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TNA has been around for over two decades now with many of the greatest names in the industry working there. The original goal to replace WCW as a competitive promotion to WWE never worked out, but Impact Wrestling thrived most when focusing on itself. Many of the best talkers in wrestling worked for TNA and were given a chance to cut promos without every word scripted.
Not everyone to enter TNA would prove to become a good fit just because they did in WWE or WCW. However, there were some names to deliver enough strong promos for that to become part of their reputations. TNA needed the talents to cut greater promos than WWE because talking fans into buying PPVs was a tougher task there. The following wrestlers were the best at talking in TNA’s underrated history.
10 Scott Steiner
Many of Scott Steiner’s best TNA promos were unintentionally hilarious, but that shouldn’t take away from his success. Steiner had no filter when he spoke which led to hilarious promos making fun of Samoa Joe’s weight or the other wrestlers having low chances at success against him.
Later returns to TNA/Impact Wrestling made Steiner more aware when trying to tap into his comedic side. The overall results of Steiner in TNA made him a great promo that made sure the audience paid attention to his promos.
9 Bully Ray
TNA gave Bubba Ray Dudley a huge opportunity to find noteworthy singles success for the first time in his career. Bully Ray was the new name and persona used by Bubba when turning on D-Von to move forward as a hated villain.
The heel promo work always delivered for Bubba in ECW and it led him to great results here. TNA trusted the overall character ability of Bully enough to make him the TNA World Champion and to lead the Aces & Eights faction.
8 Samoa Joe
The incredible promos from Samoa Joe have become a stronger part of his act in the latter stage of his career. TNA unfortunately didn’t often give Joe the platform to cut promos like WWE did against Roman Reigns or Brock Lesnar.
Even with the limited ceiling for his work, Joe still showed flashes of brilliance and delivered money promos when placed in a main event position. TNA deserves some criticism for not booking Joe stronger, but they still witnessed his great moments.
7 Drew Galloway
Impact Wrestling was trying to rebuild on a new network when Drew Galloway aka Drew McIntyre became a free agent. The WWE release led to Drew thriving in independent promotions until TNA came calling with a sweet offer.
Galloway received a main event push and was allowed to continue performing on smaller indie events to keep building his name value. The promos from Drew were good enough to elevate him into the Impact World Championship role and played a factor in WWE re-signing him as a free agent.
6 EC3
Another wrestler to improve his status in TNA after leaving WWE was EC3. The former Derrick Bateman showed some humor, but there was nothing special about him in WWE. TNA signed him with vignettes hyping up a big debut under the new name of EC3.
The in-ring work of EC3 was never his strong suit, as seen with the lack of a strong NXT push when Triple H booked him. TNA made EC3 one of their top stars by almost exclusively getting him over with promos. EC3 was once a credible top name outside of WWE before his recent WWE return and the absurd CYN concept killed his reputation again.
5 Kurt Angle
Kurt Angle is a fascinating wrestler to break down when trying to evaluate his promo skills. The matches of Angle were so spectacular that everything else was secondary. However, Angle was excellent at cutting promos or having interactions on the microphone that fit perfectly for his gimmick.
TNA didn’t have Angle in as many comedic storylines as WWE did, so he was forced to change up his promo content. Angle primarily was a more serious character and even led the Main Event Mafia faction by cutting compelling promos.
4 Sting
TNA deserves some credit for allowing established wrestlers to experiment with new things to reinvent their careers. Sting primarily played the Crow character inspired from his WCW days, but his promos were more human than ever.
Subjects like his family, the future generation of wrestlers or his career winding down served as great promo material. Sting having an unmasked phase in the Main Event Mafia or pivoting even further into the Joker persona gave him new style of promos that later into his career.
3 Jay Lethal
The humorous nature of Jay Lethal forced him into cutting more promos than the average X-Division star. Kevin Nash loving Lethal’s personality backstage convinced him to commit to the Black Machismo character cutting promos in the voice of Randy Savage.
Many fans view a Lethal promo as the best moment in TNA history when he impersonated Ric Flair during a verbal battle with the legend. Lethal cut memorable promos in a tough scenario that still showed his personality while pretending to be others.
2 Maria Kanellis
The heel authority figure run of Maria Kanellis may be the most underrated stint of any talker in Impact Wrestling history. Maria was initially signed to continue managing Mike Bennett after Ring of Honor and New Japan, but Impact wisely came up with another role.
The Knockouts Division seeing Kanellis playing a power-hungry heel featured some superb promo exchanges with Gail Kim, Allie, and a few others. Maria found her groove as a wrestler during this time and made her programs some of the best in Impact.
1 Christian Cage
Quite a few legendary names joined TNA throughout the years, but Christian Cage was someone just now hitting his prime. The motivation for Christian to leave WWE for TNA came when he realized that he would never move up the ladder in WWE.
Cage was allowed to get main event segments, having PPV title matches, and cutting long TV promos when joining TNA. The face and heel character sides each showed that Christian thrived in the bigger role. “Captain Charisma” was the ideal nickname for Cage most in TNA when allowed to show it during his heel title reign.
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