Top Wrestlers Who Did Better In TNA Than WWE

Top Wrestlers Who Did Better In TNA Than WWE
September 24, 2016
By Ryan Porzl

For years, TNA Wrestling has been a promotion that has been a punching bag in the industry especially to smart fans. Wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer once made the claim that TNA was considered a "career killer" and people on social media have said certain TNA wrestlers should go to WWE or NXT. However, nothing could be further from the truth as many wrestlers have been wasted in WWE only to see their potential or success in TNA. With the recent arrival of Aron Rex (formerly Damien Sandow) and Cody Rhodes, I figured it would be great to create a list of men and women who were wasted in WWF/E only to see their careers reach new heights in TNA. Keep in mind for this list, I'm only including wrestlers who first were in WWE and then went to TNA. I'm also not going to include wrestlers who was justifiably fired by the WWE for one reason or another (Mr. Anderson and Bram).



Eli Drake- Drake is one of those wrestlers that WWE dropped the ball badly on as he was cut before he even made it to the main roster. After making appearances as a preliminary wrestler in 2006 and 2008, Drake signed with the WWE in 2013 where he wrestled as Slate Randell but did absolutely nothing of note before being released a year later all the while only wrestling from October 2013 to May 2014. Drake then signed with TNA in the spring 2015 and almost immediately showed potential especially on the microphone. After a brief period as part of Drew Galloway's Rising stable, Drake turned heel and has shined ever since showing great talent in the ring while easily showing he's one of the best talkers in the business today. TNA has also elevated Drake in 2016 with him winning the TNA King of the Mountain Championship, taking part of the tournament to crown the first Grand Champion, and being giving his own talk show "Fact of Life".

Jerry Lynn- Lynn was another big missed opportunity that TNA took full advantage of. After appearing in 1989 & 1995 as enhancement talent while participating in the Light Heavyweight Championship tournament in 1997, Lynn was finally signed in 2001 after ECW closed. At first, things appeared fine as Lynn defeated Crash Holly in his first televised match to win the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship but it fell apart almost immediately. Because WWF didn't care about the Light Heavyweight Championship, Lynn was barely used on either RAW or Smackdown while most of his matches were on either Sunday Night Heat or Jakked and he never once competed on PPV. Once Lynn lost the title in June 2001 to Jeff Hardy, his days were numbered to the point where he was not even part of the WCW/ECW Alliance while a Sunday Night Heat match with Rob Van Dam was cut from the broadcast. After being released, Lynn was a key member of TNA's first two years and has been considered an X Division pioneer. During his career, Lynn took part in the first televised match in TNA history as well as the four way to crown the first X Division Champion. Lynn also won the TNA X Division Championship two times, the NWA World Tag Team Championship twice along with being one half of the first tag team champions when the belts were under TNA's control, and he won the 2004 X Cup while serving as team captain of Team TNA. In the WWE, Lynn was barely a blip on the radar. In TNA, Lynn had one of the best runs of his career that was possibly second only to his ECW run.

Brooke Tessmacher- Brooke turned out to be one of the surprise stories. Brooke originally signed with WWE in 2006 after trying out for the diva's search. During her year with the company, she did spend time in developmental but still came off as the typical model WWE brings in that know nothing of wrestling, hasn't any passion for it, and is only there until she gets her big break. To be fair to Brooke, the WWE didn't give her anything to do as she rarely talked or wrestled and spent most of her time dancing in Extreme Expose so she didn't come off as anything special. When she got released in 2007 and went back to modeling, it looked like Brooke was done and she would be some footnote in the business. Then in 2010, she showed up in TNA first as an assistant to Eric Bischoff and then began wrestling by the end of the year. Brooke proved to be a surprise addition as she took to wrestling quickly, showed a good personality, and pretty good mic skills. She went on to have a successful five year run where she was a three time Knockouts Champion and a Knockouts Tag Team Champion.

Taryn Terrell- Terrell is in the same position that Brooke was in. When she was in the WWE, Terrell (as Tiffany) was mostly just some random diva who did nothing memorable outside of being ECW general manager as she rarely wrestled or was given a character and never came off as anyone special. After two year run, she was released and it appeared that it would be the end of her wrestling career as she only made a few appearances in the indy circuit over the next two years. Fast forward to 2012, Terrell debuted in TNA where she spent a year as the referee of the knockouts division (TNA's women division) while training in Ohio Valley Wrestling where she held the OVW Women's Championship. By 2013, Terrell started wrestling more and immediately shined as she had a great feud with Gail Kim which featured a few show stealing matches. After time off due to pregnancy, Terrell's career exploded in late 2014 by winning the Knockouts Championship, got the longevity record, and hit her stride as a heel & leader of The Dollhouse but would then sadly retire in early 2016 at the height of her career due to her belief the wrestling wasn't the right choice for her after becoming a born again christian. While Terrell retired too early, TNA gave her the platform to shine.

Ron Killings- Killings originally entered WWF in 2000 as K-Kwik and was paired up with The Road Dogg in a tag team. Unfortunately, Road Dogg was quickly suspended and released a month into the team in December 2000 which left Killings with nothing. After spending 2001 with no direction and two brief runs with the WWF Hardcore Championship, Killings was released. Killings then joined TNA at their first event on June 19, 2002 where he first appeared under his old K-Krush (which he used prior to his WWF run) name before becoming Ron "The Truth" Killings. Killings ended up enjoying a highly successful five year run in TNA where he won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship two times, the NWA World Tag Team Championship two times, and the TNA World Tag Team Championship once. He also made history as he became the first black NWA World Heavyweight Champion in it's then 54 year history when he first won it in 2002. He also was part of the successful trio 3 Live Kru with BG James (Road Dogg) and Konnan. As another sign that Killings' TNA run was successful, he was not only rehired by the WWE in 2008 (where he was renamed R-Truth) but went on to win the WWE United States Championship and the WWE Tag Team Championship as well as main evented Survivor Series 2011 and challenged John Cena for the WWE Championship.

