TNA’s championship lineage is a bit complex. When the company began in 2002, they were affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance, and so from 2002 until 2007, the NWA tag team titles were their main tag team championship. That changed with TNA breaking off to form their official belts. There was also the brief period they attempted to become Global Force Wrestling that had its own belts. That means a lot of wrestlers have held the tag titles in TNA with some surprising names.
The fact that many TNA stars such as AJ Styles, Abyss, and others have held tag team gold is no shock. Yet it’s amazing how some names held titles better known as stars in WWE or elsewhere. A few folks are less famous but still managed to gain some championships in TNA with partners. Here are ten wrestlers fans probably forgot held tag titles in TNA to show that company’s unique history with stars.
10 Chavo Guerrero
While that famous name helped, Chavo Guerrero was also a very skilled wrestler for multiple titles in WWE as tag team and Cruiserweight champion. He joined TNA in 2012, instantly forming a feud with Hernandez where Chavo did the promo work.
They won the tag titles at Bound for Glory in a three-way match with champs Bad Influence and AJ Styles and Kurt Angle. They dropped the belts to Austin Aries and Bobby Roode, regaining them in March, only to lose in a four-way battle at Slammiversary. Chavo left TNA a bit afterward, so fans forget he was a two-time champ there.
9 Joaquin Wilde
Currently clicking in NXT as part of El Legado del Fantasma, Joaquin Wilde is better known to TNA fans as DJZ and Zema Ion. Most of his success came in the X Division, including holding the championship twice and working with the BroMans.
In 2018, DJZ and Andrew Evertt defeated Eli Drake and Scott Steiner for the tag titles. Their reign lasted a total of two days before they lost the belts to LAX, with DJZ leaving TNA not long afterward. So far, he hasn’t gained gold in NXT yet a possibility he can add some soon.
8 Road Dogg
Any Attitude Era fan remembers the pop when “oh, you didn’t know…” came over the loudspeakers. Road Dogg and Billy Gunn were hot as the New Age Outlaws, holding the tag titles several times and popular with DX. In TNA, he was B.G. James, joining Ron Killings and Konan as the quirky 3 Live Kru.
At the first three-hour PPV, Victory Road 2004, James and Konan won the NWA tag titles from Team Canada. They would defend the belts under the Freebird rule before James and Killings lost the belts to Team Canada the next month. Surprisingly, the reunited Outlaws never got gold in TNA before a WWE return.
7 Tomko
One of those guys with all the right looks to be a major star but never quite got to that level, Tyson Tomko broke out in WWE as the right-hand man to Christian. He followed Christian to TNA, where he would back him up in tag matches.
He and AJ Styles formed a skilled tag team but marred by how Styles was portrayed as a complete idiot. They won the belts from Ron Killings and Pacman Jones for a nice and long reign. It ended losing to Kazarian and Eric Young in his “Super Eric” persona. Tomko bounced between WWE and TNA for a few years with this the highlight of either run.
6 D’Lo Brown
While he was a good worker in WWE, even winning a few titles, D’Lo Brown’s career was badly affected by his errant powerbomb that left Darren Drozdov paralyzed. He still had a run in TNA in the early 2000s, chest protector and all.
He and AJ Styles teamed a few times before feuding over Styles’ NWA title. In April of 2004, Brown and Apolo won the tag titles from Kid Kash and Dallas only to drop them a week later. Brown left TNA a few months later to mark this as his only gold in the company.
5 Cameron Grimes
So far, Cameron Grimes has been getting a sizable push in NXT, feuding with Dexter Luis and his surprisingly fun “feud” with Ted DiBiase over his supposed “riches.” That’s a big shift from his time as Trevor Lee in TNA.
He and Brian Myers were part of the “GFW invasion” of TNA that included a one-day reign as tag team champions. Lee found better success as X Division champion, including the Helms Dynasty and a cult character. So far, Grimes is content winning laughs more than titles in NXT might hopefully add some gold to his “riches” soon.
4 Lance Archer
Lance Archer is enjoying a good comeback in AEW and remarkably, he’s going strong with over 20 years in the business. Archer got his big break in WWE as Lance Hoyt, where he and Kid Kash won the vacant NWA World tag team titles in 2004.
They briefly dropped them to D’Lo Brown and Apolo but regained them a week later. They dropped them again to America’s Most Wanted, and Hoyt became a popular worker marred by the awful Rock n Rave Infection team. A brief WWE run followed.
3 Jaxson Ryker
Jaxson Ryker’s time in WWE has been up and down. The Forgotten Sons had promise and seemed ready for a tag title run until Ryker posted some controversial tweets. He’s now back in an alliance with Elias but not that much push. So many have forgotten that he held gold in TNA as Gunner.
He was pushed well with a collaboration with Jeff Jarrett and the Immortal program. James Storm selected him as a tag team partner for Slammiversary 2013, where they won the tag titles in a four-way match. They held them until Bound for Glory with Gunner bouncing around before leaving TNA, and this early run was forgotten.
2 Curt Hawkins
Curt Hawkins is best known for his gargantuan 269-match losing streak but he was a pretty good worker. He and Zack Ryder held the tag titles in 2008 during an alliance with Edge, with Hawkins leaving WWE in 2014.
Hawkins headed to TNA as Brian Meyers, teaming with Trevor Lee to represent GFW in their “war” with TNA. That included upsetting the Wolves for the tag titles. Just a day later, they lost the belts, and Hawkins left not long after. He returned to WWE for that streak that ended with a Mania title win with Ryder, which lasted a lot longer than his TNA run.
1 Xavier Woods
Xavier Woods with a tag team title around his waist has been a regular sight in WWE since 2015. The linchpin of The New Day has been terrific as a worker sharing the belts with Kofi Kingston and Big E and some good comebacks from injury. But Woods first got tag team gold in TNA as Consequences Creed.
His entire act was based on Carl Weathers’ character from the Rocky movies with a boxer gimmick that showed his early comedic chops. In 2008, Jay Lethal chose Creed as his partner to cash in his Feast and Fired contract and win the tag titles from Beer Money. The reign was less than a month before Beer Money regained the belts, and Creed went on to far more success as Woods.