8 Times TNA Turned Trash Into Treasure

Oh yes, let's talk about Claire Lynch. The Katie Vick of TNA storylines. Ugh.

AJ Styles's pal Kazarian allied himself with AJ's rival, Christopher Daniels. The two then began intimating that Styles was having an affair with Dixie Carter. He wasn't, though. He was helping Dixie mentor a pregnant addict named Claire Lynch, AJ being the good Christian man that he is.

But Daniels and Kazarian claimed that AJ was the father of Claire's baby, leading to a match where AJ won the right to a paternity test on Claire's baby to prove himself innocent. Yeah, we're also entering Rey-and-Eddie-feuding-over-Dominick territory here.

The angle was so poorly received - apparently the actress playing Claire Lynch was being harassed on social media for her poor acting and unattractiveness, classy move there by the fans - that it was scuppered the following week, as Claire's attorney revealed AJ's innocence...and that Daniels and Kazarian were behind the whole thing.

It was terrible, cringeworthy television, but some good did come out of it. It cemented Daniels and Kazarian as an entertaining heel tag team. Originally dubbing themselves The World Tag Team Champions of the World, they settled on the name Bad Influence.

Bad Influence dressed up as other teams, talked about their mental and sexual superiority, and annoyed everyone around them, to the audience's delight. Whether they were wearing scarves and sipping appletinis or outwitting other teams and competitors in the Bound for Glory series, they were outstanding.

But their betrayal pushed AJ in a new direction...