Who's The Greatest: To Never Be Champ?

[NSL]

This is the first installment in a series I have worked on, and begs the question: Who is the best to never wear the TNA World Heavyweight Championship?

In the early days of TNA, if you were good, you got the belt. As popularity grew, title changes became a little more scarce, and the belt rarely went to someone "new". Jerry Lynn and Monty Brown are two prime example. Both men spent years in the company, working against all levels of talent, and building guys to go towards the top.

Then you had the guys that TNA brought in from other promotions. Jeff Hardy, Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner, and Booker T were all high profile acquisitions, but none ever held the biggest belt in the organization. I was shocked to see that Hardy never won the gold, and surprised a bit to see Nash never held it either. Steiner and Booker T were both brought in for different roles, so I wasn't as surprised.

Then you get down to the TNA Originals who never held the belt, mainly because they fought in other divisions. Hernandez and Daniels are the two biggest names from this group. I considered adding in guys like Roode and Young, but they never had long-term pushes as singles stars, so I omitted them on purpose.

In my opinion, I'd have to say that Daniels is the best to never hold the belt, with Jeff Hardy being the biggest surprise. Daniels has worked his ass off for the company, and has been a part of some of their greatest matches. At 38, he may never get a chance, but it is nice to see him in the picture. Hardy never winning the belt amazes me, because he was brought in as the future of the company, and would take them to new heights. The fact he never wore any gold, still shocks me.

 

[Mr. TM]

Chris Daniels. I always considered him and Styles as the two focal points of TNA right from the get go. They were a great tag team, they were against eachother in some great matches. And I always thought Daniels deserved a shot because like Styles, he promoted what TNA should be about before The Nashs and The Steiners ever entered the company.

It would never sell in todays TNA but a long term feud between Daniels and Styles tradin the belt back and forth would make my day.

 

[Uncle Sam]

Hmm, Monty Brown was really rather good, huh? I say that but I'm not actually sure if he was. The matches I saw of his are now distant memories. I seem to remember maybe thinking he was really rather good though - and I remember that cool spot where AJ Styles flipped over his back. That puts him in contention for the greatest in TNA to never be champion, surely.

This is actually quite difficult. The title seems to imply that these people need to be greats to qualify, but the poll says different. Nash and Hardy have been great at points in their career, but no while they've been in TNA. They're off my list.

Hernandez is someone that I really like. He's among my very favourite wrestlers in TNA and is someone who'd I go out of my way to watch. I certainly believe he deserves a title reign at some point in the future. He has a physical dominance in him that a good world champion should have. Too often TNA puts heels or underdogs as their champions.

I voted other in the end, even though I'd have liked to vote for Hernandez. Alex Shelley was previously the best wrestler in TNA to never hold a belt but a half-arsed title reign (on creative's part) soon did away with that title. The man still bleeds charisma and has an entirely unique style. If TNA trusted him to be more independent - even though he's allegedly a massive ******** - then I think he could go far.

James Storm would be another choice. He's the better half of Beer Money and has that quality that's more often found in WWE wrestlers than TNA ones; though I can't put my finger on it. He'd make a halfway decent heel champion, I'm sure of it.

 

[Leafy]

I had to choose Daniels, he's been around since the beginning and was never able to break the glass ceiling. The main three originals were Joe, Styles, and Daniels. Daniels watched Joe become the dominant champion, and Styles become the face of the new generation of TNA. Daniels was stuck with being Curry Man and becoming Suicide for a while. I'm surprised Daniels never won the title, he's a good wrestler and is loyal to the company.

 

[Lethalfan]

I went with other and choose Alex Shelly. The guy has everything to be a great world champion to the wrestling ability to the mic skill to the charsma. He has been in the company since I believe 2005 2006 and should of at least had one shot for the title but didn't. So I say he is the greatest never to be world champion. It can change down the line in the next 2 or 3 years if they give him a run for the belt.

 

[The Hiphopapotamus]

The Greatest wrestlers to never hold the world title. Well, I'd love to put Shelley in there, but he's too much of an X division wrestler. Now, before I name who I think it is, I'll give my thoughts on the wrestlers that were listed.

Jerry Lynn: The X division pioneer, the man who helped make the division what it is today. He can put on exceptional matches, but he's not world title quality. He deserved to stay where he belonged, creating the X division and making it mean something.

Monty Brown: Here is a wrestler I would agree should have held the world title. He was the original TNA planned to invest a lot into. He had power, speed, charisma and the look. The pounce was one of the more oddly effective finishing moves. He had multiple shots, including one against Christian Cage at Destination X 2006. Would he have won the title if he hadn't have left? Probably.

