TNA aka Impact Wrestling was criticized for putting many of their wrestlers in bad gimmicks. Every promotion suffers from this at various times, but it became a common issue for TNA harming the performers from the first step. Names like Vince Russo, Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, Bruce Prichard and Jeff Jarrett all contributed to the creative side in Impact’s history.
RELATED: 10 Great Impact Wrestling Rivalries (Held Back By One Bad Thing)
Unfortunately, too many chefs in the kitchen turned out to be a problem with most wrestlers overbooked by the creative minds. The stories saw differing results of both wrestlers that were able to rebound and those who couldn’t ever turn their careers around. Each of the following wrestlers either survived bad gimmicks in TNA, or had it define their time in wrestling.
10 Survived: Eric Young
TNA placed Eric Young in just about every possible gimmick during his Hall of Fame career there. Young had his worst gimmick coming as the Super Eric superhero character. The running joke was that everyone knew it was Young, but he tried to hide his identity since it removed his fear.
RELATED: 5 Safest Workers In TNA/Impact Wrestling History (& 5 Most Reckless)
Super Eric even refused to win the tag titles since the unmasked Young scoring a win would have confirmed they were the same person. Young thankfully overcame this to have strong runs from both the face and heel sides at a top level.
9 Defined: Orlando Jordan
Former WWE talent Orlando Jordan never got to cultivate a gimmick nor did he have a lasting memory there. TNA hoped that Jordan would become a relevant player for them as part of the early signings for Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff’s regime.
Unfortunately, he received a brutal gimmick that played into his bisexual lifestyle, but it portrayed him as a sexual deviant trying to stalk other wrestlers. TNA is lucky this gimmick only harmed Orlando’s career and didn’t get them in trouble for such a bad portrayal.
8 Survived: Brooke Adams
An underrated TNA signing saw Brooke Adams joining the company after her WWE run as part of the Extreme Expose team. Most fans had little to no memory of Brooke’s short WWE tenure, so TNA introduced her in a new role as Eric Bischoff’s assistant.
Brooke had a weakened role with little upside when playing the non-wrestler until she made a move to the ring. The face push of Adams actually saw her having a great run and winning the Knockouts Championship multiple times as a top female performer.
7 Defined: Rosie Lottalove
One of the worst-case scenarios of someone getting pigeonholed into a bad gimmick was Rosie Lottalove in TNA. The plus-sized wrestler at the time had to use that as her characters with a presentation and in-ring offense built around it.
Opposing wrestlers suffered brutal injuries facing the inexperienced wrestler. WWE even signed her with a new name after a drastic change and weight loss to ditch that gimmick, but nothing more came out of it. Fans only remember the terrible TNA time despite her attempts to improve not working.
6 Survived: Samuel Shaw
Many fans forget that Dexter Lumis worked in TNA for a few years under the name of Samuel Shaw. The stalker character of Shaw was a disaster trying to force Christy Hemme to fall in love with him. There was even an embarrassing match of Mr. Anderson forcing Shaw to be committed.
TNA couldn’t figure out how to make this act work, but he did overcome it when moving to WWE. NXT pushing Lumis saw him becoming one of the most popular gimmicks there. Dexter is now on the main roster trying to find his footing after getting past the distant TNA debacle.
5 Defined: Crimson
Crimson was a relative unknown before TNA to make it quite strange when they gave him an undefeated streak to start. There was a clear blueprint that saw them trying to follow what WCW did with Goldberg, but nobody cared.
RELATED: 10 TNA Impact Wrestling Gimmicks That Were Too Similar To Other Characters
TNA fans never got behind Crimson and actually started booing him for defeating their underpushed favorites. Crimson tried to turn heel to save the push, but it turned into another terrible idea that defined his entire career.
4 Survived: Alex Shelley
The first TNA gimmick for Alex Shelley is thankfully not remembered and allowed him to have a great career. Shelley started off as part of an act with female manager Goldy Locks. The storyline of Goldy winning a lot of money saw her trying to hire clients to take over TNA.
Shelley was viewed as a cowardly heel doing the bidding of Goldy as her lackey in exchange for the money. Abyss joined them at one point, but his gimmick was protected. Shelley looked like a fool, but thrived in many future opportunities, including the all-time great Motor City Machine Guns team.
3 Defined: Cookie
Becky Bayless spent years in Ring of Honor and various other independent promotions waiting for a chance to get on television. TNA hired Bayless to play the role of Cookie as Robbie E’s manager when debuting that gimmick together.
The Jersey Shore MTV reality show was the inspiration of Robbie E playing a parody of The Situation and Cookie as Snookie. Fans cringed at TNA trying to have a parody of an outdated act. Robbie E was able to make the character his own, but Bayless never had another shot after the Cookie run ended.
2 Survived: Daffney
The late Daffney had an underrated career that featured standout moments in WCW, TNA and Ring of Honor. However, the TNA tenure started off as a disappointment when playing The Governor to parody politician Sarah Palin.
A terrible storyline saw The Beautiful People bringing her to the show and believing it was the real Palin for months. The split between those two sides led to Daffney changing her gimmick up. A goth character having hardcore matches made Daffney a great part of the show that warranted more opportunities.
1 Defined: Rellik
Few fans have much memory of Johnny the Bull in the short WWE and WCW runs of his career. TNA hiring him to play the new gimmick and persona of Rellik based on horror movie characters. Rellik was even an intentional name meant to spell murder backwards that TNA made sure fans picked up on.
Unfortunately, it was another train wreck that didn’t get him any more over than his previous acts. Rellik teaming up with Black Reign were two awful gimmicks doubling down and suffering together. Dustin Rhodes rebounded later in his career, but Rellik was a gimmick that Johnny could not overcome.
