Impact Wrestling Mount Rushmore

In this edition of The Wrestling Estate roundtable, we each name our Impact Wrestling Mount Rushmore.

Steven Jackson’s Impact Wrestling Mount Rushmore

AJ Styles

No one was more instrumental to TNA/Impact’s success than AJ Styles. An influence on both fans and wrestlers today, Styles truly lived up to his nickname every time he got in the ring. Phenomenal!

James Storm

Much like AJ Styles, “The Tennessee Cowboy” made TNA/Impact Wrestling his house. Part of AMW and Beer Money Inc., Storm has had some of the promotion’s most historic matches. Plus, promos and charisma made him one of most beloved wrestlers of all time.

Gail Kim

As has been previously noted on the website, the Women’s Revolution began in TNA/Impact Wrestling. And that can be attributed to one woman: Gail Kim. The first Knockouts Champion, part of some of the most intense feuds in company history and a TNA Hall of Famer, Kim proved every night why she truly was one of the best in the world.

Jeremy Borash

Jack of all trades and master of them all, there would be no Impact Wrestling/TNA without Jeremy Borash. An awesome backstage interviewer, brilliant colour commentator, fantastic ring announcer and influential producer, Borash helped bring a level of production professionalism I truly admire. Borash’s enthusiasm and passion is infectious, and Jeremy for making TNA the company it is today!

Juan Bautista’s Impact Wrestling Mount Rushmore

AJ Styles

A TNA original up until the day he left due to Dixie Carter giving the worst contract offers since Jim Herd gave to Jim Cornette and The Midnight Express. Styles was the foundation for the X-Division and once he was put in the main event picture, he didn’t disappoint.

Samoa Joe

“The Samoan Submission Machine” was better than advertised. He put the X-Division on notice and had an undefeated streak until Kurt Angle beat him. He is also part of the main event of TNA’s most bought PPV.

Kurt Angle

One could argue Kurt Angle’s best years were in TNA. He was present for the peak of the Spike era all the way to the decline of the Dixie Carter administration in 2016. Kurt held the triple crown at once including the IWGP Heavyweight title. You didn’t want to blink when he was in the ring.

Gail Kim

Gail was a staple of the Knockouts division. She was the first Knockouts Champion and has the most reigns at seven. Whenever it came time to show fans what the women could do, she was there inside the six sides of steel or having the first last woman standing match.

Chad Gelfand’s Impact Wrestling Mount Rushmore

AJ Styles

AJ was the heart and soul of TNA. He knocked it out of the park, whether he was in the X-Division, tag division or the world champion.

Samoa Joe

Samoa Joe and his undefeated streak helped create a buzz for TNA before the likes of Christian or Kurt Angle arrived. In the early days of TNA, Joe was operating at one of the highest levels in wrestling history and he made you feel like you were watching the future of wrestling.

Kurt Angle

The biggest thing Kurt Angle brought TNA was legitimacy. If a former WWE Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist would jump to the brand, then the sky was the limit. Besides giving the company legitimacy, Angle had some of the wildest matches of his career in TNA.

Awesome Kong

Kong put the Knockouts Division on the map with her feud and series of matches with Gail Kim. There was no one like Kong in WWE and at the time women weren’t allowed to have the types of matches that Kong and Kim were having. They built the division into one of the main selling points of TNA.

Jack Goodwillie’s Impact Wrestling Mount Rushmore

Jeff Jarrett

The founder. The King of the Mountain. Six-time NWA champion and always an asset to his own company, whether as a main eventer or a midcarder. There’s no TNA without Jeff Jarrett.

AJ Styles

The MVP. The face of TNA. The home-grown star. The Grand Slam champion, and similar to Jeff Jarrett, an asset in any role, whether as the world champion, X-Division champion, or tag team champion. And similar to Jeff Jarrett, without AJ Styles, there is no X-Division, and without an X-Division, there’s no TNA.

Sting

The first BIG get for TNA who became an unlikely mainstay for the company. Sting had multiple opportunities to go to WWE since WCW closed its doors, but shunned Vince McMahon to continue his arc in TNA where again, he filled a variety of different roles and saw as much depth to the Sting character as we ever have. He carried the company at points and delivered some of the better promos of his career, and best promos in TNA, along the way.

Kurt Angle

The prized free agent. The wrestling machine. PERC ANGLE. For as fondly as I, and many fans, remember Kurt Angle’s WWE run, it’s important to remember it only lasted six years or so. He would go on to spend a decade in TNA, where he delivered some of his most jaw dropping matches and really “let his hands go,” so to speak.

Unhindered by the WWE shackles, Angle pushed the limits of what the human body is capable of and perhaps became just as known for his years in TNA feuding with the likes of Sting, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles and Jeff Jarrett. He stuck around through the transition to the modern-day Impact Wrestling that evolved out of TNA and lent his prime years to helping TNA get to the point it was able to woo Hulk Hogan and give Monday nights the college try. Kurt is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, and for him to have given so much of his career to TNA, he has to have a spot on the Mount Rushmore.