Jeff Hardy: Looking back now, you could easily say he was the best to never hold the world title. But back when he was there, no way. He had just been fired, he was no showing and being a pain. Back then, Jeff Hardy was just a spot monkey. He, deservedly, was nowhere near the world title picture.

Kevin Nash: Great stick worker, but terrible in the ring. If it were the 90s, sure. But when he came, he could barely walk. he was at his best helping the young talent, such as Joe, Lethal and the Motor City Machine Guns.

Scott Steiner: Possibly, but he was rather shit when he came. Still is, even more in fact. Did he deserve to hold the title. Not at all. He didn't deserve to be in the picture.

Booker T: I actually thought they might have given him the title. He wasn't way past his prime, just a good bit. He was still alrigh in the ring, and he had name value. Something TNA needed. But when he began his feud with Joe, the feud that buried Joe as a champion, you knew it was all wrong. hs mic skills were terrible.

He held two titles in TNA. One was a paper title that he didn't defend for months, and even a feud with AJ Styles couldn't add prestige. That's how bad it was. The other reign was as tag team champion, in arguably the worst tag team title reign since Lethal Consequences reigned from Impact to PPV.

The problem I had with these 3 guys, they came in but instead of putting over the young, they buried them for their own game. They couldn't get the world titles, so found other ways of "success". In squashing the future. Marvellous.

Hernandez: This is one man I love as a wrestler. His power is immense, and his speed is incredible. His mic skills could use a bit of work. But when you think of the future, of people TNA will build their company around, Hernandez springs to mind. But he has only just become a contender, at a time when the picture is full. Unlucky, maybe. If you look at him now, and think about the past, You can say why was he not challenging for the title. I fully expect him to become a main eventer soon enough.

Daniels: Probably the name that stands out on the list. The man who has been a great servant for TNA over the years. But why hasn't he won the title yet? Easy, AJ Styles. They're both great friends, and amazing wrestlers. They both came from the X division, a division they made along with Joe and maybe Lynn and Low Ki. There was only really room for one X division style, and sized, wrestler in the World Title. And that went to Aj. Why? Because he's better in every way. So why bother.

I'm slightly amused when people claim Daniels is great when they list his X division success. His record 5 reigns. His longest reign. But do you want to know why he has so much success in that division and the tag division (sort of). It's because he simply isn't good enough for anywhere else. But too good to not be in the picture in those divisions. He's the typical too good for one, not good enough for the other.

The only reason he's currently in the picture is because of AJ Styles also. AJ has been elevated hugely, as has Joe. So when they saw the chance to put them together to recreate the greatest match in TNAs history, Daniels was called upon. But not because he deserved, and you can't argue that with me. But I will still say, just because there are so many wrestlers that TNA have given the strap (Abyss, The Truth, Rhino), that Daniels is the greatest TNA wrestler to never hold the world title.

Honorary mentions include:

Matt morgan: I'm actually surprised that he wasn't mentioned by you, NSL. Well, slightly. But anyway, Morgan has come into his own recently, showing he is part of TNAs future.

Beer Money: Both members have been in TNA for years, and while don't deserve to be champions (yet), they are very good wrestlers. And this question isn't who deserved it and didn't get it, but the greatest wrestler to not win the world title. And they could come under that.

 

[Midnite Express 2009]

Wow, Daniels is 38. Amazing, considering he looks like he's probably 5-6 years younger...On second though, yeah I can kinda see it. Anyway, I don't follow TNA too much but I'd have to agree that Daniels is the best of the group to have never won. I mean, from what I hear, he's put on as many 5 star matches in the past few years as say, Shawn Michaels or even Kurt Angle, to name a few. Perhaps it's his look, build and the fact that he doesn't really come across as if he can carry the company long term. I don't like TNA's product to a certain degree, however, to counter the puppet-like popularity that say a Cena, Taker or even Orton has in the WWE, Daniels would be a perfect fit, gaining what I would think could be a cult-like following, if Dixie Carter and the power-that-be in TNA would allow him to. Needless to say, if Daniels were in the WWE he'd be jobbing to Evan Borune instead of having 5 star matches. So without a doubt, Daniels is the top choice IMO.

 

[NSL]

I'll address the names I didn't list, that I've seen throughout the thread:

Alex Shelley - I'm a huge fan of his, and for a moment, considered entering Chris Sabin on the list...The difference between the two is that Sabin had a lengthy run as a singles guy, getting title reigns, and putting on quality PPV matches. Shelley was always kind of a comedy guy to get Impact from Point A to Point B. I think he's a great athlete, and wouldn't be opposed to him getting as reign eventually, but I don't see a time where he could have grabbed the belt.

Robert Roode - Another great wrestler, that I believe will hold the belt one day. But, for now, he's never been given a solid singles push. As The Enforcer, he was the muscle to Team Canada. On his own, he was a mid-carder at best that worked great segments. Once Beer Money has run it's course, he'll get his shot at gold.

