10 Worst TNA Champions Ever

10. Rob Van Dam

Rob Van Dam wasn't a terrible TNA Champion, but his title reign was an exemplar of a problem that plagued TNA since its existence - namely, the pushing of former WWE talent at the expense of the company's few homegrown stars. TNA gained a reputation as a home for WWE's castoffs, and decisions like this show it was well-founded.

AJ Styles, the greatest native star in TNA history, was champion when the company made the ill-advised decision to start airing Impact head-to-head with Raw on Monday evenings. Ratings tanked, and though the experiment was brief, TNA made one last-ditch effort to drum up interest before heading back to their own timeslot - a title change on free TV, with no prior buildup. On the March 30, 2010 episode of the show, Rob Van Dam beat Styles for the belt.

The move reeked of desperation, and ultimately did the company more harm than good. Though RVD reigned as champion for nearly five months and defended the title against a host of opponents, his reign was tainted by the EV 2.0 debacle (an ECW reunion in 2010 without any legal rights to the brand's trademarks), and it ended in inauspicious fashion - Van Dam was forced to vacate the championship after being beaten down by Abyss and Fourtune, an angle that was a cover for the fact that RVD was only contracted to work a certain number of dates per year and TNA was burning through them too quickly.