10 WWE Wrestlers Who Were Better In TNA

3. EC III

Derrick Bateman
WWE.com

To give TNA a lot of credit, Derrick Bateman in NXT didn’t seem to have loads of potential. But someone over in Dixie’s company saw it, and signed him to a deal. More surprisingly was the big push he was given right out of the gate. Creative came up with the superb EC III gimmick for him, and made Dixie his storyline aunt.

He quickly grew into one of the company's most hated villains. He was a rich suck up, who talked a big game, and then could back it up in the ring. TNA gave him a long winning streak, and put him over almost all of the top stars in the company. His face turn has also gone pretty well so far, as the crowd greets him with one of the best reactions in the Impact Zone.

It’s clear that WWE made a big mistake with his release. He could easily be, at the very least, an Intercontinental Title type-level wrestler in the company, feuding with the likes of Sami Zayn and Cesaro. It’s also too bad that TNA didn’t realize sooner that it would be much better to push talented younger wrestlers in a prime spot as opposed to giving them all to former Monday Night War veterans.

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As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at." Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week. Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com