Being formed on May 10, 2002, over 21 years ago, Impact Wrestling has seen countless names come through its doors. Legends of the business today started out in this promotion and made their names here like Samoa Joe and AJ Styles, while already established names came and had the runs of their careers with Impact like Kurt Angle or Christian Cage.
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With the amount of time that has passed and the many stars that worked for the promotion at one point or another, it is interesting to see how these faces have changed over time. So taking a look at a few TNA/Impact originals and some that showed up a bit later, here are ten superstars who are famous for their work with Impact Wrestling and what they looked like when they debuted for the promotion.
10 Frankie Kazarian
Five-time X Division Champion and three-time World Tag Team Champion, Frankie Kazarian made his TNA debut in the summer of 2003. Before joining the promotion, Kazarian had experience working for companies like Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and the now-defunct World Wrestling All-Stars, the place where he met Scott D'Amore leading to his TNA career.
Kazarian took a short break when he tried to pursue a career with WWE in 2005 leading to matches on Velocity, but failed plans for their Cruiserweight division led to him heading back to TNA. His second run with TNA lasted until 2014 when he left to work with promotions like Ring of Honor and All Elite Wrestling. Kaz has now since returned and recently worked a tag team match with his wife and former Knockout member, Traci Brooks.
9 Mia Yim
Current WWE star Mia Yim first started making her name in companies like Combat Zone Wrestling and Shine Wrestling. 2010 saw her get a dark match with TNA while she was in Florida on vacation. She was brought back for the Knockouts Knockdown PPV event in 2013 where she wrestled and lost to Tara.
She got a full-time contract with the promotion in 2015 when plans for her and Marti Bell to be a part of a faction called The Dollhouse started. Wrestling under the name Jade, she stayed with the promotion until 2017 when she was able to capture the Knockouts Championship. Yim returned to Impact in 2022 for a short run getting matches against names like Mickie James and Taylor Wilde before going back to WWE.
8 Christopher Daniels
Christopher Daniels was already a veteran of the business by the time TNA signed him as his career started in 1993 working for smaller promotions like Windy City Pro Wrestling. Daniels even had a short run with WWE where there were plans for him to be revealed as the Higher Power during the Corporate Ministry storyline.
Daniels left WWE, had a short run in WCW before they closed down, and soon started working with Ring of Honor where he created The Prophecy faction. 2002 was a big year as he also started working with TNA during that time and stayed with the promotion until 2010 before returning in 2011. Daniels now works with AEW mostly working backstage and appearing on-screen every so often.
7 Eric Young
Starting his wrestling career in 1998, Eric Young worked in his hometown of Ontario, Canada where he got some training from Scott D'Amore and Chris Kanyon. Young pursued WWE for a bit even getting the chance to team with his future Team Canada partner Bobby Roode.
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2004 saw Young debut with TNA as part of the Team Canada faction alongside Bobby Roode, Scott D'Amore, and Petey Williams. Young stayed with TNA until 2016 and during that time he captured the X Division Title, Tag Team Champions, Knockouts Tag titles, Legends belt, and the World Championship making him a Grand Slam champion for the promotion.
6 Ron Killings
Easily the most famous to fans now as R-Truth in the WWE. Ron Killings worked with TNA from 2002 to 2007. His debut was on the first weekly TNA PPV on June 19, 2002, where he was positioned as a heel.
It would be the following month that Killings defeated Ken Shamrock for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, the main title used by TNA during their first few years, making him the first-ever African-American (and only to date) champion in the belt's history.
5 Chris Sabin
The man who holds the record for most X Division Championship reigns at 10, Chris Sabin debuted in April 2003 and won the title that is so closely associated with him just the following month. During his time in TNA, Sabin also worked with Ring of Honor wrestling in a four-way match on June 14, 2003.
Sabin left TNA in 2013 after holding the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. His time away mostly saw him in ROH and New Japan Pro-Wrestling before a return to Impact Wrestling in 2019.
4 Alex Shelley
Now on to Chris Sabin's Motor City Machine Guns partner, Alex Shelley debuted in TNA shortly after in 2004 but only lasted for a few months before asking for his release. Shelley returned after Dusty Rhodes resigned as booker for the promotion in 2005.
Shelley found some success challenging for multiple titles like the X Division and NWA World Tag Team Titles before forming Paparazzi Productions with Johnny Devine, Austin Starr (later Austin Aries), and Kevin Nash. Shelley left the company in 2012 before a short run from 2020-2021 and another return in 2022 in which he would finally capture the Impact World Championship.
3 Gail Kim
Gail Kim had already made a decent name for herself when she started working with WWE and capturing the WWE Women's Championship in her debut match. The reign didn't last long and Kim dropped the belt to Molly Holly on Raw four weeks later.
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Her run with WWE lasted until 2004 and the following year she debuted with TNA as the manager for James Storm and Chris Harris' tag team America's Most Wanted. Kim broke out into singles competition and became the inaugural Knockouts Champion in 2007.
2 Samoa Joe
Wrestling since 1999, Samoa Joe has worked almost everywhere with runs in WWE, AEW, Pro Wrestling Noah, and of course Impact Wrestling. His career with TNA started when he debuted at Slammiversary 2005 beating Sonjay Dutt. Joe got his first title match after starting a decent undefeated streak when he participated in a three-way match for the X Division Title at Unbreakable against Christopher Daniels and AJ Styles.
Joe remained undefeated until Kurt Angle debuted and quickly started a feud against Joe leading to Angle beating him at Genesis 2006. Joe left Impact Wrestling in 2015 and moved to WWE shortly after starting in their NXT brand. That lasted for a few years before joining AEW in 2022 and working with Ring of Honor once again.
1 AJ Styles
AJ Styles was still relatively fresh into his wrestling career when he started with TNA back in 2002. Before this, he mostly worked with National Championship Wrestling and a short run in WCW and WWE. Styles started making his name during his time with Ring of Honor for his feuds with Low Ki for the World Championship or his tenure as the inaugural ROH Pure Champion.
Styles debuted on the first weekly TNA PPV teaming with Low Ki and Jerry Lynn in a losing effort to The Flying Elvises. The following PPV saw Styles become the first-ever X Division Champion before losing the belt a couple of months later. Fast forwarding a bit and Styles would become the face of TNA for years before departing the promotion in 2014.
