10 TNA Wrestlers Whose Careers Lasted Longer Than You Think
In the history of professional wrestling, not everyone can be an enduring mainstay in a promotion. Just take a look at TNA (now known as Impact Wrestling), which had a number of longtime stars like AJ Styles, Bobby Roode, and others, but also had Buff Bagwell and Norman Smiley for short stints, too. But just because a wrestler falls out of a fan’s radar doesn’t mean they’ve hung up their boots for good. In fact, many continue on wrestling, albeit in smaller promotions.
So let’s take a look at some wrestlers who had somewhat notable runs in TNA, and actually stuck around as in-ring competitors in the wrestling business for much longer than fans might have expected.
10 Johnny Swinger
Impact Wrestling fans these days see Johnny Swinger every week and may have wondered where the company found this absurd throwback who still believes he’s living in the territory days. But Johnny Swinger’s had a long career before that.
Not only did he wrestle for TNA back in the early days from 2002 to 2004, but his career goes back even longer. In the mid 1990s, Swinger was wrestling for both WWE and WCW as a jobber before moving on to ECW, where he’d be a regular from April of 2000 all the way to the last pay-per-view in January 2001.
9 D-Lo Brown
Four-time European Champion D-Lo Brown made his biggest splash in Attitude Era WWE, but he also was a regular in TNA in 2003 and 2004, becoming an NWA Tag Team Champion with Gran Apolo and putting on some underrated matches against AJ Styles.
After a brief run as part of Aces & Eights and now that he works color commentary, it would be understandable to assume that Brown retired long ago. However, D-Lo has spent the 2000s and 2010s outside of the American majors wrestling across the indies and internationally, performing for Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling NOAH, and All Japan Pro Wrestling.
8 The Johnsons
Amid forgotten gems like early X Division bouts, the “Asylum Years” of TNA were a wild mix of ridiculous gimmicks and shockingly crude attempts at edginess. At the crossroads of those two concepts was The Johnsons, a tag team of grown men -- Richard and Rod Johnson -- dressed in phallic costumes after being subjugated by their manager, a guy they used to bully in school.
In other words, it was a completely insane premise, and The Johnsons disappeared from TNA after about a month. Rather than completely fade into obscurity, however, fans might be shocked to find out that they actually continued on as a different forgettable tag team, wrestling as The Gymini in WWE.
7 Michael Shane
The actual cousin of Shawn Michaels -- and trained by him, to boot -- Michael Shane as the unique distinction of being on the card of the first-ever Ring of Honor show in 2002. In TNA, he wrestled in the X Division from 2003 to 2007, becoming a two-time champion in the process.
Other than that, he notably tagged with Frankie Kazarian and became “Martyr” in the Serotonin stable. After leaving TNA, Shane took on the name Matt Bentley and wrestled infrequently on the indies until 2015 while making one-off appearances for TNA in the 2010s.
6 Shark Boy
One of TNA’s most fun comedic characters, the masked underdog Shark Boy is better remembered for adopting a Stone Cold parody gimmick than any of his actual matches.
But Shark Boy’s career started a few years before that as he gained some notoriety thanks to appearances on TV news shows. Since leaving TNA, Shark Boy continues to wrestle on the indies, most recently making an appearance at the GCW show Joey Janela’s Spring Break.
5 Sojourner Bolt
Sojourner Bolt had been wrestling for about five years when she made her debut in TNA in 2008, where she was defeated by Awesome Kong. In the ensuing 14 months Bolt would have a couple title shots at the Knockouts Title and Knockouts Tag Team Title, but would fail to capture any accolades before leaving the company.
However, her career would not end with that departure, as she’d become a seven-time women’s champion in Ohio Valley Wrestling and perform for indies like SHINE and Shimmer until her retirement in 2014.
4 Julio Dinero
Raven’s first stable in TNA, The Gathering, included future stars CM Punk and Mickie James. But the odd man out in the group was Julio Dinero, an indie wrestler who never found quite the same level of success as his stablemates.
Dinero had been wrestling since at least 1995, performing on the indie scene and as a jobber on WCW and WWE television until his TNA run. After leaving TNA in 2004, Dinero continued wrestling in various indies and making the odd jobber appearance for WWE into the early 2010s.
3 Kiyoshi
Wrestling fans love to talk about how TNA misused Kazuchika Okada during his time with the company in 2010, but less well-remembered is Kiyoshi. Originally called Akira Raijin in All Japan Pro Wrestling, Raijin signed to TNA in 2008, working a Great Muta-esque gimmick under the name Kiyoshi while also occasionally wrestling under the Suicide gimmick.
Kiyoshi left TNA in 2010 and returned to Japan, where he’s spent the years since wrestling as a freelancer for All Japan, Pro Wrestling NOAH, and more under a new ring name, SUSHI.
2 Roxxi Laveaux
Nicknamed “The Voodoo Queen,” Roxxi Laveau started out as the Voodoo Kin Mafia’s valet before moving on to the newly created Knockouts Division, where she competed in the inaugural gauntlet match to crown the first women’s champion in TNA.
Laveaux had two runs in TNA, but outside of that wrestled all over the indies as Nikki Roxx in promotions like SHINE, Women Superstars Uncensored, and SHIMMER until her wrestling her retirement match in 2013. Coincidentally, her final match was against future Impact star Alisha Edwards.
1 Rellik
While Rellik’s run in TNA only lasted about five months, the meme has lived on. You can’t even read wrestler Jon Hugger’s Wiki page without being reminded that Rellik is “killer” spelled backward.
It may come as a surprise to find out that the performer actually had a career before and after Rellik, wrestling in WCW as Johnny the Bull and WWE as Johnny Stamboli. After leaving TNA in 2008, Rellik wrestled in Mexico and on the indie scene until his final match in 2014.
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