PW Boards TNA Heavyweight Championship Tournament

It's been a while since I've run one of these so thought I would give it a go. It's a simple concept, we put all former TNA Champions into a tournament and find out, through voting, who the best of all time is. We've had successful ones for various other titles but this is the first time we visit Impact Wrestling. For the record, while TNA started in 2002, it's own world title didn't come into being until 2007. However, it controlled the NWA Heavyweight title from 2002 to 2007 so all champions between those years were TNA workers.

There have been a total of 25 TNA champions. All Triple Crown winners (i.e. Heavyweight, X Division and Tag title holders) get a bye into Round 2, as well as the longest reigning champion not to hold that distinction. This gives us even bracket numbers for the tournament. Got it? Ok let's go!!!

Round 1 matches will be first to three. First wrestler to receive three votes will advance.

A random number generator will be used to make the draw.

---

Rhino

The War Machine






vs





Mr. Anderson

...ANDERSON!

beakerjoe

Nether were glorious champions and both had jumped the shark by the time they claimed the gold.

Kennedy for me.....just

Stereomaniac

Rhyno.

gerrybbadd

Rhino for me. Simply because I seen nothing of Anderson reign.

Plus, Rhino was literally a beast

nasty_crash

Kennedy for me... much better all rounder than rhyno imo

I'd go with Mr Anderson myself. Rhino is the man but he only held it for a month or something and was never as good as he was in ECW or WWE

The bark is worse than the bite as Mr Anderson puts down the Manbeast.

---

Matt Hardy

The Only World Champion That Matters







vs



James Storm


The Cowboy

beakerjoe

Matt hardy for me

Storm was given.a token reign and even though its in its infancy, Matt Hardy is going a great job as a heel champ

A Brad Maddox Guy

Hardy for me too, same reason as beakerjoe.

thebostoncrab

As much as I hate to say this....Matt Hardy

The Cowboy rides off into the sunset as current champion Matt Hardy moves on.

---

Jeff Hardy

The Anti-Christ of Professional Wrestling







vs




Rob Van Dam


The Whole F'n Show

beakerjoe

Jeff by a mile....

chopperbyrne

Jeff

RVD was awful in TNA.

Necro

Jeff for me too. Raging I missed the first two rounds!

Jeff's amazing heel work in TNA sees him go over in whitewash fashion.


Ron Killings

The Truth







vs




Raven

''What about me..?''

Necro

I kind of want to give Ron a vote here to avoid a whitewash... But it has to be Raven.

gerrybbadd

The former K Kwik, future R Truth for me.

He had a great run in TNA.

LeeJM

Raven for me. He should have won it alot sooner than he did.

Kankan14

Raven.

He was better. Thats it really

Raven has too much for Truth to handle. Moving on...

---

Mick Foley

The Hardcore Legend







Vs




Lashley

The Destroyer

Necro

Lashley. Didn't even know Foley was champion to be honest!

ShagNastii

I'll echo the above. I legitimately can't think of a single TNA moment for Foley. When was he there?

Lashley 2-0

LeeJM

Lashley by default for me. Foley was awful in TNA. Without a doubt the worst period of his career

brianregan09

Lashley

Foley does not have a nice day as the Boss Bobby Lashley powers through.

Ethan Carter III

troubletroubletroubletroubletrouble







Vs



Bully Ray

Hardcore 5150

Necro

Bully Ray without question for me.

thebostoncrab

This is actually a tough one for me. They are both great for different reasons...but Bully's reign just edges it for me

Bounty Hunter

Hard draw for EC3 but Bully for me

beakerjoe

EC3 for me, though im too late. Hes the best thing on TNA the last year or so

EC3 bites the dust as the former Aces and 8's leader advances.


Magnus

The First Ever British World Champion








Vs




Ken Shamrock

The World's Most Dangerous Man

Necro

Magnus for me. Ken shamrock another I barely remember that was in TNA

LeeJM

Shamrock just for the awesomeness of his sideburns. And he had a surprisingly good title defense vs Malice

beakerjoe

Magnus for me too...

brianregan09

Shamrock for me can't really remember either reign but i always loved shamrock really deserved a WWE reign

Moneymaker

Shamrock. Magnus had an atrocious run, even if it wasn't really his fault.

Magnus taps out to the inaugural champion in a tight tussle. We move onto the final bout of Round 1, it's triple threat rules.

---

Sting

The Icon






Vs




Jeff Jarrett

The Chosen One





Vs



Christian Cage

The Instant Classic

LeeJM

Jarrett for me. He had some awful runs with the title but he also had some enjoyable ones. Has had more meaningful title matches than anybody else not named AJ in TNAs history too

Necro

While I would agree with the sentiment above re: Jarrett, I have to vote for Christian. A defining chapter of his career reaching the top of the mountain. This is the toughest one yet though

beakerjoe

Jarrett for me, mr tna

riffmongous

I go for Christian, I was a big fan of his back when he jumped ship, and that's what got me into TNA, the celebration after his first title win was great, felt like a big deal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XKhCw7UYbo

thebostoncrab

JJ all day. Only Bobby Roode had a better run in my eyes

chopperbyrne

Jeff Jarrett, but Sting and Christian would have won against anyone else in the tournament so far.

Imnotthehulk

Sting.

Jarrett was great, but when before Sting came along JJ was trading the title with people who (at the time at least) didn't have great name value. Sting winning it helped bring the value of the title, (and the worthiness of the promotion in fan's eyes) up several levels.

Kankan14

I give it to christian.just.

Sick draw

In this round we introduce all Triple Crown winners into the tournament so expect some tougher decisions. Three votes will see a competitor into the quarter finals.

---

Kurt Angle

The Wrestling Machine







Vs



Ken Shamrock

The World's Most Dangerous Man

beakerjoe

Angle. I really shouldnt have to explain

LeeJM

I really wanna vote for Kenny but I just cant justify it. Angle it is. Also an Angle vs Shamrock would be AWFUL

riffmongous

Has to be Angle of course

Necro

Angle. One of the best TNA or WWE ever had to offer.

gerrybbadd

Kurt Angle for me, Blud.

One of the very best ever. I'm a Shamrock fan, but Kurt is on another level entirely