Ranking Every TNA/Impact Wrestling Heavyweight Champion From Worst To Best

7. Samoa Joe

Samoa Joe TNA Entrance
impactwrestling.com

'The Samoan Submission Machine' was better on the chase than when he actually won the TNA Heavyweight Championship from Kurt Angle in 2008, but rarely had the title felt as big-time as when he defeated the 'Wrestling Machine' in their MMA-inspired Lockdown main event.

It drew the company's best ever pay-per-view buyrate and felt every bit as real as the MMA headline contests it took inspiration from. The failure of his character after the fact lay on the shoulders of management - Joe had proven himself when it mattered most.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett