10 WWE Stars Who Managed To Shake Off The 'TNA Stink'

10. R-Truth

After a largely forgettable spell under WWE contract from 1999 to 2001, Ron Killings was able to reinvent himself in the early days of TNA.

Taking on the moniker of 'The Truth, it took just two months into Killings' tenure for him to capture the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Ken Shamrock. Surprisingly, Killings is still the only African-American competitor to have won that prize to date. Taking the implied historical racism of certain wrestling promotions, Killings ran with that and delivered truth-laced promos about being held back and being overlooked.

Far away from what audiences had seen from Killings during his K-Kwik days in the then-WWF, this was now a performer who had made himself into a must-watch part of the wrestling business. And for TNA, it gave them a star who they could hang their hat on during the first year of the company being in business.

Killings would go on to appear for TNA up until late-2007, although the majority of that run would see him usually competing in the tag team ranks as part of the 3Live Kru group. That didn't stop WWE bringing Killings back into the fold in 2008, of course, and he remains a prevalent part of WWE programming to this day - even having had the briefest of flirtations with the main event scene in 2011.