9 Exact Moments TNA Booking Stopped Making Sense
5. The Rise And Fall Of D'Angelo Dinero
There's something of a charm to a specific period in the monopoly years where a talent would leave WWE, find success elsewhere, and prove the market leader to yet again not have its finger anywhere near the pulse.
Unfortunately for TNA, they developed a reputation for making the worst of those opportunities. "[Slight Name Change] is in The Impact Zone" became a meme inspired by years of near-identical debuts where a recently-released wrestler would arrive with everything but their licensed moniker, batter the existing headliners, and reduce the value of the company's brand in the process. The gag was doubly annoying, because when the company got one right, the sky was the limit.
The artist formerly known as Elijah Burke was one such case. D'Angelo Dinero had briefly tried his 'Pope' character in dark matches with WWE before being released in late-2008 after a disjointed run on WWE's ECW brand, and landed in TNA after a short spell on the independent scene putting the finishing touches on his new persona. He was an immediate smash in the Impact Zone, and made core memories for UK fans that saw him in headline spots on the group's red house show loops.
Sadly, he got all the way over as a babyface at the worst possible moment in the chaotic company's strange history - Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff's arrival resulted in a total reset of the pieces on the board. More suffered as the years passed but Dinero was one of the first. After months nurturing the sort of heat wrestlers work a career to get half of, Dinero got a throwaway World Title match against AJ Styles that ended when 'The Phenomenal One' - deep in his Ric Flair cosplay era - stabbed him in the face with a biro.
The top of the mountain was never in sight again.