Highlights
- Christian Cage became a major star in TNA, showcasing his potential and developing his skills on the microphone.
- Tyson Tomko failed to make an impact as a singles wrestler in TNA, lacking charisma and struggling to connect with the audience.
- Kurt Angle's jump to TNA revitalized his career, allowing him to put on great matches and develop his character in ways he couldn't in WWE.
With WWE rapidly searching for a new direction after the end of an Invasion from WCW and ECW, the massively stacked roster was going through changes. Veteran wrestlers were wrapping up their careers, and an influx of fresh talent from defunct wrestling companies as well as homegrown talent from WWE were all looking to make a name for themselves. The Ruthless Aggression era really was as ruthless as they came, with weekly TV shows and monthly pay-per-views stacked to the brim with talent.
Of course, there simply wasn't enough room for everyone to develop and grow, and many talented performers were often left off TV or placed in questionable storylines. The 2000s also saw many massive superstars become free agents for one reason or another. Luckily, the independent scene was thriving, Japanese wrestling was in the midst of a major revival, and TNA Wrestling was making headlines as the next big promotion to watch. Plenty of released WWE stars made their way over to TNA and made an impact, while others failed to turn heads. Without further ado, here are eight big-name wrestlers who made the jump to TNA following their WWE departures in the 2000s and achieved success and became major stars, and six others who ultimately failed.
13 Became a star: Christian Cage
Christian was already on his way to establishing himself as a singles wrestler by the time his contract expired with WWE in 2005. Prior to that, he was best known as a tag-team wrestler alongside Edge. He was quick to jump ship to TNA Wrestling where the company gave him the ball and a chance to run with it, and he became known as The Instant Classic.
Rising to the very top of TNA and becoming one of their top stars, Christian Cage was finally given a chance to showcase every bit of potential he had, and there was a lot of it. He solidified his place as a major player in pro wrestling, and it was in TNA where he was first allowed to develop his incredible skills on the microphone. He is regarded as one of the best talkers in wrestling today and is currently active in AEW, but it was leaving the WWE and joining TNA that proved to be the most important decision of his career.
During his time with TNA, Cage became a two-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion. Christian would return to the company in 2021, while under contract with AEW, and won the Impact World Championship from Kenny Omega on an episode of AEW Rampage. Cage would drop the title to Josh Alexander two months later at the Bound for Glory pay-per-view.
12 Failed: Tyson Tomko
Christian's old running buddy in the WWE, Tyson Tomko, would also find himself jumping ship to TNA Wrestling after he was released from the WWE in 2006. Tomko would realign himself with Christian and once again assume the role of Cage's bodyguard. Tomko would go on to form teams with the likes of AJ Styles and Scott Steiner but never found any success as a singles wrestler. Despite never making an impact as a singles competitor, he did receive some championship success in Impact Wrestling, winning the TNA Tag Team Titles once alongside Styles.
Tomko's lack of charisma ultimately hindered his career and outside of partnerships with charismatic wrestlers, he was simply bland and uninteresting on his own. While he was given a number of opportunities to grow in TNA, he never really connected with the audience, and his run ultimately failed once he tried to fly solo.
11 Became a star: Kurt Angle
While the circumstances of Kurt Angle's WWE release in 2006 are shrouded in controversy because of Angle's widely publicized battles with addiction, it simply cannot be denied that Angle's jump to TNA Wrestling completely revitalized his career and he went on to become one of TNA's biggest stars. Angle debuted and instantly entered a feud with the undefeated Samoa Joe, and this was only the first of the pro wrestling dream matches that Angle would become a part of in his storied run in TNA.
The Wrestling Machine continued to evolve and finally had the freedom he wanted to not only put on some of the greatest matches of all time but also develop his character in ways he wasn't allowed to in WWE. Angle's run in TNA was absolutely magic.
