Wrestlers Who You Likely Didn't Know or Forgot Held A Title In A Promotion (Impact Wrestling)

Wrestlers Who You Likely Didn't Know or Forgot Held A Title In A Promotion (Impact Wrestling)

June 19, 2022

By Ryan Porzl

As we continue through out 2022, it's time to celebrate another promotion's milestone which is Impact Wrestling. The former Total Nonstop Action Wrestling began in 2002 and for twenty years, has been the little promotion that could as it continues to chug along despite many giving up or calling their demise several times over the decades. Like just about any promotion that's been around this long, it's had it's share of great champions. Obviously, when you think Impact Wrestling, the champions that come to mind include AJ Styles, Gail Kim, Awesome Kong, America's Most Wanted, Eric Young, Bobby Roode, Samoa Joe, Kurt Angle, and Sting to name some. However, they're have been other stars who you may be familiar with that you forgot held a title. We'll begin our celebration of Impact's 20th Anniversary by looking back as wrestlers you likely know but either forgot or had no idea they held a title in Impact. For the record, I will look back at all of Impact's championships including the NWA titles they used from 2002-2007.

Archer (behind) with Kid Kash (front)

Lance Archer (Dallas)

Championship Held: NWA World Tag Team Championship (2x)

Lance Archer has had a great and well traveled career. Obviously, he's best known for his current run in AEW as well as his highly successful run in New Japan Pro Wrestling during the 10s where he mostly became successful in the tag team Killer Elite Squad with Davey Boy Smith Jr. where he won multiple IWGP and NWA World Tag Team Championships. He also had a cup of coffee run in the WWE as well. However, before all that, people may have forgotten that Archer got his first break in Impact (then TNA) where he competed from 2004-2009. Archer would originally arrive in Impact under the name "Dallas" where he served as a bodyguard and tag team partner for Kid Kash while being billed as a relative as well and it would be during this pairing that saw Archer win gold. In March 2004, the NWA World Tag Team Championships were vacated due to Abyss and AJ Styles unable to work together so a tournament was held to crown new champions. Archer and Kash entered the tournament first defeating the team of Simon Diamond and Sonny Siaki then the Disciples of the New Church. Finally, on March 31, 2004 (shown April 7th) at NWA-TNA's Weekly PPVs #92, Archer and Kash would face and defeat former champions in Triple X (Christopher Daniels and Low-Ki version) to win the championships. Archer and Kash would hold the titles for two weeks and made no successful defenses before losing them to D-Lo Brown and Apolo on April 14th at NWA-TNA's Weekly PPVs #93 by disqualification (in those days, Impact titles could change hands by disqualification).

However, Archer and Kash weren't down for long as they got a rematch on April 21st at NWA-TNA's Weekly PPVs #94 and would regain the belts by disqualification. Archer and Kash would reign for 43 days, during which they successfully defended against Brown and Apolo in a rematch as well as against Dusty Rhodes and James Storm before losing the belts to America's Most Wanted on June 3rd (shown June 4th) on the inaugural episode of TNA Impact!.

Queen Zelina Vega (Rosita)

Championship Held: TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship

Queen Zelina Vega is another who has enjoyed success in recent years, mostly for the WWE where she won the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships with Carmella as well as the inaugural Queen's Crown tournament. Prior to that, she enjoyed success as a valet for Andrade El Idol in both NXT and WWE. However, before she was in WWE, she was not only in Impact but holding their tag team championships. Originally debuting in 2011, Zelina first came to Impact under the name of "Rosita" and was part of Hernandez's Mexican America stable while forming a tag team with Sarita which is where she captured her first tag team title. On March 13, 2011, at Victory Road 2011, Zelina and Sarita took on Angelina Love and Winter for the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship and emerged victorious by winning the belts. Zelina and Sarita would hold the gold for 121 days, during which time they fended off challenges against Angelina and Velvet Sky, Velvet and Brooke Tessmacher, and Madison Rayne and Tara before losing the gold to Brooke and Tara of TnT on July 12th during an Impact Wrestling TV taping (shown July 21st). 

Sean Waltman (Syxx-Pac)

Championship Held: TNA X Division Championship

Waltman is one of those on this list that I shouldn't have to go too much into his career as he is a legend. Obviously, Waltman is best known for his time in WWF/WWE as the 1-2-3 Kid and X-Pac and in WCW as Syxx or Syxx-Pac. Along the way, he won his share of prestigious championships while being a member of stables such as the nWo and D-Generation X. However, after his second WWE run ended in the summer of 2002, Waltman found himself in Impact and quickly added another title to his trophy case. On October 9, 2002, at NWA-TNA's Weekly PPV #9, Waltman entered a Free For All ladder match also featuring Ace Steel, Tony Mamaluke, Kid Kash, Joel & Jose Maximo, and AJ Styles for the vacant X Division Championship and went on to win the belt. Waltman would hold the belt for two weeks, including fending off a challenge from Styles, before losing to Styles on the NWA-TNA's Weekly PPV #16 on October 23rd.

Woods (right) with Jay Lethal (left)

Xavier Woods (Consequences Creed)

Championship Held: TNA World Tag Team Championship

Xavier Woods is obviously one of the more recognizable tag team wrestlers over the last decade with the New Day as he's been a multiple time WWE Tag Team Champion and has been one of WWE's top team for a decade. Looking at his trophy case, Woods has achieved his biggest success as a tag team wrestler so it's no surprise he's been a tag team champion before WWE and one of those places was Impact Wrestling. Debuting in Impact in 2007 as Consequences Creed, Woods was a solid midcard attraction for most of his run but towards the end of his tenure, he would not only become a champion but a tag team champion. On December 16, 2008 during an TNA Impact! taping (shown January 8th), Creed and Jay Lethal (as the tag team Lethal Consequences) cashed in a tag title shot Lethal had earn against Beer Money Inc and ended up winning the championships. Woods and Lethal would hold the titles for 26 days while having made no successful title defenses before losing the belts back to BMI at Genesis 2009 on January 11, 2009.

SANADA

Championship Held: TNA X Division Championship

SANADA is someone that's probably achieved his biggest fame nowadays but has been a long and successful journeyman prior to his current run in New Japan. He originally achieved success during the late 2000s/early 2010s in All Japan Pro Wrestling as both a tag team specialist and the inaugural GAORA TV Champion before taking part in the 2013 WRESTLE-1 exodus, joining that promotion but never had a run with the WRESTLE-1 Championship. However, it would be during his WRESTLE-1 run that the promotion had a working deal with Impact and SANADA would be sent overseas wrestling as both himself and as the Great Sanada, a character based off his mentor Keiji "the Great Muta" Mutoh. Prior to going to America, SANADA would capture an Impact championship. On March 2, 2014, during WRESTLE-1's Outbreak event, SANADA would challenge Austin Aries for the TNA X Division Championship and went on to score the victory, marking the first time the X Division Championship changed hands in Japan. SANADA would hold the belt for 110 days fending off challenges against Aries, DJ Z, Manik (TJP), Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards, Christopher Daniels, and a best of three series with Tigre Uno before losing the belt back to Aries on June 20th during an Impact TV Taping (shown July 10th).

Taiji Ishimori

Championship Held: Impact X Division Championship

In some ways, Ishimori is like SANADA. Right now, both are getting the most recognition of their careers in New Japan Pro Wrestling but before that, worked in various other promotions. In Ishimori's case, he achieved big success in Pro Wrestling NOAH enjoying a decade long run where he won multiple GHC Junior Heavyweight and GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships. Ishimori has since gone to New Japan where his success story remains the same while being a member of Bullet Club. However, while still in NOAH, Impact would develop a working relationship with NOAH and Ishimori would be sent there for several months which would be long enough for him to win a title. On November 9, 2017, during an Impact TV Taping (shown January 4, 2018), Ishimori challenged Trevor Lee for the Impact X Division Championship and went on to win the gold. Ishimori would hold the title for 64 days and successfully defended against Dezmond Xavier (NXT's Wes Lee), Mike Bailey, Andrew Everett, El Hijo del Fantasma (NXT's Santos Escobar) before losing the title to Impact Grand Champion Matt Sydal in a title vs. title match on January 12, 2018 during an Impact TV Taping (shown March 8th).

Scott Hall

Championship Held: TNA World Tag Team Championship

Like his Kliq buddy Sean Waltman, what can I say about Scott Hall that people don't already know? Originally a journeyman of the 1980s, Hall became one of wrestling's greatest legends during the 1990s first as Razor Ramon in the WWF and then as himself in WCW where he co-founded the nWo. By the 2000s, Hall's career was on a downturn due to WCW's closure, a WWF/WWE return going bust due to personal issues, and personal problems. On and off during the decade and into 2010, Hall would have several runs in Impact in an attempt to continue and possibly revive his career but every tenure would end with his problems getting the best of him. In 2010, Hall would have the last run in both Impact and his career when he returned to Impact and while short, he would snag an Impact championship. On May 4, 2010, during a TNA Impact! TV tapings (shown May 13th), Hall would team Kevin Nash and Eric Young to form a three man team called "The Band". Taking advantage of a guaranteed tag title shot, Hall and Nash would cash in on an injured Matt Morgan (who was holding the titles by himself after taking out his partner Hernandez) and easily defeat him to win the Impact World Tag Team Championship. Hall, Nash, and Young would hold the championships for 41 days and would hold off challenges from Morgan and Ink Inc. (Jesse Neal and Shannon Moore) before Hall's problems again got in the way and he was arrested outside of Impact in June resulting in Impact stripping the Band of the gold on the June 14, 2010 TNA Impact! TV tapings (shown June 17th).

