5 Impact Wrestling stars who had a mediocre run in WWE
There was a time when Impact Wrestling, formerly known as TNA, challenged WWE in terms of wrestling quality, storylines and even viewership numbers.
However, Impact then saw a decline and fell way behind promotions like Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling. It struggled to deal with lawsuits and payments to its talent. It somewhat recovered financially in 2019, but with the emergence of All Elite Wrestling (AEW), has now fallen further down the ladder.
The promotion has seen some of the biggest names in wrestling compete since being founded in 2002 and has also been responsible for unearthing and popularizing several talents in the industry.
Since the decline of Impact, a lot of its stars have made the big-money switch to WWE in recent years. While some wrestlers like AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and Xavier Woods have been immensely successful and popular in WWE, some others have failed to establish themselves as even mid-card Superstars due to lack of creative direction, bad luck or otherwise.
Here are five wrestlers who were huge in Impact Wrestling but came to WWE with huge momentum but failed to make it big.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article belong to the writer and doesn't necessarily represent Sportskeeda's stand.
#5 Awesome Kong / Kharma
Awesome Kong debuted for TNA in 2007 and went on to become a two-time TNA Knockouts Champion and a Knockouts Tag Team Champion. She left in 2010 and is still regarded as one of the greatest women's wrestlers to have been in the company and a driving force in the foundation of the TNA Knockouts division.
In 2011, after months of creepy vignettes of dismembered dolls and crazy laughs, she made her first TV appearance under the ring name Kharma, attacking Michelle McCool. However, in May, she announced her pregnancy, which caused her to miss in-ring action for a long time.
Kharma entered the 2012 Royal Rumble as a surprise entrant from the 21st spot, becoming the 3rd woman to enter the Men's Royal Rumble. She was eliminated by Dolph Ziggler. The Rumble remains her only official WWE match yet. She confirmed her release in June 2012 and now competes for AEW.
Unlike the others on this list, this move happened a long time back, when TNA was at its peak. Her disappointing WWE run can be attributed to bad luck, caused by her inability to return in the time allotted to her.