James Storm - Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember him having anything memorable as a singles guy outside of the feuds with Chris Harris and Rhyno. He's a terrific tag team wrestler, and down the road, I can see him holding singles gold, but he works so well in the tag division that I'd be hesitant to take him out of there.

Matt Morgan - I wanted to include him...Trust me...But, I don't know if he's had a chance to seem like a credible champion outside of the last 6months or so. Before than he was just a big mid-carder, and had the team with Abyss. If this thread came at this point next year, he'd be on the list, granted he hasn't already held the belt by then.

I see a lot of people going with Daniels, and it makes me wish I had picked someone else, if not only for variety. He's been in the company a long time, and has a lot of really good feuds. I'd like to think he's getting all the love, because most posters are new to TNA, and only see his recent stuff with AJ and Daniels.

 

[kerplin]

Daniels would have been the obvious choice, because TNA has let the ship sail on him so many times it seems, but there is still time for him to win it. I wanted to go with someone that there was very little chance of them ever winning it in their career, so I thought about Jeff Hardy. I really wouldn't count out him returning to TNA at some point though, so I decided to go with other.

I have to pick Chris Candido. I always enjoyed his matches, and had it not been for his death, he may have gotten back on the road to being a top singles star, and would have been my pick for the champion anyways.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Daniels, far and away. Fired twice, and was apart of the most historic match in TNA history. He's done everything asked of him including the lousy Suicide character, and on top of it all, no matter how loud the crowd chants "Fallen Angel", he just seems to perpetually fall out of rank with the main-event card – no idea why.

 

[NSL]

I have no problem with Daniels and Hardy getting a large majority of the votes, but the fact that Jerry Lynn has zero (0) upsets me a little. Maybe it's just the fact I'm a huge Lynn fan.

He's always been one of the best workers for small companies, and helped build guys like RVD and AJ Styles. His time in the business got him a "charity" title reign in ROH, so I don't see why it couldn't have in the early days of TNA.

 

[Super Crazy]

Lynn is one of the greatest workers the industry has ever seen. I love his work, and he has helped build some of the major players over the years, as you said, RVD, and Aj Styles. He's had classic matches with all of them.

​

He is a great ring worker, and a lot of his work goes unnoticed by the common fan. He has never been the top worker in a promotion, and but has held various titles throughout his career. If there was ever a man to never be champion it's this man. He has proven time and time again to be the go to go for anything throughout his career. In his time with TNA, I truly believe he could have been a top contender for the belt. Sure he has a small stature, but as I've said, and as those clips will show you, he is great in the ring, and that cradle piledriver was a vicious move. Jerry Lynn was once the ECW World Champion, so that just shows that he could do it. He's now 46 and nearing the end of his career, and he is truly one of the unsung heroes of this industry. He should have been TNA World Champion, even if only just once.

 

[SavageTaker]

Good thread NSL.

I think the greatest to never be champ from the list is Daniels. He is a great wrestler and he’s been involved in some incredible matches throughout the years. Also, some of the matches he has been involved in can are considered MOTD. He doesn’t usually disappoint in the ring and I’m actually kind of surprised he didn’t hold the champion before guys like Angle, Nash, Steiner, e.t.c. started coming into the company. He’s definitely a great choice as the greatest to never be champ and I think there's still a possibility for him to hold it before he retires.

Some other great choices are Hardy and Hernandez. They too have been involved in some great matches throughout the years with TNA and are usually very entertaining. Unfortunately, Jeff Hardy never got the title which is something I would have expected to happen, but it’s completely understandable why he never got it. At least Hernandez will hopefully get it in the future. He is going to be one of the main faces of TNA once the older guys retire and if he doesn’t get the title someday, then I’ll be incredible disappointed with TNA.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Greatest? None of them.

Monty Brown, he's the only one that wouldn't have caused the forum to implode if he won the title. In 2005 it looked like he was going to win it and he would've been perfectly suitable for the role. He was a product of TNA at the time, so he wouldn't work as a champ now, but in 2005 there wasn't really anybody else.

A sloppy Jeff Hardy wasn't a viable option at any time. And I never thought Booker should've won the TNA title, but he sure as hell should've challenged for it in his first real feud.

 

[Freddy4190]

Fallen Angel man. He's one of the innovators of TNA. He helped build the company. He's been so incredibly loyal to the company. He's been fired, dressed as Curry Man, fired, took over Suicide. Then they stole Christopher off his name! Aw c'mon TNA. I'd love to see him hold the belt, he deserved to a long time ago. His moonsault really is the best ever.

Sidenote: Holy shit! He's 38?