D-Lo Brown

Championship Held: NWA World Tag Team Championship

Most people these days are familiar with seeing Brown in Impact as he works behind the scenes and previously was a color commentator. He'll obviously be forever known for his run in the WWF/WWE during the late 1990s and early 2000s where he dominated the European Championship and held the Intercontinental Championship. After his first WWE run ended in 2003, Brown would tour the world going back and forth in America and Japan. One of the promotion's he visited would be Impact where he quickly made one as he formed a nice team with AJ Styles before feuding with him over the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. While Brown wasn't able to win the big one, he was able to capture an NWA title. On April 14, 2004, at NWA-TNA's Weekly PPV #93, Brown would team with Puerto Rican wrestler Apolo and would challenge Kid Kash and Dallas (Lance Archer) for the NWA World Tag Team Championship before ultimately walking away with the gold after scoring a disqualification win. Brown and Apolo would hold the belts for one week before losing the belts back to Kash and Dallas on April 21st on NWA-TNA's Weekly PPV #94, ironically losing the titles by disqualification.

Swinger (right) with Simon Diamond (left)

Johnny Swinger

Championship Held: NWA World Tag Team Championship

Johnny Swinger is another Impact fans see a lot of these days as the Swing Man has been gracing us with his outdated presence for the last few years. Prior to his runs with Impact, Swinger worked in the big three of the 1990s in WWE, WCW, and ECW where he probably achieved his biggest success as a tag team with Simon Diamond in ECW. After ECW closed, the team eventually found their way to Impact and what should surprise new Impact fans, Swinger would actually win a title. On August 27, 2003, at NWA-TNA's Weekly PPV #60, Swinger and Diamond took on Impact's top team America's Most Wanted for the NWA World Tag Team Championship and went on to win the belts. Swinger and Diamond would hold the belts for 91 days fending off challenges from the 3 Live Kru, Danny Doring and Roadkill, and various preliminary teams before losing the titles in a six man tag match against 3 Live Kru (Glenn Gilberti was teaming with Swinger and Diamond) on November 26th at NWA-TNA Weekly PPV #73.

Brian Lee, James Mitchell, Slash, and BellaDonna

Brian Lee and Slash

Championship Held: NWA World Tag Team Championship

Brian Lee and Slash were largely best known as legends in the Tennessee area while having runs in promotions like WWF and ECW during the 1990s. During this time, Slash gained fame as "Wolfie D" in the tag team PG-13 with Jamie "J.C. Ice" Dundee where they dominated the tag scene in USWA while having runs in the WWF and ECW. After adopting the Slash gimmick, he also had a run in Ohio Valley Wrestling enjoying a run with the tag team championship. As for Lee, he enjoyed big success in Tennessee for USWA and Smoky Mountain Wrestling while also having a run in World Class in Texas, a run in ECW where he had a memorable feud with Tommy Dreamer, and in the WWF as the fake Undertaker in 1994. When Impact formed in 2002, both Lee and Slash would be regulars for Impact and become members of "Father" James Mitchell's Disciples of the New Church. After they begun teaming, they began to pursue America's Most Wanted and the NWA World Tag Team Championship. On November 13, 2002, at NWA-TNA's Weekly PPV #21, Lee and Slash would finally achieve this goal and hand AMW one of, if not, their first loss as a team and win the gold. Lee and Slash would hold the belts for 56 days while successfully defending against AMW, BG James (Road Dogg) and Curt Hennig, and The Harris Brothers before losing the championships back to America's Most Wanted on January 8, 2003 at NWA-TNA's Weekly PPV #27.

PJ Black

Championship Held: TNA King of the Mountain Championship

The South African PJ Black is another longtime journeyman who's been many places. He's best known for his time in WWE's old developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling and then in WWE as "Justin Gabriel" where he was a member of the Nexus stable and also enjoyed championship success in both promotions. After his WWE run ended, he worked a variety of promotions including Ring of Honor and Lucha Underground but it would be working for Jeff Jarrett's short lived Global Force Wrestling which saw Black enter Impact. In 2015, Impact would have a short working agreement with GFW which resulted in several wrestlers making appearances for Impact and Black was one of them. Though his time in Impact was brief, he would managed to squeeze in a brief title reign. On June 27, 2015, during an Impact TV taping (shown August 12th), Black would compete in a King of the Mountain match against Eric Young, Robbie E, Chris Mordetsky (Chris Masters/Chris Adonis), and Lashley for the vacant King of the Mountain Championship. In the end, he proved successful and managed to win the vacant title. Black would only hold the title for a day and made no successful title defenses before losing it to Bobby Roode on June 28th during another TV Taping (shown September 2nd).

