The wrestlers to spend time in both WWE and TNA attempted to find success in two completely different worlds. TNA wanted to become the competition to WWE, but they never got over the hump and often remained too small to pose a real threat. However, the wrestlers to work there were some of the best in the world before or after their WWE stints.
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TNA received criticism for trying too hard to copy WWE, but that doesn’t mean all the gimmicks were the same. Quite a few wrestlers had different characters during their time in the respective companies. The changes had mixed results with some hitting the mark and some missing. Find out which talents tried to take a huge leap by having drastically different gimmicks in WWE and TNA.
10 Robbie E
TNA gave Robbie E his first major break in wrestling when signing him to play the gimmick based on The Jersey Shore reality show. Robbie E received a push in the tag team division and X-Division at different points.
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The comedic element of his TNA gimmick is the only thing that transferred over to his WWE run. NXT currently uses him under the name of Robert Stone as a manager. Stone is attempting to recruit wrestlers to his brand as a sports agent of sorts with things often ending poorly for him.
9 Taryn Terrell
Taryn Terrell improved dramatically from her time in WWE to TNA in every area of wrestling. WWE initially didn’t want to use her as a wrestler and placed her in the role of ECW General Manager under the name of Tiffany.
The wrestling run in WWE ended quickly with an unexpected release. TNA initially signed Taryn as a referee for the Knockouts Division matches. Terrell ended up getting on the bad side of Gail Kim to start her wrestling career. The superb matches made her improve to become one of the top faces in the Knockouts Division moving forward.
8 Matt Morgan
The WWE run of Matt Morgan saw many people in management expecting him to become a future top star for the company. Morgan had two gimmicks in WWE as a monster heel aligning with Brock Lesnar and later as the bodyguard of Carlito with a stutter.
Both runs ended poorly and led to Morgan leaving WWE for good. TNA signed him and tried to make Morgan a main eventer as The Blueprint character. Morgan struggled to get over even at a top-level even without the gimmicks holding him back like WWE.
7 Trinity
Trinity was one of the more underrated female wrestlers to have stints in both TNA and WWE. TNA used Trinity as one of the few full-time women on the roster when starting their Fox Sports deal. Traci Brooks and Trinity carried that side of things with a lot of emphasis on her stunts.
WWE signed Trinity to become part of the ECW brand when looking for new talents. The only use of Trinity saw her as part of the Full-Blooded Italians faction with minimal television time. WWE released her and saw her leaving the industry to go back to her stunt work.
6 Eric Young
The TNA run of Eric Young primarily showed his comedic side. Young had one of the best comedy runs in recent wrestling memory to help him get over with the TNA audience. Fans connected with his likable personality and it led to him being a TNA mainstay for years.
WWE signed Young while adding former TNA stars for roster depth. Young joined the faction SAnitY, playing a more sinister heel hoping to take over NXT with his fellow misfits. The main roster run saw him barely getting much television time in the same gimmick. TNA added Young back with a darker character after his WWE release.
5 Hulk Hogan
The Hulk Hogan experiment in TNA was viewed as a failure due to Hogan struggling to make them more relevant in the mainstream. Hogan’s on-screen work was also quite different than what fans expected from his WWE career.
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The heel turn to form Immortal with Jeff Hardy saw Hogan now playing an evil heel authority figure. Hogan only spent about a month as a heel in WWE when leading the New World Order, but fans turned him back into a face character. TNA was the place where he tried the heel role in a new form running the show.
4 Orlando Jordan
Orlando Jordan had a solid push in WWE when working with JBL in The Cabinet faction. WWE saw a stronger potential in Jordan and hoped this would elevate him. Jordan struggled to show his own identity and eventually flopped.
TNA brought Jordan back to the industry in a new role. Jordan showed a more bizarre side to his gimmick with his bisexual orientation coming into play. The booking was weak and just confused fans about the purpose of his presence in TNA.
3 Elijah Burke
WWE pushed Elijah Burke as one of the bigger stars of the ECW brand along with CM Punk and John Morrison. Burke showed potential but lacked a strong character to move forward. The charisma was there, but the WWE fit didn’t work out.
TNA signed Burke under the name of D’Angelo Dinero to become one of their new rising stars. The gimmick of the Black Pope saw him getting over on a higher level and becoming a legitimate challenger to AJ Styles’ TNA World Championship.
2 Mickie James
The legendary career of Mickie James saw her thriving when joining WWE in 2005. An outstanding feud with Trish Stratus established James as an important star and one of the most talented women in the division for the rest of her run.
TNA signing Mickie gave her more creative freedom to utilize her music career as part of her gimmick. The country music background of James was referenced with “Hardcore Country” as her theme song along with a few performances. WWE dropped that when bringing Mickie back for her current run.
1 Bully Ray
The tag team run of Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley made them arguably the best tag team in WWE history. Both wrestlers were against any attempts to break them up by WWE. TNA was a different story when making the jump there in the latter half of the 2010s decade.
While with TNA, the duo now named Team 3D thrived in the tag division until accomplishing everything realistically possible for them as a duo. Bubba came up with the Bully Ray character shortly after the split and became a huge success. Bully won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and was a top villain for many years.
NEXT: 5 Wrestlers In Both The WWE & TNA HOF (& 5 That Will Accomplish This Eventually)