Angelina Love- Love was in the same boat as Drake as she was someone that didn't even make it to the main roster. Signed in 2004, Love worked in WWE developmental from 2005-2007 for WWE's former developmental territory Deep South Wrestling before getting cut. Within months of her release, Love was signed to TNA as one of the earliest additions of the knockouts division and has consistently been a top star in the division until her recent departure earlier this year. In the early years of the knockouts division (2007-2009), Love, along with Velvet Sky as The Beautiful People, were the top heels of the division. Love is also a record setting six time TNA Knockouts Champion, a former TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champion, and a member of Team International who won the Global Impact Tournament. Not bad for a woman that WWE didn't think was good enough for the main roster.

Bobby Lashley- Lashley will likely go down as one of the biggest late bloomers in wrestling history. Originally debuting in 2005, Lashley did enjoy success in the WWE and seemed to have limitless potential. Though Lashley enjoyed success during his short WWE run with two ECW World Titles, a WWE United States Title, and a few big rivalries, he never achieved the success that the WWE hoped for. While Lashley had a great look, was a good wrestler, and great athlete, he struggled badly with the entertainment part of wrestling as his mic skills, showmanship skills, and body language were all bad. As a result, fans never got into him and he never became that superstar the WWE hoped for. When Lashley left the WWE in 2007, it appeared that he would go down as a failed experiment. He then went to TNA in 2009 but his limitations continued to haunt him as he was unable to catch on with fans (though he did win the 2009 TNA Championship Series tournament) and only lasted a few months before leaving in January 2010 to pursue a mixed martial arts career. With his WWE and TNA runs producing disappointing results, it seemed that Lashley's career would be nothing more than a flop. Fast forward to 2014, Lashley returned to TNA and quickly won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship that June. After that, everything seem to fall into place as Lashley slowly but surely began to make big improvements with his mic skills, showmanship skills, and body language. By 2016, Lashley has become one of the best wrestlers in the world and hitting on all cylinders as he now possesses the whole package. He has also gone on to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship three times, the TNA King of the Mountain Championship, and TNA X Division Championship along with the 2015 Joker's Wild. Lashley also became the first wrestler since Kurt Angle in 2007 to hold three championships at the same time.

Gail Kim- When it comes to the WWE, a lot of wrestlers fall into two categories. One is they're either never pushed while the other is they're pushed too early and in the case of Gail Kim, it's mostly the latter. To the WWE's credit, they did see potential in her but she was a case of being pushed too soon. Gail originally won the WWE Women's Championship in her debut match back in 2003 but the title reign was a failure as she was green and not ready for it so she was quickly exposed and the fans turned on her. After losing the title, Gail's WWE run never recovered despite improving and she was released in 2004. She then went to TNA a year later and by 2007, she became the first TNA Knockouts Champion. In 2008, Gail went back to the WWE but WWE proceeded to drop the ball a second time as they had Gail under a deal for three years but did nothing with her and she was wasted. Eventually, Gail left WWE unhappy and went back to TNA in 2011 where she has been consistently one of the top women wrestlers in the company. Since then, she won four more Knockouts Championships, the Knockouts Tag Team Championship, the 2013 Queen of the Knockouts, and is set to become the first woman inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame.

Drew Galloway- File this one under "What Were They Thinking?". Galloway originally signed with WWE in 2007 and after a successful run in developmental along with a short run on the main roster, he reappeared in 2009 with the storyline being that Vince McMahon himself had personally signed him and said he would be the chosen one. For the next two years, Galloway (as Drew McIntyre) showed promise as he enjoyed a run as with the Intercontinental Championship and a run with the Tag Team Championship with Cody Rhodes. However, Galloway's stock plummeted in early 2011, rumored to be as a result of him and then wife Taryn Terrell getting into a fight in public, and never recovered as he spent the next three years as a jobber. By 2012, Galloway hit rock bottom when paired with Heath Slater and Jindar Mahal as part of the comedic Three Man Band where he continued to languish until finally being put out of his misery and released in 2014. After spending time in the UK and United States indy circuit, Galloway signed with TNA in 2015 and has consistently been a main eventer since his arrival. During his time, Galloway won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, the 2016 Joker's Wild, and was part of Team International that was victorious in the Global Impact Tournament. Galloway has also main evented TNA's biggest show Bound For Glory in 2015 and their anniversary show Slammiversary in 2016.

EC3- To say the very least, EC3 is the biggest creation TNA has had since the days of the TNA Originals and is a testiment for their eye for talent as well their ability to make talent. First signed to the WWE in 2009, EC3 worked there for four years as Derrick Bateman where he mostly spent his time in developmental in Florida Championship Wrestling (where he held the Tag Team Title) and NXT along with appearing on the NXT show when it was a show and not developmental. The few times he appeared on the main shows, he was a jobber that got squashed by the established WWE wrestlers. Ultimately, the WWE squandered him and finally released him after having done nothing with the guy despite having him for four years. A few months later, EC3 debuted in TNA and almost immediately was pushed as he debuted at Bound For Glory 2013. Since then, EC3 went on to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship two times, the 2015 TNA World Title Series, and the 2016 Bound for Glory Playoff all the while winning rivalries over Bully Ray and Kurt Angle while scoring a win over Sting. He also went on a 30 month run where he went unpinned and unsubmitted. In the meantime, EC3 has shown himself to be a superstar by showing great wrestling skills, great mic skills, and great showmanship skills. The WWE dropped the ball with him while TNA took that ball and hit a slam dunk.