
With a new brand to create, WWE would likely be interested in having new stars to help carry ECW, but it appears that Brown was not considered. He would ultimately retire from wrestling following his WWE stint, making fans wonder if it was due to how he was booked during his tenure.
7 Madison Rayne
For many years, TNA was considered to have a much better Women's division than WWE, with their Knockouts Division putting on great matches. Madison Rayne is one of the few wrestlers to have title runs with both the Women's Tag Team Championship and the Knockouts Championship.
Despite this resume, when Madison joined WWE's Mae Young Classic tournament in 2018, she quickly lost in the first round of the tournament. Many thought someone with her past would be more successful, but WWE did not seem interested in having her compete long term.
6 Mike Bennett
Fans were very excited when Mike Bennett finally got his shot in WWE following a successful career in New Japan, Ring of Honor and Impact Wrestling.
However, it was quickly apparent that WWE did not have big plans for him on their roster, and he was relegated to jobber status. Bennett was one of the many wrestlers who had requested his release while under WWE contract due to the disappointment of his direction, and hopefully he will find success now that he has been released.
5 Austin Aries
At one point, Austin Aries was considered to be one of the best wrestlers on the planet. As a marquee star in both Ring of Honor and Impact Wrestling, he had accomplished plenty before arriving in WWE in 2016. This made things all the more unfortunate when he seemed destined for failure in WWE when he was transferred to 205 Live upon his debut. It wound up being true and Aries accomplished very little during his run and left WWE quickly.
4 Colt Cabana
Colt Cabana has been very open about the disappointment of his WWE run as Scotty Goldman. His Art of Wrestling podcast stemmed from his frustration, particularly given his success on the independent circuit. Cabana is an incredibly well-respected wrestler given his contributions to various promotions around the world, including a small stint in TNA's early years. Cabana is the perfect example of WWE not knowing what kind of talent they have.
3 James Storm
After knowing that kind of fate some of his former TNA alumni have experienced when joining WWE, perhaps James Storm was one of the smartest wrestlers on this list.
After only one match on NXT in 2015, Storm opted not to sign with WWE and continued on with Impact Wrestling. Storm was in a very successful tag team with Chris Harris, who was briefly in WWE as Braden Walker, and experienced a very lackluster run.
2 Tessa Blanchard
Despite all of the headlines that Tessa Blanchard has made in the past few months, she has amassed some great accomplishments on the independent wrestling circuit. However, her stints in WWE have not been great.
Blanchard has been used sparingly on NXT and made a brief appearance in the Mae Young Classic, but was eliminated in the first round. The future for Blanchard is unknown, and no one knows which wrestling company she will end up in following her Impact release.
1 Alex Shelley
Alex Shelley is widely considered to be one of the best technical wrestlers in the world, but he has never been given a shot in WWE. So when he was revealed as Kushida's mystery partner in the 2020 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, fans rejoiced that he would be given a chance on the big stage.
Unfortunately, it seemed that Vince did not know what he had, and did not lock Shelley down to a contract, letting him only do a part-time appearance.