Best of the WORST of TNA Wrestling
Best of the WORST of TNA Wrestling!
TNA Wrestling has had many great moments and matches over it's thirteen years of delivering Total Non-Stop Action. However, in delivering great wrestling there's always a few unexpected bumps in the road. What was the worst? What drove fans to stand up in unison to boo and chant "Fire Russo"? The worst matches? The worst moments? The storyline that left us scratching our heads? Well all of us here at TNA-Furs went through the TNA Wrestling DVD vault and scraped the disgusting moments at the very bottom. So sit back with barf-bags ready as we present the garbage juice that is . . . The BEST of the WORST of TNA Wrestling!
#25. Scott Hall & X-Pac - The Band of No-Shows
We start off our countdown with two wrestling legends; Scott Hall and X-Pac. TNA unfortunately kept making the mistake of booking these two individuals on the program despite them no-showing numerous times. X-Pac was teaming with Alex Shelley for a special Chris Candido Tournament at Unbreakable 2005 when he no-showed. However, TNA did bring him back for the Final Resolution 2006 pay-per-view. Scott Hall on the other hand was back and forth with the company. However when Scott Hall no-showed for the six-man tag team main event at the Turning Point 2007 due to an alleged case of food-poisoning, it spared anger from the TNA roster, particularly Samoa Joe who was told to cut a promo that went way too long. However both of these men were brought back in 2010 to team with Kevin Nash and form "The Band" and they went on to win the Tag Team Titles. But when X-Pac no-showed Lockdown 2010 that was the end of X-Pac in TNA. Scott Hall left soon-after.
#24. Blindfold Cage Match
It was a traumatic moment when during a Ladder Match James Storm smashed a beer bottle into Hernandez's head, however some of the glass flew into his America's Most Wanted tag team partner Chris Harris' eye, temporarily blinding him. Harris would be gone for months and in the meantime James Storm proclaimed that Chris Harris was just dead weight and he wanted to venture out on his own. Well Chris Harris made his return to the ring in time for the Lockdown 2007 pay-per-view where they would wrestle inside the steel cage. Seems like the perfect story . . . except for one thing. They made this cage match a blindfold match as well. This probably isn't a spoiler to most but wrestlers can see just fine out of the blindfolds (black bags) they use and it's up to the wrestler to pretend that they can't see. Well the whole blind aspect went on forever and kept this from being what it should have been, which was a violent steel cage brawl. The crowd booed this match like crazy and chanted "Boring". What should have been an epic fight between these two, in a huge feud between this long-time successful tag team became a debacle. But they did have their epic brawl in a Texas Death Match at Sacrifice 2007. But this cage match, forget it.
#23. Dixie Carter Administration
In the later-part of 2013 TNA President Dixie Carter became the evil over-bearing boss (obviously a page out of WWE's playbook). While I personally was a fan of this change it did have it's bad parts. Dixie and her administration of Magnus, Ethan Carter the Third, and Rockstar Spud were all over the show every week to the point of where the program became simply unwatchable for a while with their constant domination promos (a lot of these early ones not very good) and it affected ALL of the wrestlers on the show, so it was constant. The other sacrifice was Magnus. Magnus won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship at Final Resolution 2013 in the famous "Dixieland Match" (a match gimmick I still thought actually worked). However while Magnus tried to stand on his own feet and be his own champion, the Dixie Administration kept getting involved his matches, making him look like a loser of a World Champion. Magnus would lose the title in April to Eric Young.
#22. Black Tie Brawl & Chain Match
One of many Russo/Mantell match creations. In 2008 there was a love-triangle between Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt as they went after SoCal Val. After Sonjay ruined their Macho Man-esque wedding at Slammiversary 2008 a special match was made for Hard Justice 2008, a "Black Tie Brawl and Chain Match" This match is a Chain Match where the two combatants are tied together by a long metal chain while wearing tuxedos. The way to win was by pin-fall or by ripping the tuxedo off your opponent.
