The Best TNA World Champion of 2012

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

Three men held the honor and distinction of TNA World Heavyweight Champion in 2012. All three were considered for TNA Wrestler of the Year - as revealed during the 1/3 episode of Impact - and all three will face off in the main event of Genesis next Sunday, live on pay-per-view. And what's more, all three were good enough that I thought they deserved a thread dedicated to deciding which one was the best TNA World Heavyweight Champion in 2012.

Bobby Roode: The leader of the selfish generation became World Champ in 2011, but he held the belt until Destination X. Roode completely reinvented himself by turning heel and consistently cutting the best promos, wrestling the best matches, and cementing himself as the longest reigning TNA World Champion in company history. Some of his best opponents included Bully Ray, Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles, James Storm, and of course, this man...

Austin Aries: Aries' title run wasn't all that long, but he kicked it off by ending Roode's historic run. He also made history of his own, but giving up the X-Division title in the process, and paving the way for future X-Division Champions to do the same. His matches with Bobby Roode were all solid, and of course the Bound for Glory World Title match against Jeff Hardy stands out. Unfortunately - or maybe not, depending on how you look at it - it was during this time that TNA attempted to wrap in the Aces & Eights story rather unsuccessfully with the World Title picture.

Jeff Hardy: The Charismatic Engima won the title at Bound for Glory, after winning the BFG Series and coming back from the brink to upset Bully Ray at No Surrender. His mathes with Austin Aries were great, with the ladder match standing out among the best. With the title victory, Hardy's road to redemption was complete, and he ended 2012 with the belt around his waist.

So who do you think the best World Champ of 2012 was? Keep in mind, we're not talking about who had the best year. For example, Roode's bloody match against Storm at BFG doesn't count; he wasn't champion at the time.

 

[HBsam31]

For me it is easily Bobby Roode. IMO his run with the title helped make TNA as a whole better. Aries had a great rise, but Roode's run meant more. His title run and the heel turn that went with it transformed Roode from a tag team wrestler to a with out a doubt top guy in the company. I can't quite pinpoint as to why, but when Roode was champ i enjoyed the whole show just a little bit more. The fact that he had the longest World title run in TNA's existence says that they put their faith into Roode as champ, and I think he would have held it a lot longer into 2012 had Aries not garnered so much of the fans attention so fast. The other title runs were good,, but IMO Roode's was the best run in 2012.

 

[Brewski]

Aries' deservedly won the belt with lots of momentum. It also got him into a strong position in the main event scene that strongly needed a refresh. While the match at DX was my personal MOTY (the follow-up was great too), His reign wasn't long enough for me to consider him a really successful champion.

Hardy got bounced around the main event scene all year up until BFG and he won the title with a short push. I wouldn't call him a bad champion and he is interesting to watch, but so far he hasn't done much to put the belt or company on a higher lever like Aries or Roode did. We'll see what he does with it in 2013 to make his run memorable.

Roode's run was GREAT for all of TNA. It made Roode look unstoppable as he beat everyone on the roster for months and made big improvements for the history of the title. Roode is a TNA made guy so having him hold the longest reign in company history is an important move for them. He also cemented himself as one of, if not THE, best heel in all of pro wrestling. I wish he had one more matches cleanly and had one more title match with storm, but otherwise it was perfect. It gets my vote.

 

[6timehitta]

Roode is easily the pick.Without Bobby Roode, there would be no Austin Aries. Now don't get me wrong, Aries is a great performer and a great developer of his character, but Roode made Aries serious and funny and emotional and every emotion that Austin could show. Austin Aries is a close second, but he didn't have that break out title defense in my honest opinion.

Hardy just started at the end so to me maybe 2013 could be his year. I'd like to see maybe Mr. Anderson or a wildcard guy like Matt Morgan, now that he seems legit interested in wrestling, take their chance and maybe are given a shot to show what thy can do.

 

[Dirk]

In 2012 we had the meteoric rise of Aries, as well as the end of a dominant reign by Roode, but Hardy went from being a crazy, face-painting, side-project-having, wreckless weirdo on drugs to a crazy, face-painting, side-project-having, wreckless weirdo who's CLEAN!