During his time with the company, Kurt won almost every title imaginable. He became a six-time TNA World Heavyweight Champion, a two-time King of the Mountain winner, a two-time TNA World Tag Team Champion, and a former X Division Champion. In 2013, Kurt's career with Impact Wrestling was celebrated when he was inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame.
10 Failed: Maven
Once poised to be a star in WWE, Maven just completely failed to capture the attention of the audience past a select few moments when he first arrived in 2001 after winning the Tough Enough competition. Maven was given opportunity after opportunity during his early run in the WWE, but he just wasn't growing.
The biggest moment of his career came when he eliminated The Undertaker from the Royal Rumble in 2002, a move he quickly regretted, considering that The Deadman made the young wrestler his target and subsequently, his victim. He fell down the card until his release in 2005, and he, like many at the time, joined TNA Wrestling. His debut in TNA in 2006 wasn't welcomed by the fans and his run ultimately fell flat. He left as quickly as he came in, and nobody was surprised.
9 Became a star: Raven
Raven's runs in WWE were lackluster through no fault of his own. Despite achieving massive success in ECW, having a decent run in WCW, and being regarded as one of the best talkers and all-around wrestlers in the business at the time, Vince McMahon just didn't think that Raven had "it" and ultimately refused to push him.
His firing was a big deal at the time. When he debuted for TNA just two days after leaving WWE in January 2003, the company made a big deal out of his arrival, and just like that, his star power was reignited. Raven became a huge part of TNA during the early days of the company and was one of their first credible main eventers. Raven always left it all in the ring and was, as always, a wizard on the microphone and in general gave some of his best career work to TNA.
In 2022, Raven was inducted into the Impact Hall of Fame. During his time with the company, Raven held one reign with the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and became the 2005 King of the Mountain winner.
8 Failed: Billy Gunn
There was a lot of controversy surrounding Billy Gunn's firing from the WWE back in 2004, and Gunn was vicious towards the company and its management in interviews following his departure. Of course, TNA was trying to build a product to compete with WWE, and Gunn was a big name, so it was inevitable he was going to be bought in.
Gunn's early run with TNA in 2005 was all over the place and when he aligned with his former partner and D-Generation X stablemate, Road Dogg, now going by the name B.G James, the duo looked poised for success. However, bad booking simply ruined their credibility, and they were mostly used to verbally attack Triple H, Vince McMahon, and WWE. Gunn never managed to achieve even an ounce of the success or popularity that he had during his WWE run.
7 Became a star: Scott Steiner
When WCW folded, Scott Steiner was one of the biggest stars in the world. However, when he joined WWE in 2002, his run completely flopped. Steiner was working hurt for the majority of his tenure and this drastically hindered his performances in the ring. He wasn't given a chance to showcase his microphone skills, which had made him so popular in WCW.
A backstage political rivalry with Triple H ultimately hindered any chances of success. Steiner was fired from WWE in 2004 while rehabbing another injury and joined TNA in 2006, embarking on his best run since his time in WCW. While Steiner never won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, he was always a featured star and a main event level roster member, being part of some of TNA's biggest storylines of all time. Steiner's run in TNA arguably saved his legacy after an abysmal run in the WWE.
6 Failed: Shane Douglas
The ever-controversial Shane Douglas decided to sit out his WCW contract when the company was purchased by WWE and then opted to not renew it once his time was up. Douglas was one of ECW's biggest stars and gave the company some of their greatest moments.
Douglas joined the WCW in 1999, capitalizing on his ECW success. He looked poised to become one of the company's top heels, but WCW being WCW never gave him the chance to shine. Douglas joined TNA in 2003 and had a few good moments, but quickly fell off the card and became a manager. Other than one standout feud with Christopher Daniels, Shane Douglas' run in TNA completely flopped.
5 Became a star: Gail Kim
Gail Kim was ahead of her time in every way possible. If the WWE Women's Wrestling Revolution had happened in the 2000s, Gail Kim would have been the face of it. Lucky for Kim, TNA was about to launch its own revolution.
