5 TNA Champions Who Carried Their Belts With Pride (& 5 Who Didn't Care)

Fans to watch TNA throughout each version will have mixed memories about the promotion and their decisions. Championships were a huge part of TNA with everyone hoping to win a noteworthy belt. TNA employed relevant names like AJ Styles, Sting, Gail Kim and the Motor City Machine Guns to show strong variety.

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However, not everyone made their title reigns matter as effectively when given the chance. Some champs showcased immense pride to ensure their championships mattered. Others just couldn’t put together the same level of excitement or showcase it effectively. The following TNA champs either held their belts with grade pride or came off like they didn’t care as much.

10 Great Pride: Kurt Angle

Wanted To Be The Best Champion In Wrestling Every Time

Angle Wrestled Hard Durign Every Title Reign
TNA Signed A Motivated Kurt
All-Time Great TNA Legacy

The entire wrestling career of Kurt Angle featured him always treating any title he held with great respect and pride. Angle actually held the TNA World Championship, X-Division Championship and TNA Tag Team Championship all at the same time in TNA.

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Each reign featured Angle trying his best to deliver strong work and never mailing it in during his matches. TNA lucked out by having Angle care about the company to always showcase his title reigns with pride.

9 Did Not: Rob Van Dam

RVD Lacked Motivation When Joining TNA

TNA Put World Title On RVD Way Too Soon
Weird Title Reign Ended With RVD Vacating
Disappointing Signing That Never Panned Out

Rob Van Dam’s TNA stint was one of the more disappointing from fans that expected him to be as impressive as his WWE and ECW days. The comments from Van Dam at the time indicated he felt above the promotion due to their smaller size.

TNA made a mistake putting the world title on RVD when he didn’t care about it as an honor in the way most other top stars did. Van Dam didn’t even lose the belt to another wrestler as he vacated it due to reaching his maximum dates in his TNA contract.

8 Great Pride: Motor City Machine Guns

TNA's Iconic Tag Team Helped Make Titles Matter

Hit Home Run After Home Run When Pushed
Made Tag Titles Become Must Watch TV
Still Helping TNA Today

The TNA Tag Team Championship picture featured many great teams holding them throughout the years. However, there was one team that everyone thinks about first when naming the greatest tag team in TNA company history.

Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley made TNA’s tag team titles feel like the most important tag belts in the industry. The connection between the Motor City Machine Guns and TNA fans saw them making their tag title reign must-watch TV to the diehard fans.

7 Did Not: The Band

Reunion Went Worst Possible Way In TNA

Hogan Wanted Old NWO Members Back Together
Scott Hall & Sean Waltman Didn't Last Long
Damaged Credibility Of TNA Tag Titles

One team to hurt the TNA tag title picture was The Band of Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Sean Waltman. TNA hired Hall and Waltman to reunite with Nash early into the Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff regime looking to bring in familiar faces.

The trio used freebird rules when winning the TNA Tag Team Championship, but Hall and Waltman ran into issues again. Eric Young randomly joined to have another member defending the titles. Too much confusion took away from the tag titles. Nash and Hall were too far into their careers to care about TNA’s tag belts when winning them.

6 Great Pride: Gail Kim

Put Knockouts Division On The Map As First Champion

Fans Loved Her As Top Knockouts Star
Gail Played Huge Role In TNA Even Starting Division
Had Great Title Reigns At Different Chapters Of Career

It is hard to envision TNA’s Knockouts division finding as much success as they did without Gail Kim. TNA picked the perfect option when Gail was the first-ever Knockouts Champion and made the belt feel important during her feud with Awesome Kong.

A second stint featured the title always feeling most important when Kim was the one holding it proudly. Gail even helped put over new stars like Brooke Adams and Taryn Terrell to prove that she could use the belt to make herself a star while helping others as well.

5 Did Not: Tessa Blanchard

Polarizing Champion Ended Reign In Worst Possible Scenario

Controversy Took Away From Big Night
Title Reign Never Picked Up Momentum
Sent Back Title Without Putting Over New Champ

Even the biggest Tessa Blanchard haters would acknowledge she does take great pride in her work. Blanchard had a great Knockouts Championship reign for TNA that ensured she’d move into matches against male wrestlers.

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However, the big moment of Tessa winning the TNA World Championship was ruined by allegations of racism against other wrestlers in the past on that same day. Blanchard’s main reason for being on the list was not showing up to drop the world title when her contract ended and just mailing it back to TNA.

4 Great Pride: AJ Styles

No One Represented The Best Of TNA Better Than AJ

Fans Viewed Him As The Face Of TNA
TNA Made Mistake Not Putting Belts On Him More
Arguably Greatest TNA World Champion

Most names on the list are known for showing pride with a specific title, but AJ Styles did so with every belt. TNA picked Styles to be the first X-Division Champion, and he showed so much pride starting that division that fans automatically loved it.

Styles’ TNA World Championship reigns also featured a lot of respect towards the titles. Many fans felt TNA was at their absolute peak whenever AJ was holding the top prize. Every belt won by Styles was better off for it moving forward.

3 Did Not: Jeff Hardy

Had Most Shameful Moment Of Any TNA Champion

Jeff Was Always Aloof About Being Champion
Showing Up Drunk Was Low Point Of Career
Better Chasing Title Than Being Champ

The lowest night in TNA history showed Jeff Hardy harming the reputation of the company and the legitimacy of the TNA World Championship. Jeff showed up under the influence to enter a big PPV main event match against Sting.

Hardy mostly came off aloof as a champion, but this was a new low to further make fans assumed he didn’t care. TNA having so many champions that showcased passion in such a blatant way made it harder to accept Jeff in that role.

2 Great Pride: Christian Cage

Left WWE To Prove He Could Be Top Champ

Christian Won His First World Championship In TNA
Took Pride In Having That Top Spot
TNA Ended His Time As Champion Too Soon

Few wrestlers showed as much pride holding any TNA title as Christian Cage did with his first world title reign. Christian won the NWA Heavyweight Championship when that was TNA’s top prize by defeating Jeff Jarrett in an emotional moment.

The world title reigns of Cage showed someone that waited his whole career for those moments. Christian was the first major name to willingly leave WWE for TNA, and he showed why during his time as NWA Heavyweight Champion proving he could thrive at the top.

1 Did Not: Alberto El Patron

Most Regretful Champion In TNA's Long History

Controversy Always Followed Alberto
Had To Vacate World Championship Due To Personal Issues
Left TNA In Ugly Fashion

TNA made a mistake both times they brought Alberto El Patron into the company. Alberto had controversial releases from WWE that saw him wanting to work for the second-biggest United States promotion of TNA along with AAA in Mexico.

Unfortunately, TNA wasn’t a priority for Del Rio who constantly got into trouble or let them down. Alberto made it clear that TNA was a downgrade from his WWE time, and he didn’t commit enough to be an effective world champion.