I've never tangled with drugs before (alcohol and nicotine don't count), so I don't know how hard rehab must be, but people I know have been there and they say it's hell. So for him to do that 180 is huge.

This isn't a feel-sorry-for-Jeff post. If he wins the strap ever again it won't have this same meaning. If he screws up again, this reign means nothing. If he was a shit champ, he would still be that, but he's not. He had good rivalries with Aries and Roode and I think he's a good face champ.

Maybe not the best reign of 2012, but for Hardy personally, 2012 was truely his redemption. How long it'll last, I don't know, but here's to a clean 2013!

 

[Zeven_Zion]

I'll go with Roode mainly because he was more entertining during his run than Aries. Aries was face during his and that at took his edge down a notch. Roode however was on fire. Longest reigning champ and everything.

Very impressive for someone who's been a tag team guy for years and years.

 

[Da Prophet]

I like none of them.

Everything is better in wrestling when it is long and begins to become boring at the end so I'll go with Roode. Longest champion of TNA seems like a nice little achievement for the dude.

Never watched during Aries title run and Hardy stopped entertaining me once he had that stupid purple belt.

 

[Alex]

I love Jeff but his world title reigns have always been a bit 'meh' unless he's in a great fued with it on the line (CM Punk) I mean his mini fued with Aries was interesting but that seems to have halted. In fact the only time his world title reign was interesting was when he was heel (to me)

Aries got lost in the shuffle with Aces & Eights happening which sucked for him and he barely defended it. His win over Roode was awesome but it quickly went downhill from there.

That leaves Roode. The guy was great as champion and he played the heel champion perfectly. Stealing wins, using illegal objects, you name it Roode did it. You really wondered when and how he was going to lose the belt. When Storm couldn't do it it was like 'This guy is despicable'

So my vote goes to Roode. Played the part well and he had the most interesting fueds for the belt in my opinion.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

Undoubtedly Roode! What I liked is that he started off as a cowardly heel but slowly and surely he was getting better and better even getting clean wins. His run was great and he really took on allcomers. The only other match I would've wanted to see in his reign would've been against Angle. So this time they would've beem in inverted roles. And Roode could've beaten him this time, just to show how far he had come from BFG 2011.

Aries dethroning Roode was a fantastic moment because we all thought Roode was holding the title till BFG. Aries was a great shock. His reign could've been so much better but the problem was timing. With the BFG Series in full swing Aries couldn't defend his title against anyone until October, where of course he lost it. We'd have gotten a much better reign had Aries held it at a different point where he could be more active. Nevertheless Aries did the best he could and was doing stellar mic work week in week out.

Hardy's been solid so far, I really can't complain. I'm no fan of Hardy but he put on a great match with Aries at Turning Point. Match with Roode at FR was pretty meh. Match at Genesis should be amazing though.

 

[chibet]

no question about it, the IT Factor of Wrestling, Bobby Roode. He held an air about him when he entered the arena that almost made you forget you were watching what was half of the spectacle that was beer money. He became one of the best heels in recent history and backed it up consistently with great promos and even better matches. Austin Aries was great as well, but when your thinking " world heavyweight title picture" in TNA in 2012, you'd be a fool and crude, if it was anyone but Roode !!!

 

[RD_21]

Without even thinking about it for one second I say Bobby Roode. He was just THAT good. When Roode was the champion I felt like his title was the most prestigious in the business. He had a presence and he carried himself as a true champ.

Aries was good and Hardy is okay, but man Roode was so good as a champion it was the highlight of TNA this year in my book.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Is there even a real point to this thread? Given the length of Bobby Roode's reign, the progression of his character during his reign and the level of attention placed upon him during the reign; how can anybody seriously deny that Bobby Roode's run was the best of 2012. Roode's title reign, from an overall perspective in my view, may have been the best World Championship run in TNA history. Off the top of my head, I can't recall anybody that's genuinely benefited more from being TNA WHC than Roode in years. Guys like Angle & Sting didn't need the title to be big names, AJ Styles certainly never got as much out of it as Roode. Samoa Joe didn't. Mick Foley didn't. An argument could be made for Christian but he's back to being a mid-carder in WWE now. Jeff Jarrett probably didn't because, in the first years of existence in TNA, he was the biggest star there.

