Despite this being a trope that every professional wrestling company has incorporated over the years, TNA (now Impact Wrestling) was well known for signing up almost every former WWF/E star that the promotion has either let go or had a problem with. This would lead to fans and journalists alike feeling divided because on the one hand you don’t want to be a company that scoops up WWE’s sloppy seconds and booking them better at the expense of your homegrown talent; On the other, this has also led to many of those ex WWE wrestlers finding fame and success they never would have found in Vince McMahon’s company. There have also been current WWE superstars who almost became a part of TNA Roster and one such name is a multi-time world champion and former Money In The Bank winner, Seth Rollins.
Seth Rollins… Also Known As Tyler Black
Of course, many of you reading this are familiar with Seth Rollins due to his many years within the WWE as a member of The Shield, former Money in the Bank winner, multiple-time world champion and the significant other to fellow WWE superstar Becky Lynch.
Many may also be aware of Rollins’ work outside of the WWE where he competed from 2005-09 under the name of Tyler Black; Rollins/Black’s time pre-WWE saw him working in promotions like the NWA, Full Impact Pro and Pro Wrestling Guerilla where became a tag team and world champion. Plus, he even wrestled in a tag team match for TNA back in 2006 in a losing effort against Homicide and Hernandez.
Ring of Honor
Black would eventually take his career to another level when he joined Ring Of Honor in 2007, where he wrestled with current All Elite Wrestling star, Jack Evans in a dark match on PPV but that wasn’t his first appearance for ROH. Earlier on that same pay per view, Tyler Black, Jimmy Jacobs and Necro Butcher would create the faction known as ‘Age Of The Fall’ after the group attacked The Briscoe Brothers and then immediately hanged one of the Briscoes upside down in the middle of the ring whilst his blood trickled down onto Jimmy Jacobs, who was cutting a promo whilst wearing a white jacket…needless to say this got a lot of people’s attention.
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Following this, Black’s career in ROH saw him and Jimmy Jacobs win the ROH Tag Team Titles two times before later feuding with each other, have a series of matches with Nigel McGuinness and Austin Aries with led to a time limit draw and then later winning the ROH World Championship before losing the belt to Roderick Strong on the way out.
Jim Cornette’s Time in ROH
James ‘Jim‘ Cornette is a man who needs no introduction as his decades of work within the business has seen him take on a host of jobs both behind and in front of the camera.
Cornette has also appeared or signed with almost all of the major wrestling promotions in the United States like the WWF, WCW, NWA, TNA and ROH while at the same time leaving those promotions controversially like the time he was let go from TNA Wrestling over several issues with one of them being Vince Russo’s idea of making Eric Young TNA World Champion.
Soon after his firing from TNA in 2009, Cornette would join with Ring Of Honor where he started as an executive producer for the company before moving his way up to being head booker and later an onscreen authority figure. During Cornette’s time as an authority figure, he would ban wrestlers from using the piledriver and hitting each other with chair shots, he even went as far as to mention that those who did so would be hit with a $5,000 fine.
He also became a minor part in Tyler Black’s success in ROH after a previous match between Black and Austin Aries for the ROH World Title ended in a time limit draw, Cornette would announce a rematch between the two men at the company’s eighth anniversary which would see Black become Ring Of Honor Champion for 210 days. As to be expected, Cornette would be gone from ROH for several reasons and eventually took a break from professional wrestling as well.