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Top 5 Wrestlers That Had Better Success In Impact Wrestling Than WWE


Impact Wrestling is still a very young company that’s continuing to grow and recently reached its creative peak this year with the recent Slammaversary XVI PPV.

I’ve been watching Impact Wrestling since 2006 and I’ve seen the highs which is the women’s revolution and the lows (Jarrett, Russo, Hogan, Bischoff) of the company.

Numerous stars had gotten their start in Impact Wrestling that later went to The WWE and either had great success like AJ Styles and one’s who haven’t had the biggest success in The WWE in Samoa Joe and Bobby Rhode, but there are the loyal ones that chose to never jump ship to WWE like Abyss, Hernandez, and Homicide.

Here are top 5 wrestlers that had better success in Impact Wrestling than WWE.

1. Gail Kim - I remember seeing Gail Kim being the only woman in WWE history to actually win The Women’s Title on her very first night with the company, but this achievement came during The Divas Era where females were only viewed as “eye candy” and not for their talents in the ring. She was badly mistreated and booked as a secondary star to the likes of Lita and Trish in the promotion, so she went to Impact Wrestling and became the very first knockouts Champion which ushered in the women’s revolution that was taking off and then when she came back to WWE for a second time, she was treated like shit so badly and seeing the knockouts division that was becoming hot at the time where the women were treated better, she decided to infamously walk out of the divas battle royal during the August 1, 2011 episode of Raw, went back to Impact Wrestling, and never went back. She achieved the biggest success in Impact Wrestling and she is also in their hall of fame.

2. Bobby Lashley - When Bobby Lashley first appeared on the main roster for WWE in 2006, he was like The Black Goldberg aka Blackberg that got an immediate push and was never given the opportunity to develop his character nor his skills as an in-ring performer. He won The ECW World Heavyweight Title, but then after the infamous storyline with current president Donald Trump and bigotry he faced backstage from notorious bigots like Michael Hayes, he left the company in 2008. Then he went to Impact Wrestling first in 2009 and then came back in 2014 where he thrived as an in-ring performer feuding with guys like Austin Aries and Alberto Del Rio and his mic skills had also greatly improved as he was able to connect with the fans. His current (2nd) run in WWE has mostly been as a disappointment as he’s been booked very badly by being thrown in meaningless filler matches that included being buried in that horrible segment with his so-called “sisters” which was absolutely garbage.

3. Booker T - It’s no secret that Booker T is my favorite all-time wrestler because I’ve followed his career since his time back in WCW where he was arguably the most decorated wrestler to have ever wrestled for the promotion winning The WCW World Heavyweight Title 5 times, The WCW World Television Title 6 times, The WCW US Title 1 time, and The WCW World Tag Team Titles with his real life brother Stevie Ray 10 times. In his first stint in WWE, he was always treated as a secondary star and kept down on the mid card where he was often buried in promos via 2003 Triple H’s promo and constantly jobbing to bigger stars like Triple H and John Cena. Sick of the bad booking of his character and being constantly buried by The WWE, he decided to go to Impact Wrestling in 2007 where he immediately thrived feuding with the likes of Samoa Joe and had even held The Impact Wrestling Television Title and like his time in WCW, he also had better success in Impact Wrestling than during his WWE career. It’s funny that The WWE didn’t want him until he did so well in Impact Wrestling.

4. Bully Ray - Ray along with his fictional brother D’Von (aka The Dudley Boyz) are among the greatest tag teams in wrestling history winning multiple tag team titles in major promotions, but when Ray first went solo in The WWE, it didn’t quite pan out the way he wanted, but once he went to Impact Wrestling, his solo career had truly took off there where he played a vicious and ruthless heel character by the name of Bully Ray where he went to feud with the likes of AJ Styles and Rhyno and was even The Impact World Heavyweight Champion for a combined 196 days during his two title reigns. His heel character from his days in Impact Wrestling will always be one of my favorite heels.

5. Austin Aires - Austin Aires has been in and out of Impact Wrestling since 2005 and has had the biggest success there than during his short stint in WWE where he was frustrated with being underutilized and booked very poorly, so he went back to Impact Wrestling for the third time in his career and immediately became the current Impact World Heavyweight Champion for the second time in his career in Impact Wrestling. He’s also won the Impact World Tag Team Championship and The Impact Grand Championship making him one of only a few grand slam champions in the history of Impact Wrestling.

The Conclusion - It’s often said that The WWE is the “be all/end all” for wrestlers, but that’s a lie because the truth of the matter is that most young promising careers don’t pan out in The WWE due to either character underutilization or being constantly buried by bad booking.

By Kwame Shakir

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