As for Aries run, his run was lackluster. We sometimes blame the wrestlers for lackluster title runs, which they do have some involvement of course, but it's ultimately up to the brass of the company. Aries was basically pushed aside because TNA, for some reason, seemed to have more faith in Aces & Eights as the top angle. Because of that, Aries felt like a bit player in a much bigger production. As for Jeff Hardy, personally, the guy just doesn't really excite me as a main eventer anymore, especially as TNA World Heavyweight Champion. A part of it has to to with his lame promo skills because of his inability to help carry the build of a feud on the mic. His matches are more than fine, but Hardy is someone that come off, to me, as more of a workhorse than the top guy.

 

[JJYanks121]

Tough one but easy at the same time. Since Lockdown, nobody has been an especially good champion. Roode's reign got boring as he should have lost to Storm, Aries had his moment in winning the title but the reign quickly became lackluster and second fiddle to Aces and Eights, and Jeff Hardy has a freaking voice inside his hea talking to us.

At least from January to April the World Title seemed to matter so I'm going with Roode. I just don't get why these wrestling companies think that people give a shit about title reign length in this day and age. When people start tuning out, it means they are tired of the same thing. That means having a champion for an absurd length of time is more detrimental to the product than it is "cool" for the smark fans who want to see meaningless records broken.

 

[Papa Pillman]

All three men have held the title commendably.

TNA created a great moment with Austin Aries. The build to his title shot, as well as the accompanying pay-off made for something memorable. But to a degree they dropped the ball on his title reign. The return match with Roode at Hardcore Justice was great, but Aries never got a shot to retain in another high level defense. I know that No Surrender is a tough card to book the champion on, what with the close of the BFG series stealing both the spotlight and the most worthy challengers, but relegating Aries to a segment that wasn't even really a match seems fruitless. To Austin's credit, he made the most he could of it, and the intensity he displayed in that angle was off-the-charts good and believable. They just got Aries really back to rolling again on the go home show for BFG only to see him drop the title to...

Jeff Hardy, who has had a surpisingly good run with the belt so far, proving(as if anyone doubted) how much more effective he is as a babyface world champion than as a heel. But, the number one reason that Hardy's reign has worked so well thus far is due to the quality of his opposition- Aries and...

Bobby Roode, who is definitely the best answer here and the only reason why we would even need to discuss the quality of the year's TNA world title reigns. Roode's reign is clearly the best thing that could have happened to TNA's main event picture, because it rejuvenated the top of the card and restored relevance to Heavyweight Championship. Hell, the title may actually be more prestigious now since the quality of Roode's run than it ever had been in its prior existence. The way in which Roode carried himself with the title really made you look at it as the prize to aspire to that it should be.

I'd still say Aries was the best overall performer for the company in 2012- between the way he also gave some sense of importance to the X-title, the ease with which he has face/heel transitioned without strongly altering his core character, the program with Bully Ray, the option-C angle and title victory, the way he made the most of what he had to deal with in the A&8's angle, the heavy-lifting he did in the BFG title match build, and the way he has continued to be compelling post-reign re-embracing alot of what got him so over to begin with. All of that combined with the promo work he did and the consistently great match quality made this A-Double's year, but none of the moments or accomplishments would mean nearly as much if it wasn't for the title reign of Bobby Roode.

The company and its talent owe a debt to Roode for how much he made out of his opportunity to be TNA champion, and how much added legitimacy it extended to the title and the overall product.

 

[midgensa]

For me it is Aries. He FORCED TNA's hand by getting so over and forcing them to put the strap on him.

There is little doubt that TNA seemed poised to leave Roode the champion through Bound for Glory, but Aries was gaining so much steam that they had to put the strap on his waist.

I am not simply going to vote for the guy with the longest reign. While I enjoyed Roode's reign, it was clear that there was a lot of watered down opponents in it and a few times where you knew for a fact there was no chance he would lose (RVD, Styles, etc.)

I think that reigns that start as faces and end as heels are quite fun also, almost like two reigns in one (CM Punk and Aries both pulled this off).

In the end, I was not disappointed with a single one of TNA's top title reigns this year ... but I vote for Aries as the one that was most intriguing to me.