Once TNA eventually dies, history will look back on TNA as a slew of mixed chances interspersed with an overwhelming barrage of terrible decisions – both creative and otherwise. For all the great wrestling TNA gave us in its early years, handing creative control to the likes of Russo, Bischoff and Hogan diluted what made special and looked to recreate the car crash booking of the Attitude Era to terrible results.
TNA have been more famous in recent years for their terrible storylines, financial troubles and backstage issues than progress inside the ring. With some of the storylines in this article, we look at some of the worst angles that TNA has had to offer over the years.
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5: Judas Mesias
Longtime TNA fans will be familiar with the ‘Monster’ Abyss. A longtime TNA veteran, Abyss was at the height of his career in the mid-2000s and was even approached by WWE and was pitched a debut feud against none other than the Undertaker. Sadly, Abyss decided to stay in TNA.
The year was 2007 and Abyss was one of the top heels in TNA. What did TNA do next? They turned him face and teamed him up with the man he’d been fighting for months, Sting.
Abyss was wrestling Kurt Angle inside the Six Side of Steel in a submission match, which Abyss lost after tapping out after his long lost ‘half-brother’ Judas Mesias appeared through a hole in the ring and dragged Abyss back into the depths under the ring. This storyline was clearly a rip-off of Kane’s WWE debut with Abyss and Judas Mesais’ father being James Mitchell – TNA’s equivalent of Paul Bearer.
Abyss eventually did defeat his half-brother in a Barbed-wire Massacre Match but following this feud, Abyss became a friendlier ‘babyface’ and even got himself a girlfriend – he went from TNA’s resident monster to a joke.
4: Aces and Eights
I’m going to keep it short with the Aces and Eights storyline. The Aces and Eights were basically another attempt to create the magic of the NWO. The Aces and Eights were in layman’s terms a biker gang version of the NWO.
The ‘mega-stable’ ran roughshod through TNA for over a year before Bully Ray – the man who’d had been feuding against the Aces and Eights for the most part – was revealed as the stable’s true leader at Lockdown. The angle was so complicated that TNA had to release a 5-part video explaining the swerve.
The stable was full of jobbers like Wes Briscoe and Garrett Bischoff and never really excited anyone. They were as bloated as the original NWO and the angle just got progressively worse and eventually died a death similar to the original NWO – too bloated and complex for their own good.
3: Kurt and Karen Angle’s divorce is turned into a storyline
Kurt Angle is one of the greatest in-ring performers in pro wrestling history. However, Angle’s personal life has been littered with trouble in the past with multiple DUI’s, career-threatening neck injuries and during his stint in TNA, he and his wife Karen got a divorce.
It later came out that Karen Angle and Jeff Jarrett had started a relationship during the time that the Angle’s were separated. In one of the most insensitive storylines in wrestling history, TNA turned the divorce into a storyline even though Angle had gone as far as tweeted his displeasure saying that he was being made to look like a bad father
The feud lasted for several months and even included Chyna being revealed as Kurt’s mistress which led to a mixed-tag match. Even though Angle eventually won the feud, this goes down as one of the worst things TNA has done for good ratings.
2: Voodoo Kin Mafia
Whoever thought Billy Gunn and Road Dogg were top stars in 2006 must have been out of their minds. Oh wait, it was Vince Russo.
Road Dogg and Billy Gunn called out Triple H and Shawn Michaels by their real names and declared war on Vince McMahon. The duo called themselves the Voodoo Kin Mafia or VKM for short – get it?
The former Mr. Ass and the former Road Dogg came out every week and cut shoot promos on the newly revived DX – calling them out for not including them in the reunion. The duo even ‘invaded’ a WWE house show taking a bunch of planted ‘fans’ along with them to record footage outside the building.
How did WWE react? In classic WWE style, they just ignored the whole thing and the angle died a slow death with the Voodoo Kin Mafia eventually declaring themselves the winner, not that anyone cared.
1: Claire Lynch
AJ Styles is the biggest homegrown star TNA has ever had. He was the face of the promotion for years and a fan favourite even though he was regularly overlooked for recently recruited WWE ex-WWE Superstars past their prime.
The Claire Lynch angle is hands down the worst storyline in TNA history. It began nonchalantly with AJ feuding with the tag duo of Bad Influence when it was ‘revealed’ that he was having an affair with Dixie Carter (yes, you read that correctly) which was obviously a hoax.
Bad Influence later went on to reveal that AJ was the illegitimate father of a baby with a woman called Clair Lynch – who was portrayed as a drug addict. Styles repeatedly claimed he had no memory of sleeping with Lynch but photos of the pair in bed were later revealed with AJ Styles looking like he’d been drugged and borderline sexually assaulted.
This angle led to a match between Styles and Lynch-ally Christopher Daniels. If AJ won the match he’d earn himself a DNA test but would have to admit to being the father if he lost. Thankfully Styles won the match but the whole thing was inconsequential in the end because Lynch revealed her pregnancy to be fake even before the test results came out.
What’s worse is that the storyline went completely against who AJ is as a person. Styles is happily married and is a devout family man. Instead of pushing him to the moon – like WWE has since signing him – he was sidetracked to stupid storylines like this which I’m sure played a part in his eventual departure.
How did the Clair Lynch angle end? With a car crash but that story is for another day.
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