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More so than ever, we're seeing wrestlers who have found a ton of success in one of the big wrestling promotions like WWE moving to another big wrestling promotion. Stars from WWE, IMPACT, Ring Of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling and AEW often move from one company to the next.
With that in mind, it can be hard to keep track of who was doing what before they joined the company they're currently working for, and more importantly, whether or not a current star for one company was a world champion previously for another.
WWE is a perfect example of this as it has many people on its roster that were champions elsewhere that people may not have known or realized, particularly if that person isn't being booked in the main event.
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Today we're going to look specifically at five WWE Superstars who you might not have known were once TNA/IMPACT World Champions
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#5 WWE and IMPACT star R-Truth/Ron Killings
R-Truth is one of the oldest superstars in WWE and most recently he's been spending his time in WWE making everyone laugh with a comedy act, or desperately trying to keep hold of the WWE 24/7 Championship for the 52nd time.
It seems like a long time ago that R-Truth performed as a serious character who was trying to win title belts and prove he's the best, not that we'd want that at the moment of course.
But the point is, it can be easy to look at R-Truth saying silly things, making people laugh and chasing the green and yellow title around and forget that he was once a World Champion.
R-Truth spent a lot of time in TNA as Ron Killings and on August 7th 2002 he won the TNA World Championship (which was the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at the time). R-Truth was the first African-American man to win the NWA title, and TNA's first-ever African-American champion.
R-Truth held the title for over a hundred days before losing it. But he'd go on to become a two-time world champion for TNA before leaving the company in 2007 and joining WWE in 2008.
R-Truth is now WWE's most decorated wrestler ever, with a record-breaking 57 recognized title runs in the company and 67 title reigns overall, including those outside of WWE.
#4 WWE and IMPACT star LA Knight/Eli Drake
LA Knight is one of WWE NXT's newest signings and he's been settling into the yellow brand very well, as he currently finds himself in a feud with fellow IMPACT alumni Cameron Grimes over the Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase.
However, LA Knight was once known as Eli Drake, and he was a performer who rose to the top of the IMPACT Wrestling roster, claiming their most coveted title and carrying the company with his natural charisma and brilliant mic skills.
Knight/Drake won the IMPACT World Title on August 17, 2007 in a twenty man Gauntlet For The Gold match. The title, known at the time as the GFW Global Championship, was previously vacated after then-champion Alberto El Patron was suspended.
Eli Drake held the title for just over half a year before losing it to former WWE star Austin Aries. Still, if the rumors are true that Ted Dibiase Sr. is going to bring back the Million Dollar belt, it might not be long until Knight is holding gold again.
#3 WWE and IMPACT star Mia Yim/Jade
Before she was assigned to SmackDown as Mia Yim and even before she was causing anarchy, wearing weird masks and trying to bring the WWE down from the inside as Reckoning, Mia Yim wrestled for IMPACT Wrestling as Jade.
After a few sporadic appearances, IMPACT Wrestling debuted Jade and Marti Bell as The Dollhouse faction which saw the pair align themselves with former WWE star Taryn Terrell and then at the time the soon-to-be WWE star Awesome Kong.
When the group disbanded after Terrell left IMPACT and Awesome Kong was fired following an altercation with Reby Sky, Jade became a singles wrestler and would eventually win the Knockouts Championship against Gail Kim and Madison Rayne in a three-way match.
Jade had held the title for 87 days and only lost it thanks to an attack from her former Dollhouse partner Marti Bell. Less than a year later she was in the WWE Mae Young Classic and a year later, in 2018, she was signed to WWE
#2 WWE and IMPACT star Franky Monet/Taya Valkyrie
I don't blame people who don't follow wrestling outside of WWE for not knowing that the recently debuted Franky Monet was one of the biggest female free agents prior to signing for WWE. But anyone else should be fully aware of what Taya Valkrie has accomplished.
Not only is she the longest-reigning Reina De Reinas Champion for Mexican promotion Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, holding their female world championship belt for a whopping 945 days, but she's also the current record-holder for longest-reigning IMPACT Wrestling Knockouts Champion.
Valkyrie won the title on January 6th, 2019 and only lost it over a year later to Jordynne Grace on January 18th, 2020. This makes her reign 377 days long, with the next closest Knockout being Taryn Terrell's 279-day reign back in 2014.
She may be playing a completely different character to the one we're used to seeing her play in WWE, as the small dog-holding Franky Monet. But I'm sure it won't be long until her championship pedigree shines through and she reminds people she's a formidable champion.
#1 WWE and IMPACT star Bobby Roode/Robert Roode
He's a current WWE Tag-Team Champion, so Bobby Roode isn't doing too badly for himself in WWE, even without the iconic entrance that got him over that the Superstar used to have in his early WWE days.
But, thanks to his role as one half of the TNA/IMPACT Wrestling tag-team Beer Money, Bobby Roode's popularity in TNA/IMPACT far exceeded the scale of a tag-team wrestler, catapulting him into the main event and an eventual world title win.
The set-up is a fairly convoluted affair, but to cut a long story short, Bobby Roode ended up facing his tag-team partner, James Storm, for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and he ultimately ended up turning heel, dissolving Beer Money and winning the title from his former friend.
The subsequent reign of Roode would go on to be IMPACT Wrestling's longest running world title run at 256 days. Roode would win the title once again in 2014 a few years later, but he only held it for a paltry 111 days in comparison the second time.