Kim joined TNA as a manager following her widely publicized WWE release in 2004 and when TNA decided to pull the trigger on reinventing women's wrestling in the United States in 2007, Gail Kim became the face of the division. Kim was the first-ever Knockouts Champion and the first female to be inducted into the Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame. Today, she is regarded as one of the greatest women's wrestlers of all time, and it was her run in TNA that made such a credential possible.
4 Failed: Christy Hemme
Christy Hemme was the winner of the WWE Diva Search in 2004, and she received her WWE contract as a result of that competition. Hemme was sadly just another name in a bad era of women's wrestling, through no fault of her own. She loved wrestling, but she just wasn't good at it.
Hemme was released from WWE in 2005. She had a degree of star power behind her at the time, so TNA decided to sign her to a contract. She excelled at her role as an announcer, interviewer, and a host, but when the company pulled the trigger on giving her a run in the ring, it all went downhill as Hemme couldn't keep up with the level of talent that the Knockout's Division had bought in.
3 Became a star: Jerry Lynn
Jerry Lynn was already hugely respected and successful in the pro wrestling industry before his short stint in WWE. World-traveled and regarded as one of the best all-around wrestlers in the world, Jerry Lynn's time in ECW in the 1990s catapulted him to new levels of superstardom. A legendary feud with Rob Van Dam would set the stage for his future. For whatever reason, WWE didn't really see anything in Lynn, and his stint with the company in 2001 was short-lived, but Lynn went on to become one of the most important wrestlers in TNA.
Known as the pioneer of the X-Division, Jerry Lynn went on to dramatically help the careers of young future champions such as AJ Styles and Samoa Joe. He was not only an active in-ring competitor, but he was also a key worker backstage, guiding the careers of the superstars of tomorrow, and he also became a multiple-time X-Division Champion and NWA World Tag Team Champion during his tenure with the company. Lynn currently works backstage for AEW in 2023.
2 Failed: X-Pac
X-Pac is a great wrestler, but he has never managed to break free of the midcard and the majority of his career success has come just from being part of The Kliq, alongside Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall. As a member of The Kliq, X-Pac was often featured in the various factions involving his friends, and he was a member of both D-Generation X and the New World Order.
When he was released from WWE in 2002, he jumped ship to TNA and became the X-Division Champion but left the company a short time later. He had a few other stints in TNA over the years, but nothing ever came of it and his star power eventually faded. X-Pac has been vocal about his struggles with addiction which may have played a role in hindering his post-WWE career, but thankfully, he has recovered today and lives a happy life and still competes on the Independent circuit from time to time.
1 Became stars: The Dudley Boyz
One of the more questionable decisions to come out of WWE Creative in 2002 was splitting up The Dudley Boyz. Luckily, the company saw the error of their ways, and the table-smashing duo was reunited before the end of the year. A more questionable decision came in 2005 however when Bubba Ray and D-Von, one of the greatest tag teams of all time and, at the time, one of the most popular teams in the world, were released from their contracts.
Everything came up sunshine and daffodils for the brothers however, as they took the wrestling world by storm throughout the 2000s with successful runs in Japan, all across the independents, and of course, in TNA under the new name of Team 3D, Brother Ray and Brother Devon. Their legacy only continued to grow throughout their tenure in TNA, and they even lived out a dream rivalry with The Steiner Brothers.
During their time as a tag team with Impact Wrestling, Team 3D became two-time TNA World Tag Team Champions and held one reign with the NWA World Tag Team Championship. While continuing to work for TNA, the duo went over to Japan and became two-time IWGP Tag Team Champions. They made history, becoming the first tandem to hold the tag team titles from TNA and NJPW at the same time.
Brother Ray would find even greater success in Impact Wrestling while using the "Bully Ray" gimmick during the early 2010s. As the leader of Aces & Eights, Ray became a two-time TNA World Heavyweight Champion. Devon also achieved championship success as a singles competitor, becoming a two-time TNA Television Champion.
In 2014, Team 3D was inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame.