10 Wrestling Legends TNA Impact Wrestling Had On Their Roster (& Did Nothing With)

The history of Impact Wrestling aka TNA has a deep list of names that ranged from young stars making their names to established veterans that each hit the legend territory. Names like Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy, and Sting had noteworthy moments when joining with name value. AJ Styles and Samoa Joe represented young stars who took their first steps towards becoming legends there.

However, there were plenty of other names that would reach the legend status to have weak runs in TNA. Fans had high hopes for some memorable moments involving the names in question. Unfortunately, not everyone will have a great run or be used in an effective manner. The following legends saw Impact doing nothing with them while on the roster.

10 Sean Waltman

There were a few stints for Sean Waltman on the TNA roster after his WWE run as X-Pac ended. TNA wanted to work with Waltman due to him being a relevant name that thrived in both WWE and WCW for many years before getting released.

The timing was usually bad since Waltman had his issues with substance abuse and addiction in between rehab stints. Waltman wasn’t viewed as reliable and saw a few short runs each ending without much of an impact.

9 Spike Dudley

The Dudley Boyz tag team of Bubba Ray and D-Von found great success with their TNA run as Team 3D. However, their on-screen brother Spike Dudley joining the company to work with them again didn’t work out nearly as well as ECW or WWE.

Spike wrestled as Brother Runt and often tagged with Team 3D in six-man tag matches. TNA gave him a horrible storyline of being an alcoholic who accidentally cost his brothers their matches while spiraling out of control. Spike never got to do anything of substance in the short TNA run.

8 Jacqueline

Former WWE Women’s Champion Jacqueline was one of the rare women on the roster before TNA officially started their Knockouts division. Jacqueline was among the most respected women in wrestling and provided some credibility when the roster started.

However, TNA never pushed her that strong in the ring as she often just put over others in secondary matches. Jacqueline managing Beer Money was the peak of her TNA run, but the team even worked better without her when James Storm and Bobby Roode got to explore their characters more.

7 Kazuchika Okada

TNA had a young Kazuchika Okada before he was a legend as part of a working relationship with New Japan. The hope for NJPW was that Okada would have a decent little stint in TNA learning the American style since their prospects often did excursions in other countries to grow as performers.

Okada ended up having the worst possible stint barely having any relevant matches and getting placed in embarrassing storylines as a Green Hornet parody character. NJPW was so unhappy with this that they broke the working relationship with TNA until the recent Impact regime worked hard to get back in their good graces.

6 Sabu

Sabu was someone that bounced in out and of TNA throughout the years while never having a long full-time run. The ECW run of Sabu made him a legend, and his reputation for having violent matches made him feel like a unique mid-card attraction performer.

There were a few matches to have some anticipation against Samoa Joe and Abyss, but neither match had a build beyond Sabu returning for a big match. TNA did Sabu wrong by never booking to feel like a part of the show despite being on the roster quite a few times.

5 CM Punk

The always controversial CM Punk had a polarizing TNA run backstage with various ups and downs. Punk had a role in Raven’s faction The Gathering and showed his potential. TNA did have some plans for Punk to feud with Raven that never worked out.

Punk stopped working for TNA when they wanted him to prioritize their dates over Ring of Honor and potentially phasing out ROH due to the schedule. There was also the drama of Punk having a backstage fight with Teddy Hart that made management lack trust in him.

4 Shane Douglas

TNA signed Shane Douglas relatively early since he had no realistic path to WWE. Douglas wrestled at the start and had forgettable feuds during the weekly PPV years. The move towards retirement saw Douglas trying other roles by the time TNA had a television deal with Fox Sports and later Spike TV.

Douglas was a backstage interviewer in a strange role for his character. TNA even tried to move him into a manager role representing The Naturals tag team. The chemistry wasn’t there to make Douglas’ TNA run become a weak footnote in his career.

3 Chyna

The name value of Chyna was still compelling enough to create interest for TNA when bringing her in. There was even a logical storyline of Kurt Angle bringing her in as a tag team partner against mutual enemy Jeff Jarrett and his wife Karen.

Chyna and Angle won the tag match, but she never did anything again in the company. The return match made sense until you realized it was more about Angle getting revenge on the Jarretts than Chyna having her first match in almost a full decade.

2 Diamond Dallas Page

The TNA tenure of Diamond Dallas Page doesn’t get discussed much since it went by so quickly. Page started appearing during the Fox Sports era and had a few months on the roster. TNA mostly used DDP in mid-card feuds that did little to build his momentum.

There was one world title program against Jeff Jarrett, but it was extremely predictable that he would lose. Even a cool idea like feuding with Raven to play into their WCW history, but TNA ruined it by making Erik Watts of all people part of their storyline.

1 Rikishi

Rikishi was once among the most popular Attitude Era babyfaces, but he lost a lot of his appeal by the time TNA signed him. The hope was that Rikishi would be a familiar enough face to get over again and convince fans of WWE to give TNA a chance.

Junior Fatu was the name used there, but he barely did anything important. The lack of motivation saw Rikishi not fitting in and having a weak short run. A memorable promo botch calling Bobby Roode “Rick Rude” made it clear that he wasn’t invested in the TNA world.