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Tessa Blanchard’s dismissal and stripping of the world heavyweight championship from Impact Wrestling was another black eye on a company that has been ridiculed since its inception in June 2002 under the TNA moniker. Blanchard became the first-ever female wrestler to win a male championship belt raising eyebrows around the world and for a time, making Impact a major talking point in combat sports.
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With Blanchard’s 165-day Impact World Championship title reign over, here is a look back at the five worst champions in the Impact Wrestling belt’s history dating back to TNA’s formation of the championship in 2007.
Rob Van Dam – 2010; 113-day reign
One of the biggest issues TNA/Impact had, and still does, was pushing ex-WWE and ex-ECW wrestlers expecting fans to care. Most fans of the WWE product or former ECW supporters have not carried over to TNA/Impact. Although Rob Van Dam was still a good performer at the time, his title reign came at the expense of A.J. Styles and Samoa Joe, two of the company’s only homegrown stars.
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Mick Foley – 2009; 63-day reign
Mick Foley’s time in TNA/Impact Wrestling was rather forgettable. Despite being a major WWE player, Foley failed – like everyone else to move companies – to raise fan interest. In April 2009, Foley won the TNA World Championship from Sting in a Six Sides of Steel Cage match at the Lockdown PPV in Philadelphia. Being that Foley had starred in Philly’s ECW, it makes sense the title change occurred there. He held the belt for just 63 days before losing it to Kurt Angle. Foley was pitiful in his reign and could barely move in the ring due to years of hurting his body.
Sami Callihan – 2019; 79-day reign
Sami Callihan will carry around the reputation of losing the Impact World Heavyweight Championship to Blanchard for the rest of his career. It came after a very public falling out with MLW when he was fired for causing damage to a venue in Milwaukee. Callihan turned to Impact, a promotion with the reputation for hiring wrestlers no one else wants, and won its title before working a storyline with Blanchard.
Chris Sabin – 2013; 28-day reign
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rewpJt71c0
Chris Sabin was a fantastic tag team wrestler with the Motor City Machine Guns but as a singles competitor was rather boring. In 2013, in a convoluted storyline, Hulk Hogan allowed Sabin to trade in his X-Division belt for a TNA World Championship shot. He went on to win the belt from Bully Ray but lost it back to the Dudley brother 28 days later.
Tessa Blanchard – 2020; 165-day reign
Blanchard won the belt off of Callihan at the Hard to Kill PPV in January but due to show cancelations, had difficulty defending the belt and appearing on shows. According to reports, Blanchard failed to turn in promos that she was asked to record at home in the build-up to the Slammiversary PPV on July 18. Since winning the company’s top title, Blanchard had raised controversy after bullying allegations were levied against her. Her fire came just a few days from the expiration of her contract.