The 8 Ball: Top 8 Wrestlers in Trouble if TNA Folds

Top 8 Wrestlers in Trouble if TNA Folds

Let’s be honest, the recent news for TNA has not been encouraging. Destination America is moving Impact to Wednesdays and now we’re hearing it intends to can the show at the end of September. No idea if that latter part is true or not, but there’s too much smoke around TNA for there not to be some fire. Given the company’s difficulties in staging non-televised live events, the loss of its TV deal could prove a death knell.

If so, then that’s going to flood the wrestling market talent. TNA has a tasty roster. Many of the wrestlers won’t be in trouble. Drew Galloway is the reigning Evolve, Dragon Gate USA and Insane Championship Wrestling champion. He’ll be fine without TNA. Austin Aries could walk back in ROH without missing a beat (here’s to Aries, Alex Shelley, Roderick Strong and Jack Evans reforming Generation Next for at least one awesome night). Lashley keeps winning MMA fights and has drawn a lot of praise for his wrestling during the past year. He’ll have lots of suitors (e.g. imagine Lashley vs. Minoru Suzuki). Kurt Angle may be old, but he’s still Kurt Freakin’ Angle. Bobby Roode is one of the best in-ring performers in the business. TNA’s English contingent (Magnus, Bram, Rockstar Spud and Mandrews) will be in high demand on the other side of the Atlantic if they can’t find the right gigs on this side of it.

Yet it won’t be all sunshine and joy if TNA closes shop. Some wrestlers will have their careers irrevocably altered. It can be a cruel business and a TNA entry on your resume does not guarantee that other promotions will give you star treatment. The job put to the Magic 8-Ball this week is to sort out which wrestlers may find themselves in the “Where Are They Now?” file if TNA goes under. Sad that we have to consider this possibility, but we do. Get ready for the TNA endangered species list.

8. Mr. Anderson

Not young at age 39, he never went over the top during his WWE run and he never was an indie darling. TNA has been the place where Anderson briefly got to be THE guy. If it goes away, he’s likely getting booked as a nostalgia act. He’ll still get work. He can milk his entrance for years. Perhaps he can even spin his vocal talents into a commentating gig. Yet he’s likely never going a leading player again for even a medium-sized wrestling promotion. TNA probably is the last place where he gets to be a big deal. It’s downhill from here. He’ll be fighting Snitsky in rec centers. That’s a bleak scenario for a guy who, a decade ago, seemed like he’d be the WWE’s next big thing.

7. Angelina Love

I think it’s wrong to judge women wrestlers by their looks, but a pretty face will take you places. Good looks took Lisa Moretti from being a USFL cheerleader (go Steve Young) to GLOW (where she was Tina Ferrari) to the WWE (where she was Ivory). Trish Stratus may have become a fine wrestler, but she got into the business by being smoking hot. I’m sure Love has her admirers. She’s certainly in outstanding shape, but I don’t think she has looks to get a WWE/NXT deal. McMahonLand prizes youth and telegenics. At age 33, I would guess she’s riding the TNA wave for all it’s worth. After that I suspect it’s a lot of Shine in her future. Nothing wrong with that, but I’m guessing most fans will lose track of her.

6. Chris Melendez

While he has a great (and real) back story along with a number of name backers (Mr. Anderson and the Dudleys), Melendez is a raw, one-legged wrestler. It’s tough to thrive in the indies with a slower paced style. I can’t imagine having Melendez on a card will sell a lot of tickets. I’m sure he’ll get stuff like FWE bookings, and draw U-S-A chants from small crowds, but regardless of his physical limitation he has a long way to go as a professional wrestler. He lacks ring polish, which almost anyone would given his relative inexperience. On top of that, TNA hasn’t done much with him. The most obvious angle for him should be that he’s got unassailable All-American credentials yet his last name is Melendez. He’d be the perfect foil for a heel running a Zeb Colter/Jack Swagger xenophobia gimmick. Unfortunately he’s been given little more than a war hero rough sketch.

5. Abyss

You’ll always find gigs if you’re willing to fling yourself into a pile of thumbtacks. And hardcore matches don’t require athleticism, or much in the way of ring skills. So TNA’s resident monster will keep working as long as he’s willing to bleed for the cause. Yet that’s a bit of a circus geek act. To be fair, his star in TNA has been fading for quite some time. Once a feared monster, now he’s a walking advertisement for an overbooked and underwhelming match. He’s like the Kane of TNA. No other serious promotion is going to put him in a position of prominence. TNA owes him for loyal service, but no one else does.

4. Taryn Terrell

She burned her WWE bridges before she got to TNA, which puts a hard ceiling on how far her star can rise. Right now she’s the TNA Knockouts Champion and doing well in that role. The Dollhouse is a bit of a Beautiful People knockoff, but arguably 2015 has been the best work of Terrell’s career. It would be a major letdown for Terrell to have the company fold just when she’s taking a major step forward. Like others on this list, she’ll continue to work. She’s got Playboy, the WWE and TNA on her resume. It’s just that it’s hard to imagine her finding a situation better or equal to what she’s got in TNA.

3. Kenny King

Like Terrell, King has reached a higher level in 2015. He may be the most entertaining guy in TNA at the moment. He steals segments whenever he gets camera time. Problem is, if TNA folds where does he go to get camera time? He could go back to ROH. He’d be a good fit in Lucha Underground. Perhaps he could find his way in NXT, but would they let him be smart and sarcastic rather than play some stereotype? Unfortunately for King, his 2015 may go unnoticed by a lot of wrestling fans. The timing couldn’t be worse for King. If the lights go out on TNA, King likely finds himself back at square one. Opportunity does not endlessly knock.

2. Gunner

Outside of TNA, Gunner has mostly worked for small NWA regional outfits. He was part of a wave of vanilla muscle men that TNA collected early in the 2010s, with Crimson, Magnus, Jesse Godderz and Rob Terry. Gunner has flirted with the TNA main event scene, but his pushes tend to hit dead ends. At times it’s seemed like TNA was positioning him to get over and then … nothing. He could have the label of being the guy TNA never quite got behind. I’m skeptical you can spin “wronged by TNA Creative” the same way you can “wronged by WWE Creative.” Gunner likely would need to prove he can generate excitement in the indies before a ROH, Lucha Underground or Evolve considered him for a push. Also don’t see him being a fit for Japan.

1. Eric Young

TNA may be in trouble. Yet the product is far better than it was during the dark days of 2013 and early 2014. The man who changed that was Eric Young. His surprise title win and consistently entertaining run as champion reinvigorated TNA. He remains a fixture in the title scene, working the heel side of the street. Since the move to DA, he’s feuded with Bobby Roode and Kurt Angle. Young is as TNA as they come. He’s given his blood and sweat to this company. Unfortunately, if TNA shuts down, you could see more of Young as a TV personality than a pro wrestler. I imagine he can work for Scott D’Amore’s Border City Wrestling forever. No doubt Jeff Jarrett would throw him some GFW gigs, though I doubt GFW pushes Young as a feature attraction. He’s so strongly identified with TNA, a new company should be wary of putting him in its main event scene for fear that it will feel like TNA 2.0. Much as I like Young and feel he’s been underrated in the ring during his career, TNA likely will be his wrestling apex.

I take requests.. The purpose of this column is to look forward. What could be? What should be? What is and what should never be? What would make more sense? 411 has plenty of columns that count down and rank things that happened in the past. This is not one of those columns. The Magic 8-Ball is here to gaze into the future. If there’s someone or something you think should be given the 8-Ball treatment, mention it in the comments section. I might pick it up for future weeks.