10 TNA Characters Who Were Doomed From The Start
Don’t let all the fan chatter fool you: TNA (now known as Impact Wrestling) wasn’t all bad. After all, it was the promotion that introduced a wider audience to stars like AJ Styles and Samoa Joe, all while serving as a place where wrestlers like Kurt Angle and Gail Kim could thrive outside of WWE. But also in TNA’s history exists a graveyard of bad gimmicks and poorly conceived characters that were never going to be a success.
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This isn’t a phenomenon exclusive to TNA, mind you, but this particular promotion’s failures are always interesting and entertaining to examine. Without further ado, let’s take a look at TNA gimmicks that were hopeless from the very moment they appeared on the screen.
10 The Johnsons
The most famous dead-on-arrival TNA gimmick happened in the early days, back when TNA was affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance and ran a pay-per-view every week. That era was basically the Wild West in terms of insane, stupid ideas and nonsensical booking, and the apex of that may have been The Johnsons. Basically, they were a pair of jocks who had become enslaved by Mortimer Plumtree, a nerd they used to torment, and were now forced to wrestle while dressed like penises. The Johnsons were released from TNA after a matter of weeks, and would later debut in WWE as The Gymini.
9 The Rock ‘n' Rave Infection
Lance Hoyt (now known as Lance Archer) had spent a few years in TNA, having sporadic success -- particularly in a tag team with Kid Kash -- when he received a new gimmick. He was renamed Lance Rock and teamed up with notable Ring of Honor heel Jimmy Rave, with Christy Hemme as a manager, and Guitar Hero axe-wielding The Rock ‘n’ Rave Infection was born, predating 3MB by about five years. “Rock star delusion” usually makes for good comedy, but comedy gimmicks don’t make for enduring pro wrestling stars, and the act only lasted a couple of years.
8 Judas Mesias
TNA was always at its worst when it tried to replicate things that were already successful in WWE. Fans can always see through blatant rip-offs. In 2007, TNA tried to rip off the Kane/Undertaker storyline by introducing a brother for their resident monster, Abyss in the form of Judas Mesias. Portrayed by Puerto Rican wrestling star Ricky Bandera, Mesias even had a spooky manager/father in James Mitchell.
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Judas Mesias would not be long for TNA and would be released in 2008. He’d continue to wrestle in Puerto Rico and in Mexico’s AAA, and even resurface on US television as Mil Muertes on Lucha Underground.
7 Brutus Magnus
Debuting in 2008, Brutus Magnus was “a modern-day gladiator,” playing off of his stint portraying “Oblivion” on the UK version of American Gladiators. The gimmick felt extremely WWE, as it involved a goofy entrance costume complete with a helmet and skirt that threatened to pigeonhole the performer. To TNA’s credit, it was clear that Magnus was a British guy with a motif, and by 2009 the gimmick would be gone. By 2015, Magnus himself would be gone, finding more success under his real name of Nick Aldis in the National Wrestling Alliance, where he’d become a two-time NWA World Champion.
6 Trytan
When it comes to dominant monster wrestlers, they can’t always be Brock Lesnar. More often than not you get a Lars Sullivan -- or, if you’re really unlucky, a Trytan. In 2005, TNA began running vignettes for an odd hybrid of The Ultimate Warrior and The Terminator. Trytan would debut against Monty Brown at Destination X, messing up a bunch of basic moves until the bizarre finish: the lights went out, and Brown ended up pinning a masked wrestler in Trytan’s stead. TNA didn’t bother to follow up on this, and Trytan was thrown in a tag team with Simon Diamond before being released shortly thereafter.
5 The Flying Elvises
Less embarrassing than The Johnsons but just as wacky in the early days of TNA were The Flying Elvises. Notably, the first wrestlers to ever perform on a TNA show, the gimmick was basically Elvis impersonators composed of Sonny Siaki, Jorge Estrada, and Jimmy Yang. Yang, of course, is no stranger to comedic wrestling gimmicks or stables, given his work in WCW and WWE. An outdated gimmick even by early 2000s standards, the trio would break up after a few months.
4 Jessie Godderz
In 2013, Tara was teasing audiences that she had a celebrity boyfriend, finally revealing who it was on an October 2012 episode of Impact. However, the celebrity boyfriend in question turned out to be Jessie Godderz, an actual contestant on the reality show Big Brother, which prompted a “who are you” chant from the crowd.
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Godderz was off to an incredibly poor start from the get-go, but later in his TNA run, he’d have a pretty good thing going on with Robbie E as The BroMans.
3 Orlando Jordan
Orlando Jordan was WWE United States Champion for a respectable 171 days in 2005, but he failed to make much of an impression with audiences before his release in 2006. Jordan would debut for TNA in 2010, where he’d make a much bigger impression in the Impact Zone. After a couple months, Jordan would debut a gimmick that played off of his real-life bisexuality, albeit with a provocative execution closer to Goldust than Sonny Kiss. It may have been a bit ahead of its time considering how backwards wrestling was even a decade ago, and Jordan would end up released from TNA the following year.
2 Rellik
Jon Hugger had stints in WCW (as Johnny the Bull) and in WWE (as Johnny Stamboli) before enjoying his most memetic gimmick in TNA. Inspired by The Great Muta, Hugger would develop a masked character on the indies named REDRUM, which would carry over into TNA under the moniker of Rellik. In TNA, the baffling enigma of Rellik’s name would be quickly and frequently illuminated as commentators would incessantly remind viewers that Rellik is, in fact, “killer” spelled backwards. It didn’t really help the character, and Rellik soon became a jobber. On the bright side, it did help birth a wrestling-centric version of Godwin’s Law: as any online wrestling discussion continues, there is an increased probability that someone will write “Rellik is killer spelled backwards.”
1 The Governor
Remember that time WWE had a fake Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton get into a brawl on Raw, only to be attacked by Umaga? What if that continued past a one-night skit? In 2008, for some reason, TNA gave Daffney a gimmick where she was an impersonator of Alaska governor and failed 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who had teamed up with Taylor Wilde and Roxxi against The Beautiful People. As you might imagine, it was extremely topical and thus had like zero shelf life, so after a few months, Daffney had returned.