Aron Stevens (Aron Rex)

Championship Held: TNA Grand Championship

Aron Stevens is another guy who has been everywhere but achieved his biggest fame in WWE as the well spoken and popular Damien Sandow where he enjoyed a run as WWE Tag Team Champion. Outside of WWE, Stevens worked various WWE developmentals as well as in Puerto Rico for WWC and more recently in the NWA, winning gold in those areas as well. During his travels, Stevens would fin his way to Impact for a cup of coffee in 2016 and would not only squeeze a brief reign but made history along the way. In the fall of 2016, Impact created a new championship called the TNA Grand Championship which had both wrestling and combat sports rules like judging. After entering the tournament and defeating Trevor Lee and Eli Drake, Stevens made it to the finals to face Eddie Edwards (subbing for an injured Drew Galloway) and at Bound for Glory 2016 on October 2, 2016, Stevens made history by defeating Edwards by split decision to become the inaugural champion. Stevens would hold the title for a week where he successfully defended against Jessie Godderz and Baron Dax before losing the belt to Moose on October 9th during an Impact TV Taping (shown December 1st).

Matthews (right) with Matt Sydal

Josh Matthews

Championship Held: Impact Grand Championship

Josh Matthews is someone who has had a colorful career in professional wrestling. Originally, he entered the business as a contestant on the first season of WWF's reality show Tough Enough and made it to the finals before retiring and joining WWE's broadcast team as an announcer and interviewer for over a decade before moving to Impact in 2015 where he's wore different hats being an announcer, a host, and a behind the scenes worker. Another position he held, believe it or not, was champion. On January 13, 2018, during an Impact TV Taping (shown March 15th), Matthews was revealed to be the spirit guide for Impact X Division and Grand Champion Matt Sydal. As a result, Sydal awarded Matthews with the Impact Grand Championship. Matthews would only hold the title for a day as Sydal (wrestling on Matthews' behalf) lost the championship to Impact World Champion Austin Aries in title vs. title match on January 14th (shown March 29th).

Shawn Daivari (Sheik Abdul Bashir)

Championship Held: TNA X Division Championship 

Shawn Daivari is someone you can say had a very colorful wrestling career that saw him make appearances everywhere and even invoke some controversy. Nowadays, Daivari is a producer for WWE but prior to that was a journeyman having worked the indies to ROH to All Japan to MLW to NWA but is largely best known for his WWE run during the 2000s as a manager for Muhammed Hassan and later for WWE Hall of Famers Kurt Angle and The Great Khali. During his travels and after his WWE run ended, he founded his way to Impact where he wrestled as "Sheik Abdul Bashir" and it was here where he probably won the most prestigious title of his career. On September 14, 2008, at No Surrender 2008 Daivari would face and defeat champion Petey Williams and fellow challenger Consequences Creed for the TNA X Division Championship. Daivari would hold the belt for 84 days and made successful defenses against Creed, Williams, Eric Young, Jimmy Rave, and Jay Lethal before dropping the championship to Young at Final Resolution (December 2008) on December 7th.

Raven

Championship Held: NWA World Heavyweight Championship

Raven's story is similar to Scott Hall as he turned pro in the 1980s and spent his early years as a journeyman before competing for the big three and achieving big success in the 1990s and early 2000s. Among his achievements included runs as ECW World Heavyweight and ECW World Tag Team Champion as well as a record setting 27 time WWF Hardcore Champion. After requesting his release from WWE in early 2003, Raven made his way to Impact where he had some of their memorable moments during their early history including his feud with Shane Douglas and "Father" James Mitchell as well as his feud with Jeff Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Upon his debut in Impact, Raven would constantly claim that it was his destiny to become NWA World Heavyweight Champion and in 2005, his claim would come true. On June 19, 2005, at Slammiversary 2005, Raven would compete in a King of the Mountain match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against champion AJ Styles, Monty Brown, Abyss, and Sean Waltman. In the end, Raven would emerge victorious and claim the championship. Raven would hold the belt for 88 days successfully defending against Abyss, Rhino, and various wrestlers on the independent circuit before losing it to Jeff Jarrett on September 15th, at Border City Wrestling's International Incident.