This match went on forever as these two high-fliers tried to rip each others tuxedos off. Their fancy dress shirts kept getting caught up in the chain, so the ripped shirt kept moving whenever the chain moved. While the match was roughly 15-minutes it felt like an eternity as they tried to make a X-Division/violent match by this ridiculous stipulation. The fans in the arena (including a plainly seen AJ Lee in the front row) started booing and chanting "Boring" and "Fire Russo" (Vince Russo's the guy who wrote for TNA making a lot of these matches concepts). Eventually they went for a pin-fall victory and ended the match. There was never another Black Tie Brawl and Chain Match.
#21. Angle/Jarrett/Karen Love Triangle
Now we go from a storyline love triangle to a real-life triangle. Kurt Angle and his wife Karen Angle both worked in TNA. However it was revealed in 2009 that Karen Angle and TNA Owner Jeff Jarrett were romantically together while Karen was still married. As a result Jeff Jarrett was stripped of his ownership of TNA and becoming simply a wrestler while Kurt was given more power in the company. Jeff Jarrett and Karen Angle married in July 2010. In 2011 TNA decided to take this real-life situation and make it into a storyline on TV. This led to a series of down-right depressing promos about how bad their marriage really was along along with bad skits. In a series of matches where The Jarretts did everything they could to get Kurt Angle out of TNA. Kurt would go on to lose a series most of his matches and later on the storyline would also involve his children. There were some fun moments but the story came off simply uncomfortable and down-right depressing to watch on television. This eventually led to a match between Kurt Angle and Jeff Jarrett at Slammiversary 2011 that even Kurt admits was not very good. Just real-life drama being turned into a crappy storyline.
#20. Makeover Battle Royal
Another Russo/Mantell classic. At Sacrifice 2008 ten TNA Knockouts were put in a Battle Royal for a shot at the Knockouts Championship. Once the match comes down to a one-on-one situation then it becomes a Ladder Match for the contract. The winner would get the title shot and the loser would get her head shaved. The match came down to Gail Kim and Roxxi Levaux. During the match Roxxi got a bad gash on the top of her head before the Beautiful People came out and helped Gail Kim win the match. As a result a bloodied Roxxi got her head shaved in front of the crowd as they chanted "Fire Russo." Head shavings always seem to end in a bloody fashion.
#19. Ref Bump
It was Sacrifice 2014 as Bully Ray fought Bobby Roode in a Tables Match as one of the two main-events of this pay-per-view. There were several moments that made this show memorable and almost worthy of this countdown, Dixie Carter putting Bully Ray through a Table, the Anderson/Shaw "Committed Match" where the loser had to be sent to the nut house . . . but there was one brief moment that tops them all.
During the Tables Match there was a spot where Bully Ray was set to Powerbomb Bobby Roode through the table and Roode's foot was supposed to catch the referee in the face and knock him out so he wouldn't see Bobby go through the table. However, when Bully Ray picked Roode, the referee came up about a foot short of his mark, Roode's foot not even getting close to the referee. So the referee went into quick thinking mode and suddenly stopped in his tracks and took a wobbly step back and dropped down on his ass before being "knocked out" in the corner of the ring. The referee made it look like instead of being hit, he made it look like he had a brain aneurism before falling over. The crowd laughed hysterically. Botchamania!
#18. Adam "Pacman" Jones
Pro Football Player and corner-back of the Tennessee Titans, Adam "Pacman" Jones signed a deal as a wrestler for TNA, particularly as a part of a tag team. He teamed with R-Truth calling themselves "Team Pacman" and they won the tag team titles at No Surrender 2007. However the Tennessee Titans put out a restraining order which barred him from competing in the ring at all. So at Bound for Glory 2007 TNA brought in a wrestler named Consequences Creed (now known in WWE as Xavier Woods) before Team Pacman lost the tag team titles to AJ Styles and Tomko, Pacman was never seen again on TNA and R-Truth left for WWE. This idea started with a little interest (even though the fans booed a lot at the use of Jones) but quickly fizzled out into a bad idea. See what happens when you don't think things out?
