Seriously, what was this championship? The TNA Television title—called that because its other names just made no sense—was a championship that was around between 2008 and 2016 in Impact Wrestling.
For a title with such an odd history, eight years is a long time for a championship to be active. This wasn’t the Hardcore championship in WWE and WCW, this was treated as a mid-tier title in the company but presented differently depending on the champion.
We’re ranking the TNA Television Champion’s eras from best to worst!
TNA Television Championship Era
After defeating Rob Terry for the title in July 2010, A.J Style renamed the TNA Global Championship to the TNA Television Championship. Thank goodness.
This is what it should’ve been called all along. It knows what place it is on the card and the name doesn’t present the belt as greater than it actually is or equal to the World title.
Also, it’s actually the name that the belt held for the longest before becoming the…TNA King of the Mountain Championship in June 2015. How unfortunate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQoHvZ2F82Y
Of the four eras of the title, this one had the second most interesting roster of champions with A.J Styles, Douglas Williams, Devon, Gunner (now Jaxson Ryker in WWE), Robbie E (now Robert Stone in NXT), Abyss, babyface Eric Young, and Samoa Joe all being champs.
King of the Mountain Championship Era
This era was only around for over a year and featured a more interesting collection of champions including PJ Black, Bobby Roode, Eli Drake (now LA Knight in NXT), Eric Young, Lashley, and James Storm.
This was probably the worst named era in the belt’s history. Once it was reactivated in the summer of 2015 and given this name, you knew the title was on its last legs.
TNA Legends Championship Era
I really hate the name of this title. It also gave us the belt design that is just…it’s too much. This belt is so damn busy then it has the audacity to have a bold red strap.
Now, I dig a colored championship belt as the next odd fan. The blue leather belt of the WWF Winged Eagle belt is my all-time favorite with the red WWF Light Heavyweight belt being a hard first-and-a-half place.
However, this belt was just aggressive-looking. On top of that, Impact Wrestling felt no need to get a new belt done. This could’ve been a World title if it had a black belt.
The title was introduced by Booker T who made himself the first champion and defended it whenever he wished. So, basically, it was a vanity belt like Taz’s FTW title.
Besides Booker T, other champions include A.J Styles, Eric Young, Mick Foley, and Kevin Nash. During this point in the title’s history, it actually had a purpose as one of the prizes in the Front Line vs. Main Event Mafia war in 2008.
Global Championship Era
Horrendous name but likely for comedic reasons, I forget. When Eric Young won the belt from Kevin Nash in October 2009, he changed the name of the title to the Global Championship.
Now, this triggered something about why I always felt the WWE Intercontinental title was oddly named in that “global” and “intercontinental” can be exchanged for “world” and this was far from a World title.
Other than that, more of the same during this period with the belt. It’s such a short era with only one-and-a-half champions as A.J Styles immediately changed the name of the championship.
Remember to stay up to date with the latest news on TheOvertimer. Don’t forget to visit Gamestingr for great videos, news, and gameplay!
