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Despite what Impact Wrestling says about its origin, the company is essentially WCW 2.0. Founded by Jeff and his father Jerry Jarrett in 2002 after the demise of WCW in 2001, they employed former WCW talents who were not given a contract after the WWE acquisition and also independent wrestlers.
It was/is always going to be an uphill task for TNA/Impact/GFW to compete significantly with the WWE given the budget of the two promotions and it is indeed commendable that Impact is still on air after 15 years.
However, an overemphasis on founder Jeff Jarrett as the main event player - basically Jeff booking himself as Champion over and over again - hurt the company and for every former WWE/WCW star like Kurt Angle and Christian who came on board and increased the popularity of the promotion with their work, there were people like Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and Kevin Nash who came on board to hog the limelight and get an easy paycheck.
TNA could have taken the route of having these established names put over younger talent, but they never went full throttle with it. Future Superstars like CM Punk and the Young Bucks were never allowed to show their potential whereas washed up stars like Scott Hall and X-Pac were given title belts based on their reputation rather than anything else.
This list takes a look at all the dream matches TNA could have had with their amazing array of talent, but chose not to.
#5 AJ Styles vs CM Punk
The asylum days of TNA introduced a charismatic young wrestler named AJ Styles to the world. Signed to a non-exclusive contract with the company, AJ also wrestled at ROH and various independent promotions at the time.
Styles quickly rose up the ranks, capturing the X-Division, NWA World Heavyweight and Tag team titles to complete the TNA Triple Crown in no time.
Meanwhile, the promotion signed another up and comer in CM Punk and used the future "Voice of the Voiceless" as a mute lackey to Raven. Styles and Punk had already turned heads with matches in IWA: Mid-South (where Punk also wrestled Eddie Guerrero) and had a classic match at ROH to crown the first ever ROH Pure Championship.
But TNA never used their chemistry during Punk's time at the promotion. While AJ was built up as a singles star, Punk never rose from the sidekick role to Raven. Punk was released from TNA in 2004 without ever having a match against AJ.
"Not able to connect with the fans as a villain" - was the reason TNA gave for firing the man who would go on to scintillate wrestling fans in ROH and WWE with his amazing heel work which produced two separate 'Summers of Punk'.
#4 Ken Shamrock vs Scott Hall
Ken Shamrock brought legitimacy to the WWE when he signed for the promotion in 1997. The MMA legend wrestled for two years in the company, before leaving in 1999 to return to MMA.
Meanwhile, Scott Hall had wrestled with great acclaim for both WWE and WCW but found himself without a job after getting fired from WWE in 2002. Hall soon jumped to the newly formed NWA: TNA and was part of the company's first weekly PPV and competed in a battle royal to crown the first NWA World Champion in TNA.
And who captured the gold ?? It was Shamrock, returning to professional wrestling after a gap of three years. Despite being two of the most famous members of the TNA roster, Hall and Shamrock's paths never crossed after the battle royal.
Both were gone from the company almost immediately with Shamrock's title defences coming against the likes of Malice and R-Truth.
Hall had several forgettable runs with the company but never recaptured his WCW prestige.
#3 The Young Bucks vs The Hardy Boyz
The colossal mistake Impact Wrestling made in the 2010s was not realising the value Matt and Nick Jackson offered to the company. After impressing at Pro Wrestling Guerrilla(PWG), the duo started appearing for ROH, Dragon Gate, Chikara as well as TNA in 2009.
Going by the names of Max and Jeremy Buck and dubbed 'Generation Me' in TNA, the youngsters impressed TNA management during a tryout match against Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley and were offered contracts.
GenMe were put into a feud with Shelley and Sabin but in another case of short-sightedness, the company decided to split them up within three months of their debut - with the Bucks competing for the X-Division Championship.
During their 2009-11 run in TNA, the Bucks never competed against either the Dudley Boyz or the Hardy Boyz - who were also in TNA at the time. While the Bucks did compete against the Dudleys during a shortlived return to the company in 2013, but we never got to see the Hardys taking on the Bucks on TNA TV.
They did have matches for the ROH Tag belts, though just before the Hardys agreed to return to the WWE.
#2 AJ Styles vs Matt Sydal
Just like the CM Punk vs AJ Styles feud, TNA never delivered on Styles vs Sydal while IWA and ROH did. Before he was turning heads as Evan Bourne in the WWE, Matt Sydal delivered awesome highflying moves against the likes of Styles, Punk and Chris Sabin in ROH.
For one reason or the other, a TNA feud between Styles and Sydal never came to fruition. Sydal's breakout years in the independents were 2005 & 2006 when he wrestled for ROH and he joined the WWE in 2007.
He stayed there for seven years, meaning that he wouldn't face the TNA stalwart Styles during that period. It took three years for Sydal to reach TNA after his WWE departure and by that time, Styles had jumped ship to the WWE.
#1 Samoa Joe vs Nigel McGuinness
Most WWE fans know WWE 205 commentator Nigel McGuinness as just another ex-wrestler employed by the company in a non-wrestling role. But McGuinness is much more than that.
Making a mark in that hotbed of rich independent talent - ROH, McGuinness had a 545-day reign as the ROH World Champion, having great matches with the likes of Lowki, Daniel Bryan and Samoa Joe en route. In fact, he was the one to end Joe's reign as the ROH Pure Champion.
McGuinness and Joe both had TNA careers and both hit the headlines with brilliant feuds opposite Kurt Angle. As McGuinness had a short tenure with the company, he and Joe never had a one on one match during his time there.
Wrestling in a different getup as Desmond Wolfe, McGuinness was supposed to be the next breakout star of TNA following his program with Angle. But a few months later, Hulk Hogan showed up on TV and McGuinness' push mysteriously vanished.
Having joined TNA after failing a medical with the WWE, McGuinness was treated shabbily from then on. Tragically, McGuinness contracted Hepatitis B after blading in a TNA ring and was brutally released by TNA soon enough.
McGuinness would fall on hard times, even resorting to working at the deli to support himself during the time of his illness. Like a true champion, he would bounce back up - signing with ROH as a colour commentator and producing a critically acclaimed documentary 'The Last of McGuinness' in addition to being completely cured of his illness.
McGuinness also realised his lifelong dream of getting into the WWE when he was signed to the company in 2016 to work as a commentator.
It is sad that he never had a chance to wrestle his great rival Joe in TNA, but it is probably for the better as the company did not deserve to put such a great match on its card after how they treated McGuinness.