#17. Kurt Angle Rejects the Hall of Fame
It was announced at Bound for Glory 2013 Kurt Angle would be inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame. They had a big dinner for the occasion the night before and during the show when it came time to give Kurt the ring, he said he didn't feel worthy of the honor and left the ring. I figured this was for a future storyline, possibly with his opponent later that night, Bobby Roode. At the end of their match Kurt hit an Olympic Slam off the top rope which knocked him out long enough for Roode to get the three-count (which I thought was idiotic). Then Angle was put on a stretcher only to walk out on his own accord (which made it pointless). I thought this would lead to a story where Angle would face Roode and when he won he would feel worthy of accepting the Hall of Fame . . . but nope! This was done for nothing! Maybe someone out there can clarify but I don't believe Kurt Angle ever claimed the Hall of Fame ring. A dumb moment that still gets under my skin.
#16. Bound for Glory 2009 Shenanigans
A lot of people tell me that Bound for Glory 2009 is a fantastic event, even being TNA's version of Wrestlemania X-Seven (WWE's greatest show), and I would think the same thing if there wasn't several different instances that left me scratching my head.
Booker T - This was Booker T's last night in the company and he was part of a four-team Full Metal Mayhem Match for both the TNA Tag Team Championships and the IWGP Tag Team Championships. But early in the match he called for the referee saying he was hurt. I still have never seen Booker get injured, and with Booker T's reputation of having lackluster work-ethic while he was in TNA I'm guessing this was just a way to get out of this match since this was his last night in the company.
Tara - During the Awesome Kong vs. ODB vs. Tara Knockouts Championship Triple Threat Match Tara got clotheslined out of the ring and ended up in the front row where a woman got up and confronted Tara. Tara freaked out and left the match. She would come back a few minutes later as if nothing happened . . . so why the hell did Tara leave? I did my research that the woman was MMA fighter Kim Couture and there were plans for her to face Tara in an MMA match that fell through. But if you're like me and just watching the show with no research it just looked like Tara left because of a stalker or something.
Did Joe Tap? - Bobby Lashley fought Samoa Joe in a highly anticipated Submission match but every time I see it I can't ever see Samoa Joe tapping or submitting, just the referee quickly signaling for the bell. And before I try to figure out what happened they cut away to the next match.
Daffney - During the "Monster's Ball Match" between Mick Foley and Abyss, Daffney came out to get involved when she was shoved off the top rope and crashed through a barbed-wire board (which was very graphic, there's also footage of her being worked on on the DVD). She claims she got a broken arm but actually got a concussion. This led to a lawsuit between TNA Wrestling and Daffney that eventually settled out of court in March of 2013.
#15. Ric Flair - Post-Retirement
Remember at WWE's Wrestlemania XXIV where Ric Flair faced Shawn Michaels and Flair lost the Retirement Match where he had to retire from wrestling. Also he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame the night before and got a big fancy send-off and a tearful goodbye? Ok good . . . now forget all of that noise because he started wrestling again in TNA. He first was thrown into a bloody tag team match as he tamed with AJ Styles to take on Hulk Hogan and Abyss in March 2010 on Impact. A very good match, one of my favorites actually, I guess that's no big deal, one more match. Then he wrestled Jay Lethal at Victory Road 2010 where he submitted (rather quickly I might add). Then he wrestled Matt Morgan on Impact, then the Lethal Lockdown match at Lockdown 2011 replacing Jeff Hardy, plus some live event matches, before having his final match against Sting an Impact 9.15.11. A lot of people were very critical of Flair wrestling in rather mediocre matches and felt that really tarnished his legacy after retiring. The match against Sting was his last match.
#14. Aces & 8s
In 2012 there was an unknown group of thugs who kept attacking TNA Wrestlers. After winning a big tag team match against Bully Ray and Sting at Bound for Glory 2012 they were allowed free access into the Impact Zone after they revealed that the leader of the Aces & 8s was Bully Ray's former tag team partner and Television Champion, Devon. Over time, more of the wrestlers were revealed, mostly consisting of former WWE Superstars. Now I would stop right here, but this group was ALL OVER THE PROGRAM as more mid-card guys and non-wrestlers were added to the group. From Taz (commentator) to D'Lo Brown (backstage agent), and everyone in between.
Over time people grew to hate the group and a lot say the product suffered as wrestlers (and non-wrestlers) would constantly come down to the ring and interrupt matches. Also it exploded into a huge group, then some left the group, there were also feuds within the group. It had it's mixed reviews. One positive is that it brought Bully Ray to the main-event level and got him the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, but at the cost of a lot of TV time and very low ratings. Aces & 8s eventually disbanded in November 2013.
#13. Four-Sided Ring
One of the interesting parts of TNA that made them stand out from any other promotion was the Six-Sided Ring. Fans loved it, was great for the X-Division and high-flying style TNA built it's company on, and made themselves a nice alternative to WWE. However in 2010 when Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff came into the company they made several changes, and at Genesis 2010 one of their big changes was switching to a traditional 4-sided ring (which also came as a surprise to the wrestlers as they were uninformed until they got there). Hulk Hogan referred to the 6-sided ring as "playground wrestling" and when the Genesis 2010 crowd chanted "We Want Six Sides" Hogan said, "Hey, you tried it, and it only got you so far." AJ Styles has admitted in interviews that he hated the switch but it did become easier and safer to wrestle and take bumps on, however this is one of the changes that alienated some fans from the product. Hogan left TNA in October 2013. TNA re-introduced the 6-sided ring in June 2014.
#12. Orlando Jordan
Orlando Jordan was signed to TNA Wrestling into 2010 and they gave him an over-the-top bisexual character (playing off him being bisexual in real life). To do this TNA had him dress up in odd sparking outfits (or nothing but caution tape for his debut) and created a controversial talk-show called "The O-Zone." He would talk about sexual fantasies as he feuded with TNA Global Champion Rob Terry (who was known for his massive physique). The segment kept going over the top, there was even a segment where Orlando simulated cumming on himself that was banned from being shown on Spike. Orlando would later be teamed up with Eric Young, sporting leopard skin outfits and sucking on lollipops. Orlando Jordan left TNA in 2011.
#11. Willow
From one strange character to another. Jeff Hardy got screwed out of his chance to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship at Final Resolution 2013 due to the actions of Dixie Carter and her administration. The next week Jeff claimed he quit TNA. A few months later Jeff Hardy would come back as a wrestler who dressed in all-black, wearing a white mask, and sporting an umbrella. He started talking (and even groaning in the ring whenever he got hit) in a crazy manor as the character "Willow." The concept of Willow (Jeff Hardy's brainchild) failed to bring in audiences and a lot of people found the change idiotic. TNA was heavily criticized for taking arguably their most popular wrestler and turning him into a completely different character. Willow would win a few matches and would go on to team with Abyss. The Willow character ended a few short months later.
#10. VKM
The James Gang (formerly WWE's New Age Outlaws) started a revolution against WWE for their use of D-Generation X on their program (a group that they were a big part of back in the day). They changed their name to the Voodoo Kin Mafia or VKM (a play on the initials of Vincent Kennedy McMahon, owner of WWE). They went on making $100,000 challenges to WWE, doing parody skits of D-Generation X recent from WWE (so a parody of a parody?), going to WWE live events proclaiming TNA was invading. They eventually ended the feud when on the January 1st 2007 episode of WWE Monday Night Raw when there were loud chants of "TNA" during parts of their show which McMahon refused to acknowledge. The program was also dropped due to Triple H's injury. This program was made with good intentions, to build TNA pride, but failed on many levels.
#9. Nation of Violence
After Samoa Joe lost the TNA World Heavyweight Championship to Sting at Bound for Glory 2008 he was injured by an attack from the Main Event Mafia. Months later he came back sporting special markings on his face and sporting a machete, proclaiming he was the warrior of a larger "Nation of Violence." My guess is this was TNA's attempt to make Samoa Joe a bad guy but didn't work and it looked more goofy than badass, especially for an extremely popular wrestler that was already seen as the best badass in the company. People wanted to see him wrestle, and not come out portraying this persona. The gimmick thankfully ended a few months later.
#8. Frank Trigg
TNA has no problem getting into bed with MMA (mainly because of Spike) and while I've criticized MMA involvement in the past, this one is the worst. At No Surrender 2008 AJ Styles faced off against MMA Superstar Frank Trigg in an MMA Exhibition match. While this match was short it did it's damage as the fans in Canada started booing and chanting "Boring" and "We Want Wrestling." The crowd did start to pick up a little when AJ Styles started getting the edge up on Trigg but it led to a strike that created an inadvertent low-blow, costing him the fight. The fans finished by chanting "This Is Bullshit." We want wrestling on a wrestling show!
#7. Claire Lynch
In 2012 AJ Styles was accused by Christopher Daniels and Kazarian of having a sexual relationship with TNA President Dixie Carter. Over a series of weeks they got photographs that revealed that he was in fact not with Dixie, but with someone who was a drug addict and closely affiliated with her who had also become pregnant. The woman was revealed to be a rather unattractive woman named Claire Lynch.. Eventually a paternity test revealed that she was not pregnant ending the storyline. In their respective shoot Interviews Styles, Kazarian, and Daniels revealed that the storyline was very poorly booked. Claire Lynch was supposed to someone that was hot and was supposed to be Dixie Carter's niece (Lynch was revealed on TV as her nanny instead). So yeah, this storyline sucked. In 2014 WWE dragged it on by having it be a small ludicrous part of the Brie Bella/Stephanie McMahon feud in which Daniel Bryan was accused of cheating on Brie. "Claire Lynch" trended on Twitter during Monday Night Raw as a result.
#6. Homicide Climbing Steel Asylum
On the infamous January 4th 2010 episode of Impact had a Steel Asylum Match that Homicide was supposed to win which would lead to the big return of Jeff Hardy. Homicide tried hard to climb the Steel Asylum but kept falling off the cage. As he kept trying to climb out the top, the match ended in a no-contest (obviously since Homicide couldn't get out of the cage). Homicide kept trying to climb out and he hung up on the roof forever (on a rare LIVE broadcast). Soon enough all of the X-Division guys started climbing the cage before Homicide fell from the cage yet again. A moment later Jeff Hardy's music played as he entered into the Impact Zone, making his return to TNA after a 4-year absence. Homicide was eventually let out of the Steel Asylum cage through one of the structure's walls that had been opened for him by TNA staff to continue the segment. It doesn't help that this piece of footage is constantly brought up on countless DVDs. There was never another Steel Asylum Match.
#5. Electrified Cage Match
That was not the only Steel Cage fail in TNA. At Lockdown 2007 LAX was set to defend their NWA Tag Team Championships against Team 3D. After a series of unique but very good matches on pay-per-view they were set to blow off this feud in an "Electrified Steel Cage Match" where 50'000 volts of electricity ran through the cage. Sounds like a helluva an idea . . . until you actually see it. Every single time anyone hit the cage what would happen was not brutality, but a weird buzzing sound and the lights flickering in the arena. This match was a mess of an already idiotic and hoaky idea (didn't help that they were given the dark Sin Cara lighting so it was hard to see already). Team 3D won the Tag Team Titles and there was never another Electrified Cage Match.
#4. Rob Van Dam Killed?
In August 2010 on a special "Whole F'n Show" edition of Impact Rob Van Dam defended his TNA World Heavyweight Championship in a Stairway to Janice Match (A ladder match where you climbed the ladder to get Janice which was the name of Abyss' weapon which was a 2x4 with nails in it . . . yeah just go with it). Later on in the night the camera cut backstage to Rob Van Dam with his singlet shredded and his body graphically cut up with gashes all over his body and lying in a pool of his own blood . . . a LOT of blood. I don't think I have to explain that the blood and whatnot is fake, but oh my Gawd they went way way way WAY over-the-top with this. Watching this I thought Rob Van Dam was supposed to be dead. Rob Van Dam would make his return two months later for the Bound for Glory 2010 pay-per-view, but this moment was just absolutely stupid. You overdid this one guys.
#3. AJ Styles and Sting Leave TNA In Same Month
In January 2014 the Dixie Carter Administration was running rampid on Impact. Sting was mad that Dixie had become the over-bearing jackass of a boss and how Magnus had won the World Title with the help of the Dixie Carter Administration. Sting was then forced into a Title vs. Career match against Magnus where if Sting won he would win the World Title but if he lost he would leave TNA. The match became a depressing and overbooked mess as a ton of wrestlers came down to help Magnus. Kurt Angle came out to even up the odds and clear the ring. The referee then got inadvertently knocked out and then Sting got taken out and lost the match. Sting never appeared on TNA again. AJ Styles, after winning the TNA World Heavyweight Championship at Bound for Glory 2013 he left TNA with the title. As a result Styles was stripped of the Title and they did a tournament where Magnus became the new Champion. But two weeks after the Sting departure Styles returned sporting the original Title Belt and demanded an "All Or Nothing" type of match to determine the true TNA Champion (gee, I wonder where that idea came from). In yet another overbooked mess where tons of wrestlers come in to beat down on AJ Styles and Magnus won the match and became the true Champion, AJ Styles left TNA.
It bugged me so much that this was how TNA sent-off two of their biggest superstars that had been with the company for many years. AJ Styles went on the independent scene (his extremely successful one at that) and Sting went on to WWE.
#2. Sharmelle vs. Jenna
After Jenna Morasca from Survivor (who was playing Kevin Nash's girlfriend on TV) threw in the towel during an I Quit Match between Booker T and AJ Styles at Sacrifice 2009 which caused Booker T to lose the match. Booker T's wife Sharmelle came down to the ring scolding Jenna for her actions. This led to a match between the two non-wrestlers at Victory Road 2009 with Awesome Kong and Sojournor Bolt . . . oh boy here we go.
Jenna entered the ring wearing a very revealing outfit and slowly got in the ring over the bottom rope that showed off her ass and asshole (in an extreme closeup) while Sharmelle came out in a sparking blue dress that had feathery stuff on it which came off during the match. It's no surprise that these two are not wrestlers so the match isn't going to be very good . . . but this was awful.
They kept trying to do simple moves and failing, they would do slaps on each other that came nowhere near to each others faces. Jenna would take Sharmelle down and try to do a catfight spot, but none of the crowd cared and were too busy laughing and booing at this match. Sojournor Bolt got knocked off the apron and Awesome Kong was clearly supposed to catch her but Bolt overshot her jump (I'm surprised she didn't go into the crowd) and she bounced off of Kong's shoulder before nearly landing on her head on the ground. Awesome Kong didn't even care enough to catch her. This match finally ended when Jenna did a weird sex-dance as she squatted down and pinned Sharmelle. Just . . . wow. And I'm being brief to make this as painless as possible here folks. If your into being sick to your stomach, watch this on YouTube. You won't be disappointed.
#1. Victory Road 2011
These last two moments were the ultimate debate, but this one just barely wins. At Victory Road 2011 Sting was set to defend his TNA World Heavyweight Championship after recently winning it from Jeff Hardy on Impact 3.3.11. There was some interest in this main event (even though this and Against All Odds 2011 were a string on pay-per-views where none of the matches were announced until 3 days beforehand), the video packages throughout the show were great, the re-match was anticipated, and to be perfectly honest the rest of the event before this was actually very good. Falls Count Anywhere Match between Bully Ray and Tommy Dreamer is one of my favorite matches ever, Ultimate X was great, Matt Hardy and AJ Styles stole the show in their match . . . but then the main event.
Sting came out like normal for his match then it came time for Jeff Hardy to come out, and his music played forever. After over half the entrance song played Jeff finally made his way out. He kinda stumbled out to the ring, walking slowly and holding onto the posts to get himself in the ring (honestly I didn't notice anything too different yet when I was watching). Eric Bischoff then came out and spoke privately to Sting before announcing this match at a No DQ. Bischoff got punched by Sting for his troubles. Jeff Hardy then took off his shirt and kept getting ready to throw it out to the crowd. After about nearly a minute of shirt teasing he finally dropped his shirt. Sting and him locked up and did a few shots in the corner before Sting turned Jeff around and dropped him with the Scorpion Death Drop and pinned him for the three-count. The match lasted 78 seconds.
According to interviews and shoots Jeff Hardy was found 10 minutes before the match pilled out of his mind and unable to compete. Eric Bischoff told Sting to "Just bring this one home" ending the match as fast as possible. They then did highlights of the entire show (to make up for some time) before the pay-per-view ended.
Now I don't work for TNA so I don't know what goes into production, but I wondered why they couldn't stick someone else out there. But they may have had no choice. As a result all the people who purchased the pay-per-view were given a free month of TNA Video Vault and Jeff Hardy was written out of television for the next several months to undergo rehab. Jeff Hardy would return in October of that year.Check out the Official TNA-Furs Page on Furaffinity - http://www.furaffinity.net/user/tna-furs